by Jeff Berwick
The US is fast becoming one massive open air prison camp. Few realize that one by one their natural rights are being stripped by the fascist "criminal" law system. As we've noted in the past, more than 30% of those under 23 have been arrested as the fascist US Government works to ensnare as many as possible into permanent indentured servitude through a criminal record. From the New Yorker
Over all, there are now more people under "correctional supervision" in America ? more than six million ? than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height. That city of the confined and the controlled, Lockuptown, is now the second largest in the United States.Once you have that special status the doors quickly close for you, and you will never be able to legally escape from the US. Your travel will be restricted and you will not be eligible to apply for a foreign passport.
Seemingly not content with having the largest prison population in the world, the US leviathan continues to expand its web to ensnare more into "the system".
THE PANOPTICON
Original Drawing of a Panopticon Prison
In the late eighteenth century. English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham came up with the concept of the panopticon. The purpose of the design is to allow the observation of (-opticon) all (pan-) inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.
Although Bentham considered the use of such a structure for all manner of institutions, prisons were the first place where the concept was implemented.
The corporatist state is doing its best to create the ultimate Panopticon within the borders of the US. We noted one recent development with the deployment of the "Peacemaker" to the streets of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The "Peacemaker"
You can find out all you need to know about the "Peacemaker" here.
The costumed enforcer sums it up with one line: "the bad guys know ? hey we're watching you". Forgoing for the moment the question of who really is the bad guys here (hint: the government and police), he fails to mention that the "peacemaker" isn't just watching "the bad guys". It is watching everyone who happens to pass by its hulking form.
Sadly people have been brainwashed since birth into thinking that the State is good and it protects them, and that without the State the world would be very dangerous. This in turn causes them support these continued attacks on their own liberties. Ayn Rand termed this the "sanction of the victim"
One of the brainwashed in the video thinks that those who complain about the Orwellian vehicle should be paid special attention. I would suggest to the slave that he takes it one step further ? if he has nothing to hide, why not place a set of cameras within his own home? Hey, he is already funding them with his tax dollars, why bother using a private security firm? You think that sounds unreasonable? Well guess what ? the Brits have already put that into practice.
From Wired in 2009
?400 million ($668 million) will be spent on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of private citizens. Why? To make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables. The scheme has, astonishingly, already been running in 2,000 family homes. The government's "children's secretary" Ed Balls is behind the plan, which is aimed at problem, antisocial families. The idea is that, if a child has a more stable home life, he or she will be less likely to stray into crime and drugs.All "for the children" you see.It gets worse. The government is also maintaining a private army, incredibly not called "Thought Police", which will "be sent round to carry out home checks," according to the Sunday Express. And in a scheme which firmly cements the nation's reputation as a "nanny state", the kids and their families will be forced to sign "behavior contracts" which will "set out parents' duties to ensure children behave and do their homework.
"SMILE, YOU'RE ON CANDID CAMERA"
Now you might say that the "Peacemaker" isn't quite the definition of the surveillance state ? I mean you can see the thing! But don't worry, your overlords have been working quietly to ensure they cover every square foot of their empire.
All for your own good.
Janet Napolitano, director of the Department of Homeland Security now appears in every Walmart in the country, hoping to enlist the good consumers in the fight against "threats". Every eye of every citizen is a potential tool of the "Homeland". Of course, the ones who should really be watched are the watchers.
TERROR FROM ABOVE
Predictably, the tools of the global war on terror have now been turned into tools of oppression for the jack booted thugs in the USSA. The Predator Drone, a mainstay of the CIA's assassination campaigns is now being utilized for "interior law enforcement support"
General Atomics MQ-1 Predator
Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said.Equipped with "high-resolution cameras, heat sensors and sophisticated radar", these machines are just the thing needed to ensure the tax slaves are KEPT IN."We don't use [drones] on every call out," said Bill Macki, head of the police SWAT team in Grand Forks. "If we have something in town like an apartment complex, we don't call them."
