Guest Post by Eric Peters
I know a guy, a local guy, who has an older (1980s vintage) car that he bought with tinted windows. This guy is pretty poor and makes his living driving a truck. He is in his mid-50s and just trying to get by.
I ran into him the other day and he had a story for me.
A local Hero issued him a $100 ticket that he can’t afford for the heinous god-awful crime of having tinted windows. He was at the local gas n’ go, filling up, when the Hero spied the crime and immediately took the necessary action. No friendly (if such a word can be used when describing thinly veiled threats issued by a guy with a gun and legal authority to use it to enforce his edicts) warning to de-tint the car. The Hero just handed this poor local guy who can’t afford it a $100 ticket, just because he can. As a well-paid tax-feeder, $100 is no big stuff – especially when your job is to keep those taxes (which is what we’re dealing with here) in-flowing
The Hero’s car, meanwhile, has heavily tinted windows.
It is also paid for by the same taxpayers, like my friend, who get fleeced to fund their own fleecing.
And they (the Heroes) wonder why they’re hated.
The argument trotted out is of course, Officer Safety.
It is always about their safety. Never ours.
The Heroes want to be able to easily look into your car – even when you’ve not given them any legal reason to conduct such a search – and what else is it when a person with legal authority to arrest and cage you is eyeballing the interior of your vehicle?
In ages long gone, it was the obligation of cops to adduce evidence of a crime before accosting anyone – and the legal system was structured such as to make this job difficult. The default was innocent until proved guilty.
Today, the default is prove your innocence or be presumed guilty.
I was thinking about all this in context of the death of Nancy Reagan. Her husband – the fetish object of “conservatives” (read: government-snugglers) was the one who gave us the Hero Cult, the veneration of the enforcer class (soldiers and cops). Pre Ronnie, cops did not look like assault troops, did not carry high-capacity/high-powered military-grade hardware. But the biggest difference, pre-Ronnie, was that it took a lot to escalate an interaction between a citizen and a cop to the lethal force level. One could argue with a cop by the side of the road over something like my neighbor’s “crime” and the expectation on both sides was that no one was going to get shot or Tazered.
The system wasn’t perfect – from a Libertarian purist point-of-view. But it was much less awful than it has become. It took a lot of provocation before a cop drew a gun on someone. 
The now-characteristic buzz-cut, steroid-addled thuggery was unusual, the exception rather than the rule. Probably because citizens were still treated as such. Rather than subjects.
No, worse.
As “threats” (the Heroes’ favorite term) in the military sense… when the military in question is a jacked-up bully organization psychologically (and soon, actually) on par with the Einsatzgruppen deployed against the Soviet populace by the occupying Germans. Or – more modern example – the Israeli thugs who brutalize the Arab peons in the name of Israel uber alles.
It is no coinkee-dink that the tactics of “our troops” derive from Israeli tactics and this goes for the other Heroes, too.
Obey, submit. We are in charge and you will accept it.
Nancy – and Ronnie – probably never gave much thought (like most “conservatives”) to the casual brutality they unleashed, nicely wrapped in the red white and blue. They may even have imagined themselves to be doing the Right Thing. Such thoughtless disposal of other people’s lives is what the writer Hannah Arendt meant when she talked of the banality of evil.
Such as an overweight douche in a special outfit who casually and without compunction or twinge of conscience stopped my friend at gunpoint, then relieved him of $100 just because he could.
Such a person will just as readily do much worse when so commanded.
Which he will be.
We had better grok this – and get ready.
I got a ticket a while back for a expired license, $260 fine. Long story, no notice from the state, yeah my fault.
Anyway,
What amazed me while I waited (3 hours even though I was told to be there at 8:00 to see the magistrate) with the rest of the criminals in the hallway to pay our fines, was the idiotic reasons for fines.
And the fact all these idiotic fines paid for the building, it’s utilities and every waste of human flesh working in that building.
Most of these (white) people when asked for a phone number replied they couldn’t afford one, let alone pay these fines.
One 21 year old next to me was arrested on a bench warrant for failure to pay fines. He said he had paid them, they asked for proof, he said he had that at his apartment not on his person.
So, here comes mr hero with his gun to take this kid into the jail for fingerprinting, pictures and then he can repay his fines.
The kid asked when he come back with proof that he paid his fines will he be reimbursed for missed time at work which was going to be a full day and for fines he had already paid?
They may as well have told him Fuck No.
His crime…….. tinted windows.
Just think of the taxpayer money spent to arrest this kid, process him, process his fine and paperwork all for tinted windows, again.
The whole fucking system sucks! Hil blantantly broke secrecy laws and will not even be indicted, let alone convicted. Yet the heroes will give the Great Unwashed(us) a “ticket” for nothing. When one of the worthless fuckers is pulled over obviously impaired, he/she flashed the badge and is given a pass. What a crock of shit!
A very well written and insightful article. Thanks!
I guess the Tactical Teams of Assault Cops was inevitable once the Military/ Industrial Complex realized they needed new customers . Like everything gooberment expands to fill any void that we allow them to do so . It’s like RICCO was sold as a deterrent for the mob and eventually morphed into a tool to be used against the common American .
