It is legal for law enFORCEment to lie.
Be seeing you
Posts Tagged ‘police’
LAWYER: 5 Ways to Outsmart the Police
Posted by M. C. on August 1, 2024
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: police | Leave a Comment »
The Uvalde Massacre Shows the Uselessness of Gun Control and Police Protection – Chronicles
Posted by M. C. on December 20, 2023
June 7, 2022By Walter Block
Horrid news. Despicable. A teen gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. About the only good thing in this occurrence is that this mass murderer was himself killed in this revolting event, and will no longer be around to plague civilized society. May the name of Salvador Ramos forever live in infamy. What could these two teachers, to say nothing of these 9- and 10-year-old children have ever done to deserve having their lives snuffed out by this monster?
The usual suspects are now calling for stricter gun controls. According to that sage, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” But disarming America would be a violation of the rights of millions of Americans who protect themselves from thugs and marauders under the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
In any case, if this evil person had wanted to perpetrate mayhem with a knife or a baseball bat, he might not have been able to murder quite as many helpless school children as he did, but with a little effort he could have shed almost as much misery. Are we to ban knives, baseball bats, and for that matter chairs, bows and arrows, steel-plated boots, rat poison, and all other implements which can be used to murder young kids? What about cars? On crowded sidewalks, they have been even more efficient means of destruction than rifles. Progressives also exaggerate the seriousness of this dastardly act in Texas: many more children are shot to death in Chicago, a city with very strict gun controls.
Several points about the situation in Uvalde are worth considering before politicians use the event to justify new gun-control measures:
- Robb Elementary School was a gun-free zone. Why? The feminists who have taken over teachers’ unions feel compelled to engage in this sort of virtue signaling. Yet in other public places, politicians, judges, and civil servants are protected by gun-wielding guards. Pretty much every government building is defended in this way. But not school children, it would appear.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Gun Control, gun-free zone, police, Rahm Emanuel, Robb Elementary, Uvalde | Leave a Comment »
TGIF: Don’t Police the World
Posted by M. C. on October 28, 2023
On top of that misery, intervening in wars sets the stage for terrible events to follow: revolution, dictatorship, government control of everyday life, atrocious recriminations, and plain chaos. That’s the safe bet too.
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/tgif-dont-police-world/
“We” — to be precise, U.S. policymakers and their quasi-private-sector, tax-nourished enablers-beneficiaries– must not police the world, become directly involved in wars, covertly assist belligerents, or act as arms merchants and bankers.
The central government can’t be a benign policeman, even if its intentions were as stated (which they may be): international rules-based order and economic stability. But it can wreak havoc by trying. We know this because it already has. Pick your start date, but the last 30 years present evidence beyond a reasonable doubt of what U.S.-sponsored “order” really looks like, thanks to an unbroken bipartisan chain of presidents and a bunch of presumptuous bumblers who wear weighty political titles from the executive and legislative branches. (The judiciary isn’t off the hook either.)
The U.S. government’s inherent ineptness speaks volumes. “Ought” implies “can,” and the policy mavens cannot. Wishful thinking is no substitute for real thinking. Each new crisis is not so different from previous ones as to make it unique. We can and must learn from the past, even the past that is so recent it’s still the present.
Government “crisis management” is a contradiction in terms. War typically has calamitous results, however optimistic the prognostications and later assessments. Helping a belligerent bloodies the hands of the helper, even if only metaphorically. Fighting proxy wars, which the policymakers might prefer to direct war these days, or engaging in covert operations is no moral shield. The horrendous consequences are foreseeable. Pleading that “We didn’t intend the bad stuff” does not wash. Call it “collateral damage,” whatever the policymakers call it, they enable the ruin of innocent lives and entire societies. We should have no part of it.
We know what war brings. It brings the death and dismemberment of innocents, always including children. It brings the utter destruction of the things that make life possible, such as food, water, homes, hospitals, and infrastructure. The chance of killing only bad guys is zero. I think the government’s own war simulations would agree. Hypothetical rosy scenarios offered in somber tones from secure stateside arms chairs don’t count. Even moves intended as defensive may understandably be perceived as aggressive, bringing snowballing countermoves that threaten more innocents and risk turning a local conflict into a big-power confrontation. The danger of nuclear war always looms.
