America - Police State

[gipper]

America is rapidly becoming a police state...some believe it already is. We have squandered our inheritance by allowing the elite to rule as they see fit.

Here is a damning list of fairly new conditions which have dramatically changed America. And does not include the report of thousands of rounds of hollow point ammo purchased by government agencies.

Happy Friday....

Militarized police. Thanks to federal grant programs allowing the Pentagon to transfer surplus military supplies and weapons to local law enforcement agencies without charge…
Drones. As mandated by Congress, there will be 30,000 drones crisscrossing the skies of America by 2020, all part of an industry that could be worth as much as $30 billion per year.
SWAT team raids. With more than 50,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans for relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched raids and related casualties is on the rise.
Suspect society. Due in large part to rapid advances in technology and a heightened surveillance culture, the burden of proof has been shifted so that the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty has been usurped by a new norm in which all citizens are suspects.
VIPR Strikes. Under the pretext of protecting the nation’s infrastructure (roads, mass transit systems, water and power supplies, telecommunications systems and so on) against criminal or terrorist attacks, VIPR task forces (comprised of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and explosive detection canine teams) are being deployed to do random security sweeps…
Invasive surveillance technology. Police have been outfitted with a litany of surveillance gear, from license plate readers and cell phone tracking devices to biometric data recorders.
USA Patriot Act, NDAA. America’s so-called war on terror, which it has relentlessly pursued since 9/11, has chipped away at our freedoms, unraveled our Constitution and transformed our nation into a battlefield…
Schoolhouse to jailhouse track. The paradigm of abject compliance to the state is being taught by example in the schools, through school lockdowns where police and drug-sniffing dogs enter the classroom, and zero tolerance policies that punish all offenses equally and result in young people being expelled for childish behavior.
Overcriminalization. In the face of a government bureaucracy consumed with churning out laws, statutes, codes and regulations that reinforce its powers and value systems and those of the police state and its corporate allies, we are all petty criminals, guilty of violating some minor law. In fact, the average American now unknowingly commits three felonies a day,…
Endless wars. Having been co-opted by greedy defense contractors, corrupt politicians and incompetent government officials, America’s expanding military empire is bleeding the country dry at a rate of more than $15 billion a month (or $20 million an hour) – and that’s just what the government spends on foreign wars. That does not include the cost of maintaining and staffing the 1000-plus U.S. military bases spread around the globe. Incredibly, although the U.S. constitutes only 5% of the world's population, America boasts almost 50% of the world's total military expenditure, spending more on the military than the next 19 biggest spending nations combined. In fact, the Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. Yet what most Americans fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military industrial complex at taxpayer expense.
Rise of the Imperial President. During his two terms in office, George W. Bush stepped outside the boundaries of the Constitution and assembled an amazing toolbox of powers that greatly increased the authority of the Executive branch and the reach of the federal government.
http://lewrockwell.com/whitehead/whitehead62.1.htm

 

[blastoff]

We need all that ammo because we're not exactly sure how many Che sympathizers are still out there.

 

[Nightson]

America is rapidly becoming a police state...some believe it already is. We have squandered our inheritance by allowing the elite to rule as they see fit.

Here is a damning list of fairly new conditions which have dramatically changed America. And does not include the report of thousands of rounds of hollow point ammo purchased by government agencies.

Happy Friday....

