[Thanos]

Looks like the "patriots" were gathering intel for some kind of pre-emptive assassination campaign against police officers and their families.

$1:

A “sovereign citizens” group used unwitting young people to gather information on first responders in Texas, according to an FBI alert recently obtained through a public records request.

The FBI alert, which was issued in August 2013 by the San Antonio Division, reported the unnamed group sent teams of youngsters throughout the Austin region and possibly other states to collect addresses of police and other first responders.

The volunteers knocked on doors and told residents they were raising money for an organization designed to help young people with public speaking by asking random strangers about their professions, authorities said.

The sovereign citizens group told volunteers they could earn points for the information collected, and the team with the most points would win a college scholarship and money.

Team members carried yellow reference cards that listed about 15 professions – such as firefighters, nurses, doctors, military personnel, and police officers — with corresponding point values ranging from 500 to 2,000 points.

Police officers carried the highest point value.

The volunteers, who carried no state-issued identification, carried cards that indicated they had a constitutional right to gather the information without any restrictions from local authorities.

The FBI said the volunteers did not understand they were working for a sovereign citizens group, and investigators said no prizes were actually awarded to any of the young people.

The volunteers told FBI agents they were working as part of a larger group that operated using similar methods.

The FBI alert was obtained and published last month by the nonprofit Public Intelligence website.

Sovereign citizens were recently named in a poll of law enforcement agencies as the top domestic terrorist threat.

While sovereign citizens are more likely to commit “paper terrorism” by filing bogus legal documents, some of them have enacted or been implicated in violent plots.

A sovereign citizen lured first responders in suburban Dallas to an ambush, where he opened fire on them with an AK-47 as part of an attempt to provoke a revolution.

No one was injured in that attack, and Douglas Leguin was arrested on a variety of charges.

It’s not clear whether the 60-year-old Leguin, who claimed he was protesting an “upside-down” legal system, was connected to the group that had collected information on first responders.

Just another day in the land of the free, home of the frightened bunny I suppose.

[DrCaleb]

Well, that's kind of creepy!

I wonder, do we have the same information about these 'Freemen'? Oh yea, 'Cardboard box, near the old stamping plant'.

[Dayseed]

While its scary that there are groups like this who are doing batshit insane scary things like collecting police officer's home addresses, it seems to go unspoken as to "why" these groups are cropping up. Have disenfranchised losers always existed, but haven't been able to co-ordinate without the internet?

[peck420]

Dayseed Dayseed:

Have disenfranchised losers always existed, but haven't been able to co-ordinate without the internet?

I thought disenfranchised losers made the internet?

[xerxes]

No they only show up when there's a Democrat in the White House.

[N_Fiddledog]

'Freemen' are part of the sovereign citizens movement, aren't they?

But you can follow the movement without being a Freeman. Isn't that the way that one goes?

[BartSimpson]

A couple things:

1. In the US there is no mandate that anyone has to carry ID. Therefore any assumption of guilt simply because a person doesn't have ID is going to end up invalid before the courts. As it should be.

2. We live in a surveillance society. The same cops who will capture your cell phone calls without a warrant, illegally demand your ID when you've done nothing wrong, and who will demand to know where YOU live should not complain when they have to confront the same facts of life as everyone else does.

3. Personally, I see no problem with the so-called sovereign citizens. If they don't want to pay taxes then who cares so long as they don't accept any benefits from the rest of us. People should be free to choose this lifestyle if they wish, so long as they don't harm anyone else.

[Thanos]

The problem with them is that they absolutely intend to harm someone else, starting with the police and then working their way through the rest of their enemies list Turner Diaries-style. When you're fighting The Worst Tyranny Ever (trademark) all actions become acceptable in the eyes of the ones committing them.

[peck420]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

3. Personally, I see no problem with the so-called sovereign citizens. If they don't want to pay taxes then who cares so long as they don't accept any benefits from the rest of us. People should be free to choose this lifestyle if they wish, so long as they don't harm anyone else.

How do you plan to limit their access to publicly funded infrastructure?

Water? Even open water is routinely tested and maintained by the government...albeit, sometimes not that well.

Healthcare? Emergency rooms will still have to take them in.

I have a crazy idea, how about everybody just accept that civilization has costs, and that government is one of them...granted, it would be nice if governments would accept that Joe Public does not have an endless supply of taxables....I digress.