Before considering joining in a war, assume the worst. Then don’t join. It’s the safe bet.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: central government, collateral damage, crisis management, police | Leave a Comment »
The Press is Now Also the Police
Posted by M. C. on April 18, 2023
As fallout from the Discord leak continues, the undisguised partnerships of media, intelligence, and law enforcement come into more painful relief
https://www.racket.news/p/the-press-is-now-also-the-police?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Back from vacation I made the mistake of scanning the news and was shocked by the media’s ongoing orgy of self-congratulation and Two-Minutes-Hating, in response to the capture of “Pentagon Leaker” Jack Teixeira. Glenn Greenwald has already covered a lot of this on System Update, but this represents a major new progression in the ongoing mutation of news media, from public advocate to cop.
The New York Times and Washington Post trumpeted roles in helping identify Air National Guardsman Teixiera for the FBI. “We’re delivering him to you with his head on a platter,” is how Glenn put it.
It’s an awful look for the press. This isn’t tracking down a serial killer or exposing Enron’s fraud. The alleged “crime” here is releasing true information, information that belongs to the American public and is secret only by official designation. At most, a newspaper might decide not to publish such information, but to help jail the leaker? It’s nuts. Reporters are supposed to be interested in everything and listen to information without judgment, like doctors, yet the whole industry is working itself into a moral frenzy because a bunch of overgrown Minecraft enthusiasts were privately passing around a few truths like a joint.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Racket News to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2023 Matt Taibbi
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: 1921 depression, Discord leak, police | Leave a Comment »
Complain About a Fast Food Order? Cops Could Smash Your Face In | The Libertarian Institute
Posted by M. C. on January 24, 2023
Police Chief John Porter confirmed that the police will be investigating themselves.
Is it only me that sees the humor?
by Matt Agorist
A video out of Ohio this week is causing a massive storm of controversy online after it showed a Butler Township police officer repeatedly punching a woman in the face. While the video is certainly enraging to the folks on the police accountability front it also highlights the monopoly police maintain on the use of violence.
America’s security force can and will escalate violence to the point of beating a defenseless woman—over a dispute about cheese.
Butler Township Police Chief John Porter held a presser this week to discuss the video which was taken on Jan. 16. He pointed out that the officer who did the punching has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
“The administrative investigation will include interviews and statements from any and all possible witnesses, including any other officers that were involved,” he said. “If improper conduct is found as a result of the investigation, the findings will include a recommendation for disciplinary action.”
According to police, the woman in the video—also known as the victim of police brutality—received an incorrect order while inside a Mcdonald’s. The woman, Latinka Hancock, attempted to dispute her order about the amount of cheese on her Big Mac. Instead of providing customer service, McDonald’s employees provided a 911 call.
Having given up on receiving the correct order, Hancock was already in the parking lot about to leave when officer Tim Zellers and Sgt. Todd Stanley detained her.
Instead of allowing the woman to leave—as no crime had been committed—the video shows police escalated to violence instead. Zellers is seen to the left of Hancock aiming a taser at her face just before Stanley begins waylaying on the woman’s face in a seemingly unprovoked rage.
“According to her attorney…as Hancock was leaving the restaurant, Butler Township police officers confronted her and during the incident she was punched repeatedly in the head, sending her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a head injury,” Ryan Julison, the media contact for Hancock’s attorney, told The Daily Beast.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Big Mac, Butler Township, Latinka Hancock, police, Tim Zellers, Todd Stanley | 1 Comment »
The Incremental Normalization Of Police Murderbots Probably Needs More Attention
Posted by M. C. on December 2, 2022
Flesh-and-blood armed goons will hesitate to fire upon their countrymen in a domestic uprising. They can be persuaded to side with the people and oust the sitting government. They have beating hearts and aren’t covered in armor
One of the most under-discussed topics in the world right now is how governments have been incrementally pacing the public toward accepting the use of police robots that kill people.
The city of San Francisco has voted to legalize the use of killbots in specific emergency situations like active shooters and suicide bombers, with high-ranking officers making the call as to whether their use is warranted.
“Police in San Francisco will be allowed to deploy potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations,” The Guardian reports. “The controversial policy was approved after weeks of scrutiny and a heated debate among the city’s board of supervisors during their meeting on Tuesday.”
“The proposed policy does not lay out specifics for how the weapons can and cannot be equipped, leaving open the option to arm them,” The Guardian reports, adding that the current plan is to equip them with “explosive charges” rather than firearms.
