Here’s news coverage from a local Vegas, NV ABC affiliate about the former Obergruppenfuhrer (note his four stars and “campaign” ribbons) and his stellvertreter (deputy) who were both fired after an internal investigation regarding sexual harassment, including ass grabbing.
Leaving aside the ass-grabbing, it’s both hilarious – and depressing – to see these geeks wearing military rank insignia.
Generals and majors, everywhere . . .
We hear of “stolen valor” all the time – but what about these cases?
The pictured Obergruppenfuhrer is not a commissioned officer. He is not even a gefreiter. He is certainly not a four-star general. Yet he is wearing costume jewelry so indicating. The badges of rank on my old Boy Scout uniform are more legitimate. I am, after all, actually an Eagle Scout. But I don’t expect anyone to salute me.
Why isn’t he – and other exemplars of stolen valor – confronted for impersonating an officer? 
Allowing these geeks to get away with wearing military rank insignia is dangerous because it inflates their already pathological sense of self-importance. Officers (real ones) are entitled to deference (in the military, by those of lesser rank) and expect their orders to be followed without question.
But these are civilians – yes, exactly like the rest of us.
That geek with the four stars in his lapel is no more a four star general than I am a Napoleonic Marshall of France. The difference being I don’t expect people to obey my orders – and I don’t have a state-issued weapon and legal power to force others to “respect my rank.”
It is as dangerous outrage to let civilian police appoint themselves military ranks as it is to provide them with military kit – Battle Dress Uniforms, high-powered weaponry – and then train them as if they were in the military. It induces a psychosis in them. They begin to think they are in the military – and to act like it. They come to regard themselves as a “warrior caste” – notwithstanding that most of them couldn’t pass basic PT if their very lives depended on it – nor that the “enemy” is a largely defenseless civilian population that poses much less of a “threat” to their “safety” than they pose to it.
About 1,000 Americans are killed by police in this country each year. Some are criminals, certainly. But other countries have them, too – and even the Chinese don’t shoot as many of them dead in the streets as American police do.
A traffic stop is incredibly dangerous . . . for the person stopped. He is probably not armed. He isn’t given the benefit of the doubt. He is presumed to be a “threat.” If the scharfuhrer or untersturmfuhrer shoots him dead for inadvertently “reaching” for his driver’s license, it is probable the murder will be written off as “justified.”
Thirty years ago, SWAT teams were a big city thing – in a handful of big cities. No every small town has its own MRAP – sometimes two – and staff of geared-up bulletheads to man the things. Incidents like these will be happenning in the future, too, but not here.
Whole towns are “locked down” – terminology once reserved for prisons.
It is not a coincidence that there is so much Hut! Hut! Hutting! going on. The line between civilian police and an occupying army is millimeter thin.
Most Americans, being cognitively dissonant and historically oblivious as well as trained in dog-like devotion to anything wearing a uniform – do not grok this, in part because they do not remember what happened in other countries where wanna-be soldiers began appointing themselves ranks and strutting down the street, expecting and then demanding deference to their Authority, treating “civilians” with derision, contempt and – inevitably – murderous cruelty.
Mark Twain supposedly said that while history doesn’t repeat, it often rhymes.
. . .
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One thing worse than living in a police state is finding out that no one cares.
https://sportschan.org/s/index.html
fyi a search ‘us police go to israel ‘About 234,000,000 results
US POLICE CHIEFS VISIT ISRAEL TO LEARN COUNTER-TERRORISM TECHNIQUES
Among the delegation were chiefs of the Orlando, Florida and San Bernadino, California, police departments, who recently witnessed unprecedented terrorist attacks in their cities…
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/US-police-chiefs-visit-Israel-to-learn-counter-terrorism-techniques-463090
U.S. Police Routinely Travel to Israel to Learn …
When McKinney, TX police officer David Eric Casebolt brutally took down a teenage girl at a pool party in June, he was using a form of martial arts called Krav Maga in which he trained exclusively. These combat techniques were developed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)…
This is a small reflection of a larger reality that exists in U.S. law enforcement, one that helps explain the brutality and militarization that now characterizes so many police forces. Since 9/11, cops have been traveling abroad to learn from one of the most repressive and dangerous State forces in the world today—the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus…
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/u-s-police-routinely-travel-israel-learn-methods-brutality-repression/
Hi dd,
This is Pravda (truth). Anyone with their eyes open has taken notice of the way American police have acquired the attitude of “soldiers” – of an occupying force – and look upon us “civilians” in very much the same way that the IDF looks upon Palestinians. It is not a coincidence.
I really enjoy reading this column.
I grew up in a small town in the South, not too awfully far from where you are now, Eric. I have three teenagers who were born in Los Angeles, where we now live. As a result of an almost-divorce, I found myself driving back and forth, from L.A. to my home state, a lot. Things are better in the marriage situation now, I am thankful to say, but we still go back and forth across the country, as my kids have received a lot of benefits from being in the South. Fortunately, we are able to stay in the house that I grew up in; so cost, while a factor, is not the huge factor that it would be if we were staying in hotels. Also, we always drive (although my husband flies two or three times each year). That’s a synopsis of how we got to be where we are, but as I travel I-40 right much, along with other interstates, I have observed some interesting things from our “heroes,” as you sometimes call them:
Going through Atlanta, I noticed a few months ago, that the rhetoric on all those Orwellian lighted signs often included the word “hero,” to denote those with state-issued badges. I thought of you and told my kids that you had sarcastically called those with badges that very word.
Each time we go through Oklahoma, on I-40, my kids started noticing a flash of light close to the border. We soon realized that Oklahoma was taking our photo as we enter the state. We received no information about the picture, nor did we consent to its being taken. But we do notice it with each trip through the state.
Recently, due to snow and ice, we took the I-10 through part of Texas. I was scared to go through the Border Patrol, which, if you’ve ever been through this neck of the woods, is inevitable on the I-10. Two federal agents (according to their elaborate uniform) greeted us, the first of which had a dog that was going around in circles the entire time I was going through the checkpoint. The first agent, while the dog kept circling, asked me to go to the next guy, which I did. (A few years ago, we had gone through the same checkpoint and the agent ran a dog around our car.) The second guy asked me if I was a U.S. citizen. and I said, “Yes,” and he said “Have a nice day” or some such and we, fortunately, were on our merry way. My kids and I noticed the same flash of light that we see going through Oklahoma, and our picture was taken once again, sans our consent.
This last story is scary for me even to tell. My kids’ scoutmaster suggested last August that we take I-70 back to L.A. It was a new adventure to us and we decided to go for it. After a couple of days, we were in Missouri and I saw a billboard for “grass-fed burgers” and I was craving something somewhat healthy; so, we stopped in a little town called Odessa, Missouri. We ate some delicious food and parked diagonally on the street, not far from the restaurant. My kids kept checking on our two dogs, who travel with us. It was late in the day in late August and the dogs had plenty of water and food.
