Hedges on his Deposition

[Thailandnotes]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print...lost_20120326/

"On returning not long after 9/11 from a speaking engagement in Italy I was refused entry into the United States by customs officials at the Newark, N.J., airport. I was escorted to a room filled with foreign nationals. I was told to wait. A supervisor came into the room an hour later. He leaned over the shoulder of the official seated at a computer in front of me. He said to this official: “He is on a watch. Tell him he can go.” When I asked for further information I was told no one was authorized to speak to me. I was handed my passport and told to leave the airport."

[doom&gloom]

Re: Hedges on his Deposition

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print...lost_20120326/

"On returning not long after 9/11 from a speaking engagement in Italy I was refused entry into the United States by customs officials at the Newark, N.J., airport. I was escorted to a room filled with foreign nationals. I was told to wait. A supervisor came into the room an hour later. He leaned over the shoulder of the official seated at a computer in front of me. He said to this official: “He is on a watch. Tell him he can go.” When I asked for further information I was told no one was authorized to speak to me. I was handed my passport and told to leave the airport."

He is certainly on MANY lists now. And should he actually win, he may be on a list that no one ever wants to be on.... jus' sayin'

[Raz]

Re: Hedges on his Deposition

"If there is no rolling back of the NDAA law we cease to be a constitutional democracy."

I would guess that I'd be in 80% disagreement with Chris Hedges on most issues - but I agree 100% with him here.
Some of my idiot friends who thought "W" was only trying to "save us frum thuh muzlims" aren't gonna like it when the Left uses this monstrosity to put them in "reeducation" camps.

[doom&gloom]

Re: Hedges on his Deposition

b-b-b-but.. it's for our own good...

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Hedges on his Deposition

As the hearing began, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest said she was "extremely skeptical" that the opponents could challenge the law on its face, but she put the government lawyers on the defensive as the proceedings closed late in the day.


The first plaintiff to testify, Alexa O'Brien, co-founded the U.S. Day of Rage, a group whose "one purpose," she said, is to "reform our corrupt elections."


Though its website lists "nonviolence" as its founding principle, O'Brien said she found out that agents of a private intelligence firm tried to link U.S. Day of Rage to Islamic fundamentalists.




The revelations came when Wikileaks released 5 million emails from Stratfor, under the name "Global Intelligence Files," O'Brien said. Stratfor describes itself as a geopolitical intelligence firm.



The documents, O'Brien said, included an Aug. 18, 2011, email from Thomas Kopecky, stating, "I was looking into that US Day of Rage movement and specifically asked to connect it to any Saudi or other fundamentalist Islamic movements.


"Thus far, I have only hear[d] rumors but not gotten any substantial connection.

"Do you guys know much about this other than its US Domestic fiscal ideals?"

Kopecky is or was then director of operations for Investigative Research Consultants / Fortis Protective Services, according to the email.

The email was sent to Fred Burton, whom O'Brien said was an agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service.

Burton replied: "No, we're not aware of any concrete connections between fundamentalist Islamist movements and the Day of Rage, or the October 2011 movement at this point," according to the email, as reported by Wikileaks.

O'Brien said another private intelligence firm, Provide Security, sent her a threatening message via Twitter: "Now you are really in over your head with this."

She said Provide Security sent her follow-up tweets saying she would encounter "problems" from forming a relationship with Anonymous, the hacker collective that brought the Stratfor files to light. O'Brien said Anonymous, which she describes as an "Internet swarm," has no relationship to the U.S. Day of Rage.

She said she later learned that two of the Provide Security employees, Kevin Schatzle and Thomas Ryan, had government ties.

In September 2011, O'Brien said, a man identifying himself as a federal agent told her confidentially that a classified Department of Homeland Security memo showed plans to infiltrate the group.

O'Brien said the government scrutiny became overwhelming to Lime Energy, where she was working at the time as a digital media architect. The company contracts with the government and major businesses.

"I became, essentially, a liability," O'Brien said.

She said the company's director of government contracts, a family friend, told her candidly that "contacts of the government" had approached him about her.

O'Brien said she tried to explain that she knew that U.S. Day of Rage was being monitored, but her boss said the problem was not only with her association.

"No, Alexa, you," he said, according to O'Brien. "Multiple times, multiple individuals."

Now an independent journalist, O'Brien testified that she shelved two investigations about Guantanamo detainees for fear of reprisal under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The next witness was Kai Wargalla, 27, who said she "dropped everything" to bring her graduate studies from Germany to a tent in Occupy London.

London Police last year sent businesses a memo labeled "Terrorism / Extremism," listing the local Occupy movement alongside al-Qaida and militant groups from Columbia and Belarus, Wargalla said.

Wargalla says she also got involved in advocacy groups for Wikileaks, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, and a movement called Revolution Truth.

Revolution Truth broadcasts "Live Panels" over the Internet on various topics, and considered inviting "groups like Hamas," a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, Wargalla said.

She said that she and other organizers shelved that idea after the NDAA was passed.

"It's not about me," she said. "It's about the whole group."

Asked if the British government threatened her, Wargalla replied, "Other than describing my group as a terrorist group, no," to laughter in the courtroom.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/30/45190.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsCiFnE14kA