Dozens of Cops Dispatched to Shut Down ‘Illegal’ Lemonade Stand
Do
you suffer from Empirus Americanitus? The symptoms consist of a puffed
out chest, lowered IQ, desire for violence, and a tendency to engage in
and maintain illogical processes of thought. If you have three or more
of these symptoms you should seek out a library straightaway.
Immediately cease all television consumption and begin gardening
therapy. The lack of violent stimulation, a lesser ignorance, and
healthy diet should cure your Empirus Americanitus in just a few short
weeks.But seriously folks, at what point did America cross the threshold into the world of ridiculousness? Deploying dozens of police officers to shut down a lemonade stand is laughable. But it is also Orwellian. Has the state gotten so large that it must control all forms of human exchange no matter how small? What’s next, will we have to file for a permit to have children? Or request a permit to even seek out a spouse?
All empires reach the inevitable point of a government so large and corrupt that all human interaction must be exploited by the state. The Leviathan must be fed, and it is at the expense of the ones that it claims to serve. Luckily we live in the age of the internet. Individuals are educating themselves to the unjust system that is being built around us and resisting it, peacefully. If you want an over-regulated, crony system of special interest pandering, under the table deals, and a violent police state, please, remain apathetic and dismissive to the signs of autocracy. But, if you see the machine for what it is, a gang of murderous thieves imposing their will through the barrel of a gun, it is your duty to disobey.
People like Rosa Parks, Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, John Locke, and Mahatma Gandhi, all disobeyed, they did it peacefully, and their actions changed the world for the better. Civil disobedience is a powerful statement that is hard to ignore. So grow that front yard garden, start that lemonade stand, and remember, that good people disobey bad laws.
Wednesday, 24 July 2013 15:00
Blurring the Line between Police and Military
Written by Bob Adelmann
Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, was taking a
shower in his home late Tuesday afternoon, July 29, 2008 in preparation
for a meeting he had that night. He heard a loud explosion at the front
door of his home followed by the screaming of his mother-in-law who was
in the kitchen preparing dinner. Their two black Labs, Payton and Chase,
started barking. Calvo told what happened:
The first assumption, said Balko, “is the idea that the government has an obligation to protect us from ourselves.” The second is that because there are criminal elements involved in the drug trade, a greater show of force is necessary to quell any potential resistance during an arrest. The third is that those criminals have greater firepower that must be met with sudden, superior, even overwhelming, force. And the fourth assumption that led to this daylight no-knock, no-warrant attack on innocents is that “drug dealers are so violent, and apprehension of drug dealers so necessary [that] we must break down doors. If we don’t break down doors, these drug dealers will either shoot the police officers trying to apprehend them or they will destroy the evidence.”
As the War on Drugs and War on Terror continue to be used as an excuse to arm local police departments with military armament and heavy equipment, Balko expanded his research into a book, Rise of the Warrior Cop. The Wall Street Journal published his synopsis of his research last week, which tracked the development of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams from Los Angeles in the late 1960s to the present. During the 1970s there were very few raids such as that perpetrated against Berwyn Heights’ mayor, perhaps just a few hundred in a year. By 2005 — the latest year for which data is available — there were approximately 50,000.
This huge expansion of SWAT teams has largely been funded by federal grants and gifts to local police departments, all in the name of fighting the drug and terror wars. The Department of Homeland Security has handed out more than $35 billion in the last 10 years, with much of the money going to purchase armored personnel carriers. Balko noted that in 2011 alone, the Pentagon gave local enforcement some $500 million worth of equipment, slowly turning local law enforcement into a branch of the national military establishment.
This is exactly what is to be expected in a country no longer guided by the Founders’ principles and concerns about a military force running rampant through the streets. As Ron Paul expressed it, “Civil libertarians on the left and limited government conservatives on the right should pay especially close attention to Radley Balko’s examination of the link between the ‘war on drugs’ and law enforcement’s increased use of police state tactics.”
