We are told by cops – and the courts – that the rapidly metastasizing police state is “for our safety” (always for our safety) and that we shouldn’t worry if we’ve got nothing to hide – yet when police are on the receiving end of the same tactics they so urgently and even turgidly use against us, they tend not to like it so much.
Video and audio recording of their doings, for example.
Cops get annoyed when we video them but they video us routinely – even when we haven’t done anything illegal. For example, random “safety” checks. You’re on Candid Camera, like it or not. Cop Kiosks with those insect eye-looking bulbous cameras that you see on the ceiling at Wal Mart (and everywhere else) are sprouting up all over the country, especially in urban areas. That’s ok. After all, if you’ve got nothing to hide, what are you worried about? Isn’t that what we’re constantly told?
We – the Commons – are not entitled to privacy when in public. But they – the New American equivalent of yesterday’s Sicherheitsdeinst or NKVD – are entitled to privacy – secrecy, even – as they perform their “public” duties.
If we are suspected of some offense, we can expect to be filmed and otherwise recorded and any such evidence will most certainly be used against us when we appear before the Volksgerichtshof.
But if we film them – even if the film is proof of criminal activity – it’s entirely possible “the law” will be more interested in persecuting the person who made the video instead of prosecuting the criminal cop.
For example, in Chicago, a woman who was being interviewed by a cop following a domestic violence altercation ended up (the woman alleges) being propositioned – and even groped – by the cop doing the “interview.” Tiawanda Moore later filed a complaint against the cop, but it was not pursued. What was pursued was Moore’s surreptitious recording of the incident on her Blackberry, the proof in support of her claims. She faces – hold onto your hat – 15 years in prison for this “offense.” That just happens to be the same potential sentence the cop would get if convicted for for sexual assault – an actual crime. Except he won’t be convicted because he won’t be prosecuted.
But Moore will be – aggressively.
In Illinois, wiretapping laws intended to protect the public from being illicitly recorded by cops without a warrant are being used to persecute the public over something very different indeed. For doing something (i.e., recording evidence of police misconduct) that could only be characterized as criminal by a regime that is itself criminal – and wants no competition.
Maryland is another state that gets its panties in a bunch when one of us films (or records) one of them. In the now-notorious case of Maryland motorcyclist Anthony Graber, state police executed a felony SWAT-style raid on his house and carted off computers and other equipment…. because Graber dared to film his own traffic stop and posted it on YouTube. The video caused a ruckus because it showed poor judgment – on the part of the cop who stopped Graber for speeding on his bike.
Earlier this year, two Prince George’s County Thugs-in-Blue beat the crap out of a clearly not-violent, not-resisting University of Maryland student. We know the student was clearly not violent and not resisting – and that the cops were thugs – because we have a video recording of the incident. Here’s the video:
This time, the Thugs-in-Blue (black, actually) were suspended. But probably only because the video evidence was so damning – and so public. If the Maryland Sicherheitsdienst had its way, that video would never have been made. Or it would be made illegal.
Officer Safety and all, you see.
Similar videos of over-the-top cops (and much worse) are literally all over YouTube and other online servers. They are the one and only way that average people stand any chance of rectifying a wrong committed by a cop. The system is completely stacked against us and in favor of them. Anyone who has been to traffic court is well aware of this fact. The cop’s testimony is taken as Holy Writ … because it is a cop testifying and cops are regarded as incapable of deceit by the system. A cop’s word against yours? Forget about it.
Unless you have a video or audio recording.
Graber’s video of his traffic stop shows us, in living color, how over-the-top things got (i.e., an off-duty cop, not in in uniform and not in a marked cop car, threateningly brandishing his gun). The PG video showed an appalled public a public beat-down they’d otherwise probably never have even heard about – or believed, if they had. Or which would have been a case of “Officer Safety” … had that video not existed.
Which is precisely why the cops want no such videos to exist.
Do you suppose Andy Griffith would have objected to Goober or any other resident of Mayberry filming him while at work? Andy probably would have expressed concern about the person doing the filming being bored to tears and wasting his time. But other than concern over boredom, he wouldn’t have cared because after all, what was there to see?
But the time of Andy Griffith – and Mayberry and cops and laws that served the public – is long gone. Todays cops understand that much of what they do doesn’t bear watching – not by the public, that is. They do have something to hide. They know that the more we see of them in action, the more appalled we will be – and the more aware we’ll be of the ugly times in which we live.
