Topic: Homeland Security raids mall kiosks, claims they "fund terrorists" (Read 5832 times)

Sadly, I don't have to imagine:

Just imagine how much of Govt bitch one must be to defend this Protect-The-Fatherland-From-Terrorists fairytale. Nationalism is a mental disorder.

Godwin is not god. The comparison is just, and if you are as old as you claim, you know it. This country is not the one I grew up in. It barely resembles it. And I'm only 44.

Well, some discussions provoke a comparison to Hitler a little faster than others.

This one, I'm surprised it took this long.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Being German, this reminds me somehow of the german GeStaPo (Geheime Staatspolizei, "Secret State Police"), a police-like organization which was established and active during the 3rd Reich, a rather bleak era for Germany in the first third of the last century.

Their equivalent for "terrorists" where "Jews". They could make up any kind of case or investigation when they put the word "Jew" in it. And arrest and incarcerate you immediately for an indetermined time, in any place of their choice, with no judge, no warrant, no right to talk to a lawyer, in fact without any rights of anything at all.

"They could be supporting Jews. They have friends that are Jews. They bought from/sold to Jews. They helped Jews. They had sex with Jews." And so on.

Bad things seem to have a tendency of iteration, sometimes just the names change.

I guess they shouldn't have been selling illegal counterfeit goods then, huh?

This is huge mission creep for DHS and by the logic that 'could fund terrorist' basically applies to ANY profit making venture.  Nothing about the goods being counterfeit makes it MORE likely to fund terrorists.  And I am not against legitimate raids by local police after a warning has been given that goods are counterfeit so long as counterfeit does not extend into 'gray market' (non counterfeit goods intended for a different market) goods.  That is also mission creep and should be handled with just a lawsuit.   

I like this version.

So another version then:

"Uniformed terrorist gang robs small-time entrepeneurs in plain daylight"

If anybody didn't expect this kind of thing to occur, they obviously missed the most basic tenets of primate psychology. 

If you give a bunch of kids uniforms and guns and tell them its ok to rob people and commit violence for political gain, it's likely to happen. 

So, do you think this kind of thing is going to get more blatant and costly for us all until we fight back or will these guys grow up and find real jobs on their own? 

I could dispute this a great deal. But following on your logic, what about Federal Reserve Notes? If you follow their history from their first issuance in 1913 through today, they cannot be called anything BUT counterfeit. Originally, they were a warehouse receipt. Then through quasi-legal subterfuge and outright theft in 1937, they were made to be promissory notes. Then the original intent was sacrificed on the altar of the great god Keynes. Now they are LITERALLY worth less than the special paper they are printed on.

They are made without industry regulations (because the manufacturers are illegal in the first place{No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.}).

What I NEVER see pointed out in these threads, even by people on my side of the argument, is something that should be trumpeted from the rooftops. DHS and KGB have the same meaning, and the same function. There was never any purpose behind DHS EXCEPT to spy on and control the subjects of the Empire. If they are involved, it's dirty. Period. These are people who view honesty and integrity as swear words.

I have lived in the Empire for 44 years. In my youth it was a relatively pleasant and relatively free place. Now, in just a couple of decades, it has turned into something beyond the Checka's wildest dreams. Hitler would be jealous and Mussolini proud.

News flash. The difference between a "terrorist" and a "soldier" is who's telling the story.

^^^ This.  Some of us are old enough to remember.

When it comes to major brands, I actually always try to buy counterfeit goods when safety is not at risk. Clothes, for example. Feels good at many levels, and feels even better after reading this thread.

The only way that I could see it being sensationalist or a lie is if one's perception is influenced by a predilection to be favorable to public agencies. I was a little surprised by the vehemence of the complaint.

Yepper. A strong, well-funded "civilian security force" has never gone wrong in any other place or era. /s

I'm not the one raising objections to anything but DHS's mission creep.

All proceeds according to plan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s

In Northern Ireland, after the IRA declared a ceasefire, there was a similiar rash of investigations into petty drug dealing and the like.  There really is nothing like the scent of redundancy letters to inspire this kind of zeal.

It is a very queer use of resources, that I can agree with. That they needed "undercover" agents to buy the items in the first place sounds like a badly scripted 007 film. I think it can boil down to two basic options. Either the DHS left out some very major details in order to preserve the operation as a whole... or they are completely wasting their time with mundane investigations.