“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, French economist
Pay no heed to the circus politics coming out of Washington DC. It’s just more of the same grandstanding by tone-deaf politicians oblivious to the plight of the citizenry.
Don’t allow yourselves to be distracted by the competing news headlines cataloging the antics of the ruling classes. While they are full of sound and fury, they are utterly lacking in substance.
Tune out the blaring noise of meaningless babble. It is intended to drown out the very real menace of a government which is consumed with squeezing every last penny out of the population.
Focus instead on the steady march of the police state at both the national, state and local levels, and the essential freedoms that are being trampled underfoot in its single-minded pursuit of power.
Once again, the police state is up to its old tricks, stoking tensions over whether or not the government is forced to shut down, even partially, due to a default on the national debt.
Yet while these political games dominate news headlines, send the stock market into a nosedive, and put federal employees at risk of having to work without pay, nothing about these high-handed theatrics will diminish the immediate and very real dangers of the American Police State with its roadside strip searches, government surveillance, biometric databases, citizens being treated like terrorists, imprisonments for criticizing the government, national ID cards, SWAT team raids, censorship, forcible blood draws and DNA extractions, private prisons, weaponized drones, red light cameras, tasers, active shooter drills, police misconduct and government corruption.
“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.” ― Howard Thurman
The Christmas story of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.
The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable (a barn), where Mary gave birth to a baby boy, Jesus. Warned that the government planned to kill the baby, Jesus’ family fled with him to Egypt until it was safe to return to their native land.
Yet what if Jesus had been born 2,000 years later?
“History shows that governments sometimes seek to regulate our lives finely, acutely, thoroughly, and exhaustively. In our own time and place, criminal laws have grown so exuberantly and come to cover so much previously innocent conduct that almost anyone can be arrested for something. If the state could use these laws not for their intended purposes but to silence those who voice unpopular ideas, little would be left of our First Amendment liberties, and little would separate us from the tyrannies of the past or the malignant fiefdoms of our own age. The freedom to speak without risking arrest is ‘one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation.’”—Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissenting, Nieves v. Bartlett (2019)
What the First Amendment protects—and a healthy constitutional republic requires—are citizens who routinely exercise their right to speak truth to power.
What the architects of the police state want are submissive, compliant, cooperative, obedient, meek citizens who don’t talk back, don’t challenge government authority, don’t speak out against government misconduct, and don’t step out of line.
For those who refuse to meekly accept the heavy-handed tyranny of the police state, the danger is all too real.
We live in an age in which “we the people” are at the mercy of militarized, weaponized, immunized cops who have almost absolute discretion to decide who is a threat, what constitutes resistance, and how harshly they can deal with the citizens they were appointed to “serve and protect.”
“There are always risks in challenging excessive police power, but the risks of not challenging it are more dangerous, even fatal.”—Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century
I have known a lot of good cops, I have defended a lot of good cops, and I have been fortunate to call a number of good cops friends.
So when I say that warrior cops—hyped up on their own authority and the power of the badge—have not made America any safer or freer, I am not disrespecting any of the fine, decent, lawful police officers who take seriously their oath of office to serve and protect their fellow citizens, uphold the Constitution, and maintain the peace.
My beef is with the growing squads of warrior cops who have been given the green light to kill, shoot, taser, abuse and steal from American citizens in the so-called name of law and order.
Secret police are characteristic of dictatorships, or so goes the conventional thinking on the subject. Police in democracies operate for the most part transparently and within a set of rules and guidelines that limits their ability to gratuitously punish citizens who have done nothing wrong. If a policeman operating under rule-of-law steps out of line, he can be held accountable. That is also conventional thinking.
Have you noticed that it’s become common – if not practice – for armed government workers to force people to the ground, knee in the back – guns trained on them – as part of seemingly every arrest?
Violent men, okay. They are potentially a “threat” to the “safety” of armed government workers. But what about men not violent? Women not “resisting”? Junior high kids?
Jesus was born into a police state not unlike the growing menace of the American police state.