“Pre Ronnie, cops did not look like assault troops, did not carry high-capacity/high-powered military-grade hardware”
Well, they might not have LOOKED like assault troops “Pre- Ronnie”, but the local gestapo in St Louis sure as hell acted like it, at from 1964 forward. Trust me, no matter what color, sex, or condition of person you were (or are) you did not want to get pulled over in St Louis’ notorious 3rd District, storied for brutality since the 1930s at least, located on the appropriately named Lynch St. You sure as hell didn’t want to be a drunk tottering down the sidewalk in that area- at least one drunk was beaten to death by police in the holdover cell, and some sources told me it happened many times in the 40s and 50s, but never made the papers
One homicide detective I dated stated that the police all carried extra, unregistered handguns to plant on suspects. Fabricating “evidence” was routine and accepted.
Check out every town or city of any size “Pre-Ronny” and you’ll see the local police were feared and hated for a good reason, and not merely by poor minority people. This has been a country led by authoritarian thugs for over 100 years. Look no further than at the odious Edgar J Hoover.
I knew a guy who had a garage, one day a hummer needs fender flares added because the cops ticketed him because his tires stuck out beyond the fenders by maybe 1/2 to 1 inch. The same town had a cop whose jeep had tires about 4 inches beyond the fenders. Why not the same law for him, why does that FOP sticker make one f__king bit of difference when it comes to a “safety” issue. F__king pig scum.
This hangs in my shop. It was given to me by my youngest years ago.
I TRY to live up to it every day. I would like to think there are some law enforcement, military, government administrators, etc., who do too?
I suppose it’s like doctors, lawyers and car dealers. Some are good. And some are, at the very least, stupid; and, at the very worst, evil.
Again, I reserve the right to discern. By their actions we shall “grok” them.
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Uncomplicated , that’s a nice gift from your child.
the “heroes” in the more affluent burbs have FLIR cameras to look inside your car, while you drive past them at night, the tint of the window makes no difference to IR spectrum.
the ultimate goal it to take away the freedom of driving, they want to get cars so automated that they won’t start, or will go into low power mode, via a wireless signal, when the hero feels like it.
we will look back on these days, and say “those were the good old days, when cars ran on gas, and you had an accelerator AND brake pedal”
Tonight’s the night that we got the truck
We’re going downtown, gonna beat up drunks
Your turn to drive, I’ll bring the beer
It’s a late, late shift, no one to fear
………
The left newspapers might whine a bit
But the guys at the station, they don’t give a shit
Dispatch calls, “Are you doing somethin’ wicked?”
“No siree, Jack, we’re just givin’ tickets!”
Thank you bb @ 2:14 pm. I look at it everyday.
So, you don’t believe me when I say it’s you or them. You still think that they are on your side. You’re delusional.
I have been cursed with a ‘Cassandra Complex’. Soon, I will pick up my soap box, pack up my tent and leave you to your own destructive selves.
Definition of a lemming, see: Homo Sapien.
These “Heroes” are nothing more than tax collectors for the benefit of THEIR retirement system.
You see, there are three major categories of retirement systems in this country: ONE, Social Security (for PRIVATELY-EMPLOYED taxpayers); TWO, state employees (this includes counties, cities, special districts (such as public schools and universities), and THREE, federal chair warmers.
And, guess who gets shafted by the other two?
Retirement checks issued by Social Security average around $1,600 per month; STATE (California) retirement systems, $8,500/month for grunt bureaucrats (such as “Heroes”); and FEDERAL Retirement systems, 5,500-6,400/month for grunt bureaucrats. Then there are department heads, legislators, professors, and judges who take down $15,000 per month and more. This is what their Financial Reports tell us. (https://redressone.wordpress.com/cheat/)
In honor of this story, I shorted $10k of HERO today.
My daughter received a ticket for too much tint on the windows. She tried to explain to the officer that she bought the car new and this is how it came from the factory (Infiniti G35). His response, tell it to the judge. She paid the fine.
I don’t recall all the details but I’m sure this is how it happened: I was crossing the RR tracks in a low rider civic when a cop pulled me over. He was an older cop, closer to 50. I told him that I had to gun it going over the tracks or else I would be hopping all over. He said my windows were too dark and gave me a fix it ticket. He said the dark strip across the top of the windshield was OK but the door windows tint had to come off. Then I went to the CHiP station with the tint off and the old cop asked about the windshield tint. I said the cop told me it was OK. He said, we’ll worry about that next time and signed my ticket.
I got pulled over in the same car by some young cops, they had their guns drawn and the first thing the young Latino cop asked me was if I was on probation. He asked if I knew why he pulled me over. (It couldn’t be racial profiling or the fact the car was lowered and had a large fart can.) The muffler? I asked. No, he said. I didn’t point out the lamps on the windshield washer nozzles. He said it was the scent strip hanging from the mirror. Dick. No ticket though, because they had nothing on me.
The next step of Progress to Third World status may come when the police just demand bribes to prevent them from blaming or beating you, just because stealing is how they are expected to make their money. It was reported years ago to have reached that level in West Africa, where the most respected and eagerly sought positions in the police force were traffic cops, because they have the best chances to extort money from the public. Traffic offenders can just be dragged from their vehicles and given a severe beating. At least in America there’s still some tint of legality in their actions.
“Check out every town or city of any size “Pre-Ronny” and you’ll see the local police were feared and hated for a good reason”
Yes, that’s exactly right. Tampa cops had a reputation during the depression for shooting hobos in the back after handcuffing them. People who pine for the good old days when cops were peace officers rather than law enforcement must think that Andy of Mayberry was a historical documentary.