Last Minute Survival

Today while shopping at Target I noticed something unusual in the parking lot.  Rising above the middle of the parking lot was a large, mobile guard post.  It had many cameras, dark tinted windows, and appeared armored.  Further, there was a police cruiser parked at its base.  Seeing this, I wondered, what could possible justify making the parking lot of Target look like a federal penitentiary.  Perhaps it was just a new “Supermax” Target?  Was there some imminent terrorist threat against Target?  Should I pack my kids up and flee now for safety?  No one in management seemed to have any comment so it must have just materialized out of thin air.

The reality is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is becoming ever more overt in its actions toward implementing a complete police state.  As the tower attests, DHS has been working overtime to militarize our local police forces.  In fact, DHS has spent billions of taxpayer dollars to provide local police with equipment designed for full scale warfare.  In short, they are using your money to build the infrastructure to totally control you and every aspect of your life.  The DHS provided equipment includes items like Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles, microwave and ultra low frequency emitting “crowd control” devices, high tech intelligence and surveillance equipment to include drones, and mobile guard towers.  Previously these items were only seen on overseas battlefields and used against America’s most unsavory enemies, but now in keeping with the militarization and takeover of local police, DHS has handed these items out like candy to local cops.  The unstated, but nonetheless real effect of the change in police demeanor from peace officers to storm troopers has been to imbalance the delicate Constitutional balance between the power of the State and the collective power of the people to challenge the State effectively in the event the State becomes illegitimate.

There are neither credible threats against Target to justify this militarized checkpoint nor is there any chance this waste of tax payer dollars would prevent an attack should there actually be one.  This ominous icon of a war zone is designed to desensitize the population to the fact they are monitored, spied on, recorded, and no longer free to even shop for socks without the government’s all seeing eye prying upon their every move.  This type of emerging soft tyranny must be identified, highlighted, resisted, and ultimately shut down at every single emergence.

This particular tower in Potomac Yard Shopping Center (Alexandria, Virginia) was procured by wasting taxpayer dollars and put into use by the Alexandria, Virginia Police Department.  After discussing the tower with local law enforcement the consensus seems to be that the tower was emplaced to thwart a rise in thefts during the holidays around store parking lots.  After all, who wouldn’t want better “public safety?”  However, that rationale fails the logic test.  First of all, after follow-on observation it appears the tower is an overpriced scarecrow because it wasn’t manned and perhaps the video monitoring wasn’t even active.  As such, there was no one actually present to “prevent” a crime.  At best this would only support follow-on investigation if the cameras were operational and pointed in the right direct.  Thus, an unmanned tower provides no more security than store cameras already in place.  Second, the policing is being done on commercial property with your tax dollars.  If Target parking lots are not safe, it is incumbent upon Target to bear the burden of the cost of making their premises safe and secure for shoppers and not Alexandria Police Department.  If the threat is really that high to shoppers as the government would like to scare you into believing, then where is the data to support this and why would we dare take our families out Christmas shopping?  Third, the cost of purchasing, maintaining, moving, emplacing, monitoring, and manning these towers must run into the millions of dollars.  This is an extremely high price tag for what the tower provides and approaches a complete waste of tax dollars.  Fourth, to actually make it effective for its purported purpose of preventing thefts in parking lots during the holiday season, it would have to be manned with a minimum of two officers for at least two shifts a day to cover the shopping hours.  This surveillance would effectively remove significant manpower from a police department’s normal shifts and result in a reduced ability to respond to actual calls for help and criminal activity.  Finally, one must ask whether they want this type of life.  People must use their god given mind to envision where this leads in the future.  A life where the pettiest of crimes results in a justification for a police state is abhorrent to a free society.  There is no freedom of anything when on every corner, at every moment of our lives, armed government goons are ready to swoop in and enforce the smallest of infractions with overwhelming violence.

I ask all of you to contact Target and demand these icons of our emerging police state be immediately removed from their premises or we will boycott their store.  We have already begun a local campaign and to date, Target management has only officially responded by email with a generic “sorry for the inconvenience.”  This is unacceptable and we must make our voices the loudest in the room.  Further, we need to educate the management of Target and other retail stores on what is unacceptable to us as their customers in respect to further police state actions.  By combining our efforts and getting the word out to other internet outlets, talk radio, TV, and our friends and family about these excesses we can expose these tyrannical actions and stop them.  Please take action today and use all your personal clout to impress others to action.

Target’s contact information is as follows:

Potomac Yard Shopping Center

Target

3101 Jefferson Davis Hwy

Alexandria, VA 22305-3042

(703) 706-3840

https://www-secure.target.com/HelpFormLinkPageView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&krypto=cQcHDksCxhgmutHxyjlq48%2BIHqzAFPvRjj%2BCK5QVyor4h0nGk1rMzeFOGnDn4aO%2FNM%2F4KjfHQ4%2BK%0AdgJRkZ2wBjKToFcNk5ho24f6ObC44dg%3D&ddkey=http:HelpFormLinkPageView

By Guiles Hendrik

December 15, 2013

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