Is Homeland Security Spying on Reddit Users?

army judge

Super Moderator
DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER!!! 1770573334168.png


Homeland security field agents are scouring the social media site Reddit, monitoring the communications of law-abiding Americans critical of the agency.

The spying is revealed in a January intelligence bulletin produced by the Border Patrol and leaked to me. The subject of the report is Reddit user "Budget-Chicken-2425," who is not a narco-trafficker, gang member, or terrorist. Just someone concerned about federal overreach.

The report centers on Budget-Chicken's call for a protest near a Border Patrol facility in Edinburg, Texas. Though the report acknowledges that anti-ICE protests throughout Texas have been "generally lawful" and that there's no evidence of any threat posed by Budget-Chicken's call, any protest whatsoever near the border patrol facility is said to "warrant continued monitoring."

The bulletin notes that Chicken "frequently participates in various community discussions," listing their interests in r/Texans (comparing the team to the Cleveland Browns), r/movies (discussing the film Almost Famous), r/stephenking (sharing book collections), and r/FuckImOld (reminiscing about 1970s television production logos).



Leaked intelligence bulletin
The disconnect between the "lawful" reality of the protest and the agency's internal panic is most visible in a "BOLO" (Be On The Look Out) alert included in the appendix. Despite the bulletin's own admission that there is "no specific reporting of planned violence," the Rio Grande Valley Sector Operations Center issued the following warning to its agents: "It is recommended that all agents wear their ballistic armor, utilize long arms, and if possible, work in groups."


National security brain has so infected the immigration authorities that they now treat a four-sentence Reddit post about "spreading awareness" as though it were the secret messages of al Qaeda. It is a system designed to find threats everywhere, even if it has to look for them in a subreddit about Stephen King novels.
 
DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER!!! View attachment 5699


Homeland security field agents are scouring the social media site Reddit, monitoring the communications of law-abiding Americans critical of the agency.

The spying is revealed in a January intelligence bulletin produced by the Border Patrol and leaked to me. The subject of the report is Reddit user "Budget-Chicken-2425," who is not a narco-trafficker, gang member, or terrorist. Just someone concerned about federal overreach.

The report centers on Budget-Chicken's call for a protest near a Border Patrol facility in Edinburg, Texas. Though the report acknowledges that anti-ICE protests throughout Texas have been "generally lawful" and that there's no evidence of any threat posed by Budget-Chicken's call, any protest whatsoever near the border patrol facility is said to "warrant continued monitoring."

The bulletin notes that Chicken "frequently participates in various community discussions," listing their interests in r/Texans (comparing the team to the Cleveland Browns), r/movies (discussing the film Almost Famous), r/stephenking (sharing book collections), and r/FuckImOld (reminiscing about 1970s television production logos).



Leaked intelligence bulletin
The disconnect between the "lawful" reality of the protest and the agency's internal panic is most visible in a "BOLO" (Be On The Look Out) alert included in the appendix. Despite the bulletin's own admission that there is "no specific reporting of planned violence," the Rio Grande Valley Sector Operations Center issued the following warning to its agents: "It is recommended that all agents wear their ballistic armor, utilize long arms, and if possible, work in groups."


National security brain has so infected the immigration authorities that they now treat a four-sentence Reddit post about "spreading awareness" as though it were the secret messages of al Qaeda. It is a system designed to find threats everywhere, even if it has to look for them in a subreddit about Stephen King novels.
smh... very, very upsetting what is going on in the country. :(
 
It occurs to me that millions of US citizens have become (and/or) are becoming/paranoid or are developing symptoms related to paranoia, it's leaders seem to be suffering, too!
If it were up to me, it would be required that politicians have a mandated Psych exam prior to running. Make sure that said politician isn't mentally or cognitively impaired.

sigh...but, alas, it's not up to me.
 
it would be required that politicians have a mandated Psych exam prior to running.

Would you include the liberal left who failed to secure our country's borders, allowed millions of illegals into the country, objected to enforcing our immigration laws, fomented rebellion by encouraging protestors to interfere with law enforcement in the performance of their duties (calling those officers fascists) to the extent that some fools brought guns to protests and tried to run down enforcement agents with their cars?
 
sigh...yes. Left, Right, Independent, Tea Party. All.

Too many questionable people are in charge, and it is disconcerting. Too many people placed in charge of agency's that they are not qualified to run. This is not a left v right thing...this would be to make sure that people with personality disorders/mental illness and cognitive decline are not placed in charge and mess things up. This is just MPO.
 
This is not a left v right thing...this would be to make sure that people with personality disorders/mental illness and cognitive decline are not placed in charge and mess things up.

You're right. It's not a left v right thing. But it's never going to happen just like making sure that people with personality disorders/mental illness and cognitive decline can't get firearms is never going to happen.

