We do not live in a police state

[Quantum Windbag]

People keep talking about how we are in a police state, so I decided I would post examples to prove we don't. I wasn't sure where to start, but I figured the easiest way was to start with a definition of police state. I figure the best way to do that is look at a number of definitions from different sources and see what they have in common.

Oxford: a totalitarian state controlled by a political police force that secretly supervises the citizens' activities.

Merriam-Webster: a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures

Reference(dot)com: a nation in which the police, especially a secret police, summarily suppresses any social, economic, or political act that conflicts with governmental policy.

Wikipedia: A police state is a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic, and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive. The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.[1]



Hmm.


Anyway, now for some examples.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

What happens when a government official violates a law? He goes to jail, obviously.

Jerome Hauer, a top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, appears to have regularly carried a firearm to work in violation of state law.
Hauer runs New York’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. Cuomo, an advocate of ultra-strict gun control laws, appointed him to the job in 2011.
Hauer’s 9-millimeter Glock first came to the attention of local newspapers when he used the gun’s laser sighting attachment as a pointer during a meeting with a Swedish delegation. That event occurred last October at a State Police bunker, and was first reported by the Albany Times Union in January.
Officials at the meeting said “that three Swedish emergency managers in the delegation were rattled when the gun’s laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York, at which he wanted to point,” according to the Times Union.

Cuomo aide caught breaking gun law quickly receives waiver | The Daily Caller

See there, he brought a gun to work, and then pointed it at innocent people. Did he go to jail?

Of course not.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

A police officer beats the crap out of a man in a wheelchair,...



Gets found not guilty.

Cop who Beat Down a Wheelchair Bound Man Found Not Guilty on All Charges | The Free Thought Project

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Police raid meth house, shoot man who drew down on them



What was that, he was 80 years old, in bed, and the video clearly shows the warning after the shots were fired?

They lied? And there was no meth despite the fact that a cop actually smelled it?

Vid: Police Shoot, Kill 80-Year-Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For - Hit & Run : Reason.com

 

[Mr. H.]

I feel far safer around keepers of peace than around instigators of crime.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I feel far safer around keepers of peace than around instigators of crime.

Great point.

Video Surfaces Of BART Officer Repeatedly Using Stun Gun On Passenger « CBS San Francisco

Even if they occasional Tazer people that don't deserve it they are still keeping us safe.

 

[Manchester]

794,000 cops in the US. It's going to take a lot of youtube videos before I start to believe that a majority of them abuse their powers that it's a police state.

 

[Toro]

You'd think that would be obvious.

It is, at least to everyone who isn't an ideological extremist.

 

[Jughead]

We do not live in a police state

No, far from it. When I think of police state, Iran, Venezuela, and especially N.Korea come to mind.

 

[Jughead]

794,000 cops in the US. It's going to take a lot of youtube videos before I start to believe that a majority of them abuse their powers that it's a police state.

Correct. The vast majority of police officers in the US do their jobs well. As for every job, you will have bad apples in every batch, albeit a very small minority.

 

[Manchester]

We do not live in a police state

No, far from it. When I think of police state, Iran, Venezuela, and especially N.Korea come to mind.

Number of cops per 100,000 people

USA 256
Iran 80

I'm kidding around, I'm pretty sure North Korea is perfect an example of a police state as can be shown. I'm not so sure about Iran or Venuzela. Iran is certainly authoritarian but it's open to tourists, people are friendly and on the whole happy and whilct the governemnt is stupid, corrupt and run by morons the incidents of actual police opression on the people are a lot more limited than the press would have you believe. Venuzela on the other hand is a democratically governed and free country with the lowest gas prices of anywhere in the world.

 

[chikenwing]

794,000 cops in the US. It's going to take a lot of youtube videos before I start to believe that a majority of them abuse their powers that it's a police state.

Correct. The vast majority of police officers in the US do their jobs well. As for every job, you will have bad apples in every batch, albeit a very small minority.

Generally you are correct,but the meter is moving a bit at a time in the direction it shouldn't be. Police look like the new skin heads these days.

 

[JimBowie1958]

You'd think that would be obvious.

It is, at least to everyone who isn't an ideological extremist.

QW is being facetious, Einstein.

 

[JimBowie1958]

We do not live in a police state

No, far from it. When I think of police state, Iran, Venezuela, and especially N.Korea come to mind.

I think of countries where it is legal for the President to:
1) decree new laws or meanings of laws without Congressional agreement.
2) have someone executed without a trial or hearing or review by the defendant.
3) have people incarcerated in secret jails without access to legal counsel or outside visitors.
4) have anyone's communications recorded/snooped on without warrant.
5) have the ability to arrest anyone for a multitude of violations due to an overbearing bureaucracy and/or a snarl of criss-crossing regulations that you cannot avoid violating one way or another.
6) have people taken by force to any location he wants and compelled to labor without compensation.