Militarized police. Thanks to federal grant programs allowing the Pentagon to transfer surplus military supplies and weapons to local law enforcement agencies without charge…
Drones. As mandated by Congress, there will be 30,000 drones crisscrossing the skies of America by 2020, all part of an industry that could be worth as much as $30 billion per year.
SWAT team raids. With more than 50,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans for relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched raids and related casualties is on the rise.
Suspect society. Due in large part to rapid advances in technology and a heightened surveillance culture, the burden of proof has been shifted so that the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty has been usurped by a new norm in which all citizens are suspects.
VIPR Strikes. Under the pretext of protecting the nation’s infrastructure (roads, mass transit systems, water and power supplies, telecommunications systems and so on) against criminal or terrorist attacks, VIPR task forces (comprised of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and explosive detection canine teams) are being deployed to do random security sweeps…
Invasive surveillance technology. Police have been outfitted with a litany of surveillance gear, from license plate readers and cell phone tracking devices to biometric data recorders.
USA Patriot Act, NDAA. America’s so-called war on terror, which it has relentlessly pursued since 9/11, has chipped away at our freedoms, unraveled our Constitution and transformed our nation into a battlefield…
Schoolhouse to jailhouse track. The paradigm of abject compliance to the state is being taught by example in the schools, through school lockdowns where police and drug-sniffing dogs enter the classroom, and zero tolerance policies that punish all offenses equally and result in young people being expelled for childish behavior.
Overcriminalization. In the face of a government bureaucracy consumed with churning out laws, statutes, codes and regulations that reinforce its powers and value systems and those of the police state and its corporate allies, we are all petty criminals, guilty of violating some minor law. In fact, the average American now unknowingly commits three felonies a day,…
Endless wars. Having been co-opted by greedy defense contractors, corrupt politicians and incompetent government officials, America’s expanding military empire is bleeding the country dry at a rate of more than $15 billion a month (or $20 million an hour) – and that’s just what the government spends on foreign wars. That does not include the cost of maintaining and staffing the 1000-plus U.S. military bases spread around the globe. Incredibly, although the U.S. constitutes only 5% of the world's population, America boasts almost 50% of the world's total military expenditure, spending more on the military than the next 19 biggest spending nations combined. In fact, the Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. Yet what most Americans fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military industrial complex at taxpayer expense.
Rise of the Imperial President. During his two terms in office, George W. Bush stepped outside the boundaries of the Constitution and assembled an amazing toolbox of powers that greatly increased the authority of the Executive branch and the reach of the federal government.
http://lewrockwell.com/whitehead/whitehead62.1.htm

What I find most alarming is the militarization of police forces--even local township departments. You really cannot tell the difference these days between military and police units in many instances where law enforcement has been deployed to even minor incidents involving armed citizens. The big distinction for me was made in the eighties while on a trip to Jamaica. We were moving through the airport in Montego Bay to board our return flight and as a teenager I could not get over the apprehension I felt at seeing and being around troops armed with assault rifles stationed in a civilian facility. Guess I never imagined seeing the same in America. Goes without saying that the seven man department in my hometown does not need submachine guns and paramilitary carbines in their armory.

The other thing that bothers me about police in the U.S. today is their culture of self defense, first--from the public--rather than defense of the public, first. Also troubling is the short duration of many police academies. One should have to endure many months of training in my opinion before being trusted with both such a high level of authority and the carrying of live rounds in densely populated areas.

I don't think America is quite there yet (a police state) but we are very close and rapidly running out of runway.

 

[emilynghiem]

America is rapidly becoming a police state...some believe it already is. We have squandered our inheritance by allowing the elite to rule as they see fit.

Here is a damning list of fairly new conditions which have dramatically changed America. And does not include the report of thousands of rounds of hollow point ammo purchased by government agencies.

Happy Friday....
...

What I find most alarming is the militarization of police forces--even local township departments. You really cannot tell the difference these days between military and police units in many instances where law enforcement has been deployed to even minor incidents involving armed citizens. The big distinction for me was made in the eighties while on a trip to Jamaica. We were moving through the airport in Montego Bay to board our return flight and as a teenager I could not get over the apprehension I felt at seeing and being around troops armed with assault rifles stationed in a civilian facility. Guess I never imagined seeing the same in America. Goes without saying that the seven man department in my hometown does not need submachine guns and paramilitary carbines in their armory.

The other thing that bothers me about police in the U.S. today is their culture of self defense, first--from the public--rather than defense of the public, first. Also troubling is the short duration of many police academies. One should have to endure many months of training in my opinion before being trusted with both such a high level of authority and the carrying of live rounds in densely populated areas.

I don't think America is quite there yet (a police state) but we are very close and rapidly running out of runway.

Dear Nightson and Gipper: My best advice to you is to "turn the tables" on govt. Instead of enforcing in your minds that the oppressors are the law and the people are the oppressed, remember that those who enforce the Constitution are the law, and those who violate it lose authority. The law and justice are on the side of the people who enforce these contracts.

We have to stop marginalizing the whisteblowing as "civil disobedience" when in fact it is the other way around -- those who stand up to enforce the laws are practicing Civil OBEDIENCE. And the wrongdoers are the ones outside the law.