Such a morphing was officially announced by then-Senator Obama in a speech he gave, appropriately enough, at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on July 2, 2008, just three weeks before the mayor’s home was attacked. Said the senator:
As long as citizens are willing to put up with the continuing extension of brute military force, far in excess of what is needed in the wars on drugs and terrorism, then these raids by local police-turned-military enforcers will continue. As Scaliger concluded:
A Seattle police detective was arrested Thursday for felony
identity theft, with the underlying crime of domestic violence
cyberstalking, the department confirmed at a press conference.
David N. Blackmer, 43, was arrested at police department headquarters,
where he is assigned to the Criminal Investigations Bureau.
According to police, Blackmer created a Facebook account under the name of a woman whom he had a sexual relationship with and used it to post information that was "salacious in nature."
The posts included sexually explicit photos of the woman, according to Seattle Police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb.
The woman went to the detective's home to "confront him in front of his family" after their romantic relationship ended badly, police said in a statement. He retaliated by creating the page using the woman's identity, police said.
The woman reported the page to the Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability on Wednesday, July 17. She said the page caused her "fear and embarrassment."
The officer has been with the department since March 1996, according to the city's personnel department. He was previously assigned to patrol.
Blackmer has been placed on paid administrative leave. That status would change to unpaid if he's charged with a felony.
Under state law, a person is guilty of cyberstalking if "he or she, with intent to harass, intimidate, torment, or embarrass any other person, and under circumstances not constituting telephone harassment, makes an electronic communication to such other person or a third party."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
My wife and I are still in our 30s and don’t have kids of our own. But we do have — or we did have — two black labs.
I was hosting a community meeting that
evening, but before that I returned home from my day job to walk my
dogs. Before I left on my walk, my mother-in-law, who was cooking, told
me a package had been delivered and was on the front step. On the walk, I
noticed a few black SUVs in the neighborhood, but thought little of it
other than to wave to the drivers.
When I returned home, I picked up the
box, which was addressed to my wife, and took it inside where I left it
unopened on the living room table. I went back upstairs to get into
business attire for my meeting.
I was in my boxer shorts when I heard my
mother-in-law scream. It was a loud, fearful scream. I ran to the
window, where I saw three or four men dressed in black with high-caliber
rifles in my yard approaching my house.
I then heard an explosion, which was the
sound of my door being blown open, followed by immediate gun fire. There
were loud noises, the sounds of boots, and then more gunfire…
I could see my mother-in-law bound, lying
face down on the kitchen floor. Payton, my older dog, was lying dead in
a pool of his own blood on the other side of the living room. I soon
learned that my younger dog, Chase, was dead in a back room, where he
had been shot from behind as he ran away.
There were perhaps a dozen men in black,
just standing around in my living room. I asked for a warrant. They said
that they did not have it with them, but [that] one was en route.
When Radley Balko investigated the incident, his reports were
picked up by the national media which followed the case for months
afterward. Speaking at a Cato Policy forum in the fall of 2008, Balko
reviewed the assumptions that led to this massive use of excessive force
in what turned out to be a drug raid on innocents.The first assumption, said Balko, “is the idea that the government has an obligation to protect us from ourselves.” The second is that because there are criminal elements involved in the drug trade, a greater show of force is necessary to quell any potential resistance during an arrest. The third is that those criminals have greater firepower that must be met with sudden, superior, even overwhelming, force. And the fourth assumption that led to this daylight no-knock, no-warrant attack on innocents is that “drug dealers are so violent, and apprehension of drug dealers so necessary [that] we must break down doors. If we don’t break down doors, these drug dealers will either shoot the police officers trying to apprehend them or they will destroy the evidence.”