After we ate, we saw a couple of antique stores and were looking in them, with one of the owners talking with me about how smart my kids seemed. “Are they homeschooled?” she asked. They are.
Please remember that we were checking on our dogs every ten minutes or so. Imagine my surprise, then, when I came out of one store and saw my then 17-year-old (now an 18-year-old Eagle Scout!) surrounded by three badged guys. I immediately went over and was told that people had been reporting our dogs to the police and they had come to check on the dogs. Our dogs bark a lot, but as my husband pointed out later, if our dogs had been in trouble, they wouldn’t have been barking. Perhaps these badged ones, who were not much older than my son, sensed fear in me; I assured them that the dogs were okay. “I cracked the windows and they’ve got plenty of water and they’re in the shade.” To this statement, said rather blandly in my defense, one of the badged ones said, “If you don’t stop downplaying the situation, I’m going to arrest you.”
At that moment, I acquiesced, becoming even more submissive, and trusting that God would get me out of what the government was trying to do to me: “What do you want me to do?” I asked. I have never been arrested. Meanwhile, my son had gotten the dogs out of the car and started walking them. I don’t remember much of what was said after that, but fortunately, we were released and left that town quickly and quietly.
My son told me as we got back on the interstate that the badged ones had threatened to impound our car and take the dogs to a shelter. How traumatic it was for all of us to think about what would have happened if the badged one had made good on his threat and arrested me. We got out of that town and don’t plan to go back. Even as I write this story, I am shaking from recalling that experience, how closely I came to having my children, our car, and our dogs taken away. For a non-crime. Our dogs were and are fine.
A couple of weeks later I told that story at a homeschooling convention in California and the moms seemed as terrified of what I told as I was of the experience itself. If you don’t believe we live in a police state, do some traveling.
Please keep up the good work of writing this blog.
Hi Trish,
Thank you for taking the time to post your story – and for the kind words!
I am appalled (but not surprised, unfortunately) by the treatment meted out to you and your boys. We now live in a country that encourages busybodyism – the new virtue signaling – and which has normalized over-the-top escalation over petty or even nonexistent infractions by these armed government workers. The thing has become a feedback loop and is picking up in virulence. Partly, I suspect, because reasonably normal men increasingly find such “work” repellent and avoid it – and are being replaced by pathological personalities who enjoy the “work.” The public, meanwhile, is being conditioned into a state of neurosis that “threats” abound – everything from terrists to stranger danger to guns in the hands of anyone except AGWs – and rapidly becoming the incarnation of Stalin’s Chicken (if you’re not familiar with this, see here: https://bible.org/illustration/lesson-plucked-chicken ).
The one upside to this awful experience is that your boys received an object lesson about the state of things in the country. I’ve read that their generation (Z, I think it is) is very different than the Millennials. I certainly hope so!
Congratulations to your 18-year-old Eagle Scout from me, who is one myself!
And, glad to have you in our club!
Hello Trishwriter, Odessa is in Kansas, not Missouri. You were quite close to the state line though. You were also in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Coproaches are bad to evil everywhere, including in both Kansas and Missouri, but city cops tend to be even worse in my experience. I drive truck mostly in Missouri, but I usually drive into the neighboring states at least once a week, usually more. Good luck on your next trip regardless which route you take.
Yikes! I thought it was Missouri, but I’ll admit that there was quite a distance between towns around those parts and I can see how I got confused. Plus, I was hungry and tired. Thanks for the correction!
It was my first time in Kansas, ever, but I did notice that many bridges along I-70 had big signs that said what to do if the bridge is closed. Any ideas on what those signs are about and why they need to close bridges so much along that road?
Hi Trish,
About ten years ago, my Dad got pulled over for minor speeding in PA. He is a retired doctor, at the time in his 70s. Clearly fits the profile of a Drug Courrier, eh?
Well, that’s how he was treated by the AGW – who called a “drug alert dog” to snuff (and scratch) his car. The AGW allowed the animal to jump up and claw the sides of the car – which if any other person did the same thing would be legal cause to pursue damages to the vehicle’s finish. But AGWs can do this with the usual impunity.
Of course, no “illegal drugs” were found in the car. But they spent 45 minutes looking – and hassling a terrified old man (well-dressed, articulate, no “record” – no reason to suspect him of anything . . .other than “speeding”).
Probably because he was driving a Camaro and had out of state plates.
And, of course, just because they can.
No matter the age of the driver everyone knows Camaro drivers are drug runners. In fact, you have to show up with a significant amount of drugs just to purchase one. What? You think the badged thug crowd is never going to catch on??
Hi Trish, the mistake is mine. It turns out that both states have a a city/ town named Odessa. I drive to the Kansas one quite often to pick up or deliver loads, and I did not recall ever seeing an Odessa sign along I -70 on the Missouri side. Guess what I saw last Friday? I have no idea how I could have missed reading that sign the many times I have past it. But then again, maybe I had read it, but my aging mind forgot it? Regardless, I hope your future trips go better.
Very timely article and some of your comparisons very funny. Napoleonic Marshalls and the be-metaled top cops and the militaristic jingoism. Great stuff.
The law enforcement community has glommed on to contemporary military worship to puff itself up. One of the side effects of the American Empire. Civilian “policing” is only about 200 years old believe it or not. Current organizational modes are not modern in any sense. Every time some dim bulb politician passes some new law or regulation to “protect the children” etc. cops are given more power to push you around, or kill you. Prosecutors carefully keep those who might object off grand and petite juries.
If you want to learn how they actually operate, follow the occasional trial or dust up when one of the saviors in blue gets nailed, or tries to nail, their bosses or coworkers for something. Some are lazy and corrupt, etc. and they will rat out the system in a heartbeat if their own asses are on the line. Reality creeps out in these things. Too bad the TV show cops are never realistically portrayed.
Eric, you should write and article about former Milwaukee cop David Clark, a proven liar, psychopath and murderer who allowed a pregnant woman, while tied to the floor of a jail cell, to die while trying to give birth. This sick bastard Clark needs to be convicted for murder. A real piece of trash if ever there was one.
I would have no compunction about kicking him in the face a few dozen times.
Hi John,
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2016/10/sheriff-david-clarke-warlord-of.html
From the late, great William Norman Grigg. Our community lost a lot when he died.
Jeremy
it is amazing how the copsuckers think. after watching the cops in France maul their fellow citizens protecting the white hating communist govt you would think they would see it for what it is. ALL LEO’S ARE TRAITORS OR WAITING FOR ORDERS TO DO SO. and all their bosses are white hating communists
military as well. Safe places in the world are shrinking. Maybe Santiago Chile or perhaps Russia which is just too cold for me. Europe as we know it is gone. Maybe Hungary or Poland. Thailand maybe. They love white guys there ha.
