John Whitehead writes an excellent article detailing the US police state. It is quite sad, considering this was once the land of the free and home of the brave. https://www.globalresearch.ca/battlefield-america-the-ongoing-war-on-the-american-people/5651467
More laws, more invasions. How many laws are on the books now that weren't there in 1950? SWAT team military-style raids on businesses and homes are becoming routine. A lot of this has to do with growth of 'possession laws' (laws criminalizing things people are not allowed to possess) and sometimes law enforcement will conduct raids for the slightest reason, or make up reasons if they don't have enough evidence to get a warrant. We're talking about a military style invasion where a team of people with guns will break into your house, shoot anyone dead if they seem to pose the slightest threat, often times grab everyone inside at gun point and handcuff them, ask questions later, while they search around to see if there is anything illegal. Unsurprisingly, there have been numerous cases where people got killed and they never discovered anything illegal. How many cases, one wonders, where evidence got planted to make it look like there had been something illegal, to justify the whole operation. (It's going to look really bad if a 20-member SWAT team breaks into a place, accidentally shoots someone, and then they don't even find anything illegal) With the types of laws there are now, it's REALLY easy to plant evidence. People's homes have been raided for reasons no greater than buying hydroponic equipment or typing something on the internet. One man got raided because a neighbor thought his Japanese maple plants in his backyard looked like marijuana plants. He was shot dead by law enforcement the instant he was seen with a gun in his hands. He thought his home was being burglarized, because they broke into his home unannounced. In another old case from the 80s, a man was killed after he jumped up from his couch in surprise and one of the officers mistook the TV remote control in his hand for a gun. These are basically home invasions. Someone who doesn't look like law enforcement might knock twice at the door, and then 3 seconds later the front door will be bashed down and broken. You'd at least think if they did this, it would be because they were going after murderers or bank robbers, but usually that's not the case.
Thanks for a very thoughtful thread. One of the few benefits of getting old is being able to remember the steps by which Americans slowly & thoughtlessly surrender their liberties for the illusion of security. I am thinking specifically of 2 revenue enhancement schemes that have been established in my lifetime that are particularly nefarious: 1. "Sobriety Checkpoints" (aka "Doughnut Parties") seem to clearly violate the 4th Amendment, are dangerous, & do little to make the roads any safer as the vast majority of the "criminals" are guilty of minor decal & sticker violations. Meanwhile, the resources dedicated to citing expired stickers would be far more usefully applied to patrolling violent neighborhoods where the REAL crimes occur. 2. Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws ( Government Theft) is another "new law" that has been grossly abused in innumerable instances and yet attempts by individuals to fight this blatant form of government theft have too often become fruitless. The article you cited noted that governments are most tyrannical when "on war footing" and it seems like the US Government is destined to remain on "war footing" as today's foreign manufactured "War on Terror" is essentially an Israeli contrived & endless "War on Islam" that makes Americans LESS secure, costs thousands of American lives & wastes Trillions of dollars. As I noted in another thread (1) Israeli lobbies, treasonous Ziono-Cons & disloyal "Israel Firsters" are quietly but effectively pushing America to war with Iran just as disloyal Israeli agents have successfully pushed the US Government into implementing sanctions on Iran that will cost US businesses countless $Billions only to appease the Israeli lobbies who drive US Mid East Policy. Briefly put, as long as Israeli lobbies and de facto Israeli agents in the US & its government run US Mid East Policy, America will remain on the "war footing" that is fertile ground for egregious domestic abuses under an American Police State. (1) "Israel pushes US to War....Again" http://www.politicalforum.com/index...shes-u-s-to-war-again.540089/#post-1069520234 (2) "Sanctions on Iran cost the U.S. as much as $175 billion, study says" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...75-billion-study-says/?utm_term=.81a3257a8909
"Police in a small Georgia town tasered a 5-foot-2, 87-year-old woman who was using a kitchen knife to cut dandelions for use in a recipe. Police claim they had no choice but to taser the old woman, who does not speak English but was smiling at police to indicate she was friendly, because she failed to comply with orders to put down the knife." Sorry but I don't believe it. Even our plod aren't that stupid.
Yes, it did happen, just within the last week or two. It isn't really a matter of stupidity, it is a matter of fear and insecurity on the part of the police. Maybe stupidity too. Why didn't they get a translator? I think the story said that English speaking family members were inside the house.
Yes, part of the madness brought by insane national policy. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The first mention of a million man police force was during Reagan I believe..And of course the increase interdiction of humans in the drug war..
Same here. I doubt that the recruitment IQ level requirement is even into the mid-range double figures.
Actually the average police officer has an IQ of 101, detectives and supervisory officers will be higher, so re average men and women who are fit enough and are well average. Like a average McDonalds employee and a lot of the population. But there are exceptions. However my counter to police or others who ask for ID and I am required to give them my identity I say my full name and if they want an ID card hand my Passport Card it has my photo, full name, some other minor details but not my address, city or state but I tell them its a State Department Issued REAL ID so is lawful. Then if they get upset say simply I'll wait, contact the State Departments Passport Branch and they will verify all the other information you are asking for if it gets to my address and the like. You would be shocked how upset this makes officers but I carry a proper ID it proves my citizenship, name and age that is all I need to offer most of the time. My State ID is at home and well can use that when I must prove address information which I limited to voting and verifying information at certain other times. Even better if I move I'm not required to update the information on file for the passport card until I renew every ten years for a small fee and some minor documentation. Its legal to just say my address of if I had a book write it in the notes in pencil. What are they going to do argue a Federal ID handled within the rules isn't valid it not however in one state Minnesota there you must have a State ID. I never plan to go there. A lawful rebellious act not much but fun.
Good for you mate because I'm a rebel too, but unlike yourself I do get a lot of fun from being rebellious. I'm always eager to take on 'officialdom', but when I go for the jugular of central government (via my local constituency MP?) about something I'm not happy with, or to complain the government has got something wrong, and say what it should've done instead , the exchange abruptly ends when I ask a 'killer question' or promulgate an unarguable point. Then it all goes quiet . . . until the next time? As to more localized issues - I'm sure I've had local government CEOs (I always go straight to the top when I'm on the warpath - although, more often than not, the issue gets delegated out to an underling. ) : I just know they're all tearing their hair out by the time I've finished with them. Then they put me on their secret list of residents to be ignored. It's a sort of Pyrrhic victory I know, but it just puts them on notice that we're not all cattle out here.
That was a very biased, and stupid article. I could comb through nationwide police records and give you 100 examples to prove the opposite perspective.
