No Dissent is Allowed at the King’s Castle

What happened when a group of individuals decided to exercise their supposed Constitutionally protected right to protest their government over Fast and Furious? They were shutdown by the Secret Service:

Maurice Lewis, a student at the University of California, Merced, who marched in the event told Campus Reform that the Secret Service had seemed on edge well before the “suspicious package” was discovered.

“Several agents seemed hostile to our march and seemed anxious for us to leave the area,” said Lewis. “The discover the ‘unidentified package’ came just as the protest began gain traction.”

The Secret Service reopened the the portion of Pennsylvania Ave. that borders the White House shortly after protesters, who had been waiting nearby on 15th street for nearly half an hour, had dispersed. Agents did not communicate with organizers during that time.

Neither the White House nor the nearby Treasury building were shutdown. Employees of both building and members of the White House media were allowed to traverse the evacuated zone while protesters were kept out.

Apparently the “unidentified package” was severe enough to stop the protest until the protesters left but not severe enough to evacuate nearby buildings. Nothing about that claim doesn’t scream suppressing the right to seek redress from the government. It’s also not surprising, the king doesn’t like it when the peasants start protesting at the castle. What is surprising is that the Secret Service didn’t arrest any of the protesters under suspicion of leaving the “unidentified package” (then again if they arrested somebody they would have to explain their reason under more scrutiny so it also makes sense that no arrests were made).

Under the Radar Gun Control

Perhaps there was more to Obama’s comment about working on gun control under the radar than I first thought. Fast and Furious has blown wide open and evidence shows that the operation was, at least in part, about advancing gun control. Now we have a slightly stranger story about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) moving in to attack a gun range. What’s interesting is how desperate the charges appear to be:

Among the “violations” noted in the citation: An instructor on the range wore Howard Leight Impact Sport Electronic Earmuffs, which allegedly provided insufficient noise protection. (p. 11). I’ve never used the Howard Leight brand, but I have used electronic muffs from Peltor and from Dillon. Electronic muffs are the perfect choice for hearing protection and range safety, especially for an instructor. When the muffs detect a sound spike, they instantly shut down, reducing the noise to a comfortable level. Unlike passive muffs, electronic muffs do not block sound at other times, so it is much easier for the instructor to communicate with students, and to hear everything going on in the area. Indeed, normal sounds (but not gunshots) can be amplified by the muff’s electronics, if the user so chooses.

I have these exact same ear muffs, as do several people I know. They are sufficient for me and I have rather sensitive hearing so I see no grounds for claiming they offer insufficient protection. The charges get even more silly from there:

Here’s another violation: “A gun range instructor conducting shooter instruction was observed reaching down on the range floor to collect a loaded handgun cartridge. The employee was not wearing any hand protection such as gloves. The gun range floor was contaminated with lead. The gun had misfired and it required manual cycling of the barrel slide to remove the defective round which then fell on the gun range floor.” (p. 22).

Umm… I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up loaded cartridges from the ground without any hand protection. Unless you’re dealing with unjacketed rounds and pick up the cartridge by the bullet there is no chance of lead exposure. If the round does go off (let’s say due to a hang fire) gloves aren’t going to protect your hand from the shrapnell. The idiocy of this violation can’t even begin to be explained.

What’s more worrisome is the fact OSHA has the ability to find a workplace because of employee actions. OSHA should have no way in what an individual does. If an individual is stupid enough not to wear hearing protection (or is deaf and not in need of hearing protection) that’s their business. Even though most employers have restrictions against such actions there isn’t always a boss to watch the employees so they can violate posted safety rules, it shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of employers when that happens.

With “violations” like those mentioned above it would be a trivial matter for OSHA to shutdown any firing range. Many ranges aren’t able to eat a $111,000 fine and a return by the OSHA thug would certainly net the exact same “violations” as they are unavoidable (especially the “violation” of picking up an unfired cartridge). Of course having such actions be finable offenses is great if your goal is to shut a range down, which I’m betting is part of the motivation behind the current set of charges.

The Violence Inherent in the System

Via Twitter, reader and commenter Zerg539, linked me to a story that demonstrates how violent the statist system is:

The North Carolina man visited by armed EPA agents after sending an email to a controversial agency official says he’s not satisfied with the explanations about what he considers an excessive response and that he wants changes to agency policies and procedures.

“This isn’t over,” Keller said.

He told Fox News.com that Environmental Protection Agency officials have said the agency followed procedures and that the agents acted appropriately during their visit last month. However, Keller is still invited to come to EPA headquarters to discuss the situation.

