Tag Archives: Military-Industrial Complex

Ferguson Protests Spotlight a Much Bigger Problem

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“The police force of Bloomington, Georgia, also took advantage of federal subsidies recently when it purchased four grenade launchers, which might be overkill for a town of less than 3,000 people.  As if supplying local police units with heavy firepower wasn’t concerning enough, the federal government does not instruct police departments on how to use their new toys. Additionally, the Department of Defense Excess Property Program, commonly known as the 1033 Program, requires police departments to surrender any equipment not put to use within a year, which explains why police would show up to a protest decked out in camouflage and armed to the teeth.”

http://www.hardassetsalliance.com/investing-news/newsletter/gold-no-longer-a-safe-haven-asset#a3

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Ron Paul, Ferguson: The War Comes Home

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“Today, the war on drugs has been eclipsed by the war on terror as an all-purpose excuse for expanding the police state. We are all familiar with how the federal government increased police power after September 11 via the PATRIOT Act, TSA and other Homeland Security programs. Not as widely known is how the war on terror has been used to justify the increased militarization of local police departments to the detriment of our liberty. Since 2002, the Department of Homeland Security has provided over $35 billion in grants to local governments for the purchase of tactical gear, military-style armor and mine-resistant vehicles. The threat of terrorism is used to justify these grants.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/35589/Ron-Paul-Ferguson-The-War-Comes-Home/

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How many grenade launchers did Michigan police departments receive?

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“Nationally, more than $4.3 billion worth of property has been transferred to law enforcement since the program’s inception in fiscal year 1997, according to Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which oversees the Law Enforcement Support Office (or 1033) program out of its office in Battle Creek. More than 8,000 agencies participate nationwide.  Michigan law enforcement agencies have received 17 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles or MRAPs; 1,795 M16 rifles (5.56mm), the U.S. military’s combat weapon of choice; 696 M14 rifles (7.62 mm); 530 bayonet and scabbards; 165 utility trucks; 32 12-gauge, riot-type shotguns; nine grenade launchers; and three observation helicopters.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20140817/NEWS06/140726001/

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Government Bribery and The War on Terror Militarized America’s Police

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“Billions in taxpayer funds have been spent to transform American police forces into clones of the U.S. occupation forces of Iraq and Afghanistan. The 1033 Program and related facilities represent massive profits for U.S. defense contractors. As our Middle Eastern wars wind down, they’ve created a $30 billion-a-year domestic market for their MRAP armored troop carriers, night-vision rifle scopes, camouflage fatigues, Humvees and M16 automatic rifles, amongst other things. This isn’t just cast-off surplus stuff, either. The Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency often simply purchases gear from a defense contractor and transfers it to a local law enforcement agency free of charge.”

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/asset-protection/government-bribery-and-militarization-of-americas-police/

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Missouri Sends National Guard Troops Into Ferguson

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“In the days since a black teenager was shot to death by a white police officer here on Aug. 9, an array of state and local law enforcement authorities have swerved from one approach to another: taking to the streets in military-style vehicles and riot gear; then turning over power to a State Highway Patrol official who permitted the protests and marched along; then calling again for a curfew.  Early Monday morning, after a new spate of violence, Gov. Jay Nixon said he was bringing in the National Guard.  Scores of people marched peacefully, carrying signs and chanting. Officers herded some into a parking lot, where the police said protest was permitted.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/us/ferguson-missouri-protests.html?_r=0

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The Fourth Branch: The Rise to Power of the National Security State

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“The rise of the Fourth Branch began at a moment of mobilization for a global conflict, World War II.  It gained heft and staying power in the Cold War of the second half of the twentieth century, when that other superpower, the Soviet Union, provided the excuse for expansion of every sort.  Its officials bided their time in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union, when ‘terrorism’ had yet to claim the landscape and enemies were in short supply.  In the post-9/11 era, in a phony ‘wartime’ atmosphere, fed by trillions of taxpayer dollars, and under the banner of American ‘safety,’ it has grown to unparalleled size and power.  And in 2014, the expansion is ongoing.”

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175876/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_who_rules_washington/

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Jacob Hornberger: Why Not Simply Abolish the CIA?

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“Did any CIA agent get indicted for torturing people? No.  Did any CIA agent get indicted for destroying the videotapes that showed the torture? No.  Did any CIA agent get indicted for murdering prisoners in Abu Graib prison in Iraq? No. We can debate whether it was wise and prudent to call the CIA into existence to fight the Cold War. What is indisputable is the fact that the Cold War ended in 1989 while the CIA continued onward. It’s time for Americans to do what they should have done a long time ago—abolish, not reform, the CIA. It’s time to put a stop to the lying, murdering, assassinating, spying, torturing, and detaining. They have no place in America.”

http://fff.org/2014/08/01/why-not-simply-abolish-the-cia/

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We’re All Criminals and Outlaws in the Eyes of the American Police State

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“As with most things, if you want to know the real motives behind any government program, follow the money trail. When you dig down far enough, as I document in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, you quickly find that those who profit from Americans being arrested are none other than the police who arrest them, the courts which try them, the prisons which incarcerate them, and the corporations, which manufacture the weapons and equipment used by police, build and run the prisons, and profit from the cheap prison labor.”

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/were_all_criminals_and_outlaws_in_the_eyes_of_the_american_police_state

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The State’s Worst Atrocity

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“Nothing in the world is easier than opposing a war that ended long ago. It takes no real courage to be against the Vietnam War in 2014. What takes courage is opposing a war while it is being fought – when the propaganda and intimidation of the public are at their height – or even before it breaks out in the first place. With the memory of the moral and material catastrophe of World War I before us 100 years later, let us pledge never again to be fooled and exploited by the State and its violent pastimes.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/35529/Llewellyn-H-Rockwell-Jr-The-States-Worst-Atrocity/

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Police Militarization: The New Search and Seizure

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“Supported by Minister of Defense Gustav Noske, right-wingers — including one Corporal Adolf Hitler — organized ex-soldiers into Freikorps, and armed them with surplus military weaponry. These militia brutally crushed Germany’s nascent post-war democratic movement. For the next 20 years, they provided the core of the feared Brownshirts, street thugs who helped Hitler and the Nazis into power.  Fast forward 100 years. Another faltering empire in domestic political crisis, the United States, brings its own frustrated warriors and their weapons back home.  Brownshirts in America — far-fetched? Not at all. They’re already here, this time dressed in black or camo.”

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/diversified-investments/police-militarization-new-search-seizure/

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