Tag: Shut Up Slave

It’s All He Knows

We all know that the Republican Party (GOP) has a problem with its candidates saying really stupid shit. Part of the issue may be that those candidates have poor anger management skills. People are known to make really stupid comments when they’re upset, which may explain why this GOP candidates went off of the rails on a reporter:

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) was caught on tape last night going off on a local reporter who asked him a question that he was not expecting and did not want to answer.

The shocking footage shows Grimm threatening the NY1 reporter, telling him, “If you ever do that to me again, I’ll throw you off this f***ing balcony.”

He then told the reporter, “You’re not man enough, I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.”

Nobody should be surprised by this outburst. First of all we know the GOP has a problem with the words that come out of its candidates’ mouths. But they’re also politicians, which means violence is the only thing they know. Their entire job is to make decrees that take the form of “Obey this or else.” The “or else” is always a threat of violence. In fact the only thing that surprised me about Mr. Grimm’s outburst was that he was so direct with his threat of violence. Most politicians hide behind an office, reams of paper, and legalese to make their threats. Perhaps we would be better off if more politicians displayed Mr. Grimm’s honesty.

Without Cops Who Would Run the Prostitution Rings

Time and time again we see the supposed upholders of the law breaking the law. Oftentimes these violations of law are merely acts of violence against innocent people. Other times they involved an officer operating a prostitution ring from his home:

WASHINGTON (WJLA) – A D.C. police officer is alleged to have been pimping a number of teenage girls from his Southeast D.C. apartment, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court Wednesday.

The unnamed officer is the one whose apartment was searched throughout Wednesday, a search during which sources say police were able to locate a teenage girl who had been reported missing by her family.

According to documents, the girl who was discovered was part of a prostitution ring being run by the cop, who sources say works Washington’s 7th District.

I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. After all, it’s not like a member of Washington DC’s finest would be renting teenage girls to older men and pocketing the profit:

During the early morning search of the officer’s home, MPD officers discovered the girl in a back bedroom. She told officers that she had met the suspect about two weeks ago, and after several meetings, the suspect told her that he had made a “date” for her with an older man.

That “date” was of to be a sexual nature, documents say. The teenage girl, whom the suspect told the victim that her prostitution name was to be “Juicy” – was told she’d be paid $80 for performing sexual acts on the man and that she was supposed to give $20 of that to the suspect.

Never mind. At least the officer in question has been arrested by his less corrupt upholders of the law:

On Friday, community leaders in Southeast D.C. told us there is outrage in the area over why the D.C. police officer has yet to be charged with misconduct.

“They may be protecting one another,” said Sandra Seegars. “I’ve heard people say that if it was an ordinary citizen, they would have been arrested by now.”

In response, Police Chief Lanier said: “We are actively trying to determine if there is anything criminal in nature that we can charge the officer with.”

Fuck.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of this. The police seem to have a you-watch-my-back-I’ll-watch-yours attitude. If one of their own commits a heinous crime other officers seem to either be unwilling to arrest and prosecute them or move to actively assist them is weaseling out of any possible consequences. What’s even more worrisome is that this attitude seems to be getting more prevalent every day.

If charges are filed, which I’m doubtful they will be, it will be interesting to hear the officer’s defense. I’m certain he will come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation of why a teenage girl was in his back bedroom.

The Propaganda Machine is Getting Slow

Edward Snowden has been disseminating information about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance apparatus since June 5th of last year. In all of that time the state’s propaganda machine has been making feeble attempts to combat these leaks. These attempts have ranged from trying to label Snowden a traitor to claiming the state’s surveillance apparatus is necessary to keep American’s safe. Over seven months after Snowden began his heroic efforts the state’s propaganda machine is finally putting some real effort into attempting to discredit him:

Washington – Edward Snow­den, who leaked classified National Security Agency documents, might have been working for Russian spy services before he left his job as an NSA contractor last year, the heads of the House and Senate intelligence committees said Sunday.

“I don’t think it was a gee-whiz luck event that he ended up in Moscow under the handling” of Russia’s state security service, said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House panel.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, was asked whether she agreed with Rogers that Snowden may have had help from the Russians. “He may well have. We don’t know at this stage,” she said.

Neither Rogers nor Feinstein offered evidence that Snowden had been working with Moscow. Both lawmakers said their committees would continue to pursue the suspicions.

It’s a little late to start playing this game. Attempts to discredit somebody need to occur very soon after he or she beings whatever deed warrants discrediting. After a short time frame any attempts to discredit the person appear shady. Such delays make it appear as though you had to invest time into fabricating stories and evidence instead of relying on readily available facts.