I don’t believe Russia is all that cold, after all there are some areas such as the Black Sea that look nice and the Russian women nicer.
From what I’ve seen, Russia has some of the most beautiful women in the world.
Russia is cold. the women are smoking.
Hi Mark,
I’ve met a few Russian guys in my life, too – and I liked them. Straightforward, “regular dudes” with a sense of humor and also the kind of guys you’d like to have with you in a bar fight.
It’s too bad they can’t drive worth a crap. Russian drivers have to be the worst ever.
Riding a motorcycle in Russia has to be a death wish.
Enjoy this depiction of a purported Russian girl (actually a young and fetching Minnie Driver) adopting to American Country Music ca. 1995, only a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTxZeHy4kOI
one of the worst things I see is when you are pulled over for a tiny infraction you are treated as if you in a maximum security prison. you have NO rights can be strip searched anally shot tased beaten handcuffed have the inside of your car taken apart cash robbed etc. all for having a brake light out. to me that is the main problem
SPQR,
What you describe is called shearing.
Typically each adult is shorn once each year. To have been “shorn”or “sheared should not trouble you.
In fact, you should then break out in song. Loudly proclaiming “I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.”
The digital exam and blood draw are considered a bonus.
Eric; You’re the only author I stop to read when it comes to cars. I really appreciate how you relate to what it is like driving, or having driven the cars of ‘yesteryear’.
But when it comes to dealing with the ‘Gestapo”, I do wish you’d tone it down a bit for such editorializing undermines all the other good things you do.
I’ve had my share of run ins with the Cops but I can tell you, a whole lot of them are ex-combat veterans. Enough so that it is hard for a ‘fake’ to function well at the office! The huge majority of them most folks don’t have a problem with and you’d want on your ‘six’.
write about the steering gear history of dodge cars please !!
Tone it down, MY ASS !
This is a very serious issue and that Eric has explicated it is just the beginning.
Anyone who does not see the truth of what he has explained needs to settle down and get back under his wife’s skirts.
Eric’s political views validate and empower his automotive articles.
Moral courage, not a trait expressed above, is rare in car guy writing.
I read the automotive content for exactly the reason you are trying to shut him down.
Right now, both automotive products and LE are very shaky.
This is not to denigrate the assembly line workers or the cops on the beat.
But there are still very serious problems in both areas that need to be heard.
Concerned troll…is concerned. Yes – lets ignore that the emperor has no clothes while playing it safe -extolling the virtues of cars from eras gone by.
Let me guess you’re a Boomer.
Agreed. There are many cops whom haven’t lost their humanity and yes, you DO want them to watch your “Six”!
However, it seems that there’s a whole slew of buzz-cut, bulldog jowled, overweight “heroes” whom were assholes when they were in the military, often in many cases subtly forced out for “unsuitability” (meaning they lacked the judgement and self-discipline expected of service members in higher ranks). Hence frustrated in their ambitions to play the role of MILITARY “hero”, many nevertheless have found employment as AGWs, bringing their belligerent attitudes to OUR streets, as if they didn’t get enough “Trigger Time” in Kandahar or Fallujah.
Hi Doug,
I agree some AGWs haven’t lost their humanity – and may (if you knew them personally) be “good people,” basically. However, what they do for a living is morally toxic as such because it necessarily entails the use of force against people who’ve done them no wrong.
What I mean is, leaving aside what they do, they are paid by unwilling victims – and no one has a right to force someone else to pay their salary.
Imagine if I had the power to compel people to support this web site, decreeing it a “necessary service.” It’s exactly the same principle.
If a person considers a service necessary, then he’ll freely pay for it. I don’t need anyone to force me to pay for the electricity I use.
If, on the other hand, the person does not consider the service being offered necessary – he will express that by not paying for it, assuming he is allowed.
If he is not allowed to decline the service – then it’s not a service.
It is a mulcting, or extortion; a form of theft.
And thieves are morally derelict as a statement of simple fact.
True – but if you can find a better way to promote Public S-a-f-t-e-e-e, I’m all ears.
Still, its seems that modern policing is very much an institution of MODERN society, at least within the past 200 years or so. In fact, I don’t see much evidence that most states and municipalities, other than a few really big cities like “Noo Yawk” had anything more than a few constables or the local sheriff (whom seldom had any full-time deputies, he usually called a “posse” of local ARMED citizens when needed). And I don’t recall that America was infested with crime, though indeed it did exist! It does seem that if folks rode a horse or drove a wagon while a wee tipsy, or there was some lout beating his lovely bride (or the ‘lovely’ bride kept whanging on her hubby with a cast iron skillet or a stout rollng pin for whatever grievance she had…), or someone patronzied the local opium den, it was considered a private matter, and if some jerk pushed things too far and got shot, well, he must have had it coming…but we got along just fine without all the “Hut! Hut! Hut!”. IDK what EVER caused us to believe that we NEEDED cops, or has that became a case, of, pun intended, SELF-fulfilling prophecy?
Hi Doug,
“True – but if you can find a better way to promote Public S-a-f-t-e-e-e, I’m all ears”.
Given the rest of your post, I’m not sure what your asking for. Anyway, you might find this interesting:
https://tomwoods.com/ep-597-can-the-private-sector-protect-against-crime-this-case-study-will-blow-your-mind/
Jeremy
It’s not that I’m against Police per se; I’m against what they’ve morphed into.
What Eric seems to postulate is some manner of service-based, market-driven law enforcement. Theoretically, sounds very attractive, just not sure HOW that’d work! It’s clear that our present law enforcement system is both dysfunctional and more of a hazard than a benefit to the public, but can the present system be ‘fixed’ or should it be ditched? Right now, not sure.
Hi Doug,
I am against government police per se because police work for government, not for us. The interests of politicians and police themselves will always supersede the interests of the public.
The link I posted is about a market driven defense organization that works, right now. Very interesting stuff.
I don’t think the current system can be fixed as the economic incentives of a coercively funded organization are perverse, and will always work against the public. In short, if you can extract money through force, you will favor the wishes of the entity that allows you to do that, over the wishes of the people you supposedly serve.
There are some reforms that would help. Ending qualified immunity for police, absolute immunity for prosecutors, and eliminating all asset forfeiture laws would be a good start. But, these reforms will never happen.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Good morning, Jeremy!
Yes, exactly. AGWs work for the government, not for us. I am always saddened by people who tell AGWs, “you work for us.” Pitiful. If someone is your servant, you have the power to tell them what to do – not the other way around. The idea of a “servant” who can force you to pay his salary, then abuse you legally (and not) without your being able to even defend yourself legally (“resisting,” “obstructing”) is too ridiculous for further comment.
