FROM OCCUPY DEMOCRATS:
ICE agents are adding peaceful protestors — legally filming their violent actions — to a federal “domestic terrorist database.”
In what should chill every American to the bone, an ICE agent in Maine was caught on video doing the unthinkable: threatening a woman with placement in a “domestic terrorist database” for the crime of recording federal agents in public.
Yes — recording, an action that is a First Amendment right.
The video, posted by freelance reporter Nathan Bernard of the Maine Morning Star, shows an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement approaching a woman calmly filming their activity. She correctly notes that it’s not illegal to record law enforcement.
That’s when things turn dystopian. “Why are you taking my information down?” she asks.
“Because we have a nice little database,” the agent replies. “And now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.”
Let that sink in.
The woman, who is a Passamaquoddy Native American, wasn’t interfering. Wasn’t threatening. Wasn’t protesting. She was holding up a phone. And for that, an armed federal agent casually suggested she’d be branded a terrorist.
Journalists and legal experts erupted.
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald called it exactly what it is: a disgrace. Armed, masked federal agents roaming American streets, threatening citizens with secret databases for exercising constitutional rights. That’s not law enforcement — that’s intimidation.
And it’s not an accident.
The incident aligns perfectly with a leaked joint memo from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security, first reported by Ken Klippenstein, which quietly expanded the definition of “domestic violent extremists” to include people who “leverage First Amendment–protected activity.” Including — you guessed it — recording law enforcement.
Former MSNBC reporter and Breaking Points host Krystal Ball summed it up with three perfect words: “This is insane.”
Meanwhile, the data tells an even darker story. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, real partisan political violence in America has surged — driven overwhelmingly by right-wing extremists and election deniers, not immigration protesters with smartphones.
Yet instead of targeting the actual threat, Trump’s government is building databases, blurring definitions, and pointing the terrorism label at citizens who dare to watch the watchers.
This isn’t about safety.
It’s about fear.
It’s about control.
And it’s about how fast a democracy can slide — when filming the government makes you the suspect.
Given there are over 300 million people out there with smartphones it may be a bit of a challenge - photos of camo men with masks, helmets and goggles with vacant eyes all look pretty much the same. First president to have his own standing army. MAGA. Going on four score and five, I have no smart phone and am immune. The saga of the psycho thugs continues -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/federal-officers-shot-another-person-162419338.html?utm_source=pushly&ncid=pushly
This morning a man was stopped by ICE agents in Minnesota. 6 ICE agents. He resisted and they wrestled him to the ground. The beat him while he was on the ground repeatedly, as shown in the video I have seen and multiple news outlets are reporting. Then multiple shots were fired, killing the man.
ReplyDeleteLocal, trained police are taught how to avoid these situations. After months of training and evaluation, they are then forced to work with a senior training officer. Then they are on probation, for ongoing training.
All this to become a full fledged cop, which takes months.
These ICE officers, often with little or no experience and no psych evals are being put on the streets in mere weeks of receiving their recruitment bonus. They are not trained, do not know safe policing techniques, US law and are a danger to all of us living in America, citizen or not.
But President Trump cannot admit a mistake, and demands his people do not do so either. So we are in an ongoing toxic Kent State like stew with no end in sight.
First, because Americans elected a malignant narcissist and then because the Dems could not think clearly enough to find candidates who could beat him and his acolytes and campaign with just a hint of political savvy.
It's a stew of our own making. On all counts.
But at the very least, I would have hoped some of the MAGA crowd could see the damage Trump and his team are doing to America's brand, our country and the world, rather than revel in it, as some who post here seem to do.
The victim, according to reports, was an American citizen. That's two American citizens that we know of who were killed by Trump's ICE thugs.
DeleteA normal POTUS would be on all media by now trying to calm the citizenry and asking for an immediate investigation.
We do NOT have a president leading America, we have a malignant narcissist, convicted criminal, and a man whose primary focus is himself.
We are leaderless. I blame everyone who voted for this.
I don't believe it is because Harris couldn't beat Trump. It's becoming clear to me and others that there might have been other nefarious reasons.
Shaw posted... A normal POTUS would be on all media by now trying to calm the citizenry and asking for an immediate investigation.
DeleteWe should have learned this on Jan 6 when President Trump sat in his office for three hours while officers were beat, the US Capitol invaded and defaced and democracy teetered in the balance to his 2020 election lies.
But we didn't. Trump never douses fires with water, because by nature, he spews gasoline.
"Sen. Erin Murphy, the top Democrat in the Minnesota Senate, issued a statement that included an expletive demanding an immediate end to the federal operation.
ReplyDelete“ICE is a brutal invading force that acts without accountability or the most basic respect for human dignity or life,” she said. “These agents of violence need to be brought to justice.”
Where the hell is Trump? His agents are shooting Americans in the street. This is Trump's responsibility. All his. He's killing his own people, just like all dictators kill their own who do not comply!
ReplyDeleteAnon... this is what people like the sailors on the Mothership applaud, what people like Joe C, -FJ, Thersites and the rest of the MAGA faithful demand.
DeleteRead their words, read their posts, watch the videos they post.
There is never a call to peace, never a call to account for ANYTHING Trump has done.
America suffers.
Anon... he's filling the tank at the gas station so he can dump it on the situation in Minnesota. He's not a peacemaker. He's a bomb thrower.
ReplyDeleteAre we going to make it through the next three years? And how are we going to handle tRUMP trying to run for a 4th term? (He posted that little tidbit.)
ReplyDeleteProbably not Mike. Get prepared for increased violence against the truly patriotic Americans by the fascist Amerikan government run by Fuhrer Trump.
ReplyDeleteThis was posted on Facebook.
ReplyDelete”A 37-year-old ICU nurse named Alex Pretti helped a woman that federal agents had shoved. For this crime - helping someone - several agents sprayed pepper spray into his face - then they beat him until he collapsed. They pistol whipped him while he was on his knees. Both hands on the ground. Not resisting. Just existing.
They took his gun from his back waistband - he never touched it - but he had a legal permit to carry. The Second Amendment one. The constitutional right one.
And then they shot him.
After he was already down, already gone, they shot him nine more times. Nine. I want you to picture that. A man on the ground, motionless, and nine more bullets.
This is the same government that told us he was a “criminal illegal alien with a string of violent offenses.” He was an American citizen. He was a nurse who worked in the ICU at the VA - the guy who takes care of your grandfather who served in Vietnam, your uncle who came back from Iraq. His criminal record was traffic tickets.
They lied. They executed him in broad daylight on an American street. And then they lied about who he was to make you feel okay about it.
This is the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis in three weeks. Three weeks. Three people. One was a woman named Renée Good. One was a Venezuelan man shot in the leg. And now Alex Pretti, American citizen, legal gun owner, VA nurse who spent his days caring for veterans, dead on the pavement at 26th and Nicollet because he tried to help someone.
The same government that wraps itself in “support our troops” shot the guy who actually supported our troops. Nine times. While he was on the ground."