A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State

by Whitehead, John W.

  6. Start brushfires for freedom. Recognize that you don't have to go it alone. Engage those around you in discussions about issues of importance. Challenge them to be part of a national dialogue. One person at a city planning meeting with a protest sign is an irritant. Three individuals at the same meeting with the same sign are a movement. You will find that those in power fear and respect numbers.

  Andrea Hernandez and fellow protesters oppose RFID chips (Steve Hernandez)

  7. Take action. Be prepared to mobilize at a moment's notice. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're located or what resources are at your disposal. What matters is that you recognize the problems and care enough to do something about them. Whether you're eight, twenty-eight, or eighty-eight, you have something unique to contribute. You don't have to be a hero. You just have to show up and be ready to take action.

  8. Be forward-looking. Develop a vision for the future. Is what you're hoping to achieve enduring? Have you developed a plan to continue to educate others about the problems you're hoping to tackle and ensure that others will continue in your stead?

  9. Develop fortitude. What is it that led to the successful protest movements of the past? Resolve and the refusal to be put off. When the time came, Martin Luther King Jr., for one, was willing to take to the streets for what he believed and even go to jail if necessary. King risked having an arrest record by committing acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. He was willing to sacrifice himself. But first, he had to develop the intestinal fortitude to give him the strength to stand and fight. If you decide that you don't have the requisite fortitude, find someone who does and back them.

  10. Be selfless and sacrificial. Freedom is not free–there is always a price to be paid and a sacrifice to be made. If any movement is to be truly successful, it must be manned by individuals who seek a greater good and do not waver from their purposes.

  11. Remain optimistic, and keep hope alive. Although our rights are increasingly coming under attack, we still have certain freedoms. We can still fight back. We have the right to dissent, to protest, and even to vigorously criticize or oppose the government and its laws.668

  You Are the Change

  The key to making a difference is in understanding that the first step begins with you. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "We need to be the change we wish to see in the world."669

  Change, then, will only come from a citizenry willing to step beyond the propaganda of fear and sacrifice themselves for freedom. Of course, government agents armed to the teeth will be there to chill and/or suppress the freedom fighters. But let us stand with those courageous enough to place themselves on the front lines for freedom.

  As Evey recognizes in V for Vendetta, the freedom fighter is "all of us." Otherwise, there is little or no hope left for us.

  Acknowledgments

  No one walks alone. Every step of the way, someone is there to help, and without such help from others, little would be accomplished.

  Such was the assistance I received in researching and writing this book. First and foremost, I wish to thank my wife, Nisha, for her support, ideas, and editing, and Christopher Combs for creating the cover art and illustrations. Michael Khavari's research was invaluable, as was Carrick Owlett's assistance in procuring the images. Peggy Kelly, Lina Ragep, Ellie Miller, and Philip Timmerman were gracious about pitching in during the final stages of proofing. The following individuals, in addition to many others, also assisted with the mountains of research necessary for a book of this scope: Aaron Tao, Zachary Waksman, Jennifer Wilson, Melinda Ashe, Ricky Knicely Jinyang Guo, Daniel Xu, Chelsea German, Brendan O'Connor, Austin Raynor, Allison Harnack, Ayushi Patidar, Dynne Sung, Hyun-Woo Shin, Trenton D. Boaldin, Than Cutler, and Charly Gilliam. Special thanks to Frank DeMarco and Bill Gladstone.

  Finally, I would like to thank that tireless civil libertarian Nat Hentoff for the example he has established for those of us who have followed in his footsteps. Without voices like Nat's, freedom would simply be a word without content.

  Notes

  Part One: Is This America?

  1 Bertram Gross, Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America (South End Press,1980)

  C H A P T E R ONE

  2 Abraham Lincoln, as restated from "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois" (Jan. 27,1838).

  3 Associated Press, "Pregnant woman pepper sprayed at Occupy Seattle," CBS News (Nov. 16, 2011), http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57325688/pregnant-woman-pepper-sprayed-at-occupy-seattle/.

  4 David Edwards, "Pregnant Seattle protester miscarries after being kicked, pepper sprayed," The Raw Story (Nov. 22,2011), http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/ll/22/pregnant-seattle-protester-miscarries-after-being-kicked-pepper-sprayed/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily +Update&utm_campaign=bblb72025b-l1__22_lll__22_2011&utm_medium=email.