Hi Doug,
Well, first off, we’d need to somehow establish the doctrine that crime requires a victim; not the state – an actual human being – who has suffered a tangible harm to his person or his property. The notion of “offenses” (against the state and various arbitrary laws/prohibitions absent tangible harms caused) must be thrown in the woods.
On the above basis, the legal system becomes simple – and objectively fair. No victim (no harm) … no crime.
So, now you’ve got peacekeepers – who are no longer a threat to peaceful people. No more law enforcing armed government workers.
Next, we pay their salaries – freely, just as we pay for other desirable services. Now the peacekeepers work for us – and at our pleasure. If they incur our displeasure, we are free to withdraw our financial support – just the same as we are free to stop paying the cable bill, if we decide it’s a service we longer consider valuable.
Hi Doug,
“What Eric seems to postulate is some manner of service-based, market-driven law enforcement. Theoretically, sounds very attractive, just not sure HOW that’d work!”
There is a lot of literature on this subject that sketches out how a system of competing PDO’s (private defense organizations) could provide security and conflict resolution. No one knows exactly how it would work and, of course, there will be problems. However, it is important to ask the fundamental question in economics when thinking of such alternatives, “compared to what”?
The problems that we see with the justice system are the nearly inevitable consequence of being part of a coercive monopoly. The only thing restraining this system in the past was culture. The political class has worked very hard to change our culture from one of individualism and suspicion of authority to dependance and reverence for authority.
But, there is nothing inherent within the coercive monopoly system that naturally checks the baser desires of those who wield its’ power. In fact, such a system encourages and rewards those desires.
So, any discussion of whether market based justice would work, must acknowledge the problems that exist with this system, and understand that those who profit from the current system are implacably opposed to any meaningful reforms. Despite the nauseating platitude that “we are the government”, we are not. “We” have no power to force them to leave us alone, respect our rights, etc… Those who think that democracy solves this problem are sorely deluded.
Here are two problems with the current system:
– Lack of accountability is not a bug, it is a necessary and inherent feature. Prosecutors tirelessly argue that total immunity for themselves and near total immunity for police is necessary for them to be able to do their “jobs”. This alone should make people question the system. Can you imagine any private sector employee claiming that, “I need to be entirely immune from accountability for any harm I cause in order to do my job”?
– These systems have an incentive to prioritize statute and “lifestyle” law enforcement over actual crimes. By “lifestyle” laws I mean any law that criminalizes a voluntary, peaceful activity that some dislike. An actual crime, requires a victim. Police spend the vast amount of their resources punishing people for non-crimes and little on actual crimes. They do this because it is safer and more profitable. They can only do this because of a coercive monopoly.
Democracy cannot solve these problems. Despite what we are taught, democracy does not check the power of government, it enhances it by undermining people’s natural suspicion of authority. No system has increased the power of government more than democracy.
It is had to imagine how a system of competing PDO’s would be subject to the above problems. The idea of immunity would be absurd. No one would do business with an entity that asserted that it must be unaccountable for any harm caused. Also, the market would likely pressure PDO’s to focus on actual crimes. So, the entire litany of “lifestyle” laws and statutory violations that plague us today would almost certainly disappear.
Cheers,
Jeremy
The idea of a PDO is intriguing, but I can’t see how it would work under our present system of law. Shame. I’d like it to.
BTW, we’re not living in a
“democracy”, you have the USA confused with the city-state of Athens during the Classical Greek period (5th century BC). The USA is a Constitutional REPUBLIC, with the Federal Government the servant of the several states and the people at large, or at least it’s SUPPOSED to be. Like Lord Vader having ‘evolved’ from Anakin Skywalker, once it was the ‘servant’, NOW it is the “Master”…
However, you hit it squarely on the issue of accountability of LEOs and their employing agencies. IDK the politics of this Michigan ‘burg, but evidently the cops union has a stranglehold on the local politicians. This case was waved on by the local prosecutor, and why shouldn’t she, her ability to make good as the District Attorney is dependent on a working relationship with the cops. Prosecuting a police sergeant because he fired seven shots into the back of some “punk” kid, never mind that it was completely unjustified and would earn you or I at least a manslaughter charge, plus whatever else can be related with regard to the piece? Sad to say, indeed the cops are some non-accountable form of “super citizen”, IMMUNE to the law they supposedly are sworn to uphold, and the citizenry they supposedly “protect and serve” are, as this sad tale clearly shows, completely at their mercy!
Clearly the normal political has failed and will continue to fail. What’s required is simple outrage…the time-honored “pitchforks and torches” approach. Enough good citizens of that town should assemble and demand that justice be served, else there’s no way that sergeant and his entire department, the DA’s office, the mayor, and the city council will ever again enjoy a moment’s peace! Out of control cops and their sycophants in the government and media must have the proverbial “Fear of ‘Gawd’ ” put into them over these outrages, until the system is fixed.
HI Doug,
PDO’s are a mechanism for providing justice and security absent a monopoly State. So, things would be very different if PDO’s became common. Ancient Iceland and the early American West provide some examples of the idea functioning in the “real world”. There is a lot of literature on the subject. If you are interested, check out mises.org and search for private law, private defense, etc…
The US republic is a representative democracy and was envisioned as such from the start. I really don’t understand what is meant by the claim’ “the US is a Republic, not a Democracy”. As to the Constitutional Republic, whether it ever really existed is questionable, but the idea was effectively destroyed by the 17th amendment. The founders were deeply distrustful of Democracy and sought to temper the undisciplined passions of the people, as expressed through the House, with a balancing institution. The Senate was deliberately non-democratic and was created as an agent of the States, specifically to check the power of the house.
We are told that the “balance of power” between the executive, legislative and judicial branches naturally limits the growth of government. This is absurd, as there is no incentive, save personal animosity, for members of these groups to be antagonistic towards each other. They all work for the same institution and stand to gain much more by cooperating to increase the power of the State than fighting to limit it.
The “balance of power” intended to limit the power of government was embedded in the idea of dual sovereignty. The interests of the States are not naturally aligned with those of the Federal Government, the growth of which necessarily leads to a reduction in the power of the States. This competing power was effectively destroyed by the 17th amendment, when the Senate was transformed into simply a more elitist and powerful version of the House.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi Doug,
A few more thoughts. In theory and design, the US is a constitutionally limited (that’s the Republic part) representative Democracy (that’s the Democracy part). It is accurate, in theory, to say the the US is a Republic, but inaccurate to say that it is not a Democracy. In practice, it is neither.
“In a republic, a constitution or charter of rights protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government.” Ha, Ha! The Federal government claims sole authority to judge its’ own actions relative to the law. In addition, it claims to be the final arbiter of the legality of State actions. This institution exists outside of and above the law. It recognizes no legal restraints on its’ power, nor any “inalienable” rights of the people. It is constrained only by custom, available resources and some fear of pushing the people to rebellion.
