A barometer of the insanity of our times is that you’ll be hounded to the gates of Hell for “cheating” the government but if you kill someone it is No Big Deal.
Especially if you work for the government.
Rupert Stadler worked for Audi. So he’s going to jail. Stadler was frog-marched out of his home the other day by German government workers over his “role” in the emissions “cheating” business. He is the highest-ranking VW/Audi executive to be persecuted (whoops! prosecuted) by the Authorities to date over the automaker’s horrific crime of building its cars to pass government tests.
As readers of this scurvy site are well-aware, the “cheating” isn’t really why VW/Audi is being hounded. No evidence has been produced that even a single person was harmed by what VW/Audi did – which is the same thing every car company does (viz, design their vehicles to pass the various tests – just like SOLs for kids entombed in government schools).
The real crime – from the government’s point-of-view – is that VW/Audi successfully (for many years) “got away” with “cheating” the government.
A Sicilian Lesson had to be imparted.
The same lesson learned by other-not-OJs such as Irwin Schiff, who had the effrontery to question the government’s authority to steal people’s income – whoops! – “tax” them. He died in federal person, notwithstanding that he hadn’t so much as sneezed on someone and given them the sniffles.
But OJ is free.
If he’d “cheated” on his taxes (or perhaps, an emissions test) he’d still be a guest of Uncle’s.
Harm done – to real people – is explicitly not the government’s concern. It has stated this, quite openly via Supreme Court eructations that its enforcers have no specific obligation to protect anyone’s life or limb nor to put themselves in harm’s way for that reason. See the infamous Castle Rock decision (more here).
The enforcers only obligation is to enforce the law.
Not dissimilarly, the obligation of a car company isn’t to build cars which don’t harm people; it is to obey the law.
The response meted out to Stadler – and Martin Winterkorn and other VW executives – vs. the disinterest rampantly shown when government workers are caught on video actually harming (even killing) people conveys the disparate priorities.
For instance, the Daniel Shaver case, which readers of my column will already be familiar with. Shaver was a guest at a hotel in Mesa, AZ. Armed government workers – among them Philip Brailsford – responded to an anonymous call about “someone with a gun.” Shaver was in his room, with a woman, showing her a pellet gun he used as part of his job in pest control. He was an ordinary guy caught up in a very bad misunderstanding. While on his knees and pleading for his life, Brailsford shot Shaver to death in ice cold blood.
He remains a free man.
Just one of all-too-many examples.
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and all the associated criminals who lied the country into a war of aggression against Iraq – a war fundamentally no different than the Reich’s manufactured war of aggression against Poland 79 years ago, which resulted in heavy sentences (including the death sentence for the kriegsverbrechen responsible – are also free. Bush paints placidly in Texas, awaits checks in the six figures for “consulting” and such.
How many auto-driving cars have killed innocent people? And air bags? The government is directly responsible for both but indifferent to the damage. No indictments are handed down. No billions in fines levied.
It is probable that a single electric car auto da fe “emits” more caustic compounds into the ether than all the “cheating” Volkswagens and Audis did, collectively. And if not, then certainly the legions of emissions-exempted government vehicles do. What is the “tier” and “bin” applicable to MRAPs, for instance? Do their 9.3 liter diesel engines meet EPA standards? Have particulate traps and require DEF injection?
No, of course they don’t.
It would be interesting to weigh the NOx output of that emissions-uncontrolled 9.3 liter diesel vs. a 2.0 liter VW TDI equipped with all the EPA mandated bells and whistles. But VW and Audi are nailed to the cross over angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin differences in NOx emissions while on the EPA’s test rig vs. out in the real world.
These MRAPs, incidentally, roam the public roads – having been second-lifed from their original role of fouling the air in Afghanistan to fouling it right here in the land of the fleeced, where they now “serve” as heavy-handed as well as heavy-emitting implements for rounding up the likes of Stadler and others who dare to affront the Authority of the government.
. . .
Got a question about cars – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!
If you like what you’ve found here, please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: EPautos magnets are free to those who send in $20 or more. My latest eBook is also available for your favorite price – free! Click here. If you find it useful, consider contributing a couple of bucks! 