But what if Jesus, the revered preacher, teacher, radical and prophet, had been born and raised 2,000 years later in the American police state?
Consider the following if you will.
The Christmas narrative of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.
The Roman Empire had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable, where Mary gave birth to a baby boy. That boy, Jesus, would grow up to undermine the political and religious establishment of his day and was eventually crucified as a warning to others not to challenge the powers-that-be.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Three charitable volunteers, including a 90-year-old man and two Christian ministers, were dragged away in handcuffs after illegally feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale.
The ringleader of the criminal charity work is Arnold Abbott, 90, who runs a non-profit organization called “Love Thy Neighbor.” Since 1991, the Christian man has been making hundreds of meals per week in the kitchen of his church and distributing them to the sizable homeless population.
The organization is “based on two very simple concepts,” his website states. “We believe that ‘We are our brother’s keeper’ and we should ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself.’”
Mr. Abbott was arrested on Sunday, November 2nd, 2014, along with Sanctuary Church’s Pastor Wayne Black and another minister. The three outlaws now face hundreds of dollars in fines or up to 60 days in jail.
“One of police officers came over and said ‘Drop that plate right now,’ as if I was carrying a weapon,” Mr. Abbott told WPTV.
The volunteers were arrested because of Fort Lauderdale’s new ordinance, which restricts acts of charity committed within 500 feet away from residential properties — effectively prohibiting feeding the homeless throughout the entire city.
Mayor Jack Seiler callously defended the ordinance, saying, “We enforce the laws here in Fort Lauderdale.” He claims that the strict rules “reduce the public safety hazards” and “ensure the health, safety and welfare of our community.”
But Mr. Abbott says he is unwilling to turn a blind eye to the homeless, drawing his inspiration from The Bible.
“As a Christian, it’s pretty clear,” Mr. Abbott said to NBC News. “Feed thy sheep. Take care of them.”
“I know that I will be arrested again, and I am prepared for that,” said Abbott. “I am my brother’s keeper, and what they are doing is just heartless.”
Fort Lauderdale isn’t alone in its absurd prohibition of charity work. Daytona Beach recently banned feeding the homeless because it undercuts need for government agencies.
Police crash Halloween party to ensure no dancing without a permit
“Dancing is not a crime,” insisted the party promoters.
ST. GEORGE, UT — A Halloween-themed private event was targeted by police when there was a suspicion of dancing without a permit.
It happened at the 2014 “Monster Mash” dance party, the third annual event of its kind. It was put on by the event promotion company, Heart of Dixie, and held at the Fiesta Fun Center in St. George, Utah (population 75,000).
Over 400 guests were enjoying the festivities at the October 31st event, participating in all-night enjoyment of bumper boats, go-karts, mini golf, and music.
After 9:30 p.m., St. George police arrived in force to investigate a case of unpermitted dancing. Around 5-6 officers challenged the organizers of the event as not having obtained a proper permit to host the dancing. The venue owner, event promoter, and security coordinator each presented their respective permits, which had been previously approved and issued by the city.
“I told them, ‘Well, I actually have a permit that was issued by the city this morning that has ‘dance’ and ‘fun’ checked on it, and a big stamp of approval on it,’” Heart of Dixie promoter Jared Keddington said.
Police found the city-issued permits to be insufficient, and forced the organizers to announce over the loudspeaker that absolutely no dancing could be tolerated for the remainder of the night, as per the orders of police.
“It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Brett Crockett, owner of Fiesta Fun Center, according to St. George News.
Disappointed party-goers clamored for refunds as the police officers stood guard over the party with video cameras to record violations of the city ordinance.
Heart of Dixie issued the following statement to St. George News, explaining the event:
The city issued a permit. We applied for a special event permit for a “dance”. It was issued. Then when they had no way to shut it down they produced additional pages to the permit that we were not given on which they had hand written that the dance was not allowed. Not to mention we were on private property, it is a first amendment right to dance, we weren’t playing music loud enough to be heard off the property and when the police were there NO ONE was dancing. They sent 6 officers to make sure no one was dancing! DANCING IS NOT A CRIME.