Every countervailing power has been legally neutered or derided and ignored. The supposed dual sovereignty of the States has been rendered legally meaningless by the 17th amendment and effectively meaningless by the political and judicial contempt for the 10th amendment and the remedies of nullification and interposition that follow from it.
The little legal power the people ever had has been rendered meaningless by the cap on
representatives at 435. This move necessarily decreases the power of the people and increases the power of Congress. The effective power of any individual congressman has increased about 30 fold due to this seemingly innocuous change.
“It is left… to the juries, if they think the permanent judges
are under any bias whatever in any cause, to take on themselves
to judge the law as well as the fact.” Thomas Jefferson.
This most important power of the people has been stolen from us by an arrogant and unaccountable judiciary with the aid of contemptible court intellectuals. Judges across the land routinely, and falsely, instruct jurors that they may not judge the law. In addition, many people have been arrested for informing people, outside of courthouses, their actual rights as jurors.
No, we do not live in a Republic in any meaningful sense.
Cheers,
Jeremy
tone it down my ass jim, you’re an ass kiseer
the problem is systemic to ALL cops. ALL OF THEM. THEY are front row witnesses to petty, tyrannical, illegal, unconstitutional behaviors and THEIR silence is ENDORSEMENT of the acts of their “brethren”. NO ONE has a more true picture of the BS we are ranting about and their failure to act is a smudge on THEIR honor as men. the thin blue line is line that they all accept and endorse and makes them a co-conspirator to ALL the acts they tolerate. we call them pigs for a reason…please read this as a wholesale denigration of all cops. i have had too many run ins with them and with few exception they are all lying sacks of shit. witness the video of the giant prolapsed asshole getting enraged INSTANTLY when his “order” was questioned.
Most of them are trash. Fifty percent are using steroids and who knows what other drugs to get through the day. They also have the highest divorce rate, wonder why?
This is what you end up with after a six week training course in law enforcement, idiots with a chip on their shoulders and the belief they are gods.
As for veterans in the police departments I can think of nothing so bad and dangerous to the public as someone who has returned from Iraq or Afghanistan or where ever else he was sent to, filled with rage, possible with PTSD and especially worrisome, trained to kill without question.
No way do I want those guys in a cop uniform. Sorry but that”s the way it is.
Respect my authorituh!
Mike, what makes it even worse is they’re protected by the union and the FOP.
That juries are afraid to convict in fear of retaliation.
Worse, as the federal courts have stated time and again, police are NOT there to protect the people. Yet most Americans believe they are.
true dat. groan
They serve both their own collective interests (i.e, they’re union hacks) and that of the municipality, or, in the case of State Police and Highway Patrols, their respective State government. All have an interest in ‘mulcting’, as Eric puts it, as much of your hard-earned dollars IN ADDITION to the considerable taxes that pay their salaries, benefits, and cushy pensions. If that isn’t enough, though, they can always make you an unwilling ‘guest’ and bring you into their branch of the “Prison-Industrial Complex”, whether society needs “protection” from the likes of you…or NOT.
And IF you object, you may face summary execution for the most heinous, in their view, crime of all…that of CONTEMPT OF COP. More Americans are legally dispatched for this ‘crime’ in any given year than are lawfully executed for first-degree murder…even in Texas!
jim r you can go to hell along with your psycho vet cops
I read Eric’s car reviews, even of cars I have no interest in, because he always makes them so informative & amusing. But I keep coming back, and I support him financially, because of articles like this one. His insights & perspectives on AGWs, the expanding police/surveillance state, etc, are important and deserve to be widely read & discussed.
You are MUCH appreciated, Eric!
Thank you and please keep up the great work you do.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the kind words, first of all! On the rest: “Editorializing” as a criticism only applies to news stories/reporting. The article in question is an opinion piece.
“Editorializing” is the essence of the thing.
The “huge majority” of AGWs are a problem for me. In fact, they all are a problem for me – because I did not ask for nor do I want or use their “services” and yet they threaten me with violence to compel me to pay for them, regardless. Imagine if I were to send armed men to your house – or threaten to do so – unless you sent money to “help” me provide my “services”…
I write this not to be gratuitously provocative but as a thought experiment. Consider it. Is anyone entitled to force someone else to pay for their “services”? If so, then isn’t the person being forced to pay essentially a slave – to some degree – of the person who can force him to hand over the product of his labor, for his material benefit?
And what are these “services,” exactly? They are enforcing the law. Most of these laws being morally repugnant because they entail doing violence to people who’ve caused no harm to anyone – in most cases, purely because some rule or other has been affronted.
For example, I grew some arbitrarily prohibited plants in my back yard. Will those AGWs whom you claim “have my six” elect not to enforce the law against my growing those plants? Or will they Hut! Hut! Hut! my door down and cart me off in manacles?
In others, the pre-emptive punishment meted out rests the theory that “someone” might cause harm by doing “x.” Not because any harm has actually been caused.
“Speeding,” for instance. Which AGWs do all the time – but that’s ok.
I have never been robbed in my life by an ordinary criminal. But I have had hundreds of thousands stolen from me by armed government workers.
I may (legally) defend myself against an ordinary criminal, but I am rendered defenseless against armed government workers. If I do defend myself, I face prosecution.
If we were talking about peacekeepers – paid by the voluntary contributions of those who valued their services – then we’d be talking about something entirely different.
But AGWs are just that – armed government workers. I am not interested in being a Moo Cow for government and it is the essence of tyranny to send armed men to force me to be one.
In the absence of a property rights violation there is no crime. All the speed control nazis and the entire drug war is completely pointless. I can probably drive better with a few beers than most people can sober. Doesnt matter. I can get my ass in jail. Its really Orwell 1984.
Hi Mark,
Absolutely.
My ex wife wrecked two cars during the years we were married. I wrecked none. She complained that I drove “too fast.” Whom do you suppose is the better driver? Even with a six pack in me, I’m still less likely to wreck (I use that word deliberately) for the same reason that I can still bench press more than she could on her best day on my worst day – after a night of drinking a case of beer.
Skill varies. A person who starts at a higher level is still better at a reduced (for him) level than the person who starts out at a lower baseline.
But we can’t hold individuals accountable for harms they actually cause – as individuals. No. We must presume incompetence – and criminality- and punish people who’ve not caused harm to anyone… because “someone” might.
Eric – two questions, feel free to decline to answer:
1) Have you considered that the beer may have ENHANCED your driving skills and upper body strength?
2) Are you consuming MORE or LESS beer now that you’ve been “paroled”?
Hi Doug,
Happy to answer both!
I am not sure in re alcohol making me a better driver because I’ve not tested the proposition properly. Alcohol – and pot – both calm me down and so I drive at a more leisurely rate when I’ve had either. It would be fun to test this business on a slalom or other track-type scenario!