  5 Malia Wollan, "Police Fire Tear Gas at Occupy Protesters in Oakland," New York Times (Oct. 26,2011), http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/police-said-to-fire-tear-gas-at-protesters-in-oakland-calif/.

  6 Bertram Gross, Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America (South End Press, 1980)

  7 As quoted in Bertram Gross, Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America (South End Press, 1980)

  8 Chris Floyd, "Weather Report: The Hard Chill Begins to Bite," Moscow Times (Nov.9,2001), http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=433&Ite mid=5.

  9 Hermann Goering as quoted in Gustave Gilbert, Nuremberg Diary (Da Capo Press, 1995)

  10 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt, 1968)

  11 "NYPD Stop-And-Frisks Increased 14 Percent In 2011; 87 Percent Of Those Stopped Black Or Hispanic," Huffington Post (Feb. 14, 2012), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/14/ nypd-stop-and-frisks-increased-201__n_1277027.html.

  12 "Councilman: NYPD's Stop And Frisk Rationalization Is 'Bullsh*t,'" Gothamist (Feb. 14, 2012), http://gothamist.com/2012/02/14/stop-and-frisk.php.

  13 Herman Schwartz, "How the Supreme Court Came to Embrace Strip Searches for Trivial Offenses," The Nation (Aug. 16, 2012), http://www.thenation.com/article/169419/how-supreme-court-came-embrace-strip-searches-trivial-offenses#.

  14 "Female US cop caught on tape giving two women body cavity search during routine traffic stop ... and 'using the SAME gloves on both,'" Daily Mail (Dec. 18, 2012), http:// www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2250218/Angel-Ashley-Dobbs-suing-Texas-troopers-shocking-BODY-CAVITY-search-caught-tape.html#ixzz2HxDDYDoh.

  15 Kevin Krause, "Texas trooper being sued in Irving body cavity search case has been suspended," The Dallas Morning News (Dec. 19, 2012), http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/irving-women-sue-state-troopers-in-federal-court-alleging-roadside-body-cavity-searches.html/.

  16 Chris Sweeney, "Cops Strip Search Mom, "Forcibly" Pull Tampon Out of Her for Maybe Rolling Through Stop Sign," Broward Palm Beach NewTimes (Aug. 9, 2012), http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2012/08/cops_strip_search_mom_pull_tam.php.

  17 Gina Barton and John Diedrich, "4 Milwaukee police officers charged in strip-search case," Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel (Oct. 9, 2012), http://www.jsonline.com/ news/crime/criminal-charges-against-police-in-strip-search-case-expected-today-gf5cb94-173312411.html.

  18 Henry K. Lee, "Strip searches cost Oakland $4.6 million," SF Gate (Nov. 15, 2012), http:// www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Strip-searches-cost-Oakland-4-6-million-4035103.php.

  19 David Cohen, "Cops to draw blood at N. Shore checkpoint tonight," WWL (Dec. 13, 2012), http://www.wwl.com/Cops-to-draw-blood-at-N-Shore-checkpoint-tonight/15025595.

  20 "NYPD, Feds Testing Gun-Scanning Technology, But Civil Liberties Groups Up In Arms," CBS New York (Jan. 17, 2012), http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/01/17/nypd-testing-gun-scanning-technology/.

  21 Al Baker, "Police Working on Technology to Detect Concealed Guns," New York Times (Jan. 17, 2012), http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/police-working-on-technology-to-detect-concealed-guns/.


  22 Michael Grabell, "Drive-by X-rays: Security screeners expanding radiation use," Tucson Sentinel (Feb. 1, 2012), http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/020112_ xrays/drive-by-x-rays-security-screeners-expanding-radiation-use/.

  23 Matthew Kauffman, "Police Keeping Data From License Plate Scans; ACLU Files Privacy Protest," Hartford Courant (Feb. 21, 2012), http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/ hc-aclu-license-plate-scans-0222-20120221,0,5035715.story.

  24 Chris North, "Police scanners allow for remote fingerprint identification," Reporter Newspapers (Feb. 23, 2012), http://www.reporternewspapers.net/2012/02/23/police-scanners-allow-for-remote-fingerprint-identification/.