Throw it in the Woods?
Farewell Andy Griffith…
As we become more barbaric abroad the divine irony is that these same “troops” return home with all their dehumanizing training in effect, amplified by PTSD (soul rot brought on by actual blood-guilt) along with their suicidal tendencies and they take it all out on us. 80%+ of the cops in my area are ex-military brutes. We deserve it. Innocent Iraqi, Afghani, Pakistani, Libyan lives are divinely avenged upon our general populace because it is the general populace that is OK with torture, wars of aggression, imperialism, exploitation and a whole host of evils that we daily and consciously turn a deaf ear to. We can’t blame the media brainwashers. We all know about the drones, kidnapping, torture, “collateral damage” etc. and we are all OK with it.
We deserve soul-less thug dehumanized ex-military cops to wreak havoc upon our bloodthirsty evil nation. Its karma, providence, whatever you want to call it. It is justice.
[side note: Any nation that tolerates , much less encourages young people just entering their productive years to have their souls stolen and their humanity anesthetized has, ipso facto, no viable future.]
Solution to reaping the whirlwind? Sow a better crop. Love peace, respect privacy, tolerate differences, work productively (serving others is the core of capitalism) and MIND OUR OWN DAMNED BUSINESS.
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Clovers are not passive docile people of no account. They are the health and vitality of evil elites. Clovers are the life-blood of evil. Clovers long for the certainty of servitude over freedom and responsibility.
Whether you view the bible as a “literary work” or as sacred, it contains the story of Moses leading people out of bondage, those people loved slavery more than liberty and “turned back in their hearts” to Egypt. Even God had enough of them and waited 40 yrs for them all to died off (except the non-clovers Joshua and Caleb) before he rewarded their heirs with fruit yielding lands (which still required work and toil).
Lesson? Clovers inhibit all of us and ruin everything. It is not the Rockefellers or the Warburgs or the Morgans. Before them it was the Caesars, the Papacy, the Pharaohs etc. I am not concerned with looking closely at the noose and dissecting its origins, strengths and weaknesses. I want to know how it got on my neck and the answer is… compliant masses as my compatriots. I suspect you have read what Albert J. Nock says about the “mass-man”.
It is the compliant submissive masses which facilitate and enable evil. Even Moses and God together couldn’t sway the masses, what makes us think that the banksters could do any better with an uncooperative public than they did. Clovers are the problem. Sadly I conclude by reading history that it is an anthropological condition, not a present ideological condition.
My hope is not in this life. And that, I surmise is the lesson.
11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
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For more on this entire subject of the militarization of LEOs, here’s a detailed brand new article published just today by John W. Whitehead (a constitutional attorney and founder of The Rutherford Institute), entitled “SWAT Team Mania: The War Against the American Citizen”. For those so interested, you’ll find this excellent article at http://tinyurl.com/43uz9ge .
And as far as video cameras go, the prices are crashing and the quality is way up. You can get one that is smaller than a BIC lighter for under $15 from Meritline.com. FLIP brand video cameras, just recently out of production forever, are seen on Craigslist for $25. FLIP clones can be had at the Dollar Bargain stores for as little as $20. Video cameras are now built into sunglasses, pens, and what look like keychain car remotes as well. Meritline.com sells most of these products at bargain basement prices, and I have done business with them a number of times with complete satisfaction (and I have no financial interest in them whatsoever.) Even many of today’s cell phones have video capability, so there is little reason to not have a video camera with you at all times.
Great article! We’re heading down a bumpy road, I’d say. But here’s one where the good guy (me!) got some satisfaction with an Irvine, CA, cop. I was side by side with him, and he had something in his hand next to his ear. At first I thought it was his police radio, but a second look showed it was his cell phone. I immediately began to think how he’d have pulled me over for using a cell phone without a hands-free device, and that must have created a look of contempt/disgust on my face. He pulled over, and for the next half-mile, I could see him in my rear view. Now that I think about it, however, maybe he was looking up my license plate so he could pull me over. Anyway, for a while I felt pretty good. To serve and protect–what a crock.
I’ve had a few brief moments of revenge in the form of successfully evading cops who tried to get me for “speeding.” A very fast motorcycle and enough nerve to make the attempt can lead to a very happy day indeed! (Clover’s ripping his carpet to shreds wif his Toof just hearing me say this…)
I’ve been pulled over twice for looking at cops with displeasure of their driving behavior. Be careful, their reaction to feelings of shame is often anger… just my experience. No tickets, but being on the side of the road with a cop screaming at me isn’t my idea of a good time.