[Xort]

Well if the logic is that if I have nothing to hide then I shouldn't mind surveillance, the by fair turn it should also be true that if you have done nothing wrong as a police officer you shouldn't mind people knowing where you live.

"pre-emptive assassination campaign against police officers and their families."

That's a bit much. Although when you look at the words of that statement, a pre-emptive attack implies that if they didn't strike first then they would be hit in time when the police were ready. Which given the trend in US policing might not be that far off the mark.

The transfer of military gear into the hands of police and the rise of no-knock 'high' risk raids has been pushing the balance of policing in the US farther into a militarized police force. Which is funny given that the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan overall had tighter restrictions on ROEs than US law enforcement do.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

xerxes xerxes:

No they only show up when there's a Democrat in the White House.

Apparently you've only had the internet since 2008

But that's not the topic. I can kind of understand if they were specifically looking for the bad cops that essentially got away with murder or were just dirty cops, but firefighters and paramedics? Jesus, reminds me of the stories I heard growing up about the '67 riot in Detroit where cops, firefighters and paramedics were intentionally targeted.

[Freakinoldguy]

Dayseed Dayseed:

I thought disenfranchised losers made the internet?

If Al Gore did invent the internet like he claims then the answer to your question would be. Yes disenfranchised losers made the internet .

[Gunnair]

peck420 peck420:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

3. Personally, I see no problem with the so-called sovereign citizens. If they don't want to pay taxes then who cares so long as they don't accept any benefits from the rest of us. People should be free to choose this lifestyle if they wish, so long as they don't harm anyone else.

How do you plan to limit their access to publicly funded infrastructure?

Water? Even open water is routinely tested and maintained by the government...albeit, sometimes not that well.

Healthcare? Emergency rooms will still have to take them in.

I have a crazy idea, how about everybody just accept that civilization has costs, and that government is one of them...granted, it would be nice if governments would accept that Joe Public does not have an endless supply of taxables....I digress.

Publicly funded infrastructure of any kind is then verboten. Enjoy shitting in the woods stroking your pistol.

[Freakinoldguy]

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

xerxes xerxes:

No they only show up when there's a Democrat in the White House.

Apparently you've only had the internet since 2008

But that's not the topic. I can kind of understand if they were specifically looking for the bad cops that essentially got away with murder or were just dirty cops, but firefighters and paramedics? Jesus, reminds me of the stories I heard growing up about the '67 riot in Detroit where cops, firefighters and paramedics were intentionally targeted.

Those weren't stories, we watched it every night on the news. Firefighters and ambulance attendants cowering behind their vehicles while bullets bounced off them like popcorn popping on a hot stove.

It's fucking disgusting that the people who are there to help became targets for the radical fucking morons that thought the world owed them a living. I can remember people being pissed off that their homes burned down but, when it was pointed out to them by the interviewers that the fire dept. couldn't do anything because they were being shot at, the assholes still bitched whined and complained that it was the City and whitey's fault because apparently they would have put out the fires had they been in a white neighbourhood, targeted gunfire or not.

You couldn't pay me enough to be an anything in Detroit.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

xerxes xerxes:

No they only show up when there's a Democrat in the White House.

Apparently you've only had the internet since 2008

But that's not the topic. I can kind of understand if they were specifically looking for the bad cops that essentially got away with murder or were just dirty cops, but firefighters and paramedics? Jesus, reminds me of the stories I heard growing up about the '67 riot in Detroit where cops, firefighters and paramedics were intentionally targeted.

Those weren't stories, we watched it every night on the news. Firefighters and ambulance attendants cowering behind their vehicles while bullets bounced off them like popcorn popping on a hot stove.

It's fucking disgusting that the people who are there to help became targets for the radical fucking morons that thought the world owed them a living. I can remember people being pissed off that their homes burned down but, when it was pointed out to them by the interviewers that the fire dept. couldn't do anything because they were being shot at, the assholes still bitched whined and complained that it was the City and whitey's fault because apparently they would have put out the fires had they been in a white neighbourhood, targeted gunfire or not.

You couldn't pay me enough to be an anything in Detroit.

Oh believe me, I know they weren't just "stories". That's actually how the whole Detroit/Windsor Freedom Festival began IIRC. I dunno about the police, but firefighters and paramedics from Windsor were also risking their lives to help out in an amazing gesture of good neighbourliness. Something that for a time at least, made Windsor and Detroit pretty tight with each other.