I like heavy (preferably German/Dutch) beers and they are meals all by themselves; as anyone who lifts will confirm, adding calories helps makes you stronger… and bigger… but also heavier. For me, beer is more of a treat than a palliative. I enjoy one or two at a time.
The cops and PTB don’t give a fuck for s-a-a-a-f-t-e-e-e on the roads, Mark. What they all want is their “brownie points” that get them promotions, funding, and revenues. They want another lame excuse to pick your pocket, and make you the ‘asshole’ b/c you were ‘impaired’ at a BAC of 0.04 after two beers and the lying thugscum sez you were ‘weaving’ after he saw your truck pull out of the bar’s parking lot. Yep, you can be convicted of ‘impaired’ driving, even at levels well below the magic BAC of 0.08 (0.05 in “Yew-tah” now, I believe), as long as the scientifically questionable breathalyzer, administered w/o any reasonable duplicates or blanks that an Environmental Engineer wouldn’t dare submit some soil gas tests without, for example, and the officer’s testimony convinces the jury (in some states, since the charge is a misdemeanor, they refuse a jury trial, but heard by a judge, which is tantamount to a kangaroo court) that you were “impaired”.
Well, some folks got the ‘message’, and DUI convictions have been steadily declining, along with alcohol-related deaths. What, time to pop the Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider and celebrate the good results? Aw, hell no, the various states and municipalities are collectively shitting their pants at the decrease in REVENUES. So now law enforcement has turned its attention to driving under the influence of DRUGS, legal and otherwise. Now sure, it’s no less safe to drive under the influence of Alka-Seltzer Plus than a highball, but unlike alcohol, where at least there’s a measure of BAC, however unscientifically collected, but no such standard exists for ANY drug or “recreational” substance! This leads to ridiculous anecdotes, where (1) the Arizona Highway Patrol has vowed to collect snippet of hair from persons suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana, never mind that any toxicologists would consider THC levels in human hair as only an indication of recent usage, NOT of impairment (2) the infamous “drug whisperer” of Cobb County, GA, whom asserted that he could ‘sniff’ out motorists under the influence of marijuana and other recreational substances, and with this supernatural capability arrested seven, count ’em seven (like Mickey and the Giant) persons whom were tested and found completely ‘clean’, leading the ACLU to sue his employing county.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY4J2Ikf8FA
Thanks for the reply Eric. Your site is the first one i’ve ever logged onto and responded to and it certainly is a eye opener, see Mr. (meaner) below here somewhere who no doubt gets pulled over every time he goes to the store! I shall likely un-subscribe to avoid this type of ‘conversation’!
If one reads History on the evolution of “advanced” societies, even the development of what are called the ‘smarter’ animals one common thread is what is commonly referred to as the ‘rule of law’. Compare the advances the US has contributed to some of the more backward ‘%$itholes” and the form of govt. they have.
do not mistake me for a lover of big govt., the contrary I assure you but I can sum up with a response to the hundreds of thousands the govt. has cost you. “render unto Caesar”. We will never escape ‘them’, one can mitigate the cost of living among them but not escape. Obviously the more gallant move is to go along to get along! ……….. and i hate metaphores!
besides, I’d like to see you get a Tesla delivered to your door on a truck.
Any real crime against me or my property and the system is never there and never does anything afterwards. But if I should make some harmless violation of some government edict…. well there they are.
Hi Brent,
Exactly. AGWs are of no benefit to me at all, even in terms of the basic (and legitimate) things, such as protecting my person and property from thieves. That is entirely up to me. Because I live in a rural area and by the time an AGW gets to my place, whatever happened already did.
Thus, I am forced to pay for AGWs whose “job” is to fleece people for violating various arbitrary rules that entail no harm to me whatsoever, as such.
That’s a big “No shit”. I don’t ever want to have happen to me what happened to an acquaintance, also recently divorced. His “ex” learned that he had new female to frolic with, one younger, more attractive, slimmer, and less of a PITA than she. Of course, the “ex”, whom was in that status precisely because she repeatedly screwed around and he finally wised up and left her (thank “Gawd” they had no kids), in a fit of jealousy, showed up at his doorstep. He has one of these new “Ring” doorbells, and saw it was her (and new g/f was on the premises as well) and asked her to leave. The “Ex” did…for awhile. She returned with the cops in town, claiming he’d hit her, and it was “Do not pass ‘GO’, Do not collect $200” …as well as a few nights in the pokey and considerable sums of money for bail and then an attorney to fight (and defeat) the bogus charge. Never mind the strain on his health not only for fear of going to jail for something he didn’t do, but that he’d lose his clients and his contractor’s license.
Why would cops do this knowing damn well the whole affair is bogus? Ans: easy pickings…they get their “atta boy” for arresting someone for “domestic violence”, and even if the arrest was unjustified, the lying skank herself won’t be prosecuted for perjury, nor they for false imprisonment, since this type of crime comes with a political agenda – and they know whom signs their paychecks and funds their pensions!
Good shot, Eric !
This issue with domestic police is out of control.
They reflect the fascism that has fixed itself on our society and administrative functions. It is very alarming to see the truth that “Most people will do anything for money”.
The Stolen Valor aspect of this issue is more noteworthy than we can endure. These cops are civilians, period. They are public employees, who applied for these jobs, and who can resign or quit without notice. Hence, they have no absolute obligation to do anything based on managerial directives. This is not the same as following orders. Again, they can quit.
Even more, wearing insignia does not bestow privilege. Cops have no rank. Their self-appointed titles are part of their job descriptions, nothing more. Police “officers”, a very poor choice of words, do not have “commissions” from anywhere. The lowest, wet behind the ears second lieutenant in the US military has more rank than the faux four-star police general.
The stretch for empowerment that LE seeks with reference to being a “Sworn Officer” is a farce. There is only the weakest mention in the oaths I have seen of “support” for the constitution, and nothing about “All aggressors, foreign and domestic”, or “following the orders of officers appointed over me…”. This is Hollyweird show business.
Current LE personnel are the enforcers of the oligarch reality. Best example: The Red Flag Laws in effect in over half the states. In Virginia the VCDL is raising this problem to public awareness, with results yet to be determined.
Question: How does a LE officer swear to support the Constitution and then disregard the 2A ? We are in trouble…and not just in this matter.
OK Member
Hard to predict how the U.S policing problem you so colorfully describe is going to end up. It doesn’t seem to happen nearly to this extreme in Canada. Two recent examples: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/officers-cleared-in-investigation-into-shooting-suspect-in-intersection
and https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/04/30/court-of-appeal-upholds-conviction-for-toronto-cop-who-shot-sammy-yatim.html
Here’s another one to ponder: http://republicbroadcasting.org/news/because-a-citizen-filmed-it-cop-found-guilty-for-punting-handcuffed-teens-head-like-a-football/
Hi John,
Let’s reduce this to the essential thing: What aware/morally conscious person could ever “serve” as an AGW? Not solely because of the despicable things AGWs are required to do – it’s their job – but because every cent they are paid is taken by force from people who did not voluntarily agree to pay it. It’s a rough thing to say, but it’s the reality.