I keep my camera sitting on the passenger seat just for the occasion.
I normally keep mine running. I bought it after the first one of those two events.
You should practice doing fast setups with it too. I also keep a towel on the passenger seat to help me quickly set the camera at a good angle.
If I have it and if the batteries aren’t dead or the memory full, it’s running. This way I also get whatever some cop claimed the reason for pulling me over was too.
That is a good idea, just having it roll with each trip you take and just wipe it out when you arrive without incident. Shoot man, I might do this on my hog. Would be interesting to document all the knuckle heads I encounter riding my bike to work.
To go with this, I have a bumper sticker that says “All conversations in this vehicle are recorded”.
That way, when they approach, they’ve had lots of time to see the sticker, and hence ARE concenting to the recording. If the cop car has cameras, then it’s recorded the sticker the whole time too.
It makes it legally admissible that way in court. he approached the vehicle after seeing the sign, he concented to the recording. Identical logic as walking into a store that tells you everything’s being wathed. You say the sign, you entered anyway, you legally concented.
Illinois law allows traffic stops to be recorded with video and audio explicitly. It does not say by who.
The police are completely out of control. We have reached the point where the police are a bigger threat to us then the so called criminals. This is not going to turn out well.
A good starting point for reform, in my opinion, would be for everyone who wants to ride without a seat belt or helmet on should do so.
The problem is that seat belt and helmet laws are symptoms rather than problems. Reversing them or any other particular law would just be a short term correction on the path to a total government. The underlying collectivism and idea that utopia can be achieved at gunpoint remains intact. It would matter about as much as being to brew our own beer again in the longer term.
The idea that people can be made moral, safe, healthy, or anything else at the barrel of gun, through violence or threat there of is what has to be dismantled. Once that firmly rooted idea is gone the power of the state is undermined and all these laws fade away.
That’s why I like videos such as this one I saw via LRC yesterday:
The answer is education of people, changing their way of thinking, otherwise we might get one or two freedoms back while losing a half dozen elsewhere.
“The problem is that seat belt and helmet laws are symptoms rather than problems” -very true
But.. This is something that everyone can do now and requires no research, preparation, or investment.
Man I know what you mean. We need to get back to being able to carry weapons back on planes and being able to go out and slam down a 12 pack and drive.
Clover, you postulate an endless list of “What Ifs?” to justify policies that treat every single person as if they have in fact done something criminal.
What if someone brings a gun onto a plane?
We must grope and scan every single person, even little kids and old people!
What if someone is out there driving drunk?
Let’s require that every driver on the road be forced to stop and submit to a Q&A, inspection and “your papers, please” by the cops!
And on and on – until we turn America into a twisted replication of East Germany or some other such place.
To the Cloverite (the “conservative”) brain, if there’s any potential for anyone to do anything wrong, then everyone must be presumed guilty and treated accordingly before the fact. They must surrender their (former) rights, such as the right to be free from unreasonable searches; the former legal requirement that cops have probable cause before doing things like de facto arresting you (and in fact searching you) should be tossed into the shitter.
It doesn’t matter to you; it’s a “small price” to pay for “being safe.” Only the price tag keeps getting higher and higher. And the actual, on the ground everyday threat to us comes not from abstract Abdullahs, not from the slight chance we’ll be hit by a drunk driver… but from our own (sic) government, which treats us more and more like criminals and less and less like free citizens entitled to due process and simple god-damned respect.
Why not give cops authority to enter homes at will, too? Someone might be committing a crime!
Why not require that all our earnings be sent to the government first, and then have the government take “its” share before giving us ours? That would catch a lot of “tax cheats”!
People need to be kept track of. They might be doing something illegal. Or dangerous!
Every person should be required by law to carry an electronic transponder with them at all times….
I tire of dealing with you, Clover.
You are on the right track, but ending with the wrong conclusion. We need to start back at the beginning. A child should have a good home life. Perhaps with a mother at home for the first few years (if she wants). Cost of living needs to be within reason, so nuclear families have the choice of mom staying at home. Then we need to address all the politically correct bullshit incorporated into the school system. Although completely wrong.. I like to see your gears are turning Clover!
eric is on the right idea, and using Clover’s logic of “laws for all because some may cause trouble” then all cops should be punished, triple-watched, and eventually disbanded because SOME cops can’t handle the power.
