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Showing posts from September, 2019

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Tenth Amendment Center: Smoking Gun: Feds Partner with Local Police to Facilitate Warrantless Surveillance

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...from Tenth Amendment Center Information uncovered by activists in Berkeley, California, revealed a web of cooperation between state, local and federal authorities as they secretly spied on a political rally. This smoking gun conclusively proves that federal agencies actively partner with local law enforcement to facilitate secret dragnet surveillance and indicates this is likely going on across the country. Specifically, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fusion center partnered with Berkeley police to secretly spy on a 2018 “No To Marxism in Berkeley” rally. Local law enforcement borrowed high tech cameras with facial recognition technology from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) and secretly deployed them in Civic Center Park in order to surveil the rally organized by right-wing groups along with expected counterprotests by Antifa. NCRIC is part of the nationwide DHS Fusion Center Enterprise . After Oakland Privacy  uncovered information t

Tenth Amendment Center: Oakland Activists Pushing Efforts to Block Federal Militarization of Local Police

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...from Tenth Amendment Center OAKLAND , Calif. (Sept. 25, 2019) – Activists in Oakland have ramped up efforts to take a first step toward limiting the impact of federal programs that militarize local police. American Friends Service Committee (AFCS) will host a community town hall on policing and military equipment in support of efforts to pass a city ordinance requiring approval by the Oakland City Council for the acquisition of military equipment, and use policies and reporting for military equipment that the Oakland Police Department has or obtains in the future. As AFCS points out, “Oakland has no policy for the acquisition or use of militarized equipment. Oakland PD can acquire and use military equipment of all kinds – anywhere, at any time, with no policy for its use or public reporting of what it has or how it is used.” The organization notes, “Several studies conclude police departments that acquire military-grade equipment are more likely to use violence and are no more

Tenth Amendment Center: James Madison on War as a Great Threat to Liberty

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...from Tenth Amendment Center Excerpted from Political Observations, 20 April 1795 Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Those truths are well established. They are read in every page

Tenth Amendment Center: Utah Committee Holds Hearing on Facial Recognition

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...from Tenth Amendment Center SALT LAKE CITY , Utah (Sept. 27, 2019) – Last week, a joint Utah legislative committee held a hearing on facial recognition technology, and legislators plan to consider at least two bills addressing the invasive surveillance technology during the upcoming legislative session. The interim Government Operations Committee hearing was prompted by a recent report by the Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology and reported by the Washington Post revealing that Utah was one of several states running facial recognition on it driver license photos. According to the report, the FBI and ICE have turned state DMV databases into the “bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure.” According to a report by KUER radio , the hearing revealed that the Utah Department of Public Safety runs the photo of every Utahn who applies for or renews their driver’s license. That amounts to around 2,000 photo scans per day and includes minors. According to th

Tenth Amendment Center: Utah Committee Hold Hearing on Facial Recognition

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...from Tenth Amendment Center SALT LAKE CITY , Utah (Sept. 27, 2019) – Last week, a joint Utah legislative committee held a hearing on facial recognition technology, and legislators plan to consider at least two bills addressing the invasive surveillance technology during the upcoming legislative session. The interim Government Operations Committee hearing was prompted by a recent report by the Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology and reported by the Washington Post revealing that Utah was one of several states running facial recognition on it driver license photos. According to the report, the FBI and ICE have turned state DMV databases into the “bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure.” According to a report by KUER radio , the hearing revealed that the Utah Department of Public Safety runs the photo of every Utahn who applies for or renews their driver’s license. That amounts to around 2,000 photo scans per day and includes minors. According to th

Tenth Amendment Center: 4 Ways “Conservative” Groups are Awful on the Constitution and liberty

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...from Tenth Amendment Center What can we learn from a single email sent by a respected conservative organization that’s been around for more than 30 years? Quite a lot, actually. Path to Liberty, Fast Friday Edition: September 27, 2019 PODCAST VERSION Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS SHOW LINKS: JOIN TAC Show Archives Subscribe and Review on iTunes About Goldwater Dan Crenshaw Explains His Talk Of Red Flag Laws James Madison Political Observations Washington’s Farewell Samuel Adams to James Warren 1776 George Mason in Virginia Ratifying Convention Joseph Warren’s Boston Massacre Oration Standing Armies: Why the Founders Wanted You to Own Military-Style Weapons ALTERNATE VIDEO SOURCES Watch on Brighteon Watch on Bitchute Watch on Twitch.tv Watch on Periscope Watch on DLive Watch on IGTV Watch on DLive FOLLOW and SUPPORT TAC: Become a Member: http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/members/ Email Newsletter: http://tenthamendmentcente