Keller said he’s not willing to come to Washington without knowing what will be discussed.

The incident unfolded after Keller sent an email April 27 to the EPA to try to reach Al Armendariz — a regional administrator who was under fire for a YouTube video post days earlier in which he said his enforcement strategy was to “crucify” executives from big oil and gas companies.

The letter to an EPA external affairs director read “Do you have Mr. Armendariz’s contact information so we can say hello? – Regards- Larry Keller.”

An agent of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a comment about crucifying oil company executives and the guy asking for his contact information is the one that warrants armed thuggery? I understand the comment about crucifying oil company executive was figurative but it’s certainly worse then asking for contact information.

Sending armed agents to the home of somebody asking for your contact information is nothing but pure intimidation. Nobody should be surprised though, intimidation is what the state does. The costumes, riot gear, weapons, armored personnel carriers provided by the Department of Homeland Security, and domestic use of surveillance drones are all about intimidation. It’s meant to make you kowtow to the state. In fact it’s no different than the Russian military parades that were put on to intimidate both the people in Russian and foreign countries.

The War on Dogs Comes to Minneapolis

Even Minnesota isn’t safe from the state’s war on dogs:

A north Minneapolis woman whose dog was shot 10 times and whose house was ransacked by Minneapolis police officers has sued the department, alleging that the incident earlier this year was set off after a failed police pursuit of her fugitive brother.

They shot the dog 10 times? Obviously this was a vicious uncontrolled animal that threatened the lives of all involved:

As Anderson’s husband met the officers in the front yard, the family’s 8-month-old pit bull appeared. Anderson’s husband said he would collect the dog and called for it, but the officers called out “Pit bull!” and began shooting, striking the dog in the head, legs and body and fatally injuring it, the suit said.

Or it could have been entirely harmless and was merely minding its own business, that was my second guess. At least karma his the police square in the leg:

A bullet or bullet fragment struck one of the officers in the leg, and another dog also was shot and wounded.

Serves those murdering sons of bitches right. The gun control zealots keep talking about taking guns from lawful individuals but are entirely OK with allowing costume-clad government thugs to continue having them. Last I heard the average individual wasn’t going around shooting family pets for no reason.

Preventing You from Leaving

Last week I gave my predictions for France, most of which were pulled from the book Pictures of a Socialistic Future [PDF]. Pictures of a Socialistic Future was a took written at the end of the 1800s that property predicted many things that would happen in socialist countries. One of the predictions was the socialist state would face a massive exodus of people and would implement laws preventing unapproved departures from the country. Such laws have been implemented in many socialist countries and are put into place to keep wealth and labor in the country by force. Guess what? The United States is officially announcing plans to implement such laws:

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has a status update for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin: Stop attempting to dodge your taxes by renouncing your U.S. citizenship or never come to back to the U.S. again.

[…]

At a news conference this morning, Sens. Schumer and Bob Casey, D-Pa., will unveil the “Ex-PATRIOT” – “Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy” – Act to respond directly to Saverin’s move, which they dub a “scheme” that would “help him duck up to $67 million in taxes.”

The senators will call Saverin’s move an “outrage” and will outline their plan to re-impose taxes on expatriates like Saverin even after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Their proposal would also impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship.

The process of preventing people from leaving the United States has been underway for a while. Earlier this year legislation was announced that would prevent those who owe taxes from leaving the country. Now the state is moving to make laws that will make it legal for the state to plunder a great deal of your wealth if you decide to renounce your citizenship. Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn’t get much more blatant than this.

You are not a citizen, you are not a free individual, you are a slave according to the state. In their eyes they own you, you are their property. Honestly, if you have any wealth whatsoever get the fuck out of this country now. The ship is sinking and the state is looking to transfer any and all wealth from the people to its cronies and agents before there is no wealth left to take. Eugene Richter warned us what socialism would bring in Pictures of a Socialistic Future and nobody felt it was worth heading his warning. Right now the state is targeting the wealthy because they have the most to take but you can rest assured that laws preventing the departure from the United States will only expand.

Also, the the Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy Act? EX-PATRIOT Act? Really? Really?! Who the fuck is paid to come up with these acronyms?

I hat tip to Snarky Bytes for this revealing story.

Sending the Wrong Message

The state is often schizophrenic when it comes to the messages it sends. One hand of the state will tell you to do ‘X’ while the other hand demands that you do ‘Y’ and the joke is that ‘X’ and ‘Y’ are mutually exclusive:

Hidden in weeds in Detroit’s Brightmoor area, Chevilott and his Wayne County crew discovered a loaded, snubnosed revolver as they were mowing the lawn mid-morning on May 3.