In the case of the Navy Seals in Benghazi, they were enforcing their Constitutional oaths and duty, so they were being Obedient. Anyone giving them conflicting orders to violate their Constitutional duty were the ones disobedient to the Constitution and oath of office.

That is the first step. To recognize authority as vested in the Constitution and in decisions that enforce these values. The next steps are to educate and to organize people to set up means of redressing grievances and correcting abuses/violations instead of rejecting and discrediting those corrections. I believe this can be done by modeling a simplified grievance system after the OSHA codes and hearing/penality process; using lists of civil codes that citizens can check off to report violations and complaints about govt agencies/officials, and then offering training and assistance in conflict resolution, corrections and restitution so that problems are resolved effectively instead of wasting resources fighting legally or politically.

ethics-commission.net

If the country becomes a "police state" it will be because citizens are sharing equal responsibility for law enforcement and policy decisions as govt employees, police and military under Constitutional agreements. The people being the government.

 

[Nightson]

America is rapidly becoming a police state...some believe it already is. We have squandered our inheritance by allowing the elite to rule as they see fit.

Here is a damning list of fairly new conditions which have dramatically changed America. And does not include the report of thousands of rounds of hollow point ammo purchased by government agencies.

Happy Friday....
...

What I find most alarming is the militarization of police forces--even local township departments. You really cannot tell the difference these days between military and police units in many instances where law enforcement has been deployed to even minor incidents involving armed citizens. The big distinction for me was made in the eighties while on a trip to Jamaica. We were moving through the airport in Montego Bay to board our return flight and as a teenager I could not get over the apprehension I felt at seeing and being around troops armed with assault rifles stationed in a civilian facility. Guess I never imagined seeing the same in America. Goes without saying that the seven man department in my hometown does not need submachine guns and paramilitary carbines in their armory.

The other thing that bothers me about police in the U.S. today is their culture of self defense, first--from the public--rather than defense of the public, first. Also troubling is the short duration of many police academies. One should have to endure many months of training in my opinion before being trusted with both such a high level of authority and the carrying of live rounds in densely populated areas.

I don't think America is quite there yet (a police state) but we are very close and rapidly running out of runway.

Dear Nightson and Gipper: My best advice to you is to "turn the tables" on govt. Instead of enforcing in your minds that the oppressors are the law and the people are the oppressed, remember that those who enforce the Constitution are the law, and those who violate it lose authority. The law and justice are on the side of the people who enforce these contracts.


We have to stop marginalizing the whisteblowing as "civil disobedience" when in fact it is the other way around -- those who stand up to enforce the laws are practicing Civil OBEDIENCE. And the wrongdoers are the ones outside the law.



In the case of the Navy Seals in Benghazi, they were enforcing their Constitutional oaths and duty, so they were being Obedient. Anyone giving them conflicting orders to violate their Constitutional duty were the ones disobedient to the Constitution and oath of office.



That is the first step. To recognize authority as vested in the Constitution and in decisions that enforce these values. The next steps are to educate and to organize people to set up means of redressing grievances and correcting abuses/violations instead of rejecting and discrediting those corrections. I believe this can be done by modeling a simplified grievance system after the OSHA codes and hearing/penality process; using lists of civil codes that citizens can check off to report violations and complaints about govt agencies/officials, and then offering training and assistance in conflict resolution, corrections and restitution so that problems are resolved effectively instead of wasting resources fighting legally or politically.

ethics-commission.net



If the country becomes a "police state" it will be because citizens are sharing equal responsibility for law enforcement and policy decisions as govt employees, police and military under Constitutional agreements. The people being the government.

You've obviously put much thought into this issue. I applaud your ideas. However, in instances where those with qualifying grievences were mistakenly slain by a law enforcement officer, or were horribly wounded while reaching for their identification, checkboxes on a sheet of red tape seem somehow inadequate.

The law is a divergent line often open to the interpretation of practitioners both government employed and civilian. It is even less easily followed when the fluidity of its letter and meaning are forcibly applied to a population that is an infinite amalgamation of cultural and religious practices, familial tradition and personal uderstanding of such high concepts as right and wrong.

