Conspiracy News Now: 2015

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Legalize Drunk Driving

by Jeffrey Tucker

Most people have been there: a few drinks at a restaurant or bar and then into the car to get home. Am I over the legal limit? Hard to say. Is my driving impaired? It doesn't seem to be. But what if I get stopped? Will I lose my license, go to jail, and be disgraced in front of the community? It's a frightening prospect.

What's especially strange about this is the reason I fear. My arrest and punishment would not be for driving recklessly or for endangering other drivers. It would be because I failed a test of something that is not materially related to my actual driving.

The law is arbitrary and shifts with the political season. The perpetrators can't really be sure if they are over or under the limit. And we all have vast experience with people who drink surprising amounts of liquor and drive all the time, but never get in accidents and do not seem to be driving in an unsafe way.

Then there are the frequent cases in which cops arrest people for DUI who are stopped for something else, like a burned-out tail light. I've known of people who have been arrested in their own driveways, having gotten home safely and harmed no one. They are arrested and imprisoned, a humiliating and terrible experience for anyone to go through.

Clearly, this DUI enforcement has been a boon to the police but has it really curbed drunk driving? You might consider staking out your local bar, following how much people drink, and observing how many get in cars after. I'll just state what most everyone knows but hardly anyone says: drinking and driving is a national sport in the U.S. In the vast, vast majority of cases, no harm is done.

Murray Rothbard once told me that he thought drunk driving should be legal. I was stunned and shocked that anyone would say such a thing. But over time, I began to see his point. It is not outrageous at all.

He was exactly right.

With laws against DUI, what's being criminalized? Not reckless driving as such. Not aggression against anyone. What's being criminalized is the chemical make up of the blood in your body. That itself should be no crime. To make having a certain blood content illegal is essentially totalitarian.

But you say that drinking is associated with bad driving. Well, enforce the laws against reckless driving. Many more people drink and drive than drive recklessly. Some people drive even more safely after a few drinks, correcting for their delayed responses. We do this all the time, e.g. after a workout, when we are sleepy, when we are angry, whatever. Human beings adapt with rationality.

And you know what happens on New Year's some other holiday. People always say "be careful, there are lots of drunk drivers out there." Just the prospect alone makes everyone drive more defensively.

Regardless, the law has no business criminalizing associated peaceful behaviors rather than real crimes against person and property.

For example, grudges are associated with murder in the sense that a vast number of murderers are carrying a grudge. Do we make grudges illegal? That would be crazy and unenforceable, even if there were some chemical way to measure what constitutes a grudge. But we make driving under the influence illegal though it is roughly the same thing. It targets an associated condition rather than the crime itself.

Laws against drunk driving have vastly expanded police power and done nothing to stop the practice. The best prevention against unsafe driving from drinking has been provided privately: friends, services offered by bars and restaurants, community interest groups, etc. This is the humane and rational way societies deal with social risks. The police have only messed up this process by adding a coercive element that targets liberty rather than crime.

And we can see where this is heading. Texting is now illegal in most places. So is talking on the phone. Maybe talking itself should be illegal. Some communities are talking about banning eating. All of this is a distraction from the real issue.

As Radley Balko has said:

If our ultimate goals are to reduce driver impairment and maximize highway safety, we should be punishing reckless driving. It shouldn't matter if it's caused by alcohol, sleep deprivation, prescription medication, text messaging, or road rage. If lawmakers want to stick it to dangerous drivers who threaten everyone else on the road, they can dial up the civil and criminal liability for reckless driving, especially in cases that result in injury or property damage.
Doing away with the specific charge of drunk driving sounds radical at first blush, but it would put the focus back on impairment, where it belongs. It might repair some of the civil-liberties damage done by the invasive powers the government says it needs to catch and convict drunk drivers. If the offense were reckless driving rather than drunk driving, for example, repeated swerving over the median line would be enough to justify the charge. There would be no need for a cop to jam a needle in your arm alongside a busy highway.
Scrapping the DWI offense in favor of better enforcement of reckless driving laws would also bring some logical consistency to our laws, which treat a driver with a BAC of 0.08 much more harshly than, say, a driver distracted by his kids or a cell phone call, despite similar levels of impairment. The punishable act should be violating road rules or causing an accident, not the factors that led to those offenses. Singling out alcohol impairment for extra punishment isn't about making the roads safer. It's about a lingering hostility toward demon rum.

_
Jeffrey Tucker is Chief Liberty Officer of Liberty.me, a subscription-based, action-focused social and publishing platform for the liberty minded. He is also distinguished fellow Foundation for Economic Education, executive editor of Laissez-Faire Books, research fellow Acton Institute, founder CryptoCurrency Conference, and author six books. He is available for speaking and interviews via tucker@liberty.me

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As I understand, the major force promoting DUI punishments is MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. It's so powerful that Google put MADD as the 1st hit as soon as I typed word "mothers", think about it. From what I heard, political pressure by MADD far exceeds anything that could be subject of the logic and common sense. MADD is famous for spending basically nothing on actually pushing their cause and almost everything on "expenses," aka salaries etc.