“It was damaged, so it could’ve went off. Surprisingly, it didn’t kill the guy on the mower,” Chevilott explained. “It got picked up, so we put [it] in the van, waited [for] police to drive by.”

However, Detroit police never did drive by, so Chevilott finished his work day, drove the gun home and later that same evening turned it into his local police department in Garden City.

He says the cops ran the gun and discovered the weapon had been stolen from St. Clair Shores in 2005.

“They said I did the right thing getting it off the street.”

Obviously Chevilott did a good thing. He found a discarded weapon and turned it over to the police so they could determine if it was stolen and/or used in a crime. Good on Chevilott for performing such a public service. Leaving loaded unsecured weapons lying around is certainly dangerous and we should encourage people to secure them, right? Not according to the Wayne Country Department of Public Services:

However, Chevilott’s superiors at the Department of Public Services had a much different opinion. His foreman, who had knowledge of the situation, was suspended for 30 days, and after 23 years on the job, Chevilott was fired for violating department policies.

According to a Wayne County spokeswoman and the rules, employees aren’t allowed to possess a weapon on work property.

While one hand of the state, the police, encourage people to secure discarded weapons so they will not be a danger the other hand, the Department of Public Services, says doing so will cost you your job. What’s a person to do? We’re often told that we should do the “right thing” but end up being punished for it. Chevilott will probably think twice about securing a discarded weapon since doing so this time cost him his job.

It’s sad that we now live in a society where common sense and decency are discarded for absolute adherence to rules and regulations. You can’t even help a dying man without fear of violating some law and thus facing a lawsuit down the road.

Keeping You Safe

No words strike as much fear into many peoples’ hearts as “We’re with the government, we’re hear to help.” For example and innocent man had the state “help” him perform “repairs” to his property:

Two years ago today, Joe Del Rio was awakened to find city officials at the door of his lifelong home in East Austin, demanding entry. Before it was over, the Police Department’s SWAT team and the Fire Department had been deployed, and Del Rio said he was detained and questioned for about 10 hours because of what officials called a multilevel bunker-like space under the house with suspicious and unusual materials.

After the city billed Del Rio in April for about $90,000 in repairs it said were critical to make the home on Canterbury Street safe, Del Rio sued the City of Austin last week for what his lawyers say was a heavy-handed and unconstitutional seizure of his property without compensation.

Let me get this straight, a SWAT team stormed this man’s property, detained and questioned the man, and performed “repairs.” I wonder what kind of repairs were performed:

Del Rio also said officials concreted in the basement, fenced and locked the perimeter of the home and removed utility meters, making the house, in its current state, uninhabitable. The suit says that at the time of the seizure, Travis Central Appraisal District records put the house’s reasonable fair market value at upward of $172,000.

I guess if you have an insanely twisted mind filling a basement with concrete could qualify as a repair.

You Need the States Permission for Everything

It seems you need the state’s stamp of approval to do anything, including reincarnate:

In one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.” But beyond the irony lies China’s true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region’s Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country.

I’m not sure what China is thinking with this one. They want to reduce the influence of the Dalai Lama but I’m guessing Buddism doesn’t stipulate that the state must give one permission before they can reincarnate.

Honestly this ruling is just weird, I wonder if the politicians stopped to consider how this law would be enforced before passing it.

I’m Sure He Deserved It

The war on drugs not approved by the state is one of the most vicious acts the state has taken. We have an almost unfathomable number of people rotting in prisons because they were found guilty of a decree (not a crime, a crime requires a victim). Worse yet, the state also finds it acceptable to punish the innocent:

The DEA left a student in a holding cell without food, water, or a bathroom for five days. Daniel Chong slept over at a friend’s house after celebrating April 20th, a day that marijuana users set aside to smoke pot. The DEA raided the house the next day and took him and eight others down to a local DEA office to answers questions. After he was told he was free to go, he was placed into a holding cell.

Chong screamed and pounded on the walls for help, but no one came to let him out, even after hearing people enter and exit the building. Since he was left without water, he was forced to drink his own urine and ate a white powdery substance found in his cell that turned out to be methamphetamine.

An innocent man locked in a cell for five days without food or water… but the jailers managed to toss some methamphetamine. What next, are they doing to charge him with using the meth? I wouldn’t put it past the state honestly. His kidnapping also lead to his attempted suicide:

After all of this, he tried to take his own life by breaking his own glasses, swallowing part of the glass and trying to carve his arms with the glass. When the agents finally discovered him, he was unresponsive and was sent to intensive care.