The damage Snowden has done to the NSA’s credibility is done. There is nothing the state can do to repair its reputation. Any attempts, other than completely dismantling the NSA, reek of desperation and inability to take responsibility. I’m sure we will be presented with evidence that Snowden was secretly working for the Russians soon but we know that any such evidence will be a pathetic fabrication meant to discredit a great man.

Increasing the Flow Through the School-Prison Pipeline

The 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution didn’t abolish slavery regardless of what many believe. What it did was change the rules. Criteria for who can and cannot be used as a slave is no longer based entirely on skin color, although it often plays out that way. Instead the primary criteria is whether or not an individual has been given the arbitrary label of criminal. With the slave labor pool dropping something has to be done to keep Federal Prison Industries and Corrections Corporation of America stocked with workers.

Schools in Minnesota, and most likely their slave labor employing partner MINNCOR, are looking at an innovative new way to get those numbers back up. The experiment involves drug testing children in schools:

School administrators in Duluth are talking about testing students randomly for drugs.

Educators say parent and student input would be gathered if the idea moves forward.

Parent Deb Johnson tells KSTP’s sister station WDIO-TV she’s in favor of the tests because it would likely curb the drug problem in the high schools. Johnson is president of the Duluth East Parent-Teacher-Student Association. She expects some resistance to the idea.

Since every activity an adult can possible consider doing is effectively illegal in this country the only way to increase the flow of laborers into the prison system is to either increase enforcement or criminalize children. Increasing enforcement costs money and requires more badged thugs. Criminalizing children is much easier because the population is mostly captive. This is probably why more states have been trying to open the school-prison pipeline wider. Testing adults for drugs is slightly more difficult than testing children for drugs because adults have the right to refuse. Children, on the other hand, are given no legal opportunity to refuse any order given by a school administrator.

I’m sure many people, like Deb Johnson, will approve of drug testing children. They will approve of this because they perceive that a drug problem exists and believe drug testing will fix that problem. In reality this is a case where the “fix” is worse than the “problem”. In all likelihood any kid who tests positive for drug use will find him or herself brought up on charges. What may have been a youthful indiscretion would turn into a lifelong punishment.

Finding a job is extremely difficult when you have anything on your criminal record. It’s one of the reasons I believe the recidivism rate is so high in the United States. After getting out of prison an individual has a difficult time getting a job so they return to crime in order to survive. By charging children with a drug offense they are effectively guaranteed a lifetime of hardship in regards to finding a job. While many people may claim that this is a good reason for kids not to do drugs we need to be honest and admit that children suck at long term planning. That’s part of the reason we don’t trust them with real responsibility. So hitting them with a lifelong punishment is nothing short of absurd. But that’s most likely what will come of these drug tests.

I find it sick that the schools are even thinking about doing this and I find it even sicker that many people will actually approve of this.

Getting Away with Murder

It’s easy to get away with murder in this country. Doing so only requires you to acquire a badge and a state sanctioned costume. Once you’ve done that you can go around beating people to death without worrying about consequences:

An Orange County jury Monday found two former Fullerton police officers accused of killing a schizophrenic homeless man, Kelly Thomas, not guilty.

Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli were charged with striking Kelly Thomas with a baton and a stun gun in a beating that left him comatose. He died five days later.

What makes this decision especially heinous is that the evidence of police brutality is concrete. Here is the video of the police beating Mr. Thomas to death without any provocation (obviously the video is violent):

One might be asked what defense could possibly exist for an act of brutality such as this. Well the defense, like the video, was sick:

Ramos’ attorney, John Barnett, told reporters: “These peace officers were doing their jobs…they did what they were trained to do.”

The defense attorney was being truthful, the officers were doing their jobs as they were trained to. Threatening and inflicting violence to instill obedience is how officers are trained to deal with situations. If an officer commands you to do something and you fail to do so you can almost guarantee that you would be beaten, Tased, shot, or otherwise aggressed against. This is one of the biggest problems with modern policing.

I honestly don’t have words to describe my opinion of those officers or the jurors who gave them a free pass. This ruling demonstrates everything that is wrong with America’s “justice” system. Although I try to avoid using derogatory labels I cannot help by bring myself to use one now. Those officers are fucking pigs. They are examples of the worst humanity has to offer. Savagely beating a homeless schizophrenic man to death because he was unwilling to put his god damned feet in the command position takes a true psychopath. I only hope that the jurors came to their decision because they were being threatened behind the scenes. Based on what I’ve seen in today’s “justice” system I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. And if that was the reason for their decision I understand and do not fault them. On the other hand, if that wasn’t the reason for their decision I can only assume the jury was made up of some truly sick individuals.