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Saturday, February 7, 2015

Police: Entitled Bullies, Specially Protected 'Victims'

William Norman Grigg

The advertised purpose of the Support Your Local Police Committee (or SYLP) is to keep "local" police departments independent of federal control. Will SYLP oppose efforts by the Fraternal Order of Police to define police officers as part of a "special protected" category under federal "hate crime" laws?

Citing the high-profile murders of six police officers in 2014, Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, demands that Congress "expand Federal hate crime laws to protect law enforcement officers and punish those who target these dedicated public servants."

"All these officers died because of the uniforms they were wearing," insists Canterbury. "They were killed because their murderers had one purpose -- to kill a cop. Enough is enough! We demand Congress act."

Several years ago, following the attempted murder of Arizona Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the FOP lobbied for federal legislation that would expand the use of the death penalty by "adding the murder or attempted murder of a law enforcement officer at any level of government" as an aggravating factor "when considering a capital charge," points out a press release from the union.

To its credit, the SYLP Committee's literature (some of which I helped write many years ago) describes criminal law as a local, rather than federal, concern. Its statement of principles urges citizens to "Oppose any and all efforts to subsidize, regionalize, or federalize our local police, since any loss of their independence from outside controls will inevitably lead to a loss of our protection and safety as well" (emphasis added).

Will the organization condemn police union's self-serving efforts to expand federal hate crimes statutes, or would doing so contradict the categorical imperative (also mentioned in the group's statement of principles) to make police "proud and secure in their vital profession, and to offer them our support in word and deed wherever possible"?

It should be remembered that the NYPD has already pioneered the use of "hate crimes" statutes to criminalize anti-police sentiments: Last summer, a graffiti artist named Rosella Best was charged with "criminal mischief as a hate crime" for tagging police vehicles and a public school with slogans condemning the department. The relevant statute, significantly, didn't mention occupation as a "protected category." The FOP's proposed federal legislation would do so -- but the police would be the only beneficiaries.

Even with a slight increase in the number of on-duty fatalities last year, law enforcement remains a much safer occupation than many worthier jobs in the productive sector. The violent death of a police officer is somewhat similar to a plane crash: It is an infrequent occurrence that attracts intensive media coverage, thereby distorting public perceptions of risk. Plane crashes are rare; highway fatalities happen every day. A similar comparison could be made between the murder of police officers and police killings of citizens.

Police already constitute a specially protected class. Cops who injure or kill people without cause are protected from individual accountability by the doctrine of "qualified immunity." Thanks to statutes that define resisting arrest (a common law right) as a crime, police are privileged aggressors who can inflict summary punishment, including the death penalty, on victims who refuse to cooperate -- or even on those who readily submit.

A measure being promoted by police unions in the New York legislature would destroy "civilian" oversight of police disciplinary procedures. E.J. McMahon of the Manhattan Institute points out that the bill "would allow unions representing police "? to insist on collective bargaining of disciplinary procedures affecting their members." This bill is intended to codify a provision in the union's proposed contract that would require internal affairs investigators to wait at least 48 hours "before questioning police officers accused of misconduct."

McMahon describes this bill as an effort by unaccountable police unions to usurp local control of police by elected municipal officials. The "L" in SYLP stands for "Local." Will the "Support Your Local Police Committee" condemn the praetorian ambitions of police unions, or be their silent accomplices?

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View the original article here

Friday, February 6, 2015

Is This What The NYPD Has Been Doing After Refusing To Do Their Jobs?

By Matt Agorist

New York, NY ? As we reported last week, the NYPD has basically stopped doing its job since the murder of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

A new video shows that they have apparently found a new way to spend the extra time they have after not doing their jobs.

The video, obtained by the website, Breaking 911, shows a police officer riding on the hood of a patrol car.

According to Breaking 911,?the incident happened at Seton Place and Parkville Ave in the confines of the 70 Precinct.

The officer was rushed to Lutheran Trauma Center with a police escort and chopper overhead.

If this wasn?t a case of officers wasting time and idiotically horsing around, then the NYPD has some serious explaining to do.

Why on earth would a cop get on top of a cop car and get driven down the street?

Below is the video of the incident which happened just around the corner from the precinct located in Brooklyn.

rofl...OMG This is great! Thanks for a good laugh in the middle of all of our national depression and rage.... The irony is that if a non-cop did that they would be tazed, arrested, and charged with endangering the public and themselves. We don't need the police, we don't need the government, and we don't need every stupid law that is designed to make people criminals and generate revenue. It's time to take back our country from the terrorists that are our current politicians.