Unsympathetic city officials, including assistant city manager Marc Mortensen, defended the police action, claiming that the party organizers had not followed through with the exact requirements of the permit application process.
Mortensen said, “Via the power of social media, who knows how many could have showed up and would that have overburdened that particular neighborhood and could it have potentially created problems… That’s what we try and avoid.”
Supporters have aptly compared the situation to the 1984 film “Footloose,” which depicted a fictional town which banned dancing.
The City of St. George insists that dancing is not explicitly banned, but people must seek city permission to dance at private events held for profit, and such permission must be sought in a prescribed manner at in a prescribed amount of time.
The ruined Halloween party serves as a glaring example of the outrageous nature of requiring permits for private affairs held on private property. When citizens are forced to ask the government for permission to run a business, to freely associate with other individuals, or to dance on private property, there is no limit to the number of comical injustices that can take place.
The surveillance state grows ever larger and more menacing by the second. When will we push back? Or will we?
These police state thugs serve at the discretion of the people and are paid by the people’s taxes. Why are we cowering from psychopaths who supposedly work for us?
Because they don’t work for us. They work for them.
Look at the pictures and video in this article. Who are the real terrorists? Who is the real enemy?
EVANSVILLE, IN — An innocent elderly woman’s home was raided by SWAT when she was suspected of using the internet to trash-talk and post threats toward the local police. In response, gun-wielding assailants breached her doors and windows in a violent search for electronic evidence.
The hair-raising incident took place at the household of Louise Milan on Powell Street. It was the place where she and her husband had raised their six children, and had lived for three decades.
On June 21, 2012, the solitude of the familial home was shattered — along with numerous doors and window panes. Louise Milan, 68, was home with her adopted daughter, 18-year-old Stephanie Milan. Around midday, Louise had been straightening her bedroom when she heard a terrifying sound from downstairs.
“I hear this noise, and I’m thinking something’s hit the house,” Louise recalled in her deposition. “Then I think the world has come to and end,” she added, when she heard “the second bang.”
The terrified grandmother, who had endured multiple heart surgeries to treat her atrial fibrillation, immediately thought of Stephanie and headed for the stairs, screaming in panic. She said that she was met half-way down the stairs by an unidentified intruder holding a rifle.
“He’s pointing his gun at me, and he’s saying ‘Get on the floor,’” Louise recalled.
What Louise Milan didn’t know at the time was that her home was being raided by the Evansville Police Department’s SWAT team. The deafening “bangs” she heard were the sounds of concussion grenades exploding in her downstairs living space, shattering windows and damaging property in the process.
As the Hoosier grandmother was handcuffed on the floor, the intruders swiftly cleared the rooms with guns raised. They soon found Stephanie, who had been watching television and was cowering on the floor when they entered the living room.
“Don’t hurt me!” the girl pleaded, face down near the sofa. SWAT agents moved in with rifles pointed at her tiny frame and demanded that she stand up to be handcuffed.
Both women were shackled and “marched down the street in front of neighbors,” Louise recalled. “I don’t think we deserved that.”
SWAT officers had breached the home’s doors and windows in what authorities deceptively call a “knock and announce” entry. Officers technically knocked, yes, but video clearly shows that they began shattering glass no more than three (3) seconds after the impatient rapping on the door began. A raid performed in this fashion is, for all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from a veritable “no-knock” entry.
The officers, in their hasty aggression, had used a battering ram to shatter a glass storm door. The team intentionally broke other windows and detonated two flashbang grenades inside the house.
“The front door was open,” said a shaken Ira Milan, who had not been home at the time. “It’s not like anyone was in there hiding. To bring a SWAT team seems a little excessive.”
Internet Bravado
The ostensible reason for the raid was that someone had anonymously posted some internet tough-talk on an online discussion forum, and referred to the Evansville police. The subsequent violence directed at the Milan household was to serve a search warrant to find out who was responsible.