The exec is jailed & OJ is free & we need to seek justice not sycophance. Gov’t must enforce laws to protect people/society. A law breaker isn’t at odds w/“the government” per se yet w/his fellow man & society as a whole. Gov’t is a broker of justice. There are costs associated w/crime & injustice. Companies obeying emission laws shouldn’t suffer corps breaking them deliberately. Big corps gaming rules oppress small enterprises w/o the resource of size needed to jump through hoops of red tape & politician payoffs & demoralizes society if not punished & corrected. Small interprises complying w/laws (or improving them) incur disproportionate costs. Crime is hostility in the process of justice & all people in society as a whole. If an emissions law is bad the ‘BIG’ exec should get up off his ass & change it; not cry like an overprivileged toddler & game it. Fuck Audi. Justice needs improvement–better laws, courts, society providing jurors & law enforcement–not disintegration. Every important violation must be punished. Innocent people shouldn’t suffer; yet do. Speaking up for CEOs w/vast power to game justice isn’t helpful. Mere progress must be expected while diligent justice is sought. Contaminating a “free” market w/non-compliant autos is bullying. Mom & pop have suffered enough. We need better(not more) laws/courts. Righteousness won’t accept moral equivalence in condemning punishment in 1 case by pointing to injustice in another. Justice is objective, absolute & necessary. Injustice must inspire morale/effort/action not distraction/resignation/demoralization. The world isn’t entitled to justice yet must work at it–understanding, devotion & diligence for all in society–punish wrongs, help oppressed & keep improving justice systems (laws-courts-enforcement). Suggesting we’re born into a just world, entitled to perfect justice, w/o living, working & fighting for it every day, when & where it’s needed most is immature & demoralizing. Likewise bemoaning an injustice in 1 case to invalidate a judgment in another is ludicrous. Mom & Pop need defending fr/bullying by: big law-tax w/o representation-brute corp-big boxstore, now more than ever. Eg: offshoring, shopping jurisdictions, loopholing & socialized bailouts. Populism & Arab spring arose because red tape’s disproportionate burden helps big & hurts small expecting justice for taxes. I incorporated in the jurisdiction where I work/live & hope CEOs “better” than me at taking advantage of ea loophole, hubris & brute force enjoy crying over “injustice” in jail.
Victimless crimes seem to have the highest conviction rates.
Has anyone noticed that Americans support Trump when he wants to bomb North Korea and agree when Trump wants to make peace with North Korea?
http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/05/02/trump-deserves-nobel-peace-prize-for-north-korea-work-gaetz-says/
Americans side with Trump when he wants to start a trade war and agree when he wants to end tariffs.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/othercolumnists/leonid-bershidsky-trump-s-big-idea-let-s-get-rid/article_65499072-9ce6-5d53-825f-cd9201c8fe33.html
Have Americans lost their critical thinking skills?
http://www.badharvest.net/forum/viewforum.php?id=2
Hi Free Speech,
Yes – they absolutely have. After decades of dumbing down schools, then universities, there is no concept of critical thinking left amongst people. After the brainwashing of a couple decades in “education” once slightly more mature, people are made to choose a team on the left/’right divide and then fed propaganda on all matters accordingly. but in the end on stuff that really matters, expansion of the state, foreign intervention, restricting liberty both sides some how come to the same conclusion…… and anyone who DOES think outside the box (or encourages others to do so) ends up demonised by the media as “far right” or some other crazy lable, then hassled by the police for thought crimes (yes here in the UK police get involved over offensive tweets or facebook posts) and then eventually shut out by the tech giants….
Hi Nasir,
We might as well have Speech Codes; they can’t throw you in jail – yet – but you’ll be ruined professionally for uttering an off-color joke/comment. Certain things simply can’t be said – much less written.
I am glad for many things, among them that I grew up/got through school before things went batty.
You probably know that the term, “politically correct” was first used in Soviet Russia, during the Stalin years.
Well we’ve come far from that… and even Stalin in a wet dream couldnt imagine the policing of human thinking thats been achieved in the west today….https://twitter.com/policescotland/status/549955567960465408?lang=en or here- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/arrests-for-offensive-facebook-and-twitter-posts-soar-in-london-a7064246.html
(and incase you are wondering its not because they have successfully stopped all other crime from happening)
I just saw yesterday that one of Elon Musk’s overpriced rides, a Tesla, just burst into flames in Commiefornia. No accident involved it just was in bumper to bumper traffic and burst into flames. Imagine ALL the pollution and how nasty it was all that lithium and plastic just burning.
Hi Kevin,
I expect this to occur with increasing frequency as Teslas age. Wear and tear affects everything, including the physical integrity of electric car battery packs. And unlike gas tanks, when a lithium ion battery pack’s case degrades and there is a leak – even a very small one – the results will be catastrophic. An old gas tank can seep a little fuel and it’s no big deal unless someone purposefully puts a match to it. But the slightest commingling of a lithium ion batteries’ reactive internals and… it’s hot dog time.
Actually Mike,
By in picking out Eric’s OJ example, you have brought up an interesting angle on this article, perhaps one even Eric isn’t fully aware of, yet.