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Thursday, February 5, 2015

How Lithuanian Cops React to a Drunk, Aggressive American Girl

Amanda Warren

Lithuania has their own version of the TV series Cops as made apparent by this insightful Live Leak video. When watching Cops in other countries, a stark difference from the United States is so eye popping that it feels counter-intuitive at first, to the person who's used to American television.

An obviously intoxicated and distressed American girl is in Lithuania trying to get into an abandoned apartment building basement. It's 4 a.m. and she's waking the neighbors. But her problem might go beyond mere beverage spirits - she believes World War 3 is coming and that everyone will die soon. Thus, her insistence on getting into the door even though there is nothing there.

Any number of things could have happened to her to bring her to this state of distress, aggression and destructiveness. Or, as the cops commented - "she's just very drunk." So her defensiveness is little wonder as she makes the mistake of thinking that the cops will harm, maybe kill her - as one might imagine happening to her in the U.S.

"We just know that her name is Alison. We didn't have a reason to ask for her ID."

What do you think of how Lithuanian cops treated the American girl?

It would be interesting to find out how cops in other countries view our police. That is how a peace officer acts....
Unlike our stazi that would have brutalized her on the US CORP(SE) Those cops were perfect gentlemen and gentle ladies. I think that this film should be shown in every U.S. Police station as a how to on how to subdue an unreasonable, out of touch person without brutality. All it takes is patience, empathy and intelligence. If Alison behaved this way in the U.S., it is very likely that the "abuse " that she feared so much would have actually been perpetrated on her. well to be fair they put the nicest cops on this show.
and the translation is not accurate, for example ""We just know that her name is Alison. We didn't have a reason to ask for her ID."" the cops said that her name is alison, but they dont have her ID because they cant search a woman (as in a male cant do a search on a female)
'Hopefully, they can do something to stop the WW3 from starting' !!
Damn they are smart them ruskie-commies - Pretending to be peaceful decent humans and what not ..
(Sorry Lithuanians, I know you think you are not Russians :) ) On the flip side, on COPS the American show every time I see a clip from an old re-run it's frankly newsworthy criminality. The police are always utterly despicable cretins reveling in busting some poor person for using a meager amount of some illegal drug. From watching the show you'd think their job was to rustle up poor people to be thrown into cages.

View the original article here

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Multiple Eyewitnesses Claim Unarmed Wichita Man had Hands Up Prior to Being Killed by Cops

By Jay Syrmopoulos

Wichita, Kansas ? Witnesses in the shooting death of unarmed 23-year-old John Paul Quintero have come forward to refute police statements regarding the shooting death of Quintero.

The incident, which took place on Saturday night, began when Quintero's family called 911, saying Quintero was under the influence of alcohol and had threatened them with a knife at a party.

According to police, Quintero was "belligerent" and wouldn't comply with the two officers who arrived at the scene eight minutes later, while seated in an SUV with his father, parked in front of the house.

Ted McAdams and his wife live in the unit behind where the party was going on. They ran outside after they heard screaming. McAdams claims to have witnessed the tragic events leading up to the death of Quintero.

According to McAdams, Quintero was "trying to talk to the male officer with compliance" and "had his arms up until he got tasered, [when] his arms went down to his side."

Multiple witnesses have stated that Quintero had his hands up and seemed to be compliant, until another officer employed a taser on him, subsequently causing Quintero to lower his hands, which then lead to Martin shooting him in the chest with an AR-15, according to KAKE.com.

Police claim Quintero reached toward an officer?s waistband, but McAdams refutes that statement, claiming that he saw the incident and never saw Quintero make such a move.

It must be noted, that claiming a person reached for an officer?s waistband/weapon, is one of the standard police refrains when attempting to justify use of deadly force in the killing unarmed citizens.

A former state school board member from Wichita and vice chairman of the city's Racial Profiling Advisory Board, Walt Chappell, told the Wichita Eagle he had a feeling the officers "made a conscious decision to escalate rather than de-escalate."

The mere fact that the female officer walked up with a rifle "would indicate to me they were already loaded for bear," Chappell said.

McAdams says he?s not alone in thinking this situation was taken too far.

?After that all the neighbors and I threw a little fit at the cops because I?ve got a wife and a newborn and the safety issue and not just that, the way the cops handled themselves.?
He added, ?If he was told to do something, yeah he should?ve done it, but that officer had, to my advice and my suggestion, she shouldn?t have ever shot him.?

Another witness, Dustin Deckard, was driving home on Saturday afternoon when he witnessed a cop aiming her rifle at an unarmed man with his hands up.