Political candidates would have to submit to mental health evaluations voluntarily and agree to abide by the results. I don't see that happening any more than I see congressional term limits happening.
 
Would you include the liberal left who failed to secure our country's borders, allowed millions of illegals into the country, objected to enforcing our immigration laws, fomented rebellion by encouraging protestors to interfere with law enforcement in the performance of their duties (calling those officers fascists) to the extent that some fools brought guns to protests and tried to run down enforcement agents with their cars?

Both parties have failed now for the 30 years to reform the immigration code to meet our present needs. Both parties instead have used immigation as a wedge issue to flog the other side. If the American people want a fair, effective, and humane immigration policy we need to vote nearly every single member of Congress and start with an all new Congress that is pledged to do the hard work updating the law and putting in place effective deterrents to keep unauthorized aliens from getting in in the first place. Needless to say, do that Trump also has to go, so I see no hope of change any time soon. The cycle of the Washington politicians using immigration to bash the other party in a sort of blood sport will continue because none of them are actually serious about modernizing our immigration law. Indeed, members of both parties on the hill don't seem much interested in doing their job enacting meaningful legislation. They just like to bicker over the names of post offices and military bases and repeatedly shut down the government just so they can huff and puff and show how strong they are.

We now an have administration that is using immigration as a cover to violate the rights of the very Americans they've sworn to protect. I said it here, before Trump was elected, that he has a desire to be a dictator, and in this second term he's going down that very path.

When a president tries to silence his critics with unlawful intimidation, harassment, and illegal arrests of citizens instead of protecting their freedom of speech, we have a dangerous man in the White House.

When we have a president who does a massive hiring spree for ICE, fails to train them properly, and then urges the agency to use any means, legal and illegal, to round up aliens and citizens alike and deport them, we have a dangerous man in the White House.

When we have a president who approves of warrantless entry into American homes, we have a dangerous man in the White House.

When we have a president leading an administration that has deliberately violated hundreds of court orders, we have a dangerous man in the White House.

When we have a president calling for Republicans to make midterm election national (i.e. have the federal government count the votes), we have a dangerous man in the White House. Nevermind that the Constitution clearly doesn't allow for that.

When we have a president who has absolutely no regard for the Constitution (and who understands very little of it), laws, or court rules, we have a dangerous man in the White House.

Trump often comes across ignorant and clueless. So people dismiss him as being harmless. They think he spouts off just because that's his style. He doesn't really mean it, they say. But the people behind Trump like Stephen Miller are not ignorant and clueless. They know exactly what they are doing. They are the ones leading Trump down this path. They don't care about protecting the American people; they care about gaining power. Even some Republicans on Capitol Hill are now wary of Miller's actions and ambitions. And Miller isn't the only bad hire or appointment Trump has made.

You didn't mention ICE shooting and killing two American citizens who posed absolutely no threat of harm to them. They were just jacked up on the power trip of being outfitted like soldiers looking for any "enemy" opposition to kill. You didn't mention ICE taking a 5 year-old kid and his Dad to one of those immigration concentration camps ICE is building across the country. Why not? Surely this isn't the kind of America you want, is it?

I warned on these boards before the election that Trump has dictator ambitions, some members here dismissed that with claims that Trump would save America, not harm it. But what actions has he taken to benefit the American people in the last. Nothing but putting on a show of deporting people who "look foreign" i.e. anyone not a White, straight, Christain male.

I said before the the election that Trump wouldn't be able to make a power grab if the American public stood up to oppose those actions. Everyone here agreed with that. But where are those Trump supporters who said they'd oppose him if got out of control? I don't see them protesting ICE or critizing the President. I don't see them standing up for citizens who were lawfully exercising their 2nd Amendment rights being assaulted and shot at. Why speak so loudly about the sanctity of the 2nd Amendment if you aren't going to stand up the the federal government when it punishes those exercising those rights?

Instead what I see are a lot of people in the Republican Party (but thank God not all of them) that have so bought into the Trump cult of personality that they'll never say a bad word about the man, never rise up to oppose him. They'll cheer every power grab he makes right on through making himself King. I am today embarrassed to call myself a Republican.

In Star Wars Episode III Senator and former Queen Padmé Amidala, upon seeing the Galatic Senate vote Palpatine as Emperor, says "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." That's what I see in the hardcore MAGA wing of the Republican party.

I respect you, Jack. We agree on a lot of things. But when it comes to Trump it seems you and I have very, very different opinions of the man. I would not have posted this but for your opening salvo above. If we don't want the boards to go down the political rabbit hole none of the rabbits should enter the hole in the first place.

There is at least one member here who was a huge Trump supporter who said after the election "this isn't what I voted for." I applauded his honesty. I've not seen much of him since.
 
Back
Top