It’s the complete dichotomy of the 2 cases really. I’ll try to be as objective and concise as I can:
A: The OJ case, a brutal murder of 2 human beings. Deprivation of life, and liberty, permanently.
B: The VW case, a technical avoidance of Govt. Rules, no victims, no personal injury, no larceny, actually beneficial to the customers, so no fraud or embezzlement.
Case ” A” becomes a public trial by media and public opinion, so much so that the whole judicial process which SHOULD be handling the matter completely collapses.
Case “B” an issue which is ultimately SHOULD be a case of customer sentiment and satisfaction, is in fact being prosecuted with all the fury and intensity of the Courts who, in lieu of any actual victims, has proclaimed itself a “victim” ad litem, as IF the “public” was it’s child to protect from VW treachery.
Both cases received exactly the opposite treatment required, thus injustice has been done in BOTH cases.
Is anyone else getting the irony of all this? Well, we are paying for it, nonetheless.
Hi Graves,
A brilliant observation in re the public trial of OJ and the the non-trial (by public opinion) of VW. I will bring this up today when I’m on the radio (David Knight, InfoWars).
Hat tip, amigo!
“Case ” A” becomes a public trial by media and public opinion, so much so that the whole judicial process which SHOULD be handling the matter completely collapses.”
No….it was a trial by JURY. High publicity for sure. But the prosecution failed to prove its case. And the JURY found OJ Not Guilty. The system worked worked exactly the way it’s supposed to.
Eric’s analogy is sound in every other way. But what you’re saying here clearly “does NOT fit.”
Mike,
Apparently you fail to grasp what I’m even talking about. Eric clearly understood the point I was making. Additionally, I already told you I’m not going to get drawn into a debate about the OJ trial. If you wish to dissect my statement and attack it piecemeal, help yourself, clearly your too busy scrutinizing one tree to see the forest. I’m not here to explain nor defend what I’ve written. If you don’t get it, that’s not my shortcoming by any means. Feel free to ignore anything further I have to say, I’ll be sure to extend you the same courtesy in the future.
Completely agree with your main point.
But don’t you support the right to a trial by a jury of one’s peers? The Juice was found Not Guilty.
Everyone could see that “the gloves didn’t fit!” 🙂
A: The glove issue only proved it wasn’t his. “Not Guilty” is not necessarily “innocent” and we both know this. There was an overwhelming consensus among investigators that there was more than 1 person involved in the murder considering the struggle put up by Goldman alone, AND the fact that Nicole Simpson was being murdered at the same time. As powerful as O.J. may have been, one man was not capable of dominating the entire murder scene that effectively on his own. The faults of the prosecution were many, and trying to pin anything and everything on 1 suspect was just sheer stupidity, even more so than O.J.’s. Please don’t mistake this as an invitation to debate this case either, because I’m not about to. Eric was just using it as a convenient example, one that apparently still opens up a can of worms to this day.
The point of this article is that the “justice system” has become a fraudulent “tool” used to crucify those who have committed no crime and have brought no one to physical harm or death, nor financial ruin or hardship.
“Real” crimes such as murder and robbery are, aside from any media circus, swept under the rug with the verdict being inconsequential, right, wrong, or otherwise. Public “servants” who undeniably commit murder with an abundance of evidence that clearly indicates excessive use of force, however, are summarily excused, and even hailed as “heroes” for what amounts to simply putting down any resistance to authority, right wrong, or otherwise. it is THAT HYPOCRISY that this article is about.
Ok, for the contrarian view, here’s a guy who has written articles intending to prove that one thing or another was fake. In this one he does make some pretty telling points:
http://mileswmathis.com/oj.pdf
It’s in a pdf, because it’s long, but he does show that a lot of the OJ trial was obviously fake.
Oh Eric, you should join the flame war known as Linkedin when these articles come up.
Hi Brazos,
I post links there – to jab them with a sharp stick!
The disparate treatment of VW by the federal government, as well as other governments, is appalling.The supine response of VW is disgusting I have a 2003 Honda Odyssey and a 2003 Honda CR-V. Both cars had defective airbags that were replaced under recall after months of waiting for parts. It was not fun driving them, knowing that I could be injured or killed by the very devices that were supposed to be “protecting” me and my family.
As you noted, there is no moral equivalency when you compare the zero injuries or deaths caused by the VW diesel “crime” versus the very real injuries and deaths cause by Takata’s faulty airbags, Tesla’s auto-pilot and explosive batteries, and General Motor’s faulty ignitions.
