SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the use-virtual-reality,-instead? dept.
Federal agents have persuaded police officers to scan license plates to gather information about gun-show customers, government emails show, raising questions about how officials monitor constitutionally protected activity.
Emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency crafted a plan in 2010 to use license-plate readers—devices that record the plate numbers of all passing cars—at gun shows in Southern California, including one in Del Mar, not far from the Mexican border.
Agents then compared that information to cars that crossed the border, hoping to find gun smugglers, according to the documents and interviews with law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the operation.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/gun-show-customers-license-plates-come-under-scrutiny-1475451302
First they came for the Muslims, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Muslim.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday October 05 2016, @03:04PM
So let me get this straight: You aren't actually prepping to fight the government, you are only threatening to fight the government but aren't actually willing to carry it out. And somehow, the government won't notice that this is an empty threat, and respond as if it were a real threat.
I have a much simpler way of deterring tyrannical governments in democracies such as the US: Vote for somebody who won't do that and will stop those who try. This has been working well enough regardless of available guns for a couple of centuries.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @03:17PM
Till now.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by redneckmother on Wednesday October 05 2016, @03:25PM
Respectfully, I must disagree with your assertion that voting can or will change anything.
To me, it is painfully obvious that the electoral system is rigged in the US.
Few people who SHOULD be elected ARE elected, and those in power remain in power.
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday October 05 2016, @08:46PM
Respectfully, I must disagree with your assertion that voting can or will change anything.
The problem is that democracy requires an informed participating public to work as intended. We have neither in the US. Too many people do not vote in primaries and general elections. Too many people have no interest in issues that will truly affect them, if they become politically concerned at all it is in getting outraged over mirage issues. People are convinced to vote against their own interests not for altruistic reasons, but because they fear someone they consider undesirable will benefit as well. It requires personal effort of every person to be informed, we geeks and nerds discovered long ago that science, math, nature, tech, etc. are far more interesting and important than Keeping Up With The Kardashians, too many people would rather take the easy way out.
We have roughly a 90% retention rate for a Congress that has roughly a 10% approval rating. They should be voted out, every one, in the primaries. In the House every two years, in the Senate every six years, the President every four years, at least until things start to change. Combine that with 90-100% voter participation, and we would bring the current power structure crashing down.
(Score: 2) by J053 on Wednesday October 05 2016, @09:55PM
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday October 05 2016, @04:14PM
Would you rather be hanged with a red rope, or a blue rope? You get to vote!
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1) by Arik on Wednesday October 05 2016, @05:06PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @06:19PM
Wow, its like you deliberately misunderstand the point in an attempt to make the point sound ridiculous. People prep to fight and simply hope it doesn't come down to that. Some are empty threats, some are not. Regardless, history has shown that it is entirely possible for a country to go from freedom loving awesomeness (har har) to oppressive fascism with a very short period of time.
I haven't heard too many stories about preppers going crazy and killing people, but I have heard plenty of stories about government agencies abusing their power. I can ignore a prepper, but I can't ignore a cop pulling me over and confiscating the cash I took out from the bank to buy a used car.