Justin Hallman, 16, wanted to show how the United States is turning into a police state. He succeeded all too well in not only receiving an A+ in his American Government class but also allegedly a visit from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) confirming the very premise of his film posted on YouTube (below).
Hallman is a civil libertarian who supports Ron Paul, criticized an array of measures including the National Defense Authorization Act, crackdown on free speech, and attacks on the hacktivist group Anonymous. I have raised many of the same concerns, but I never got the interest that Hallman appears to have generated from the good people at the FBI.
Hallman’s house was promptly visited by two FBI agents, according to Hallman and his mother. The teenager stayed inside the door and refused to answer the door. His mother later called and was told by the agents that “We need to talk to your son.” They came back to the house and said that they wanted the teen to work for the FBI as an informant and spy on others, particularly Anonymous. He says that the agents closely questioned him about his support for Ron Paul as well as a conversation he once had with his teacher about the Illuminati secret society.
I have tried to find a response from the FBI denying the underlying facts of the boy’s account. If this visit occurred, I would have hoped to see a response on the conduct of these agents in allegedly seeking to turn a high school student into an informant or investigating such a film (including apparently interviewing his teachers).
Might as well be, Matt, but on a lighter note…
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-december-18-2002/so-you-re-living-in-a-police-state
Frankly,
In denial again? Nobody else produces this kind of films, not the government, the Dems, the Repugs, Exxon Oil, Monsanto, the cigarette people, the alcohol
people, infinite etc.
At least he is trying to reach an honorable goal.
And free speech still exists, although FBI does what it can to chill its use. Don’t you agree on that?
Maybe you are too reaching for honorable goals. But feel you are not helping.
Just an opinion.
anonymously posted 1, September 13, 2012 at 11:35 am
Matt, Take it up with RFK. Oh, gee, you can’t… He’s dead.
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And what about you?
@mespo and otteray. Well, the story was also reported in The Washington Examiner. The story about Brandon Raub is true. His lawyer, John Whitehead, was doing many interviews, including one with Glenn Beck, about his case. They are planning to bring a civil suit for unlawful detention. And a judge will strip you of your right to own firearms if they can get a physician to declare you mentally unstable. It’s happening more and more. An example of this is David Sarti who appeared on the TV show “Doomsday Preppers” before he had his guns taken.
I agree with both mespo and Darren. I have worked with law enforcement for many years and have known both FBI and Secret Service agents. This story does not pass the smell test.
I don’t buy the notion the FBI was actually trying to recruit him to being an informant against the Hacktivist community. My opinion is this was merely an interrogation technique of an attempt to engage in a fishing expedition to discover evidence against the boy of wrong doing.
This tehcnique invoves creating a sense in the “suspect” that the suspect is likely to get into trouble, but that there is a way to not only get out of it, but to redeem themselves by joining up with the good guys. It also offers a reward of some excitement and perhaps a reward of “bragging rights” for the suspect to use later.
The deception of this interview technique is that there is no genuine intention on the state interviewers for the suspect to become an informant, but rather instead to gain the trust of the suspect so that he will lower his guard and spill the beans by sharing all the guilty actions he has partaken in. After this, they then use the information to possibly implicate him in a crime and his statements are admitted as evidence against him.
I don’t know if this is the situation with regard to this teenager, but it is a possibility.
Matt, Take it up with RFK. Oh, gee, you can’t… He’s dead.
“Despite Whistleblowers’ Explosive Disclosures, House Normalizes Surveillance State”
http://www.whistleblower.org/blog/42-2012/2237-despite-whistleblowers-explosive-disclosures-house-normalizes-surveillance-state
“House Approves Sweeping, Warrantless Electronic Spy Powers”
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/house-approves-spy-bill/
Call me skeptical but this story doesn’t ring true. Rarely do FBI agents enlist informants on an initial encounter and they usually have a lot more leverage than a school project video. Underage informants are particullarly taboo. The story was reported in a blog known as Prison Planet.com and the author is its editor. He ends the story with this little tidbit:
“Last month former Marine Brandon Raub was kidnapped by authorities and held in a psychiatric ward for political posts made on Facebook, just one of thousands of similar ongoing cases. Gun owners are also having their firearms confiscated having been declared “mentally defective” due to their political beliefs.”
Sounds a little “aluminum foil hattish” to me.
anonymously posted 1, September 13, 2012 at 11:20 am
Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on. -Robert Kennedy
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Do say? Do you know that almost all military laws are almost identical? Do you think that really makes any difference?
I was very temporarily AY2, but I wasn’t AY3. I apologize.
Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on. -Robert Kennedy
Jude, I included the previous RFK quote in a letter to a local paper years ago. Let’s just say that it didn’t go unnoticed. I’m still taking flak for it.
Feingold’s still fighting the good fight.
This is what happens in our society. I once wrote a letter to the paper, explaining the difference between “skinheads” in general, and the stereotypical racist skinheads that everybody thinks up. I got a visit from the local PD’s “organized crime” unit because I clearly had useful information on racist skinhead gangs. THEY NEEDED TO KNOW!
If an agency thinks you know something or someone, you WILL be talked to.
What Gene said.
Foreign policy diplomacy is not something our government is good at anymore, and this is an example of the government’s domestic diplomacy eroding.
Bron and Gene,
I don’t think it’s just the fault of congress or the rest of govt. (which clearly has been utterly corrupted with a few exceptions). Many people in our nation accept the police state as normal or desirable. It was just worshiped at the RNC and DNC alike. Until more people understand that a police state does not protect anyone but the powerful it will remain in place. Until more people acknowledge that even though nothing is currently happening to them (often because they are obedient to authority), but bad things are happening to others and they need to care about that, it will remain in place.
SWM, Feingold was my favorite politician and I had the honor of voting for him every time.
Unfortunately, this is what law enforcement has come to in the last several decades. Police have become in many respects one trick ponies. Arrest or intimidate someone into becoming a snitch. If arrested, give the cops 3 others and you can walk. It’s lazy and bureaucratic, 3 arrests is more than 1 arrest.
Bron,
“What is the problem? Almost every single person I know, except for a very few, wants the DHS disbanded and the Patriot Act done away with. Why do they both still exist?”
Because they are instruments of domestic tyranny and those who manufacture the tools and provide the facilities and staffing for enforcing tyranny (and are, ergo, in a position to profit from tyranny) are who most of Congress actually represents because nothing spells “graft”, er, “campaign contribution” like “war profiteers”.