Tenth Amendment Center: Half-Trillion in One Month: Borrowing us into Oblivion

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...from Tenth Amendment Center The fiscal year budget deficit surged passed $1 trillion last month . Spending deficits necessarily mean more government borrowing and we’re seeing that in the numbers as well. Uncle Sam’s outstanding public debt grew by $450 billion in August alone. The national debt stood at $22.02 trillion on Aug. 1 and surged to $22.47 trillion as of Aug. 27. As  SRSrocco noted , the huge jump in the debt in August was partly due to the U.S.Treasury making up for lost time. The debt ceiling put a crimp on federal government borrowing earlier in the year until the bipartisan budget deal reached in July suspended the borrowing limit for two years. This was the same deal – signed by President Trump – that will increase discretionary spending from $1.32 trillion in the current fiscal year to $1.37 trillion in fiscal 2020 and then raises it again to $1.375 trillion the year after that. The deal will allow for an increase in both domestic and military spending. So,

Tenth Amendment Center: District Attorneys Run “Advanced Public Surveillance Networks”

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...from Tenth Amendment Center The public trust has been betrayed. District Attorney’s (DA) are using CCTV cameras and license plate readers to create public surveillance networks. According to  U.S. Legal , the  definition  of a DA is “to investigate alleged crimes in cooperation with law enforcement.” Not a single one of the 22 definitions includes running a public surveillance network. What is happening in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County is not an aberration, it is fast becoming commonplace. Last month,  Lancaster Online   revealed that the DA’s office has created an “advanced public surveillance network.” “The district attorney for Pennsylvania’s second-most-populous county, Stephen Zappala Jr. has assembled a network of advanced surveillance cameras in and around Pittsburgh and has enlisted colleagues in four surrounding counties to extend its reach into their jurisdictions.” This video revealed that the DA’s office has real-time access to CCTV cameras, effectively allow

Tenth Amendment Center: Now in Effect: Ohio Law Legalizes CBD Despite Ongoing Federal Prohibition

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...from Tenth Amendment Center COLUMBUS , Ohio (Sept. 26. 2019) – A law legalizing the sale of CBD in the state is now in full effect. This will not only open up markets in Ohio; it also takes a crucial step given the FDA’s continued regulation and prohibition of CBD. A large bipartisan coalition of senators and representatives sponsored House Bill 57 ( SB57 ). The new law creates a licensing program for the cultivation and processing of industrial hemp. It also legalizes the possession and sale of hemp products, including cannabidiol and food products containing CBD. Under the law, “the addition of hemp or a hemp product to any other product does not adulterate that other product.” Last summer,  Ohio Pharmacy Board guidance classified CBD as a banned substance in Ohio and held that the sale of CBD products was only allowed through the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries. Some stores in the state pulled CBD products from their shelves, although many defied the board’s ruling a

Tenth Amendment Center: To the Governor: California Approves Measure to Allow Marijuana Business Owners to Deduct Expenses from State Taxes

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...from Tenth Amendment Center SACRAMENTO . Calif. (Sept. 26, 2019) – Earlier this month, the California House gave final approval to a bill that would sever a link between state and federal tax law, allowing individuals to deduct expenses from legal marijuana businesses for state income tax purposes despite federal prohibition. Enactment of the bill would encourage the growth of the legal marijuana market in California and further nullify unconstitutional federal prohibition of cannabis in practice. Asm. Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) introduced Assembly Bill 37 ( AB37 ) on Jan. 11. Under current California law, the state personal income tax code conforms to federal tax law with respect to itemized deductions and business deductions. Under the federal tax code, individuals cannot deduct business expenses related to trafficking specified controlled substances, including marijuana. As a result, legal California marijuana business owners cannot currently deduct business expens