Tag: Shut Up Slave

Making Up Propaganda

The state has a habit of making up stories in order to make itself appear necessary and benevolent. For example the United States government has spend untold amounts of money convincing the people living within its claimed territory that certain drugs are bad. Needless to say the same government also like to brag about drug busts because it believes such busts will convince the people of the government’s necessity. Sometimes the state gets caught making up such propaganda and it’s usually quick to deny such allegations, even when those allegations are undeniable:

[P]olice still won’t admit the plants they seized in what was supposedly the biggest outdoor marijuana bust in Lethbridge history are plain old flowers — daisies, to be precise.

All police will concede at this point is the 1,624 plants torn from a suburban Lethbridge garden on July 30 isn’t marijuana, as first claimed after a phalanx of police marched in and starting plucking.

Daisies aren’t marijuana but the state isn’t going to admit that anytime soon.

Welcome to the Club Assange

I would like to take a moment to congratulate Julian Assange on receiving the prestigious award of being declared an enemy of the state:

THE US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States – the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.

Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with “communicating with the enemy”, a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death.

Being declared an enemy of the state isn’t always an easy task. Some individuals seeking this award resort to taking the low road of violence but Assange decided to take the high road but creating a system where the state’s secrets could be revealed for all to see. From one enemy of the state to another I welcome Assange to the club.

The hypocrisy of this declaration should be noted by everybody. The United States government claims it’s a “government of the people, by the people.” If that were the case the people would need access to all available state information in order to make informed decisions. Instead the state conceals the most important information in order to persuade the people that everything is running fine. What this demonstrates is that the United States government isn’t by the people, it’s by the oligarchs who tell the people fair tales in order to keep them placated and subservient while believing they’re in charge.

The State’s Not So Hidden Gun

While I keep trying to point out the fact that we each live under the constant threat of the state’s gun people usually don’t see it because the state is smart enough to keep that gun concealed most of the time. Yet the fact remains that any action you take that isn’t expressly approved by a state agent will be met with the threat or us of violence against your person, even if what you’re doing has been declared legal by the state:

A Wyoming sheriff’s deputy who detained a combat veteran in handcuffs for openly carrying a pistol offered to let him go if he agreed to let another deputy draw his weapon and shoot if the veteran made any sudden moves while driving away, court records show.

[…]

Pierson, 31, of Pensacola, Fla., was carrying the pistol, which is legal in Wyoming, when he was pulled over by Deputy Corry Bassett of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

In a sworn statement this month, Bassett acknowledged he offered to release Pierson if he allowed Deputy Rob Andazola to draw his weapon and cover Pierson.

What that officer meant to say was, “You want to challenge our monopoly on carrying firearms? Well then we’re just going to have to threaten to kill you, slave.”

Even when the state removes its direct threat of violence for performing an action the state’s low level goons will still make it clear that your ability to perform that action only comes at their express permission. Carrying a gun may be legal in Wyoming but that doesn’t mean a cop won’t pull their gun on you, threaten you, and even murder you because you made a “sudden move.”

TSA Given Extension on Holding a Public Hearing Regarding Body Scanners

Approximately 14 months ago the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) were order to hold a public hearing regarding their use of body scanners. Needless to say they haven’t complied and were taken to court over their refusal to comply. Luckily for the TSA they are a part of the same state that controls the court system and therefore have been granted extra special privileges:

A federal appeals court on Tuesday said it was giving the Transportation Security Administration until the end of March to comport with an already 14-month-old order to “promptly” hold public hearings and take public comment concerning the so-called nude body scanners installed in U.S. airport security checkpoints.

The public comments and the agency’s answers to them are reviewable by a court, which opens up a new avenue for a legal challenge to the agency’s decision to deploy the scanners. Critics maintain the scanners, which use radiation to peer through clothes, are threats to Americans’ privacy and health, which the TSA denies.

By the time March comes around you can be assured that another extension will be given. The state has a great deal of interest in forcing its subjects to submit to pointless authoritarianism. A public hearing would likely reveal that the body scanners aren’t as safe as the TSA advertises and that would cause the proles to be less than happy about the dangers they’ve been put in in the name of security theatre. I doubt we’ll ever see an actual public hearing regarding these body scanners. At most the old models will be phased out for a new and improved model. After the new models are in place the TSA will claim all previous health concerns are even more misplaced than before and another long series of lawsuits will be required before the TSA is required to hold a public hearing on the new body scanners.

It’s Not Detainment, It’s Just Illegal to Leave

This recent Florida court decision has left me confused about the definition of detainment:

Motorists can be held indefinitely at toll booths if they pay with large denomination bills, according to a federal appeals court ruling handed down Wednesday. A family of drivers — Joel, Deborah and Robert Chandler — filed suit last year arguing they were effectively being held hostage by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the private contractor in charge of the state’s toll road, Faneuil, Inc.

Under FDOT policies in place at the time, motorists who paid with $50 bills, and occasionally even $5 bills, were not given permission to proceed until the toll collector filled out a “Bill Detection Report” with data about the motorist’s vehicle and details from his driver’s license. Many of those who chose to pay cash did so to avoid the privacy implications of installing a SunPass transponder that recorded their driving habits. They were likewise unwilling to provide personal information to the toll collector, but they had no alternative because the toll barrier would not be raised without compliance. FDOT policy does not allow passengers to exit their vehicle, and backing up is illegal and usually impossible while other cars wait behind. FDOT dropped the Bill Detection Reports in 2010.