"It was clearly a younger man in his early 20s of Hispanic descent, and he was wearing a blue jersey and he had his hands up," said Deckard, referring to the Wichita Police.
"He was behind the SUV, and the female officer was mostly directly in front of him, a little bit to his left. Both the officers were on either side of him, but he was facing the female officer who had her rifle up, and she was looking down the sight."
Deckard added, "It was very eerie, because the shooting must have occurred seconds after. When I passed, I slowed down, so I only got a couple seconds of a view."

Chappell made a very clear point when he stated,

"You don't go in ready to shoot first and ask questions later. There's a lot of things you can do before you ever pull out a weapon.?

The militarized, us vs. them, mindset of US cops, which escalate already tense situations into outright violent altercations, is a plague upon law enforcement and the public that they claim to serve.

Here is audio of the initial 9-1-1 call by the family. All they wanted was help in stopping a fight, instead, a young man was gunned down.

_
Jay Syrmopoulos is an investigative journalist, freethinker, researcher, and ardent opponent of authoritarianism. He is currently a graduate student at University of Denver pursuing a masters in Global Affairs. Jay?s work has previously been published on BenSwann.com and WeAreChange.org. You can follow him on Twitter @sirmetropolis, on Facebook at Sir Metropolis and now on tsu.

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Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Police Use Battering Ram, Tasers During Raid On 'Young Looking People With Beer'

A birthday party turns into a nightmare when beverage cops violently show up to a private residence.

DAMASCUS, MD ? Police performed a violent raid on a birthday party based on a suspicion of ?young looking people with beer,? then dubiously confiscated guests? cell phones when they were used to record the police.

The incident occurred on January 4th,? 2014, at the home of George and Cathy Magas.? The couple?s son, Nicholas, was turning twenty-one years old, and he was allowed to invite a number of his friends to the home for a party.? Both his parents were present.

During the party, the crowd opted to order pizza.? Things went downhill when the delivery driver took it upon himself to pass a tip about the party to a friend ? Officer Finch of the Montgomery County Police Department.

?Hey man not sure if you're working but if you're not busy there I just delivered a pizza to a party at 9*** Damascus rd and saw some young looking people with beer,? the pizza-delivering snitch wrote in a text message.

Officer Finch then relayed the information to members of the county?s ?Alcohol Initiatives Section? to investigate.? Subsequently, MCPD Officer Jeremy Smalley and Montgomery County Sheriff?s Deputy John Durham arrived together to scope out the party.

Having no other information besides the text message tip, the two beverage cops drove past the residence and ?observed numerous vehicles? and could ?hear the sounds of a party,? according to charging documents.? They claimed to witness some males urinate behind a detached garage.? Having no evidence to stand on, the officers assumed that the party contained underage drinking and called for reinforcements.

THE PROBLEM WITH ASSUMING

The investigation was flimsy from the start.? Officer Smalley and Deputy Durham made multiple unsubstantiated assumptions and fabrications of fact.? Just by observing individuals carrying ?red Solo style cups,? they surmised that the party-goers (1) were consuming alcohol and (2) ?appeared to be under the age of 21.?

These assumptions were used as probable cause that a crime was being committed ? underage consumption of alcohol.

An excerpt of the police report from the investigation of George and Cathy Magas in Damascus, Maryland.

The police were challenged on their remarkable ability to verify the ages of the guests just by looking at them.? This was not an insignificant detail, because anyone above the age of 21 would not have been breaking any laws.

When asked how he could tell the difference between a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old, Deputy Durham later testified, ?The loudness, just the way they presented themselves, was consistent with being under 21? They kind of exaggerate their movements, like ?hey look at me?"? rather than adults standing around drinking.?? Durham conceded that ?It's not 100 percent.?

DISPERSING THE PARTY

Filled with assumptions, Officer Smalley and Deputy Durham approached the basement stairwell and were met by one of the younger residents of the home, Marc Magas.? According to the police report, Marc was ?very cooperative? and inclined to grant them access to the inside of the home.? However, that idea was nixed when his mother, Cathy Magas, allegedly said, ?We have dealt with you guys before, and I don?t want you coming in the house.?

At that point, police were close enough to see cases of beer and a keg.? Despite having no verified proof of anyone?s age, police entered and began to pick up cases of beer and haul them to the top of the steps outside the home.? This confiscation of property was met with angry shouts from homeowner George Magas.? Backup units had arrived and helped to seize the beverages.

According to the police report, 21-year-old Nicholas Magas exited the basement door and attempted to retrieve his property by picking up a case of beer.? The report says that Officer Smalley grabbed him, but Nicholas ?attempted to pull away.?

The events that followed were chaotic and have been described through conflicting reports.

