Here’s merely the latest reported massacre caused by U.S. troops in Afghanistan:

An American soldier opened fire on villagers near his base in southern Afghanistan Sunday and killed 16 civilians, according to President Hamid Karzai, who called it an “assassination” and furiously demanded an explanation from Washington. Nine children and three women were among the dead.

Perhaps you’re considering going to Washington D.C. to protest this abominable behavior, especially since it has been reported that this massacre was done in your name (in that you are an American) and since the American soldiers doing the shooting were drunk, and because your government has no reason for this ten-year occupation of Afghanistan.

Better watch your step if you decide to protest anywhere near the White House, near a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting; or near a building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance.

You see, according to a newly passed federal law [H.R. 347], you could be thrown in federal prison for up to a year, even if you aren’t carrying a weapon and even if no one is injured as a result of your protest.   If someone is injured as a result of the protest, you could (even though your own intentions were peaceful and you didn’t cause any injuries) be thrown in federal prison for up to ten years. This law was signed by President Obama on March 8, 2012.

So be very very careful before you protest anywhere near a location where your

representatives make decisions to send soldiers across the world, where they, on a frightfully regular basis (and often in secret, as revealed by Wikileaks), kill civilians, including children, for no damned good reason at all.   And remember, you could be liable under this new federal law as a protester if you do even one of the following:

‘‘(1) knowingly enters or remains in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so;

‘‘(2) knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;

‘‘(3) knowingly, and with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, obstructs or impedes ingress or egress to or from any restricted building or grounds; or

‘‘(4) knowingly engages in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted building or grounds; or attempts.

[I’ve highlighted in red only those words and phrases that are vague, that are likely to intimidate American citizens into refraining from speaking freely, i.e., refraining from exercising his or her First Amendment rights in reaction to massacres by the U.S. military and other shockingly abhorrent incidents. ]

This situation is especially egregious when you consider that it is so easy to cause immoral destruction and so incredibly difficult to get to the facts in order to expose the injustice or to do anything about it.