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In another attempt to expand its reach into the private lives of American citizens, the Department of Homeland Security spent $125,000 to spy on Tea Party activists in Pennsylvania. Using an Israeli-based research firm, DHS set out to track and chronicle the activities of Tea Party activists in Philadelphia under the guise of a security mandate to “protect the infrastructure”.
This comes after months of denials by DHS that Tea Party activists who exercise their first amendment rights are the targets of surveillance or other tracking by the FBI, although there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Film footage of surveillance cameras at Tea Party rallies have been verified by sources within the FBI.
In the meantime, the administration has announced that it will continue to pursue a strategy to track domestic internet usage of people who visit government websites for the stated purpose of creating a “more open” government and to “enhance citizen participation in government.” This reverses a ban on federal privacy invasion instituted a decade ago.
It doesn’t take a technology geek to know that, if the government is able to collect “cookies” from internet users who visit government sites, it has the capability of spying on all of their internet movements from which profiles can be compiled on individual citizens. Each of these methods of privacy invasion, if allowed to occur unabated, is a slippery slope that would be difficult to reverse.
One only has to connect the dots on these alarming developments in unlawful federal surveillance to understand the significance for anyone who finds themselves at odds with government policies, or who may be considered “extremist” for wanting to detach themselves from the policies of a failed administration.
In an effort to legitimatize its citizen oversight, the government continues to redefine what an “extremist” is and the potential danger to national security that they represent. The recent release of a Department of Justice “glossary” on extremism (Investigating Terrorism and Criminal Extremism – Terms and Concepts), attempts to classify anyone who is discontented with government policies as a possible extremist.
Tea Party activists, pro-lifers, constitutionalists, second amendment advocates, border “minute men”, or anyone who exercises their rights as a “sovereign citizen” are now targets of the prying eyes of a government with a voracious appetite for control. The media and the political left are intent on painting anyone with opposing views and a willingness to speak out on them as extremists, and according to the DOJ, a possible threat to security.
For anyone in preparation for off-the-grid living, the message is very clear: Keep your opinions and political views to yourself. The fact that you have chosen to prepare for a life without government, makes you a threat to a government that wants to control every aspect of your life. Discretion is your key because there is no lock on your privacy.
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