Police reported that Officer Smalley was ?pulled? into the doorway and residents slammed his arms in the door.? A struggle ensued, and police alleged that homeowner George Magas assaulted three officers, and that he even tried to take Deputy Durham?s weapon from its holster.? Eric Magas became involved, and police claimed that he too assaulted an officer.

?Deputy Durham then struck Eric Magas in an attempt to change his behavior,? the report states.? Eric was tased by police on the steps.? Cathy Magas attempted to render aid to her son, and in doing so, police claimed she elbowed a deputy.

Meanwhile, George Magas was outside being forcefully subdued by police with tasers, as his guests filmed with their cell phone cameras.

The footage ?shows police dragging the homeowner out of his house, handcuffing him and repeatedly tasing him while he offers little to no resistance,? according to Montgomery County Sentinel editorialist Brian Karem, who was allowed to see the video.

George, Cathy, Nicholas, and Eric Magas were arrested.? George and Eric had to be transported to the hospital for their injuries.

BATTERING RAM

Some time after the Magas family was arrested, there were reportedly a number of guests still inside the house, which the ?Alcohol Initiatives Section? intended to search and arrest.

Police deployed a battering ram and broke down the basement door, then rounded up the remaining terrified guests, ranging in age from 18 to 21.

Records showed that the police did obtain a search warrant to enter the home. However, it was not obtained until 5 hours after the initial contact with the Magas family, and did not bear any mention to the multiple assaults that the police officers had supposedly sustained in the course of the initial arrests.

According to the officers, their stated goal this dramatic use of force was to ?stop the party and make sure everyone gets home safely.?

AFTERMATH

The four family members were nailed with a multitude of charges which could have resulted prison time for each of them.
George Magas, 55, was charged with attempting to remove a firearm from the possession of a deputy sheriff, attempting to incite a riot, three counts of second degree assault, obstructing and hindering a police officer, and 22 counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor.Cathy Magas was charged with second degree assault, obstructing and hindering a police officer and 22 counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor.Nicholas Magas, 21, was charged with attempting to incite a riot, obstructing and hindering a police officer, and 22 counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor.Eric Magas, 18, was charged with second degree assault, attempting to incite a riot, obstructing and hindering a police officer, 22 counts of furnishing alcohol a minor, possession of a fake ID, possessing more than one driver's license, knowingly and fraudulently obtaining a license by misrepresentation, and three counts of possessing a fictitious license.An additional twenty-two adults were cited for underage consumption of alcohol, despite evidence that some of those cited did not even have anything to drink. Several guests had their cell phones confiscated after videoing the police getting physical with members of the Magas family.

?I don't know why the police acted in the manner in which they did, including taking the phones of those who were in the home,? family attorney Rene Sandler told The Montgomery County Sentinel.

After having their family name dragged through the mud and forced to hire attorneys to defend themselves, the Magas family caught a break when their case came before Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Steven Salant.? The Magas family contested that their Fourth Amendment rights had been violated, and that police had no lawful justification to be on their curtilage, snooping around in the rear of the house.?? The judge agreed.

?I do find an unlawful invasion of the defendants? property? the defendants were entitled to an expectation of privacy in the area officers went in the back of the house,? Judge Salant said following a suppression hearing. He cast doubts on the officers? probable cause statement and called some of the police testimony ?not true.?

Judge Salant was incredulous that the raid was performed legally.? The search warrant wasn?t obtained until five hours after police arrived on scene, and left out key details which the police later used as the basis of criminal charges against the family. Critics have doubted that the warrant was obtained prior to entering the home.

In November 2014, Judge Salant threw out most of the prosecution?s evidence obtained during the raid ? including several guests? cell phones ? and said the police had violated the Magus's civil rights.

FOLLOW-UP:

As of late 2014, the state was still considering ?a myriad of options, including appeal,? according to Maryland state?s attorney's office spokesperson Ramon Korionoff.

Officer Jeremy Smalley, nor Deputy John Durham, nor any other officer who participated in the sloppy investigation and dubious search have received any form of public discipline or legal consequences as of this writing.

A truly free society would never tolerate this form of harassment on private citizens for drinking beverages of their choice. Americans need to stir up a demand for repealing draconian alcohol laws and pressure law enforcers to stop wasting tax resources on such oppressive endeavors.

View the original article here

Monday, February 2, 2015

Pedestrian Hit By Car Dies After Responding Cop Hits Him A Second Time

Chris | InformationLiberation

KAUMAKANI, HI - 19-year-old Michael Kocher Jr. of Hanapepe, Hawaii died this past Friday night after a Kauai police officer responding to a report of a pedestrian being struck by a car hit the young man a second time.

Kocher was initially stuck by a Toyota Carolla while walking along the Kaumuali'i Highway at around 9:35 p.m. in the evening.