Clover, if you can tell me the difference between the 2 scenarios, I’ll be impressed. 🙂
Hi Brandon,
I agree. Sam Francis had a great term for what we are dealing with: anarcho-tyranny. Plainly put, ordinary citizens who are just trying to go about their lives in peace are hassled by petty (and not so petty) laws and enforcement while institutionalized criminality – the real thing – increases and goes largely unpunished. I’m in my 40s and the changes I’ve seen take place since my 20s really frightens me, because precedent is prologue and every assault on liberty and dignity that is allowed to stand results in more and worse, in an ever-accelerating downward spiral.
Idiots like Clover – a “law n’ order conservative” – are probably the most responsible for the situation we’re in, because it’s “conservatives” who ought to be most leery of empowering the state but who instead tend to be in the vanguard of those tub-thumping for ever more “security,” “laws” and so on.
The reign of The Chimp will be looked upon by future historians, I suspect, as the final turning point when whatever was left of the American republic was finally thrown in the trash for good.
And as an additional note to my post above, I just read that the Tuscon Arizona SWAT team that fatally shot US Marine Jose Guerena, and then DENIED him medical care until after he bled to death — were all just cleared of any wrongdoing in murdering him; leaving behind his widow and their two small children.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/06/14/20110614tucson-swat-shooting-officers-cleared14-ON.html
Hi Don,
I’ve been following this story (this atrocity). Can you imagine the results if the roles had been reversed? If a “hero” cop had been shot for no good reason by a Mundane?
Ditto the situation in Oakland. 11 months for murdering someone. A “reckless” driving” cite can lead to more real-world trouble for a non-cop.
The thing is, these guys are engendering dislike (then hate) among the populace. In the end, that will not be pretty… for them as much as for us.
As the cops in America continue to be brainwashed by the lies and propaganda that our government feeds them – that we civilians (and returning veterans among others) are the threat – combined with the fact that many newer LEOs are returning war veterans desensitized to inflicting needless atrocities; things just get worse in America between the cops and the people.
LEOs in America commit rimes thousands of times annually, but few receive any significant punishment.
Amalysis of the latest FBI data proves that not only are LEOs prosecuted for crime at a much lower rate than the civilian population — but we civilians also stand a chance of being killed by a LEO at a rate 5 to 6 times higher than being killed by another civilian!
The LEO (BART cop in San Francisco as I recall) who shot the young man in the back and killed him a couple of years ago, and who claimed in his trial defense that he thought he had pulled out his Taser and not his gun (!), was just released from jail after serving only 11 months for commiting murder. And this murder was videotaped by countless witnesses.
The globalists are pushing this conflict between LEOs and civilians, and unfortunately it seems to be getting worse. I know LEOs, and there are still many good ones out there. I encourage every LEO I see to go read the Oathkeepers pledge and to take it.
So all we can do in the meantime is carry a video camera with us EVERYWHERE we go (just like many who legally carry concealed weapons do), and never be afraid to use it – regardless of what any LEO might say or command to the contrary!
De Troof and facts overwhelm mah hay-ud!
Still chewing on that boot, eh clover? You must really like the taste.
He’s relentless. Must not be very much traffic at that toll (troll?) plaza where he spends his days, I guess.
Ohhhh! Clover bait!!!!!
If the cops have nothing to hide, then they should have nothing to worry about!
Amen!
Spot on. I wish more people would ask the cops this question….
Right on! I always enjoy playing with cops in a very simple and legal way…I ask them every single question they ask me and let them know it’s for the same reason. for example, they’ll ask to see my driver’s license, I’ll ask to see theirs! If they ask why, i tell them”same reason as you, to know who you are and to make sure you’re legal as best I can”. If they ask me to perform a roadside test, I comply adn ask them to do the same thing…becasue I want proof THEY are not intoxicated. if they ask me where I came from, I reply by asking them where THEY came from. etc…etc…
Of course most ignore the questions and get annoyed, but as long as you’re polite and clearly state you’re just doing what they’re doing (fishing for guilt from an innocent party), and use his own reasons against him (ensuring compliance with the law, you gotta follow it too, don’t you officer?), not much they can do. Can get pretty funny sometimes.