The alleged “specific threats” were posted in a discussion on the topix.com website. One of the posts declared: “Cops beware! I’m proud of my country but I hate police of any kind. I have explosives… Made in America. Evansville will feel my pain.”
In response, police packed their own guns and explosives and headed out to raid the owner of the IP address from which the posts had been made. That address belonged to the Milan family.
Police confiscated Stephanie’s cell phone and laptop to see if they was related to the internet threats. They weren’t. In fact, it was determined that no one in the Milan household had been involved.
The Milan family was wrongly targeted because their wireless internet signal had been had been discreetly used by an unauthorized remote user. A neighbor, Derrick Murray, had noticed that the Milans had not password-protected their wireless router, and accessed it without permission via his smartphone and used it to browse the internet from his parents’ house. He was later arrested by the FBI and plead guilty to related charges of using forbidden speech.
Controversial Tactics
Defending the raid, Evansville city attorneys argued the force used to execute the search warrant was “objectively reasonable” and that the police are immune from liability.
Louise Milan, however, did not believe the raid was reasonable. In fact, she believed the raid showed a “callous indifference” to her family, and filed a lawsuit against the City of Evansville and EPD.
“I think they could have handled it…different,” Louise said in a deposition. “There were bicycles for toddlers lying in my backyard. There were three bicycles lying right there by my back gate… There’s a Fisher Price car seat, toddler seat, sitting right there on my front porch, and it was there that day. And like it didn’t seem to matter.”
Evansville Police Chief Bill Bolin, who was named as a defendant, said this so-called “knock-and-announce” technique is employed as a standard.
Ms. Milan, however, apparently missed the 3-second knock prior to the shattering glass and explosions. “They could have knocked. I didn’t even know there was a search warrant,” she said. She did not know police could break in by surprise, and did not even know what a flashbang was until two were detonated in her house. “[I thought] they were supposed to present you with a search warrant,” she added.
Louise said that after the experience, her view of law enforcement has changed dramatically.
“I’m afraid of the police. I’m afraid of them,” said the grandmother. “I used to speak [to officers] and wave. I don’t do that anymore, and I don’t trust them.”
Ms. Milan added that she believes the raid was about retribution and intimidation moreso than genuine concern for officer safety regarding the online postings. “I believe that they were showing us that because ‘you’ threaten us, we’re going to let you know that you can’t threaten us and get away with it. Just high-fiving… They were having a show of force.”
Disturbing Video
In August 2014, a helmet-cam video recorded by one of the officers was released — confirming the Milans’ account of what happened.
Interestingly, both the plaintiffs and defendants believe the video helps their case. The Milans believe the video shows officers acting negligently and violating their constitutional rights, and the government believes the officers were shown to be “respectful” to the women — after pointing rifles at them and breaking their stuff.
The footage provides some insight on the procedures and attitudes held during a typical raid. The tactics are swift, violent, and reckless. View the video below:
The “knock” was clearly used only as a distraction measure and was never intended to be a request for permission to enter the home. Generally speaking, the tactic also allows police to provide the public with more acceptable semantic descriptions of their actions, avoiding police state imagery through dubious word games.
SWAT operators were filmed displaying their appalling lack of weapons discipline. Officers casually pointed their rifles in unsafe directions — violating the most elementary of firearm safety rules — as they swept past multiple houses and windows with loaded weapons. Inside the Milan house, Stephanie appeared to have at least one rifle pointed at her prone body. Louise attested to the same treatment. As every student of firearms training knows, one should “never aim a weapon at a target you aren’t willing to destroy.”
Officers were filmed joking and carrying on before and after the raid, indifferent to the trauma and rights-violations they had just caused or were about to cause.
“That f***ing ram hit a lot harder than I thought it going to hit,” one officer joked as the others laughed, while standing in the Milans’ living room after the two women had been hauled away in handcuffs.
“Wouldn’t it have been funny if it would have bounced off?” another giggled, followed by more laughter.