Guardian Australia @GuardianAus
San Francisco approves police proposal to use potentially deadly robots theguardian.comSan Francisco approves police proposal to use potentially deadly robotsDecision comes after heated debate as police oversight groups warn over further militarization of law enforcement3:37 AM ∙ Nov 30, 20226Likes4Retweets
We are seeing more and more expansions in the normalization of militarized police robots, to the point where there are now significant escalations from year to year. Last year I wrote a piece on the way police departments in the US and Canada have been normalizing the use of quadrupedal robots (disingenuously labeled “dogs” for PR purposes) for tasks like surveilling hostage situations and enforcing Covid restrictions. A few months later I had to write another one on this trend because arms manufacturers had begun designing firearms specifically to be mounted on those same quadruped bots. The year before during the 2020 George Floyd protests it was revealed that police had been using drones to surveil demonstrations in US cities, including the Predator drone normally used overseas by the US military.
Now the Oakland Police Department is pushing for the use of robots armed with shotguns. Police have already used a robot armed with a bomb to kill a suspect in Texas. Every year we’re seeing more steps toward the normalized ubiquitousness of unmanned weapons systems for domestic use in western civilization.
It makes sense that the US, whose police force is more heavily funded than almost any other nation’s military force, is leading this charge.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: killbots, Murderbots, Oakland Police, police, San Francisco | Leave a Comment »
Dismantling the Constitution: Police No Longer Have to Honor the Right to Remain Silent
Posted by M. C. on July 18, 2022
by John W. Whitehead
In other words, concludes legal analyst Nick Sibilla, “the Supreme Court has effectively created a new legal immunity for cops accused of infringing on the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination.”
“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn’t even an enemy you could put your finger on.”—Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
We are witnessing the gradual dismantling of every constitutional principle that serves as a bulwark against government tyranny, overreach and abuse.
As usual, the latest assault comes from the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a 6-3 ruling in Vega v. Tekoh, the Supreme Court took aim at the Miranda warnings, which require that police inform suspects that they have a right against self-incrimination when in police custody: namely, that they have a right to remain silent, to have an attorney present, and that anything they say and do can and will be used against them in a court of law.
Although the Supreme Court stopped short of overturning its 1966 ruling in Miranda v. Arizona, the conservative majority declared that individuals cannot hold police accountable for violating their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
By shielding police from lawsuits arising from their failure to Mirandize suspects, the Supreme Court has sent a message to police that they no longer have to respect a suspect’s right to remain silent.
In other words, concludes legal analyst Nick Sibilla, “the Supreme Court has effectively created a new legal immunity for cops accused of infringing on the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination.”
Why is this important?
In totality, the rights enshrined in the Fifth Amendment speak to the Founders’ determination to protect the rights of the individual against a government with a natural inclination towards corruption, tyranny and thuggery.
The Founders were especially concerned with balancing the scales of justice in such a way that the innocent and the accused were not railroaded and browbeaten by government agents into coerced confessions, false convictions, or sham trials.
Indeed, so determined were the Founders to safeguard the rights of the innocent, even if it meant allowing a guilty person to go free, that Benjamin Franklin insisted, “It is better a hundred guilty persons should escape than one innocent person should suffer.”
Two hundred-plus years later, the Supreme Court (aided and abetted by the police state, Congress and Corporate America) has flipped that longstanding presumption of innocence on its head.
In our present suspect society, “we the people” are all presumed guilty until proven innocent.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Constitution, fifth amendment, Miranda warnings, police, Supreme Court | Leave a Comment »
Why Police Do Nothing While Kids Are Killed
Posted by M. C. on June 24, 2022
In other words, the police had to protect themselves first, because if the police are hurt, then the suspect can do even more damage. There is a certain reasonable logic here, of course, but it’s in conflict with post-Columbine training. Moreover, police know they will not be held to any contractual standard that mandates intervention. They can decide for themselves whether to intervene, and will face no consequences other than some short-term political blowback. Virtually no one in the Uvalde debacle has any reason to fear losing his generous taxpayer-funded pension.
https://mises.org/wire/why-police-do-nothing-while-kids-are-killed
Here is an often-used tactic employed to defend government police organizations from criticism. Whenever critics point out police incompetence or abuse, defenders counter with “The next time you need help, call a crackhead!” This same phrase was used by Louisiana senator John Kennedy when singing the praises of uniformed government bureaucrats in 2021. The phrase often produces many smug nods from the “Back the Blue” crowd, and one can buy T-shirts with this progovernment slogan as well.