Kocher's niece Rayne Banasihan told the Garden Island newspaper Michael ?was alive and responsive? after being struck initially by the Toyota driver, yet after the responding officer smashed into him, he evidently showed no vital signs and was presumed dead at the scene.

The Kauai police say they're investigating the crash, but they haven't even released the name of the officer who hit him, instead they're asking for information on the young man's "whereabouts" prior to the crash.

It'd be more interesting to know where the officer was prior to the crash and was he or she in any way distracted or inebriated.
_
Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his writings here. Follow infolib on twitter here.

yet more proof of the low IQ police endangering the citizenry.

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Sunday, February 1, 2015

NJ Man Arrested for Refusing to Hand Over Camera as "Evidence" After Cop Veers Off Road

by Carlos Miller

A New Jersey man was arrested Thursday after refusing to hand over his video camera to a cop, who insisted he needed it as ?evidence,? even though case law makes it very clear that citizens do not have to give up their footage unless their camera was used in the commission of a crime.

You would think a detective from the prosecutor?s office would know better.

But then again, cops make up their own laws when trying to protect their own.

After all, the so-called evidence demanded by detective Dave Margentino from the Ocean County Prosecutor?s Office involved a fellow cop who had veered off the road in a single-car accident, needing to be airlifted to the hospital.

Andrew Flinchbaugh, 23, was video recording the aftermath of the accident, standing well out the way of police and rescue officials, recording the victim being loaded onto the copter as well as the copter taking off.

After about 30 minutes, just as he was about to make his way back to his car, Margentino walked up and demanded his camera, telling him, ?I?m not going to negotiate.?

Typical thug behavior that has become so prevalent in law enforcement these days.

After ten minutes of Flinchbaugh refusing to succumb to his demands, offering to allow the detective to copy his footage, even providing identification though he was not legally obliged, Margentino arrested him.

Once jailed, Flinchbaugh never gave them consent to search his camera and they never asked, but when they returned the camera upon release a few hours later, it appeared as if they had scrolled through his footage, which is illegal to do without a search warrant.

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fucking pigs keep steppin on people's rights, they should expect war because death is coming to find them. Sue for misconduct. Surely, there's a law firm out there that's not afraid of them, and could use a few extra bucks. Cops,lawyers,prosecutors,news, are pretty much one and the same.

View the original article here

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Fraternal Order Of Police Lobbies For New Federal Hate Crime Law

Nation's biggest police union boasts that it has spent years lobbying for more federalization of crime and punishment.

The 300,000-member Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is demanding that the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama ?act now? to expand the federal hate crimes statute and add police officers as a protected class.

In a recent press release, the police union boasts that it has spent years lobbying for more federalization of crime and punishment. The presser cites a handful of recent incidents, nationally, in which police officers were attacked while on the job.

?Enough is enough! It's time for Congress to do something to protect the men and women who protect us,? said union president Chuck Canterbury.

The federal government?s 1969 hate crime law has been expanded several times and already criminalizes [attempted] bodily injury against anyone based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. Penalties for committing a ?hate crime? extend to up to 10 years in federal prison.

The FOP proposal would add the basis of ?uniform? to the current list.

There are two main principled reasons to oppose all federal hate crime legislation. First, is the basic legal tenet that all people should be treated equally in the eyes of the law. The judicial process should not be dependent upon the demographics of the victim or defendant. This is the reason that ?Lady Justice? wears a blindfold while holding the Scales of Justice. Violence against anyone ? regardless of the identities or beliefs of those involved ? should be prohibited equally and impartially in a fair and just system.

Secondly, the federal government has no legitimate authority to create such laws. The U.S. Constitution ? specifically Article 1, Section 8 ? offers no mention of the federal government having the ability to prohibit crimes of violence between citizens for any reason. Crimes such as assault and murder are properly prohibited at the state-level and are enforced by state or local agencies ? not the FBI. To broaden the scope of federal law enforcers is a mistake and a move toward more centralized authoritarianism.

Readers are advised to oppose the Fraternal Order of Police?s agenda to nationalize crime statutes and create legally protected classes of citizens.

there is nothing worse is a FOP WHOPP copulator

View the original article here

Friday, January 30, 2015

Rise of the Nanny Police State: Town Governments Across the US Ban Sledding

By John Vibes

Dubuque, Iowa ? Local politicians in cities and towns across America have implemented laws that will ban children from sledding.

Town officials in Dubuque, Iowa for example, have banned sledding in 48 of its 50 parks because they fear that children will get hurt and that their parents could sue the city.

?We have all kinds of parks that have hills on them. We can?t manage the risk at all of those places,? Marie Ware, Dubuque?s leisure services manager told reporters.

"Everybody likes sledding, OK? Everyone wants to promote outdoor activities, and we want people to be active. But everyone knows sledding is a risky activity, we want to manage that risk," she added.