  C H A P T E R TWO

  25 Jon Wiener, Come Together: John Lennon in His Time (University of Illinois Press, 1990)

  26 Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776), http://www.bartleby.eom/133/3.html.

  27 John Adams, Novanglus Essays, No. 7, http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Novanglus_Essays/ No._7.

  28 Robert O'Harrow, No Place to Hide (Free Press, 2006), p. 4 of "Introduction."

  29 Julia Scheeres, "Librarians Split on Sharing Info," Wired (Jan. 16, 2003), http://www.wired. com/politics/security/news/2003/01/57256.

  30 "USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005."

  31 Shannyn Moore, "Senate proves we should fear ourselves," Anchorage Daily News (Dec. 2, 2011), http://www.adn.com/2011/12/02/2201260/senate-proves-we-should-fear-ourselves.html.

  32 Conor Friedersdorf, "Ceding Liberty to Terror: Senate Votes Against Due-Process Rights," The Atlantic (Dec. 2, 2011), http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/ceding-liberty-to-terror-senate-votes-against-due-process-rights/249388/.

  33 Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, and a few other journalists and activists sued President Obama over the provision of the NDAA allowing for the indefinite detention of American citizens. See Michael McAuliff, "Indefinite Detention Ban Stayed By Appeals Judge In NDAA Case," The Huffington Post (Sept. 18, 2012), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/indefinite-detention-ban-_n_1893652.html.

  34 Ashley Portero, "'Enemy Expatriation Act' Could Compound NDAA Threat to Citizen Rights," International Business Times (Jan. 24, 2012), http://www.ibtimes.com/articles286940/20120124/enemy-expatriation-act-bypass-citizen-protections-ndaa.htm.

  35 Tangerine Bolen, "What makes our NDAA lawsuit a struggle to save the US constitution," The Guardian (Aug. 10, 2012), http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/10/ ndaa-lawsuit-struggle-us-constitution.

  36 Thomas McAdam, "Sen. Rand Paul fights against martial law legislation," Louisville.com (Nov. 30, 2011), http://www.louisville.com/content/sen-rand-paul-fights-against-martial-law-legislation-arena.

  37 Radley Balko, "Paramilitary police don't make us safer," Reason Reader (Summer 2010), p. 6, http://reason.org/files/reasonreader-cutorbecut.pdf

  38 William Pitt's speech in the House of Lords according to Henry Peter Brougham, Historical Sketches of Statesmen Who Flourished in the Time of George III, Vol. 1 (1839)

  39 Barnes v. State of Indiana, 946 N.E.2d 572 (Ind. 2011), http://www.nwitimes.com/news/ State-and-regional/indiana/pdf_c82cdbb8-7ea0-5c55-bb00-2aa247134bbb.html.

  40 Kentucky v. King, 131S. Ct. 1849 (2011).

  41 Editorial, "Standing Up to Unwarranted Police Power," New York Times (May 24, 2011), http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/opinion/25wed2.html.

  42 Reichle v. Howards, 132 S. Ct. 2088 (U.S. 2012), http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ llpdf/ll-262.pdf.

  43 Mattos v. Agarano, 661 F.3d 433 (9th Cir. 2011).

  44 Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington, 566 U.S. (2012),

  http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/llpdf/10-945.pdf

  45 United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012), http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/llpdf/ 10-1259.pdf

  46 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), http://www. supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf

  C H A P T E R THREE

  47 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt, 1968)

  48 Naomi Wolf, "Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps," Guardian (April 23, 2007), http://www. guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment.

  49 Anne Applebaum, Gulag: A History (Random House, 2004), http://www.siteground206. com/~anneappl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/ll/gulag_ahistory_introduction. pdf

  50 "Psikhushka," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psikhushka. Accessed on Sept. 10,2012.

  51 Anne Applebaum, Gulag: A History (Random House, 2004), http://www.siteground206. com/~anneappl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/ll/gulag_ahistory_introduction.pdf

  52 Anne Applebaum, Gulag: A History (Random House, 2004), http://www.siteground206. com/~anneappl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/ll/gulag_ahistory _introduction.pdf

  53 Harold Mandel, "China is locking up sane dissidents in mental hospitals," Examiner (Aug. 23, 2012), http://www.examiner.com/article/china-is-locking-up-dissidents-mental-hospitals.