The reality however, is something quite different. Experience continues to teach us again and again, that when one encounters violent felons—as did the children in Uvalde, Texas—calling a crackhead may not produce results much worse than calling the police. A crackhead is probably going to run the other direction when faced with a gun-toting maniac. As we learned at Uvalde, many police officers will do exactly the same.
The “call a crackhead” propaganda is also especially insidious because it is designed to back the idea that “taxes are the price we pay for civilization” and the myth of the “social contract.” In this supposed quid pro quo, the taxpayers pay their taxes and then the government provides “public safety.” That, at least, is the myth the regime repeats over and over.
This myth is being exposed for what it is in real time in the Uvalde investigation right now. Each new revelation shows just how uninterested law enforcement officers can be in providing any of that “protection” that they insist the taxpayers pay so much to fund. Rather, Uvalde has shown that the primary interest of law enforcement was officer safety, not public safety. So much for that “social contract” we keep hearing about.
Ultimately, unlike a private sector service, police do not operate under any contractual obligations to provide services in any particular way. Thus, they can decide to do nothing and face no real consequences.
New Revelations Show Police Simply Chose to Do Nothing
In the Texas Senate this week, senators and the public are starting to see what passes for police work in Texas.
Although police spokesmen repeatedly claimed police could not engage the shooter because of a locked door, it turns out that was a lie. Reuters reported yesterday:
The classroom door in the Uvalde elementary school where 19 children and two teachers were killed in May was not locked even as police waited for a key, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said on Tuesday.
There was no evidence any law enforcement officer ever tried the classroom door to see if it was locked, McCraw said at a Texas Senate hearing into the shooting.
“I don’t believe based on the information we have right now that door was ever secured,” McCraw said. “He (the shooter) didn’t have a key … and he couldn’t lock it from the inside.”
So, why did police wait outside so long? They claimed it was because they didn’t have the equipment they needed. That also turned out to be a lie. According to McGraw: “Three minutes after the subject entered the building, there was a sufficient number of armed personnel to isolate, distract, and neutralize the subject…. the on-scene commander decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children.”
Expect a Cover-Up
Naturally, police personnel and their allies in local government have acted to conceal information on the police response from the public. The city’s district attorney has intervened to prevent the release of “any records.” Moreover, the Texas Department of Public Safety is pressuring the state’s attorney general to ensure that body camera footage from the incident remains hidden—presumably forever because police rather conveniently claim the footage exposes police tactics to potential future shooters.
No Accountability
Unfortunately, legal recourse for police incompetence and inaction is virtually nonexistent in the US,
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blowback, Columbine, police, Uvalde | Leave a Comment »
Uvalde’s Biggest Mistake Was Trusting the Police to “Keep Us Safe”
Posted by M. C. on June 4, 2022
For gun controllers, the takeaway from this is “See? These guns are so powerful the cops were left impotent in Uvalde.”
The police defenders can only shrug and admit the same thing: “Our heroic men and women did all they could do! That guy was just too tough, fast, and smart for us!”
https://mises.org/wire/uvaldes-biggest-mistake-was-trusting-police-keep-us-safe
The Uvalde police have helped demonstrate, yet again, what has long been clear: when you’re facing a maniac with a gun, don’t count on the government’s uniformed bureaucrats with badges to help you. As we learned this week, not even a child begging for help on a 911 call will get the police to confront a shooter.
Moreover, given the lack of competence and effort consistently displayed by police in cases where they face real danger—as at Columbine, Parkland, and Uvalde—it’s clearly a matter of chance as to whether the local police in whatever town are willing to risk “officer safety” for the sake of public safety.
Contrary to what gun control advocates think, this reality sends a powerful message against gun control: we can’t trust the government’s armed enforcers to provide any measure of safety, and we absolutely need a right to private self-defense, to private security, and to accountable trained professionals who are not the bloated, overpaid branch of the government bureaucracy known as “law enforcement.”
“Back the Blue” Plays into the Hands of Gun Control Advocates
When it comes to evaluating the disastrous police cowardice and incompetence at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary last week, those who blindly defend the police are essentially making the same argument as those as those who want to destroy the right to private self defense: “The police did as much as they could, but a single untrained teenager with a gun is just too much to handle for twenty or more trained police officers who are armed to the teeth.”