As the War on Drugs and War on Terror continue to be used as an excuse to arm local police departments with military armament and heavy equipment, Balko expanded his research into a book, Rise of the Warrior Cop. The Wall Street Journal published his synopsis of his research last week, which tracked the development of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams from Los Angeles in the late 1960s to the present. During the 1970s there were very few raids such as that perpetrated against Berwyn Heights’ mayor, perhaps just a few hundred in a year. By 2005 — the latest year for which data is available — there were approximately 50,000.
This huge expansion of SWAT teams has largely been funded by federal grants and gifts to local police departments, all in the name of fighting the drug and terror wars. The Department of Homeland Security has handed out more than $35 billion in the last 10 years, with much of the money going to purchase armored personnel carriers. Balko noted that in 2011 alone, the Pentagon gave local enforcement some $500 million worth of equipment, slowly turning local law enforcement into a branch of the national military establishment.
This is exactly what is to be expected in a country no longer guided by the Founders’ principles and concerns about a military force running rampant through the streets. As Ron Paul expressed it, “Civil libertarians on the left and limited government conservatives on the right should pay especially close attention to Radley Balko’s examination of the link between the ‘war on drugs’ and law enforcement’s increased use of police state tactics.”
Such a morphing was officially announced by then-Senator Obama in a speech he gave, appropriately enough, at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on July 2, 2008, just three weeks before the mayor’s home was attacked. Said the senator:
We cannot continue to rely only on our
military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've
set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that’s just
as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.
Such an “objective” is a long, long way from the limited powers
granted the federal government in the Constitution. As Charles Scaliger
pointed out in The New American in September, 2011, there are
only two visions of the police power: One vision is for police to serve
and protect the citizens against violent infringements on their
sovereign rights, period. Any extension beyond that by a policeman would
be subject to punishment, just like any other public servant. The other
vision, much more ominous, is where the police power is used to protect
the establishment — the powers that be — from its subjects. Wrote
Scaliger: The hallmarks of such military police include the surveillance
camera, the checkpoint, and the use of … extreme measures with
impunity.As long as citizens are willing to put up with the continuing extension of brute military force, far in excess of what is needed in the wars on drugs and terrorism, then these raids by local police-turned-military enforcers will continue. As Scaliger concluded:
As long as America remains in thrall of
an open-ended “War on Terror [and Drugs],” the temptation will persist
to continue federalizing … our local police. Our once-trusted local
police are gradually morphing into a force more to be feared and
avoided.
The John Birch Society’s program to Support Your Local Police has always included the addenda: “and keep them independent.” If that decades-long program fails, then, as Scaliger predicts:
We may then anticipate even worse
developments, chief among them the creation of a bona fide secret police
to secure the interests of a regime altogether hostile to the people it
once purported to serve.
Photo of SWAT team in Arizona: AP Images
A graduate of Cornell University and a former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at www.LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at
badelmann@thenewamerican.com.Seattle police detective arrested for ID theft, cyberstalking
on July 25, 2013 @ 1:33 pm (Updated: 8:18 pm - 7/25/13 )
A Seattle police detective was arrested Thursday for felony identity
theft, with the underlying crime of cyberstalking, according to the
police department. (AP Photo) | Zoom
According to police, Blackmer created a Facebook account under the name of a woman whom he had a sexual relationship with and used it to post information that was "salacious in nature."
The posts included sexually explicit photos of the woman, according to Seattle Police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb.
The woman went to the detective's home to "confront him in front of his family" after their romantic relationship ended badly, police said in a statement. He retaliated by creating the page using the woman's identity, police said.
The woman reported the page to the Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability on Wednesday, July 17. She said the page caused her "fear and embarrassment."
The officer has been with the department since March 1996, according to the city's personnel department. He was previously assigned to patrol.
Blackmer has been placed on paid administrative leave. That status would change to unpaid if he's charged with a felony.
Under state law, a person is guilty of cyberstalking if "he or she, with intent to harass, intimidate, torment, or embarrass any other person, and under circumstances not constituting telephone harassment, makes an electronic communication to such other person or a third party."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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