Patriot Act creates a "Praetorian Guard"?!

[Ino]

I'm not sure what to make of this! Call it a Praetorian Guard? a Gestapo? I've not read any talk about this.

link here

SEC. 605. THE UNIFORMED DIVISION, UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE.

(a) In General- Chapter 203 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3056 the following:

`Sec. 3056A. Powers, authorities, and duties of United States Secret Service Uniformed Division

`(a) There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the `United States Secret Service Uniformed Division'. Subject to the supervision of the Secretary of Homeland Security, the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division shall perform such duties as the Director, United States Secret Service, may prescribe in connection with the protection of the following:

--snip--

`(b)(1) Under the direction of the Director of the Secret Service, members of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division are authorized to--

`(A) carry firearms;

`(B) make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony; and

`(C) perform such other functions and duties as are authorized by law.

[ixion]

1. I know what to make of it

[Nitrogenica]

6. Sweet

[ixion]

8. very nice!

I like yours even better! :hi:

[Nitrogenica]

16. Feel free to use any of my pics :)

[Sparkman]

28. IF any here at DU decry labeling the U.S. as Fascist, MILLIONS of citizens

are now being MONITORED...for the sake of ??security??
You are self diluded, people, the Fascists are running the U.S., and have a growing number of collaborators. It may be that you just don't have the information in video form?
speak truth to power
The head of the NSA, just stated that the Fourth Amendment does not require "probable cause", but reasonable suspicion of criminal behaviour to justify wire taps and spying on U.S. citizens.
That's Fascism by any measure, DU could do well to review the loss of search & siezure on trains, on email communiques and on telephone conversations with government and amongs ourselves.
DU, A LEFT WING FACTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, IS MONITORED BY THE POLITICAL WING OF THE National Security Agency. That's how the headlines will read when the ACLU launches a case for First Amendment freedom violations, when you DU skeptics FINALLY agree on the nature of the Fascist threat to our country.

[NanceGreggs]

2. Finally some ACTION!

"... to make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony ..."

Go DIRECTLY to the WHITE HOUSE, folks -- and call for back-up, 'cause you're going to have a truckload of offenders to transport ...

[YOY]

3. It's a good thing I know Jedi Mind Tricks

These are not the droids you're looking for...



That should keep 'em off em for a while

[baldguy]

4. The SS has always had a uniformed division.

http://www.secretservice.gov/kids_faq.shtml

[baddemo52]

7. More (and more and more) power

Yes, but this increases their power. Hmm. A trend?

[onenote]

18. tell me how it increases their power?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

15. yes they have and for a long time; the color is nothing new either

Wehrmacht and Waffen SS, from 1939/41 were in black: The Third Reich was very style conscious. While, the new US helmets are likely more practical with better ear protection they always reminded me of something insideous... As a Nam' Vet, I'm glad the military issued those old-style WW 2 type helmets back when I served, even if they weren't as safe.

[aquart]

5. Aww, you just noticed.

I'm sure Emperor George would like to call it the Praetorian Guard. Saddam called his the Republican Guard (ironic, eh?) but Gestapo suits me fine. Or KGB. I'm flexible.

[Gatchaman]

9. hmmm, the Gestapo was called the SS too...

...coincidence?

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. I'm confused

make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony; and

How is that different than the power given to any other uniformed officer? If an officer sees someone commiting a crime, he's allowed to arrest that person without first obtaining an arrest warrant.

[Rockholm]

12. But in the New America, you don't get one phone call.

Could you imagine getting hauled away and NOBODY knows where you are? Heck, you don't even know where you are. These people can hold you for as long as they want with out you letting your family, lawyer, anyone know where you are.
Scary.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. Right,

But I don't understand how that relates to this particular bit of legislation. At this point I'm at a loss to understand how it even differs from the current uniformed secret service.