For gun controllers, the takeaway from this is “See? These guns are so powerful the cops were left impotent in Uvalde.”
The police defenders can only shrug and admit the same thing: “Our heroic men and women did all they could do! That guy was just too tough, fast, and smart for us!”
This sends a message to casual observers of the gun debate—which is most of the public. It suggests those “assault rifles” the Left is always talking about are really “weapons of war,” and allow a single person to outgun an entire police force. Many people will ask themselves: Why would any person need such a thing?
But what retort can the police defenders offer to this? It seems they can only repeat something about how our selfless heroes are beyond criticism and that we should keep trusting the regime, its police, and its schools to “keep us safe.”
Meanwhile, gun control advocates are mocking the old conservative line that “a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun.” It’s difficult to mount an effective response to this if one is committed to the idea that the Uvalde police were even remotely competent or conscientious in their work. If it’s true that Uvalde police were in any way doing their best, then an entire department of “good guys with guns” could truly do nothing to stop one person with an AR-15.
The reality, however, is that the Uvalde police were most certainly not “good guys with guns.” They were cowards clad in impressive-looking taxpayer-funded gear who made the situation worse. As their own supervisors admit, they sat around waiting for backup because had they actually tried to stop the shooter, the police “could’ve been shot.”
The police at Uvalde were not just useless in terms of public safety. They actively got in the way of public safety. When a group of parents—some of whom were likely armed—attempted to intervene in the school themselves, the police literally assaulted the parents. Witnesses report police at the scene tackling women, pepper spraying men, and drawing their tasers in order to further intimidate the parents. The police did this while the killer was rampaging inside the school. Naturally, the police, swaggering around in their cowboy hats and body armor, didn’t like being shown up by the uppity private citizens of the town.
Enforcing Gun Laws Also Requires “Good Guys with Guns”
Repeated displays of incompetence from police agencies also calls into question the idea that these same bureaucrats could effectively enforce gun prohibition laws.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Gun Control, police, Robb Elementary, Uvalde | Leave a Comment »
Police Botched the Uvalde Standoff. Now Gun Controllers Want to Give Police More Power.
Posted by M. C. on May 28, 2022
There are conflicting reports over whether or not the police waited more than an hour to confront the gunman, or if they waited “only” forty minutes.
Parents, social media watchdogs, social media followers, police-all failed. If only Uvalde denied climate change on social media he would have gotten attention.
Author:
Ryan McMaken (@ryanmcmaken) is a senior editor at the Mises Institute. Send him your article submissions for the Mises Wire and Power and Market, but read article guidelines first. Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public policy and international relations from the University of Colorado. He was a housing economist for the State of Colorado. He is the author of Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre.
First it was Columbine. Then it was Parkland. Now, we learn that at Robb Elementary School, police officers again stood around outside a school while the killer was inside with children.
NPR reports today:
Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.
“Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.
Others have reported that parents attempted to go into the school themselves, but were prevented—sometimes violently—by police.
According to the New York Post:
While he anxiously watched the officers standing outside his daughter’s school, [Jacinto Cazares] suggested storming into the school building himself along with other civilian bystanders.
“‘Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,'” he said he told other onlookers….
“There was at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn’t do a darn thing [until] it was far too late,” Cazares, the father of 10-year-old victim Jackie Cazares, told ABC News.
This video from the scene shows police pinning one person—presumably a parent—to the ground while other officers have drawn their tasers in order to further threaten and intimidate the parents who begged the police to take action.
There are conflicting reports over whether or not the police waited more than an hour to confront the gunman, or if they waited “only” forty minutes. So far, the only rationale offered by the police for the long waiting period is that the officers were waiting for a SWAT team to arrive.
It remains unclear how the shooter got into the school at all, since he was apparently confronted by law enforcement before he entered:
When police finally did enter the scene—after forty or sixty minutes of protecting themselves—many of them ignored the shooter in order to find their own children, as admitted by police personnel on the scene—who also repeated a propaganda line about “those brave men and women.”
If it is indeed found to be true that law enforcement officers protected themselves while people nearby were being killed—it certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
“Officer Safety” Is What Matters to Police
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: police, Robb Elementary, Uvalde Standof | Leave a Comment »
MCViewPoint 