Fuck everything about this case.

We’re All Criminals Now

This post is for all of those people who believe this country needs to be tough on crime. While severely punishing criminals sounds like an effective idea the problem with such an attitude is that we’re all criminals. There are over two centuries of laws on the books at a federal level. Hawaii, the newest state in the United States, has over half a century of laws on the books while every other state has even more. It’s not just the laws that make us criminals but previous court decisions also create more criminals. In fact nearly 50 percent of black males and 40 percent of white males are arrested before they reach 23 years of age:

A large number of American men have already been arrested by the time they’re in their early 20s, according to a new report.

The study, published on Monday in the journal Crime & Delinquency, found that nearly half (49 percent) of African-American men and 40 percent of white men have been arrested by the age of 23, “which can hurt their ability to find work, go to school and participate fully in their communities,” according to a press release.

When everybody is a criminal the label criminal loses its meaning. That’s the point we’re at in our society. The average American unknowingly commits three felonies a day. If we became tough on crime or enforced the laws already on the books every single one of us would be in a cage.

This is something you should consider the next time one of your friends or a politician blabbers on about the need to be tougher on crime.

Rand Paul Once Again Demonstrates His Love of Authoritarianism

It’s time again for me to take a swing at my favorite political punching bag, Rand Paul. This time it is in regards to a statement he made about Edward Snowden, the man who gave up his cushy job with a National Security Agency (NSA) contractor to enlighten us all on the widespread surveillance state we live under:

During an interview with Eric Bolling on Fox News last week, Sen. Paul was asked to respond to the video of director Clapper lying about the collection of data in March 2013 – before Snowden’s leaks. Paul told Bolling it’s ironic that the same legislators and pundits calling for Snowden’s imprisonment are turning a blind eye to Clapper’s committed felony in Congress. Disagreeing with the illustration Paul created, the Senator said he wants the law applied equally: both to Snowden for leaking and to Clapper for lying.

[…]

Along with Stephanopoulos’s question of clemency, the ABC pundit wanted Senator Paul to touch on his comments to Fox News’s Bolling, regarding a prison cell for Snowden. Paul told ABC’s “This Week” that the reasoning behind his statement was to convey a point of equality under the law, pointing out that Snowden and Clapper broke laws and that neither the pro-NSA or anti-NSA sides should throw a blind eye to broken laws.

Emphasis mine. This really irritates me for a couple of reasons. First, a precedence of jailing somebody who revealed criminal activity would decrease the likelihood of another person coming forward in the future. When agencies or corporations are engaging in criminal activity that information should be made public. Unless that information is made public it is too easy to cover up the evidence and sweep the story underneath the rug. This is especially true when oligarchs, such as government officials, are on the take. Based on the stories that have come to light about the activities of the NSA; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI); Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Department of Justice (DoJ) I don’t believe it is unreasonable to think anybody who used “proper channels” in an attempt to reveal criminal activity would find themselves in a cage or ditch.

Second, what Edward Snowden did was the right thing. Punishing Snowden for leaking those documents would be no different than punishing an armed person who stopped a school shooting. Yes, entering a school with a firearm is illegal but if it is done to stop somebody who is attempting to murder students and faculty then the violation of “gun-free” zone laws should be ignored. Likewise, any laws Snowden violated by leaking those documents should be ignored. More often than not the law stands between a good person and the right thing. When this happens the obstructing laws shouldn’t be enforced.

Rand Paul attracts support from both the neoconservative and libertarian sides of the aisle. The neoconservatives, rightly so, see a politician who is willing to talk the talk without walking the walk. Libertarian supporters of Rand Paul believe a rather absurd conspiracy theory. They believe that, upon being elected to the presidency, Rand Paul will turn away from his neoconservative nature and reign freedom and liberty upon this country. If somebody can show me a single instance of such a change occurring in a politician while he was in office I make consider that conspiracy theory a bit more than a theory. But as far as I’m aware such a change of heart has never occurred.

Warrantless Searches of Electronic Devices Ruled Constitutional

Do you believe, under the legal framework of the United States, that the people who guard the imaginary lines we refer to as borders should require a warrant to search your electronic devices? According to a United States District Judge a warrant is not necessary under such circumstances:

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. border agents should have the authority to search laptop computers carried by news photographers and other travelers at international border crossings without reasonable suspicion, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled Friday.