Of those who violate the law, punishment--if forthcoming at all--is broadly dependent on economic status, race, and position of power--real or assumed. How enforcement and subsequent punishment for violation of the law is applied to the American populace is in and of itself a question of Constitutional interpretation as administered by municipal, state and federal authorities.

I would advise you to remember that those duly appointed to enforce the law and to prosecute those who are acccused of violating it are far from inviolable. Without doubt however, and often irregardless of their oppressive methods or the resulting "unintended" casualties, indeed the powers that be are on the side of those appointed to enforce the law.


I do not follow your reasoning here. Putting blind trust in government agencies to protect us, to prescribe how to live our lives and to fairly punish us when we live outside that prescription was a very risky contract to enter into from the beginning.

The law is neither infallable nor inviolable simply because it is "the law". Nor are those appointed to enforce it inherently just or right in their methods of doing so.

 

[KudoZ]

Have you ever stopped to think that your government is reading everything you post here and zeroing in on government haters? Probably tracking you down and keeping a file. J. Edger is still alive.

 

[blastoff]

Note to my FBI file:

J. Edgar was a fag.

 

[HUGGY]

America is rapidly becoming a police state...some believe it already is. We have squandered our inheritance by allowing the elite to rule as they see fit.

Here is a damning list of fairly new conditions which have dramatically changed America. And does not include the report of thousands of rounds of hollow point ammo purchased by government agencies.

Happy Friday....

Militarized police. Thanks to federal grant programs allowing the Pentagon to transfer surplus military supplies and weapons to local law enforcement agencies without charge…
Drones. As mandated by Congress, there will be 30,000 drones crisscrossing the skies of America by 2020, all part of an industry that could be worth as much as $30 billion per year.
SWAT team raids. With more than 50,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans for relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched raids and related casualties is on the rise.
Suspect society. Due in large part to rapid advances in technology and a heightened surveillance culture, the burden of proof has been shifted so that the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty has been usurped by a new norm in which all citizens are suspects.
VIPR Strikes. Under the pretext of protecting the nation’s infrastructure (roads, mass transit systems, water and power supplies, telecommunications systems and so on) against criminal or terrorist attacks, VIPR task forces (comprised of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and explosive detection canine teams) are being deployed to do random security sweeps…
Invasive surveillance technology. Police have been outfitted with a litany of surveillance gear, from license plate readers and cell phone tracking devices to biometric data recorders.
USA Patriot Act, NDAA. America’s so-called war on terror, which it has relentlessly pursued since 9/11, has chipped away at our freedoms, unraveled our Constitution and transformed our nation into a battlefield…
Schoolhouse to jailhouse track. The paradigm of abject compliance to the state is being taught by example in the schools, through school lockdowns where police and drug-sniffing dogs enter the classroom, and zero tolerance policies that punish all offenses equally and result in young people being expelled for childish behavior.
Overcriminalization. In the face of a government bureaucracy consumed with churning out laws, statutes, codes and regulations that reinforce its powers and value systems and those of the police state and its corporate allies, we are all petty criminals, guilty of violating some minor law. In fact, the average American now unknowingly commits three felonies a day,…
Endless wars. Having been co-opted by greedy defense contractors, corrupt politicians and incompetent government officials, America’s expanding military empire is bleeding the country dry at a rate of more than $15 billion a month (or $20 million an hour) – and that’s just what the government spends on foreign wars. That does not include the cost of maintaining and staffing the 1000-plus U.S. military bases spread around the globe. Incredibly, although the U.S. constitutes only 5% of the world's population, America boasts almost 50% of the world's total military expenditure, spending more on the military than the next 19 biggest spending nations combined. In fact, the Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. Yet what most Americans fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military industrial complex at taxpayer expense.
Rise of the Imperial President. During his two terms in office, George W. Bush stepped outside the boundaries of the Constitution and assembled an amazing toolbox of powers that greatly increased the authority of the Executive branch and the reach of the federal government.
http://lewrockwell.com/whitehead/whitehead62.1.htm

I don't see the problem. Everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time. Everyone has to sleep sometime. As long as you choose to confront these organizations on THEIR terms when they are at the peak of their strength then you will lose. They spend years perfecting their methods. Spens a little time of your own and you will sleep better.