If morality is ever to govern human affairs then the moral principle that theft is always wrong must be universally applied.
Meanwhile, we are stuck in a hypocrisy of Titanic proportions. Forced to pay X on the theory that he will protect us from being robbed by Y. And that’s putting the rosiest face on the thing.
Eric, so much of our views relate in some way to our raising and our parents views and views of family.
Neither side of my family with few exceptions, cared little for cops.
My grandfather and grandmother both served as sheriff of the county I live in.
They were both dead long before I was born. I have always wondered what sort of people they were. The position paid so much my grandfather was a dyed in the wool trucker even when he held office. He died by getting hit by a drunk as he exited the cab of his truck.
I do recall my father having little regard for cops, mainly because of their lying, something he couldn’t tolerate.
There were plenty people my age who had bad feelings for cops to the point they’d go out of their way to do something illegal when it would have been easier to do it legally.
Everything they get involved in always seems to get worse.
Nobody has ever threatened to murder me except a cop.
I’ve been in some tough spots in my life but the worst were with a badged thug of some ilk.
The fact they have to swear to uphold the Constitution and then proceed to shred it at every available chance is all I need to despise the lot of them.
Costume appears to be black.
I noticed the same color (schwartz) in recent photo of LAPD’s “graduation ceremony” inducting new members.
Only things missing are the white piping and totenkopf badge.
Contrary to what’s improperly portrayed in most movies and TV shows like “Hogan’s Heroes”, most duty officers of the Geheimestatzpolizei did NOT normally wear the all-black with the SILVER piping of the Allegemeine-SS, and investigators and detectives typically wore CIVILIAN attire on duty (business suits and leather or tweed overcoats for cold weather). Also, police troopers with Stalhlems wore “Feldgrau”, with the lightning-bolt SS insignia on their helmets, and never a “Swastika”. Heer (Army) units had infantry, artillery, signals, Medical Corps, or Panzers on their Stalhelmen. BTW, the skull-and-crossbones associated with the SS (“Totenkopf”) was also used by Heer Panzer crews on their caps.
But yes, LAPD and MANY LE agencies have a very “Stormtrooping” look about them these days.
confucius said “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.”
saying he was killed i action is a perfect example of missing that point exactly. even though we are trying to put an end to the misuse of words like “hero” “public service” and such…i am convinced we have allowed the proper and accurate use of language to devolve too far and for too long.
i have no hope for the republic
Mike,
Welcome to Oceania.
“i am convinced we have allowed the proper and accurate use of language to devolve too far and for too long.”
Newspeak is a controlled language, of restricted grammar and limited vocabulary, meant to limit the freedom of thought—personal identity, self-expression, free will.
thanks tua, great to be here!
apparently it also allows for simply incorrect usage as well. we see with the snowflakes persistent misuse of “fascist”, racist”, sexist” etc. we see the word “awesome” used 4000 times a day to describe food. what sort of dimwit enters a state of awe over a taco? we see the word “literally” misused equally. i literally walked all the way to the vegan scone co-work yoga studio.
NO HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wgno.com/2018/12/20/bossier-city-police-officer-arrested-for-filming-himself-having-sex-with-an-animal/amp/
At least he didn’t shoot the dog.
Yet another line crossed this week.
In North Carolina a highway patrol trooper died while investigating an accident on I-95. He was walking across the interstate when he was hit by a passing car. Indeed, he got killed while actually performing a somewhat beneficial service and it’s sad he leaves behind a wife and two kids.
What was stunning about this new item was how it said he was, “killed in action”.
Yes, Eric, the line is now gone.
In SERVICE, yes, though likely through his own mistake. Even the Tar Heel state has to pick its State troopers from the “Hew-Mon” race. But not the same as a cop felled by a bullet from a thug’s gun.
Most Americans, being cognitively dissonant and historically oblivious as well as trained in dog-like devotion to anything wearing a uniform – do not grok this, in part because they do not remember what happened in other countries where wanna-be soldiers began appointing themselves ranks and strutting down the street, expecting and then demanding deference to their Authority, treating “civilians” with derision, contempt and – inevitably – murderous cruelty.
Sadly, we now live in an America where the vast majority have EARNED the status of slaves living under an oppressive government. It is the inevitable reward for systemic apathy and ignorance. Unfortunately, we the awakened and informed minority are forced to share this dystopian hell with the brainless, spineless, soulless slugs who truly deserve to suffer under it.
Hi Lib,
It’s true… I can feel it in my bones, what’s coming. If I were a younger man, I would leave while there is still time – because a younger man would have time to rebuild a life. I haven’t got that time, so here I stand, come what will. But my advice to any young man reading this is – leave.
While you can.
People leave their home countries even when they are in their late 50s, 60s and retired. If you are so upset with the way things are, should seriously consider a move. You have a world of options out there.
Hi Escher,
Everyone’s mileage varies on this. For me, it’s too late to start over. I have my place, my cats, my old bikes and the TA. My friends. To lose all of that would be to lose pretty much everything. Might as well just sign it all over to the government and save the hassle of the transaction. I’m not financially able to just stop working, either. That’s a big one, leaving aside the other ones. My friend Fred Reed ( a lot older than I am) was able to retire in Mexico because he’s… retired.
I’m not.
What’s a middle-aged Gringo gonna do in Argentina?
Yeah, not too many decent Argentinian cars to review down there either. You’d literally have to start over doing something else.
In my case, I’m closer to Fred’s age than yours and am retired, but not in Mexico. Instead, I’m in the boonies of Michigan’s Yoop, hoping to stay out of the major crap that’s taking over the Detroit area and pretty much every other metro area I’ve visited in the country. At least the cops up here are pretty much all home grown, fresh-faced kids. Plus the pay is so low for pretty much all of them that they don’t have the same sense of paramilitary arrogance I’ve occasionally seen in more populated areas.
Hi Larry,
I’ve come to understand at a deep, gut-check level what people must have felt in Germany as the drift became obvious, or Russia or any other such place. I have no desire to find myself standing at the edge of a ditch, or herded into a camp. But a time comes when you can’t re-plant a tree. The roots are too deep. Either the tree survives, or it gets cut down.
It doesn’t get relocated.
I still have my place – the woods I own, which I walk every day. My animals and my friends, all of whom live close by. If I were to leave, I’d lose all of that. And – as anyone in mid-life can attest – you can’t just replace friends of long-standing and the history you have with them and the place where you’ve lived for so long.
Leaving aside the money issue – which is a whole ‘nother thing.
