LEO HOHMANN: Brenda Arthur received an unexpected visit on March 8 that, one week later, leaves her feeling more than a little uneasy.
At her door that day was an officer with the West Virginia State Police. He wanted to know about her involvement in a Freedom of Information request regarding a local mosque.
Arthur, who will turn 67 this summer, serves as leader of the West Virginia chapter of ACT For America, whose mission is to educate Americans about the advancement of Islamic principles in Western societies.
As a Jewish American, she was concerned about a major expansion of the Islamic Association of West Virginia in her hometown of South Charleston. This mosque has hosted an openly anti-Semitic preacher in the past, and so she went to city hall in late January to have a look at its construction permits and site plans, something that is within the right of every American citizen under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and state open-records laws.
She had no idea that this perfectly legal activity, performed every day by citizen watchdogs across the U.S., would prompt a visit from the state police.
She was not available to answer the door when Sgt. R.C. Workman came knocking, but Workman left his business card with a hand-written note on the back:
“Brenda, please contact me at: 304-573-6190.”
Workman’s unit is part of the West Virginia Intelligence Exchange, a secretive outfit that works closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “intelligence fusion center” in West Virginia.
All 50 states have at least one DHS fusion center, and the story of Brenda Arthur lends credence to the views of civil libertarians that these centers, whatever their stated purpose, have been weaponized against law-abiding American citizens.
Fusion centers were established a few years after the 9/11 terror attacks by the George W. Bush administration and expanded under Barack Obama.
The West Virginia Fusion Center website says its mission is to “Embrace proactive intelligence efforts. Those efforts are key to inhibiting criminal networks, whether those groups are terrorists, drug-related groups, organized crime, or other criminal enterprises.”
Fusion centers work with “non-traditional sources,” including corporate America, to build threat assessments on people.
But what is it about Brenda Arthur that could garner the attention of this specialized police unit? She seems like an unlikely candidate to be involved in terrorism or organized crime. more here
I am pretty sure that MOST (at least for the time being) of us are not interested in learning about “the advancement of Islamic principles in Western societies.”. Islam is a scourge and needs to be eradicated.
“Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” Geo. Orwell
How much fun would it be to make a guy like this retreat to his car, and let him call in for assistance while your crew positions themselves across the street.
Newspeak term of the day is parallel investigation. It can be anything they want it to be, whether you’re a permit holder or gun owner states away from your residence, or just asking for some public records.Isn’t that neat? And we’re paying for it. F this.
I see they’re working their tactics, right down to where he is “Sgt. R.C. Workman*” and she is..well, she’s just Brenda.
* yes, he does have his first name in the email address. That is irrelevant to my point.
B_B, not yet.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that seems to smack of fascism.
Where is antifa on this, I thought it’s there mission to quash fascism? Oh, wait…..
“West Virginia Intelligence Exchange”
Now that’s an oxymoron.
A “NOT” so secretive outfit that works closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “intelligence fusion center” in West Virginia.
Better than 70% of this nation should be on this watch list.
I mean not that islamic 7th century, inbred, pedophiles, rapists, terrorists and murderers who pray to an evil false prophet are in anyway connected to the religion of Peace or anything.
Call me, I’m generally home.
RosalindJ
You forget, I live in California. The cold hard truth is LEO tactics lend themselves to being easily defeated. Even if they don’t run away from the gunfire, like in Florida.
Having differing opinions now fit into the category of a criminal enterprise.
George Orwell must have been a prophet or at the very least a forerunner. Can it be that he was just writing fiction?
Islam does’nt need any help, so get the Hell out of our Houses and faces !
“Fusion Center”. Any relation to Fusion GPS?
When Muslims discover that in order to wear the condom you must first remove the sheep around it, then maybe we can talk.
Good Luck to Brenda Arthur if she wants to obtain a CCW permit or even buy a firearm; she’s in “the database” now.
What’s really scary is how our dumbed down younger generations won’t have a problem with government intrusion like this. They’re too lazy to fight for freedom.
Our goobermint selling us out, imagine that?
If they are ‘concerned’ about MY ‘concern’ about Islam…..perhaps I can point out a few things they missed by listening to CNN.
@Cato ““West Virginia Intelligence Exchange” Now that’s an oxymoron.” WTF? Ya known I usually let lazy stupid-assed, cheap shots like this go. But every now and again the timing is off and it just rubs me the wrong way. If you can’t think up an original & clever way to insult people you don’t know. Something we could admire as a unique witty & insightful thought, and laugh about it too. Then you should have the self-discipline to resist the urge to use worn out self-ignorance revealing old jokes that conveniently cross your path.
But no worries. Tomorrow I’ll again be my good nature self & let dumb-ass crap like this go “like water off a duck’s back”. (an old idiom that I admit is also not an original. It’s origin is believed to date back to early 1800s, but apparently first used in print in 1874 by a Mr. Donne in New Zealand about a situation between the NZ government and its ownership of the Brunner Mine Co.) And keep it to myself that the teller of a stupid stereotypical joke is the one more lacking in intelligence than myself & my fellow state citizens.
Man! How come they never come to my house? Little coffee, pastries, I’m sure we can discuss this like rational human beings! LOL!
They not only never come to my home, they used to stop at my place of employment often enough, in the little FBI Polo shirts, though I don’t know anything about anything! At least that’s what my attorney tells them….I see them now and then when I’m walking the dog, since there’s NO place they could hide here and not be seen AND noticed…I just wave!
If I didn’t know better, this looks like an operation to facilitate the spread of Islam in America.
When did this get started? Who ordered it? How is it sustained? What oversight exists?
Geez, look what happens in just over a month when we get a new president. From Dec 21, 2016 to Jan 30, 2017.
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/politics/refugees-wv-resettlement-ok-d-by-state-dept/article_8181bf4d-3c87-5234-8983-95013461c965.html .
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2017-01-30/human-rights-racial-justice/efforts-to-resettle-syrian-refugees-in-wv-thrown-into-chaos/a56144-1 .
“We have ways of making you talk!”
“West Virginia Intelligence Exchange, a secretive outfit …” – sort of a “Secret State (of West Virginia) Police?” Where have I heard that, before?
And it’s no co-incidence that this shit was started under Bush, either.
The corruption is wide and deep.
izlamo delenda est …
However, the infiltration and attempts at Muslim indoctrinate continues.
http://barenakedislam.com/2018/01/20/west-virginia-permits-and-even-promotes-islamic-indoctrination-of-its-teachers-while-forbidding-any-mention-of-judeo-christian-values-in-its-schools/ .
For the remedial readers: Don’t talk to cops.
“But what if they leave a card asking me to talk to them, first?”
(sigh)
For the readers who don’t know what remedial means: Don’t talk to cops.