Yup, this is the war on drugs ladies and gentlemen. Your tax dollars are being used to bring violence against nonviolent individual.

Oops

It seems the Richmond Police Department should be more careful when fulfilling Freedom of Information Act requests:

After filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Richmond Police Department for police training documents, Mo Karn received much more than expected in return: homeland security and crowd control guides that show how the police target protests.

The police filed for an emergency court order yesterday to prohibit Karn from publicizing any of the documents, which should never have been released. The cops’ reasoning? “Defendant Mo Karn is a known and admitted anarchist.”

The documents, however, have already been published online. And buried in the training guides are insights into three trends in law enforcement that have been occurring not just in Virginia, but nationally: the demonization of protest, the militarization of police, and turning local cops into “terrorism” officials.

Hilarious is the only word for this. It’s always good to see the bad guys screw up once in a while. The documents themselves are interesting reads. Since this information is so secret that the Richmond Police Department attempted to prevent them from being published I decided to upload some local copies here:

Richmond Police Department Emergency Operations Plan [PDF]

Richmond Police Department Crowd Management Team Operating Manual [PDF]

Richmond Police Department Homeland Security/Criminal Intelligence Unit Operating Manual [PDF]

2009 Virginia Terrorist Threat Assessment [PDF]

I haven’t had time to actually read through all of these documents so please refer to the linked story for the highlights or read through the documents at your liesure (eventually I’ll get around to read them and if I find anything interesting I’ll probably post about it). With that said the 2009 Virginia Terrorist Threat Assessment manual has some interesting things to say about anarchists:

Anarchist extremists adhere to the anti-government movement which rejects governmental rule and police authority and advocates violent means to overthrow social, political, and economic hierarchies. The most current reporting includes known individuals, meetings and activities, internet reference, and law enforcement encounters in Chesterfield, Henrico, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Strasburg, Williamsburg, Arlington County, Nelson, Smyth, Wythe, and Montgomery counties, as well as around Virginia Military Institute and William and Mary. Past anarchist activity or presence has been reported in Chesterfield, Christiansburg, Harrisonburg, Henrico, Norfolk, Prince Edward, and Prince William County, as well as by the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority. Reported activities have included public disturbances, conferences, and protests. In the past, Virginia’s primary anarchist figure of note was Peter Gelderloos, who is currently awaiting trial in Spain.

Many of the individuals who comprise this movement in Virginia are college age youth or college students, mostly located in the Richmond and Harrisonburg areas. These extremists have created their own training manuals and use list-serves and blogs to communicate, although the Virginia Anarchist Federation (VAF) webpage shows that attempts to organize on a large scale have been unsuccessful. Anarchists have been known to cooperate with environmental and animal rights groups and have engaged in hostile confrontations with white supremacist groups. Although the anarchist threat to Virginia is assessed as low, these individuals view the government as unnecessary, which could lead to threats or attacks against government figures or establishments.

I emphasized the most interesting pieces. First let me address the claim that anarchists “advocate violent means to overthrow social, political, and economic hierarchies.” Most of the comments made by the media and police regarding anarchists assume that anarchism is a single unified philosophy, as I explained some time ago it’s not. Some anarchists do believe in violent tactics, others oppose violent tactics entirely. To write a blanket statement like the one above demonstrates who ignorant of anarchism the state really is, which is probably why they fear it so much.

The whole “These extremists have created their own training manuals and use list-serves and blogs to communicate” line was just too funny. Watch out! The anarchists known how to read and post on list-serves (although I don’t believe anybody uses list serves to communicate today, everybody has moved on to web-based forums). Apparently anarchists also use blogs to communicate… interesting. I would have never guessed that.

I’m surprised they said anarchists have “engaged in hostile confrontations with white supremacist groups” like it’s a bad thing. Fuck neo-Nazis, seriously. The Ku Klux Klan? They can go to Hell. I’ll also point out that it was very likely the white supremacist groups were the ones who most often initiated hostilities. Any philosophy founded on mass extermination of entire ethnic groups or lynching of black individuals in the South isn’t exactly on pacifist grounds.

Finally the last line was nothing but pure fear mongering. First, anarchist usually don’t view government as unnecessary, they view it as violent and thus undesirable. In essence anarchists oppose violence, which is why it’s unlikely they will attack any government agents (and before anybody brings up Alexander Berkman, I said such an act is unlikely not impossible).

The state’s fear of anarchists has always amused me and it’s always entertaining to read their manuals that mention anarchism. I’m sure the other manuals will turn up some gold as well but now that their secrets are in the hands of anarchists the state will have to change their tactics.