  54 Cam Simpson and Gary Fields, "Veterans a Focus of FBI Extremist Probe," Wall Street Journal (April 17, 2009), http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992665198727459.html.

  55 "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," U.S. Department of Homeland Security (April 7, 2009), www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf

  56 Kevin Johnson, "Police get help with vets who are ticking bombs," USA Today (Jan. 26, 2012), http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-01-24/police-training-combative-veterans/52794974/1.

  57 Kevin Johnson, "Police get help with vets who are ticking bombs," USA Today (Jan. 26,2012), http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-01-24/police-training-combative-veterans/52794974/1.

  58 Patrick Radden Keefe, "The Professional Paranoid," Slate (Jan. 17, 2006), http://www.slate. com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2006/01/the_professional_par anoid.html.

  59 Jim Dwyer, "For Detained Whistle-Blower, a Hospital Bill, Not an Apology," New York Times (March 15, 2012), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/nyregion/officer-adrian-schoolcraft-forcibly-hospitalized-got-no-apology-just-a-bill.html.

  60 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt, 1968), p. 447

  61 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt, 1968)

  62 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt, 1968)

  63 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt, 1968)

  64 As quoted in Leonard Peikoff, The Ominous Parallels: The End of Freedom in America (Stein and Day, 1982), p. 7

  65 James Bamford, "The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)," Wired (March 15, 2012), http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_ nsadatacenter/all/.

  66 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt, 1968)

  Part Two: The Future Is Here

  67 Donald Theall and Donald F. Theall, The Virtual Marshall McLuhan (McGill-Queen's Press

  - MQUP, 2001)

  C H A P T E R FOUR

  68 Roger Ebert, "Spielberg & Cruise & the movies," Chicago Sun Times (June 16, 2002), http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020616/PEOPLE/66010302/ 1023.

  69 Donald Theall and Donald F. Theall, The Virtual Marshall McLuhan (McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2001)

  70 As quoted in "The Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan," Playboy Magazine (March

  1969), http://www.nextnature.net/2009/12/the-playboy-interview-marshall-mcluhan/.

  C H A P T E R FIVE

  71 As quoted in Laurence Sutin, Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick (Harmony Books, 1989), pp. 188-89.

  72 Bob Pool, "LAPD scoots into the future," LA Times (Nov. 10, 2007), http://articles.latimes. com/2007/nov/l0/local/me-scooterl0.

  73 David Sirota, "Big Brother takes the wheel," Salon (Aug. 15, 2012), http://www.salon. com/2012/08/16/big_brother_takes_the_wheel/.

  74 Peter Murray, "Google's Self-Driving Car Passes 300,000 Miles," The Huffington Post (Au
g. 16, 2012), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/x-prize-foundation/googles-self-driving-car_b_1790781.html.

  75 Paul Harris, "NYPD and Microsoft launch advanced citywide surveillance system," The Guardian (Aug. 8, 2012), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/08/nypd-microsoft-surveillance-system.

  76 "Google's eavesdropping technology: Going too far to sell ads?" The Week (March 23, 2012), http://theweek.com/article/index/226004/googles-eavesdropping-technology-going-too-far-to-sell-ads.

  77 Austin Carr, "Iris Scanners Create the Most Secure City in the World. Welcome, Big Brother," Fast Company (Aug. 18, 2010), http://www.fastcompany.com/1683302/iris-scanners-create-most-secure-city-world-welcome-big-brother.

  78 Zach Howard, "Police to begin iPhone iris scans amid privacy concerns," Reuters (July 20, 2011), http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-crime-identification-iris-idUSTRE76J4A120110720.

  79 Ryan Gallagher, "Report: FBI Hopes To Launch Iris-Scan Database To Track Criminals," Slate (July 5, 2012), http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/07/05/iris_scan_ database_for_th.e_fbi_.html.

  80 John Villasenor, "Eye-Tracking Computers Will Read Your Thoughts," Slate (March 27, 2012), http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/03/eye_tracking_ computer_programs_and_privacy_.html.

  81 Sarah Freishtat, "Just a face in a crowd? Scans pick up ID, personal data," The Washington Times (July 26, 2012), http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/26/just-a-face-in-a-crowd-scans-pick-up-id-personal-d/.