I am not interested in having to start a new career because I haven’t got the time left to invest in one. When one is 25 or 30, it is a reasonable transaction to devote 10-15 years of busting ass so as to be in a good spot, financially, at 40 or 45. But when one is 40 or 45 or 50… one hasn’t got 10-15 years. Or rather, one does – but there’s not much left after them. What is the point in busting ass for those last good years?
So, I stay put. If the tsunami comes, so be it.
Eric, I wanted to move to Mexico in 2002 but 17 years later can’t be ignored in myriad ways
In 2008 a friend had been working out a lot (but he didn’t do the bustass work I did my whole life). He sent a picture of himself all puffed up and posing like a weight ligter. I showed the wife the pic and asked if I should post one in return. She said it would just deflate him since I was a V with big muscles from the hard work I did running roofing crews. I could throw bundles of shingles to the roofers for half the house without breaking a sweat and do this a few times a day besides loading and unloading same into and out of the warehouse.
I didn’t look my 58 years at the time nor had any bad physical problems.
11 years later, after my thrice broken leg and damn near dying a couple years later from Shingles on top of MRSA, I look for easy ways to do things. Both shoulders need surgery, once again for the right plus having a hitch in my gitalong from my left leg.
The wife collapses now and then from the stroke she suffered in June and I hurt my back getting her off the floor and into bed a couple months ago.
I suffer every day from the wreck when a sand frac truck ran over mine in 2014.
My friends have been dropping like flies in the last couple years, many younger than myself.
I had to call my 30 year old neighbor a couple days ago to help me load a deer into the pickup.
Calling him to help do tough things is a lifesaver. I do everything I can to return the favors and let him hunt our place.
Moving isn’t an option not to mention the IRS would take so much just to let us leave the country legally we wouldn’t have shit. What we’d do with the cats and CJ is a big problem.
Probably the wife would die from the stress. Not sure I wouldn’t either.
Broke in the remote mountains of Argentina would turn retirement into tough survival situation.
Making that move at 30 would have been tough enough
Today it would be what old movies used to always spell out “The End”.
We’ll continue to hope the grocery trucks keep running, the power stays on and the pharmacy doesn’t fold. I’ll sit and clean my AFR so I can least make a bad end for us a bad end for as many aggressors as possible. I told the wife recently if things get really bad we’ll become George and Martha from The Book of Eli.
Add me to the list for staying put, at 71 I’m way to old to be starting over and besides, why should we let these rat bastards run us out of town? I’ve been in this house since before most of these thugs have been alive and my family and friends are all nearby so when the day comes that they kick in my door the first ones through get a 12 gauge slug to the head; hopefully I get more than a few before they take me out.
We’re on the same path as Stalinist Russia as opposed to 1930s Germany, and the same players are pulling the strings.
I was just thinking of that boy. I enjoy reading Fred’s missives when I can find them.
If I were called upon to give a commencement address at the local high school, my advice would be to find somewhere else to live, get out of the U.S. as soon as possible, do not remain here. You will spend the rest of your life as a slave in a police, security state, one that is ramping up even now.
It’s going to get very bad here and if I could I would get out.
I know someone who moved to Thailand and loves it there.
Hi John,
Fred is good people. He is one of the best writers still vertical, too. His posts from outside the U.S. – about how life is outside the American Archipelago – are incisive and thought-provoking. You can find Fred here: https://fredoneverything.org/
You’re right that we live under a de facto military occupation that the Founders wouldn’t have dreamed of. Cops all think that they’re a bunch of operators, and we’re all the enemy.
But we’d probably be better off under actual martial law. Cops have far LESS discipline than the military does overseas. My kid got back from Afghanistan, saw the video of the Daniel Shaver shooting, and said “We’d get court-martialed for that.” Yet cops routinely get acquitted because they “thought” the “subject had a weapon,” and for “officer safety” they offed him.
GENERAL George Washington — not exactly an anti-military hippie — warned us about this in his Farewell Address: “…avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”
The Farewell Address is a helluva read… it’s amazing how prescient ol’ George was, and how we’ve utterly ignored his advice.
Hi X,
Yes, indeed.
The upside is that AGWs are – in the main – a threat for now, only because we submit. If people ever began to actively resist in a coordinated manner..
I wonder how many received training by companies who are run by and staffed by IDF ‘veterans’ of the brutal occupation of the West Bank?
Juries are afraid to convict for fear of retaliation by other cops.
And to think it took until 1976 to “promote” LTG George Washington to the rank of “General of the Armies”, or the six-star rank, which only John “Black Jack” Pershing and His Royal Highness, Douglas MacArthur, were CONSIDERED FOR (but never formally confirmed by the Senate). The 1976 resolution not only promoted Washington posthumously to this rank, which by then some 115 officers had surpassed since our First President passed on in 1799; it also declared that Washington in effect has always and always will outrank everyone else in the US military, for all time.
Sorry Eric,
“The line between civilian police and an occupying army is millimeter thin.”
That’s quite likely the biggest bullshit line I’ve ever read.
Apparently checkpoints and a black white and blue flag aren’t enough for you. Nor the killing of the people in the areas they occupy.
What do they need to do to get you to admit the line has been crossed?
Deliver a .50 caliber projectile into the body of an ON DUTY member of the Canadian Armed Forces?
Yeah, that’s the ticket. Until then we are all safe. No occupation until the Canucks start dropping.
Hi T,
Ok, point taken!
they also make you pay for cavity searches brave guys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPEXYkffgpw
Saw that yesterday too. Repressed homosexuals using their badges to satisfy their sexual fetishes.
I once asked my octogenarian father who was involved with some of the most legendary NY criminals and toughest men to ever have walked the face of the earth – one of the last 1950’s era gangsters was recorded by the FBI several years ago talking about the two most fearsome men he had known one is who my father worked for, the other was killed by the man my father worked for. I posited the question of what would have happened if any cop had sought to sodomize him or any of the men he worked with – without a second of hesitation he replied “that’d be one dead cop.”
Have we become so tolerant of outrages and castrated by “civilization” that we will go on tolerating these outrages?
Cops with homosexual fetishes, indeed…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima
He has bigger things on his plate, battling cancer. Yeah, don’t we all.
I’ve battled cancer for 20 years and sometimes have to get it removed leaving my head mighty sore for a few days…..and so do a lot of my friends who’ve been baked in Texas sun their entire life.
It’s common. I need another removed from my back….again. Ive put off a lot of it all over by using organic coconut oil. Doesn’t everyone want to give me a bye when I aggressive against my fellow man? After all, I’m battling cancer. Evan Williams often helps me forget about it as does Spoeztl Brewery with it’s pain fighting Black Bohemian Lager.
Help, help, I’m dying and have been for nearly 69 years. The doc told me recently I could die at any time, much like everyone else on earth.
Please send your donations to The Big Pussy Foundation care of Eightsouthman.