Yet, VW executives are going to jail, and the company has had to pay tens of billions in fines and costs. Have any executives from the other companies been jailed? I’m not aware of any. The situation is infuriating.
Both Jefferson and Franklin said this “republic” would be the world’s boldest “social experiment”, and they knew what they were taking about. Washington just wanted to go home, and Hamilton showed up with his own self made rule book like it was a god-damned financial free-for-all boondoggle! Anyone wish to elucidate or expound on this? Be my guest, I’m tired from my 12-hour work day.
Sorry Eric, I guess this should have been on the “rant” page, but I just had to get it out, lol!
Historically speaking, if you were born in this country prior to 1865, you were born fucked, and short of open armed rebellion, you can’t do a damned thing about it, and likely not even then. I’m not he first to say it, not by a long shot, and I won’t be the last. Cheery news isn’t it?
Why do you think cops love their dash-cam and hate everyone else filming? Digital or -live-streaming video is just about the best “judge” as any of us being there, and can’t be denied. Yet these pricks in the “justice” system will still speak of an “alleged” crime one of their own has clearly committed to be witnessed by literally anyone and everyone, and even claim “their agent was justified” committing murder despite clear evidence to the contrary. Yet these same asswipes will convict you, me and Moses of any crime that our automobile commits on video, without even being able to identify a driver, occupants, mitigating circumstances, etc…..in fact, you will be convicted in *absentia*, WITHOUT trial of any kind, and sent a conviction notice and fine in the mail, and never have to have any knowledge, participation, or opportunity for self defense in the slightest.
*De facto*, it’s THEIR GAME, their RULES, THEIR country, NOT yours or mine. Want another example? Look up the two words I have asterisks around……they are NOT slang, ARE being used AND spelled correctly, yet the illiterate spell-checking program on the web says otherwise, why? Same Reason, it’s their game, their rules, and we must not question or oppose blatant errors and false convictions presented by “the establishment”, that’s why. This whole bullshit concept I have heard ALL my 53 years of life of “go along to get along” was and IS a pussy-fied ass-licking, titty suckling society notion adopted in the 1950’s during the Cold War. Strangelove is right, they should have just used the damned atomic weapons and been done with it. Instead we have an overpopulated world full of prick-waving titty suckers who won’t take a stand on anything if it puts them in harms way. Patton got off easy, we have suffer this society of obedient castration like a whole nation of eunuchs in the Chinese Forbidden City! All the wealth of the EMPIRE is out our feet folks, just trade in you genitals and have a heapin helpin!
Fighting the crooked govt.in their kangaroo court is futility. Just going to a traffic hearing or a divorce or child custody hearing is a an outright sham. The cases are decided between the lawyers and the judge(s) long before their (or your) ass shows up to be put on “show trial”. The Govt. worked hard to make these criminals just to have a reason to exists, so do expect you, me, him, or anyone to get anything but royally screwed to the wall in cases such as this. Jury trials are different only in regards to the fact that the govt. really doesn’t give a shit one way or another, because they aren’t in a position to play the “victim”. With jury trials many guilty parties go scott-free in the face of the most dmning evidence, or are wrongly convicted with no hard evidence of any kind whatsoever. They are a total emotional crap-shoot, and the legal system really does not give a shit about guilt or innocence one way or the other. Mob violence and lynchings were about as accurate/inaccurate as jury trials, and the system wasn’t making any money that way, so….when opportunity knocks.
Who is John Galt?
Dear Eric, you are such a good writer, and you speak very well too – I listen to you on the Bill M. show in OR. And you add hilarious humor to some of your articles too. LONG LIVE KING ERIC!
Thank you for the kind words, Crazy – made my day! 🙂
What Crazy said.
Where are the attorneys who are supposed to know the law? Why are they not pointing out all Eric has raised and asking for mistrials or at least trial by jury? The lawyers are siding with the government also. As long as they get their millions for “defending” the auto industry, the liars for hire are happy souls. The legal profession also has a lot to answer for in these cases.
No one at the airbag makers has been prosecuted for deaths they caused. And they are just as negligent because they knew the products would not work but consented to make them anyway. For profit.
Why are these things not pointed out? The judge simply disallows it. Then they can appeal the conviction. Then it is denied. That’s the US system. I don’t know what the German system is like but given that the US system for anything is full of pretending that we have rights and other nations tend not to pretend or not pretend nearly as much I would guess similar but with less of the pretense of disallowing and appealing. It’s probably outright not allowed.
Yes, a trial, with a jury fully versed in nullification and willing to use it.
I know…I know….but I can always dream, right?
I am so angry about this I cannot even think of anything pithy to say about it!