In a written decision, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman granted a government motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by civil rights attorneys that claimed the practice was unconstitutional and sought to have it halted.

Korman found that the plaintiffs hadn’t shown they suffered injury that gave them standing to bring the suit. He also cited previous rulings finding that the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches doesn’t apply to the government’s efforts to secure international borders from outside threats.

It’s hard to rule something unconstitutional when it is constitutional under the language of the Constitution. According to the Constitution:

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

So the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction with the exception of restrictions placed on it by Congress. As Congress has, as far as I know, made no restrictions against the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction it has the ultimate say on whether or not something is lawful in the United States. The Supreme Court has ruled that warrantless searches on the imaginary lines that surround this country aren’t violations of the Fourth Amendment. Therefore it’s pretty easy to claim any warrantless search within the boundaries of said imaginary lines are constitutional according to the Constitution.

This isn’t a demonstration of the Constitution being violated but of how vaguely worded the Constitution really is. The Constitution’s predecessor, the Articles of Confederation, didn’t grant the federal government much power and made its existence dependent on the charity of the individual states. Hoping to establish a strong federal government, advocates of the Constitution wanted the federal government to have the power to tax and to rule in court decisions. It really was a document written to take power from the individual states. As a result we now live in a society where the Bill of Rights are easily violated without violating the Constitution itself. So long as the Supreme Court says an act isn’t a violation of the Bill of Rights and Congress hasn’t placed any restrictions on the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction it can legally do whatever the fuck it wants.

The Traditional of Lopping Off Hands is Alive and Well in the United States

In their zeal to demonize the Middle East the warvangelicals, often referred to as neoconservatives, often claim that the barbaric practice of cutting off the hands of thieves is widespread throughout the region. Well the practice of limb removal is alive and well here in the supposedly civilized United States:

“Five deputy sheriffs from for one little girl. She has to go to the bathroom. She asked, ‘Can I go to the bathroom?’ They refused. They broke the door down and then they Tased her, grabbed her and they put her in a sheriff’s van. And I think the handcuffs were tight,” attorney Marvin Leibowitz said.

According to the complaint, that alleged treatment caused her to suffer from compartment syndrome, which is increased pressure that damages muscles and nerves. The attorney says while his client sat in jail, she made 16 requests to see a doctor for treatment but was denied.

“They never sent her a doctor. Never took her to the doctor. She developed a septic shock. The infection went over and she almost died and they had to take off her arm to prevent her from dying,” Leibowitz said.

Needham, mother of three children ages five to nine, had previously worked in a restaurant. She is now waiting for a prosthesis.

“She has severe psychological problems. I think she’s been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She doesn’t have an arm. How is she going to get a job?” Leibowitz said.

Deputies had arrested her for failing to show up at a preliminary hearing on a charge that was eventually reduced to disorderly conduct.

All of this because she failed to show up to a court hearing on a charge that was reduced to disorderly conduct? That seems acceptable. I mean, if those cops hadn’t busted down her door and kidnapped her there’s no telling what other heinous acts of disorderly conduct that woman may have performed.

Warvangelicals and other Americans often like to call this country a land of laws. In reality this country is a land of punishments. When somebody violates a decree issued by some guy who wears a suit and sits in a marble building the dogs of war, who we refer to as police, are unleashed. Using whatever means necessary, regardless of the severity of the decree they’re enforcing, these dogs of the state kick down doors, kidnap people, and employ physical violence. It doesn’t matter if you’ve murdered somebody or have been caught in possession of a verboten plant, the ride will be the same. You will be threatened with violence, kidnapped, and beaten or even killed if you resist (and you may be beaten or killed if you don’t resist).

New York City Suing FedEx for Delivering Cigarettes

Michael Bloomberg is one his way out so it’s not surprising to see one last hurrah coming from his administration. In one of its final acts the Bloomberg administration has brought a lawsuit against FexEx because the company supposedly delivered cigarettes to New York City denizens:

New York City has sued FedEx Corp, accusing the package delivery company of illegally delivering millions of contraband cigarettes to people’s homes, violating a 2006 settlement.

Monday’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan and seeks $52 million of civil fines and unpaid taxes from FedEx, which is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

It marks one of the last acts by the administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose more than decade-old campaign to ban smoking in various public and private places has been credited with saving thousands of lives and become a blueprint for other cities.

There’s no way of reforming New York City. I think we’ll have to wait for it to go the way of Detroit before the city’s all powerful mayoral administration is toppled.