[…]

“The fact that a person is not free to leave on his own terms at a given moment, however, does not, by itself, mean that the person has been ‘seized’ within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment,” the court wrote in its unsigned decision. “In Florida, a person’s right and liberty to use a highway is not absolute; it may be regulated in the public interest through reasonable and reasonably executed regulations.”

So you can’t move forward until you comply with the “Bill Detection Report”, you can’t leave your vehicle, and you can’t reverse and escape the situation but you’re not being detained? Interesting. So if I setup a roadblock on my lock street, demand drivers get out and perform a little jig before being allowed to proceed, and hold them at gunpoint until they comply I’m not detaining them?

One can argue that the Florida highway department can enforce whatever regulations they want but without an option of leaving you are effectively detained.

A Serf by Any Other Name is Still a Serf

What do you call an agricultural laborer work is forced to work a lord’s land? A serf. What do you call an agricultural laborer who is forced to work a lord’s land but is allowed to keep half of his produce? A serf:

North Korea plans to allow farmers to keep as much as half of their produce in an attempt to boost agricultural output, it has been claimed, in a move that would be a major economic reform for the beleaguered country.

How fucking generous of the North Korean government. They’re only going to take half of the serfs’ food! Obviously the new Dear Leader is far more benevolent and generous than the list. At this rate North Koreans will be free individuals within 1,000 years!

Seriously, if the population of any country should be revolting it’s North Korea’s.

Just a Minor Mistake

When you or I kick in some innocent schmuck’s door and gun him down it’s called murder. When the police do it it’s called a mistake:

A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house.

Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night. They intended to raid the home next door.

Yes, the police admitted their “mistake.” Of course their mistake would be deemed murder if anybody without a state issued costume and badge did it. True liberty cannot exist so long as one set of individuals enjoys legal privileges other sets do not.

The State Protects Its Own

Remember that police officer that decided it would be a jolly good idea to pepper spray some peaceful protesters in the face? What do you think happened to him? If you think he was prosecuted for assault you would be wrong. He was found innocent of all wrongdoing:

The pepper-spraying of students by UC Davis police officers last November was not criminal conduct, Yolo County District Attorney’s office concluded Wednesday following an inquiry into officers’ response to protestors on the campus.

“(V)iewing the incident through the totality of the circumstances, there is insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force involved in the November 18, 2011, pepper spraying was unlawful and therefore warrants the filing of criminal charges,” officials said in a statement announcing the report’s findings.

What the District Attorney meant to say was, “The officer in question works for the same violent state that I do. In return for lenient treatment by my fellow state employees I’m being lenient on my fellow state employee. After all he only pepper sprayed a stupid serf so nobody important was hurt.”

This just goes to show that allowing the state to both wield force and determine if its wielding of force is warrant is a bad idea. It only ensures that state employees remain free of consequences resulting from their violent behavior.

In Other News the Expected Happened

Surprising nobody the inspector general of the Department of Justice (DoJ) cleared the head of the DoJ of any wrongdoing:

The Justice Department’s inspector general cleared Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday of knowing about the gun-walking operation known as Fast and Furious that allowed thousands of weapons to cross into Mexico.

Who would have guessed that a DoJ investigation into the DoJ would result in finding no wrongdoing on behalf of the DoJ? That’s not to say no blame has been found, the inspector general found plenty of other suckers outside of the DoJ to throw under the bus:

The inspector general found fault with the work of the senior ATF leadership, the ATF staff and U.S. attorney’s office in Phoenix and senior officials of Justice’s criminal division in Washington. He also said that poor internal information-gathering and drafting at Justice and ATF caused the department to initially misinform Congress about Fast and Furious.

[…]

While Horowitz heaped most of the blame for Fast and Furious on investigators in Phoenix, one senior official, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, is blamed for not acting to stop the tactics.

I wonder when, or if, anybody will question the wisdom of allowing the DoJ to investigate itself.

Executive Branch Says Restricting Executive Branch’s Power Unconstitutional

Brace yourselves because I’m about to dump a shocker of a news story on you. The executive branch has come out and said that it’s unconstitutional to restrict its power:

The Obama administration had some harsh words Friday after a federal judge appointed by Obama said the government doesn’t have a right to indefinitely detain anyone even remotely associated with terrorist groups.

[…]

Forrest’s ruling oversteps the court’s authority and infringes on Obama’s power to act as Commander in Chief, according to the government’s court filings.

Many constitutional scholars claim that the purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the state’s power. Supposedly the document lists very specific powers granted to each branch of the state. Looking at the document I don’t see where it states the president has the power to indefinitely detain an American citizen without due process. Are constitutional scholars incorrect in this assessment that the Constitution is meant to restrict governmental power or is the executive branch incorrect in claiming that it has the power to indefinitely detain individuals without due process? Thankfully the Constitution describes how these kinds of disputes can be resolved as it gives sole authority to decide such matters to a court of nine people that are part of the state. Wait… there seems to be some conflict of interest here.