[onenote]

19. it doesn't differ from the current uniformed secret service

onenote

[oldgrowth]

33. Yes it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.gnn.tv/threads/12076/United_States_Secret_Service_Uniformed_Division

[Jeffersons Ghost]

14. you shouldn't call them that...

These guys need jobs because their's were exported last month. It's not fair to call them "Praetorian Guard" because those soldiers dressed much differently and had no plain clothes devision. Those jet black uniforms, however, do remind me of some historic force that had a plain clothes counterpart but I can't quite remember where I've seen them. Seems they had little skull and cross-bones logos like the Bush club in college on their collars too. it's just real early here and it might occur to me who that other group was after my second cup.

[rinsd]

21. Yes, our Secret Service are reincarnated SS....

...dangling alot of bait today aren't you?

On edit: Actually this is kind of funny. It reminds me of Office Space and Peter's argument about pieces of flair.

[onenote]

17. Here we go again: Not New. Not Gestapo. The sky is not falling.

To briefly summarize: The Uniformed Division of the Secret Service has existed in one form or another for more than 80 years. The highlighted language in the OP is all part of existing law. What the new law does, for the most part, is move the existing authorizing language from title 3 of the US Code (which deals with the presidency) to title 18 (the criminal code, which happens to be where the authorizing language pertaining to the Secret Service in general is located). A detailed explanation of what this law does and does not do can be found here:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=201297&mesg_id=209673

onenote

[Ino]

22. Thanks for the explanation, one note

Sorry, it sounded like it was something new.

[New Earth]

20. Gore did mention this in his speech the other week

but at the time I didn't know what exactly he was referring to....

[onenote]

24. don't think he did

He referred generally to excesses in the Patriot Act, but not even Feingold thinks this is one of them.

onenote

[New Earth]

25. He mentioned that Bush was trying to make it so that

he could have anyone arrested. Watch the speech again, he does mention it.

[onenote]

26. that has nothing to do with this law

Here's what Al said: "The President has also declared that he has a heretofore unrecognized inherent power to seize and imprison any American citizen that he alone determines to be a threat to our nation, and that, notwithstanding his American citizenship, the person imprisoned has no right to talk with a lawyer-even to argue that the President or his appointees have made a mistake and imprisoned the wrong person.

The President claims that he can imprison American citizens indefinitely for the rest of their lives without an arrest warrant, without notifying them about what charges have been filed against them, and without informing their families that they have been imprisoned."

He's talking about the President's assertion of unitary authority outside of what Congress has authorized not about provisions in the Patriot Act bill that restate existing authority of the uniformed division to arrest someone without a warrant for crimes committed in their presence...the same authority that every law enforcement official in this country has had forever. If a secret service agent comes across someone robbing a bank, the agent can arrest the person without first asking a judge to issue a warrant. That's not what Al was referring to.

onenote

[oldgrowth]

34. This is new law thu the PeeAct

http://benfrank.net/blog/2006/01/18/ss_uniformed_division/

[Vidar]

23. But the real Praetorians were pretty good at removing emperors too.

[Bridget Burke]

27. "Today's Featured Article" from Wikipedia

The Emperor Claudius...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

(Watch out, Little Boots!)

[Vidar]

31. Caligula made his horse consul. Bush has a horse's ass-Cheney.

[blm]

29. This is no different than Saddam's Republican Guard. Bush = Saddam.

They are of the same cloth.

[onenote]

30. no, its no different than the secret service we've had for 80 years

In other words, its much ado about nothing.

onenote

[oldgrowth]

32. This is all new A federal goon squad on hand to arrest any ‘disruptors’

A federal police force, directed by the President. Is this not the Gestapo all over again?

If the new “Patriot” Act passes, the new SSUD federal police can show up at:
(11) An event designated.. as a special event of national significance.

(12) Major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates and, within 120 days of the general Presidential election…
http://www.gnn.tv/threads/12076/United_States_Secret_Service_Uniformed_Division