ALL THESE LAWS are on the books for Obama and his regime of fascists to use when they feel like it.

Our legal and political system is a disgrace to humanity, a sham duopoly that is disguised as a competitive two party system.

And the fun is only just starting, folks.

 

[JimBowie1958]

We do not live in a police state

No, far from it. When I think of police state, Iran, Venezuela, and especially N.Korea come to mind.

Number of cops per 100,000 people

USA 256
Iran 80

I'm kidding around, I'm pretty sure North Korea is perfect an example of a police state as can be shown. I'm not so sure about Iran or Venuzela. Iran is certainly authoritarian but it's open to tourists, people are friendly and on the whole happy and whilct the governemnt is stupid, corrupt and run by morons the incidents of actual police opression on the people are a lot more limited than the press would have you believe. Venuzela on the other hand is a democratically governed and free country with the lowest gas prices of anywhere in the world.

And we have the highest incarceration RATE of any country in the world except maybe North Korea.

You people are asleep, snoring in a normalcy bias, and when you wake up it will be too late.

 

[Manchester]

794,000 cops in the US. It's going to take a lot of youtube videos before I start to believe that a majority of them abuse their powers that it's a police state.

Correct. The vast majority of police officers in the US do their jobs well. As for every job, you will have bad apples in every batch, albeit a very small minority.

Generally you are correct,but the meter is moving a bit at a time in the direction it shouldn't be. Police look like the new skin heads these days.

Where's the evidence for this?

 

[JimBowie1958]

We do not live in a police state

No, far from it. When I think of police state, Iran, Venezuela, and especially N.Korea come to mind.

And its here in the USA, only it is being slowly rolled out while the trappings of our old dead Republic are left standing.

just like happened in Germany not too long ago...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5z8bSZSHb88#t=389]Hitler Speech To The World - YouTube[/ame]

The similarities with Obama's rhetoric are uncanny.

 

[chikenwing]

Correct. The vast majority of police officers in the US do their jobs well. As for every job, you will have bad apples in every batch, albeit a very small minority.

Generally you are correct,but the meter is moving a bit at a time in the direction it shouldn't be. Police look like the new skin heads these days.

Where's the evidence for this?

Look use your eyes and ears,news reports,our local small town sheriffs now have APC's for what??

Boiling the frog!!!!????

 

[Manchester]

Generally you are correct,but the meter is moving a bit at a time in the direction it shouldn't be. Police look like the new skin heads these days.

Where's the evidence for this?

Look use your eyes and ears,news reports,our local small town sheriffs now have APC's for what??

Boiling the frog!!!!????

You are aware that the job of the news is not to keep us informed to find the most sensational story possible in order to grab our attentions so we notice the advertisments in the breaks aren't you? I'm not going to draw any conclusions from the onformation I get from news stories because it is NEVER reflective of trends and ALWAYS about individual incidents.

It's like crime statistics, they have been on the way down in general terms since the late 80s yet you ask any old folks and they'll tell with total certainty that things are worse than they ever were. They aren't but people always believe that things are getting worse.

You say use my eyes and ears but I know that it is part of the human condition that your eyes and ears lie.

No, far from it. When I think of police state, Iran, Venezuela, and especially N.Korea come to mind.

Number of cops per 100,000 people

USA 256
Iran 80

I'm kidding around, I'm pretty sure North Korea is perfect an example of a police state as can be shown. I'm not so sure about Iran or Venuzela. Iran is certainly authoritarian but it's open to tourists, people are friendly and on the whole happy and whilct the governemnt is stupid, corrupt and run by morons the incidents of actual police opression on the people are a lot more limited than the press would have you believe. Venuzela on the other hand is a democratically governed and free country with the lowest gas prices of anywhere in the world.

And we have the highest incarceration RATE of any country in the world except maybe North Korea.

You people are asleep, snoring in a normalcy bias, and when you wake up it will be too late.

I think that you sir are an ideological extremist, so it's quite uncomfortable to say that you have a brilliant point right there.

 

[chikenwing]

You are aware that the job of the news is not to keep us informed to find the most sensational story possible in order to grab our attentions so we notice the advertisments in the breaks aren't you? I'm not going to draw any conclusions from the onformation I get from news stories because it is NEVER reflective of trends and ALWAYS about individual incidents.

It's like crime statistics, they have been on the way down in general terms since the late 80s yet you ask any old folks and they'll tell with total certainty that things are worse than they ever were. They aren't but people always believe that things are getting worse.

You say use my eyes and ears but I know that it is part of the human condition that your eyes and ears lie.

Ignorance is bliss?? don't worry be happy??

I am a happy guy,also observant and rational,the police we had 40 years ago,are not what we have today,they have evolved into in many cases little military outfits.