In other cities such as Des Moines, Iowa; Montville, New Jersey; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Columbia City, Indiana, the local governments have not entirely banned sledding, but instead posted signs warning people that they are sledding at their own risk. This approach gives some level of legal protection to the city if someone happens to get hurt, without enacting an all out ban.

In places where these bans have been put into place, many children and family?s have ignored the laws and engaged in civil disobedience. Town officials said that fines are expected for repeat offenders.

It is only a matter of time before the first arrests are made of those ?rebel children? who dare to have fun outdoors.

The natural tendency of the state to control every aspect of our lives is constantly on the rise.?The message from the state is clear, either you keep your kids locked up in the house or you very well may be the one locked up.

Children's book author, Kari Anne Roy, received an unexpected visit from Child Protective Services (CPS) and the Austin Police Department last year. She was being investigated for allowing her son Isaac, 6, to play outside unsupervised.

In June of last year,?Jeffrey Williamson?s 8-year-old son skipped church to play in the neighborhood. Williamson was subsequently arrested for child endangerment after a neighbor called the police to report an unsupervised child on the loose.

Also last year, there was the case of?5-year-old Eric Lopez, who was charged with sexual misconduct after he decided to drop his pants on the playground.

_
John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war. In addition to his writing and activist work he is also the owner of a successful music promotion company. In 2013, he became one of the organizers of the Free Your Mind Conference, which features top caliber speakers and whistle-blowers from all over the world. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can find his 65 chapter Book entitled "Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance" at bookpatch.com.

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I'm not sure it's the government bureaucracy to blame.

"Town officials in Dubuque, Iowa for example, have banned sledding in 48 of its 50 parks because they fear that children will get hurt and that their parents could sue the city."

It's quite likely that this step was made not out of blue, but exactly because there were parents who did sue the city.

Same as when there's yet another incident of an overboard zero-tolerance at yet another school, it may also very well be in response to the paranoia expressed by the parents, and this zero tolerance is exactly what they demanded. Quite likely the same mother who today is crying that her angel was arrested for even mentioning a gun, is the one who only yesterday adamantly demanded exactly that, to "protect" said angel.

I don't need to reach very far for examples - my own spouse is an exhibit #1.

This has nothing to do with 'Nanny-State', it is full-blown fascism .
Sadly, it is what often happens when you give 'The Little Man' any power -
He abuses it to impose whatever twisted idea he may have on people he should have no power ever in the first place . Having grown up in Iowa, I can tell you that there's not much else for kids to do in the winter. They say Dubuque has 50 parks, but I would wager that maybe 5 of them have hills big enough for sledding. I guess there's always Meth..... LOL! No doubt there is plenty of meth! :D Allegheny County, PA had a place called "Sunny Slopes" in South Park. It was a big half-funnel with hay bales at the bottom. Teen agers and some adults would go there at night, get a fire in a tash barrel or two and then we'd ride sleds and inner tubes to the bottom. Great fun for most of the night. They closed Sunny Slopes to sledding about thirty years ago.
Pass any play area and look for "see-saws." They aren't there anymore. Yet the road signs advising of a play area show a see-saw. What irony.
WE are gong to immobilize our selves in this country. Whew, Just had Crazed Suits and Tie Mob gnawing at my Cars Tires coming home from purchasing Bird Food. Must have been Local Politicians. Crikey, Cigs but no Lighter. Dayum am afraid to go back out.

View the original article here

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Texas Cop Fired After Tasing 76-Yr-Old For Driving With 'Expired Tags' That Were Perfectly Legal

Texas Cop Fired After Tasing 76-Yr-Old For Driving With 'Expired Tags' That Were Perfectly Legal - informationliberationinformationliberation
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The New American Century: The Untold History of The Project for the New American Century(more)Analysis posted Jan 06 2015, 5:25 AMCategory: Tyranny/Police StateSource: InformationLiberation

PrintTexas Cop Fired After Tasing 76-Yr-Old For Driving With 'Expired Tags' That Were Perfectly LegalNew vehicles do not require fresh tags, cop was ignorant of the law.
Chris | InformationLiberation

It took almost a month, but the young punk cop who tasered a 76-year-old man for questioning his questionable traffic stop has finally been fired, the Victoria Advocate reports.

The cop, 23-year-old Nathanial Robinson suspected 76-year-old Pete Vasquez of driving a vehicle with expired tags. In fact, Vasquez was driving a new car, all of which are exempt from having fresh tags, which Vasquez pointed out at the time he was stopped. Rather than check the law, Robinson responded by violently attacking and tasing his elder, throwing him to the ground and tasing him twice before placing him under arrest.