The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which operates eight Predators on the country's northern and southwestern borders to search for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The previously unreported use of its drones to assist local, state and federal law enforcement has occurred without any public acknowledgment or debate. Link
And while you are kept as a blood bag for the vampire state, you will have to deal with an ever-increasing network of internal travel controls. Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams are expanding across the USA, targeting bus terminals, rail stations, and highway travel. "Border" police are also getting into the act, setting up shop miles from the actual borders of the USSA.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
A letter from one TDV reader, Warren W., confirms the dire reality of the situation, he writes:
Just back from driving I10 from Fla. to AZ. At about 100 miles either side of El Paso, US Customs & "Border Patrol" (in quotes because they aren't at the border where they could do some real patrolling) have set up permanent shop on I10.Bentham's dream of the Panopticon is close to becoming a reality. It is time for you to consider your options and consider getting your gold and yourself out of dodge.The eastbound roadblock is east of El Paso and the westbound one is west of El Paso. They are huge, drive-through type buildings straddling the interstate, kind of like what California used to have for checking to see if we had any fruit. The buildings have offices also.
When I passed the eastbound roadblock, the westbound lanes I was in were lined with a gauntlet of at least a dozen cameras we had to drive past. I don't think it paranoid to imagine facial recognition and license plate scanning was occurring.
After seeing that, I was quite sure there would be a roadblock for westbound travelers but had no idea where it would be. It turned out to be in New Mexico.
Anticipating "my" roadblock, I told myself that, although it would ruin my day and involve risk of tasering, beating and/or incineration, I would have to insist on a search warrant if my car was singled out for a search. And what a search it would be ? $2,500 cash, a Ruger LCP in my back pocket, a Glock in the glove box, and Ron Paul stickers on front and rear bumpers. Can you say Profile?
As it turned out, there was only one guy at "my" roadblock telling each vehicle's operator to keep going. So I wasn't searched. But on the way in the building I was filmed again by a similar camera gauntlet that I had previously experienced.
There were probably half a dozen "Border Patrol" SUVs parked at the office which meant that the other tax eaters, instead of opening up new lanes so we did not have to waste time in a single file lane, were enjoying the comfort of their office instead.
As a side note, every car I saw pulled over by state troopers on I10 in New Mexico (about 3) had the trooper ransacking the trunk.
PANOPTICON AVOIDANCE CHECKLIST
Make plans to get out of countries like the US and the UK as soon as possible before they trap you into an arrest which will limit your travel movements severely.Apply for a foreign passport (the best we know of is in the Dominican Republic).Once you have a foreign passport, consider renouncing your US/UK or other western police state passport. Wait lists to renounce US passports have recently increased from 6 months to over 2 years as a flood of US citizens look to get out while they still can.Get your assets outside of the control of your own government. Transport and store your gold and silver around the world (TDV will be releasing a full Special Report called "Getting Your Gold Out of Dodge" in the next month with lots of information on how to do this).There are plenty of countries where the Government is not a giant all-seeing machine but is more of a nuisance. Some people state that they'd rather live inside the police state of the US than in some "corrupt" foreign country. That is your choice. But we'd rather give some policeman 200 pesos and get on with our day than to live inside the panopticon in the US and become ensnared into the criminal caste system in the US where escape is nearly impossible.__
Jeff Berwick [send him mail] is an anarcho-capitalist freedom fighter and Chief Editor of the libertarian, Austrian economics grounded newsletter, The Dollar Vigilante. The Dollar Vigilante focuses on strategies, investments and expatriation opportunities to survive & prosper during and after the US dollar collapse.
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Getting out of the US is a good idea. Unfortunately, there's a reason for the phrase "New WORLD Order". When that comes into existence, things will be the same no matter where you are. No place on Earth is safe. Help each other resist worldwide tyranny! "Once you have that special status the doors quickly close for you, and you will never be able to legally escape from the US. Your travel will be restricted and you will not be eligible to apply for a foreign passport."
Legally escape? Who cares. Corporate rules aren't laws. The sooner we realize that, the better. All the cops, the border patrol, the FBI, whatever, do is enforce corporate rules. If they enforced the "law" then things would be a lot different. Its all about profit and control and none of it lawful.
I don't care about "legally" escaping. Legalities are for slaves. If you're already worried about "legally" doing anything, you're already a slave by your own choosing.
I do not consent and I waive the benefits. Under common law, anything that doesn't hurt someone is lawful. The corporation can kiss my ass.
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