While the police chief criticized Robinson's actions at the time and said they would investigate, no details nor follow up was released until just yesterday. Here's an excerpt from their press release, which you can read in full here:

Chief Craig has announced the findings of the internal affairs investigation regarding Officer Nathaniel Robinson. Chief Craig has determined based on the evidence, that Officer Robinson violated three areas of policy and sustained allegations regarding violations of the following departmental policies.

1) Policy 0.216 - Conduct and Performance, Section 2.15
2) Policy 03.03 - Use of Force Section 1
3) Policy 0.0305- Arrest without a Warrant Section 3

Based on the findings of the administrative investigation, Nathaniel Robinson?s employment with the Victoria Police Department has been terminated.

Kudos to the police chief for doing what's right, including for faulting the officer for his false arrest.

Frankly, I find it abhorrent the mere idea a 23-year-old young punk could think a badge and a gun gives him the right to boss around a 76-year-old man because he has "expired tags."

It reminds me of a story about the late Steve Jobs. Jobs would buy a new car every six months to take advantage of a California law which makes you exempt from having to have a license plate for six months. Ever since I heard that story, I've thought about how any young punk rookie cop could pull over the great Steve Jobs and potentially put him through hell for not having a license plate, despite being entirely in the wrong.

The late H. L. Mencken believed government as an institution was a conspiracy devised by inferior human beings to rule over their betters. As he wrote back in the year 1919,

"All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: its one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him. If it be aristocratic in organization, then it seeks to protect the man who is superior only in law against the man who is superior in fact; if it be democratic, then it seeks to protect the man who is inferior in every way against both."

As one who chronicles stories of government abuse, which is mostly carried out by low-grade morons such as officer Robinson, this strikes me as accurate.

Of course, in the case above, there's a good chance Robinson will be rehired, with back pay, once his moron protection agency, a.k.a. the police union, files an appeal to get him his job back.

_
Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his writings here. Follow infolib on twitter here.

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Comments 1 - 20 of 23Add CommentPage 12 of 2 >AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 8:12 AM

Link 99170The firing is just for show to take some heat off the chief and the department and make it look like they are responding to the concerns of the citizens. I dare say the cop and the chief both know the union only has to flex its little pinky and he'll be back in the saddle with retro pay and probably a medal and a promotion. AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 9:48 AM

Link 107191Great mencken quote!Plus8Posted: Jan 06 2015, 10:18 AM

Link 24173I feel police violence is actually being stoked by those who wish to impose martial law. We know who \'those\' people are. The same criminals who pledge allegiance to Israel. Our political system has been completely broken for some time; Direct Action is the only way to put our great nation back on course.AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 10:32 AM

Link 9815The Police Chief set a high standard. Salient article on the problem. Bad people with money, controlling lawmakers and steering policy to protect their standard of living through oppression of the masses.
Worlds oldest song.
ChrisPosted: Jan 06 2015, 10:34 AM

Link Thanks so much Anon, agreed & much appreciated! AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 10:35 AM

Link 7141"Kudos to the police chief for doing what's right..."? WTF!! What's right is to file assault charges against the cop and sue the snot out of him personally. Don't leave it for the taxpayer to pick up the tab.AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 10:42 AM

Link 6950What planet did this chief come from? It surely isn't zionist earth ChrisPosted: Jan 06 2015, 10:49 AM

Link Hey Anon, he still may be brought up on charges, the case is being "reviewed" by the DA. I'm not holding my breath the DA will actually do anything. I agree the cop should be personally liable for his criminal actions just as any commoner would be. AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 11:28 AM

Link 66102now someone post this pos cops .......sorry EX pigs address online ASAPAnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 12:20 PM

Link 10832Did anyone notice the gangsta rap the cop was listening too.AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 12:34 PM

Link 76121Yeah i can hear the music for sure,kinda goes with his actions on the elderly,pray to god my kid's dont get a badge and a gun.AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 12:51 PM

Link 10832I'm all about being able to listen to the type of music you so choose,but we all know that different types of music can sometimes alter our moods. So if you are listening to music that promotes violence and lawlessness and are a cop that is already mentally unstable you clearly are gonna do what you want and hurt people for ridiculous reasons. He probably his ass kicked everyday he was in school till he graduated and went into law enforcement. Victoria is notorious for drug smugglers but he is and was too much of a whimp to deal with them he has to pick on elderly and kids I'm sureAnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 2:34 PM

Link 166216He will be in uniform with another police dept. in the state of Texas before the week is out.Jim BPosted: Jan 06 2015, 3:28 PM

Link 72161Now the man needs to sue the man, that had the badge, for his aggravated assault and battery and kidnapping...and leave him poor and on the street...AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 3:30 PM

Link 173190As the young cop obviously recently went through his education and training process to be qualified as a cop, we must conclude the cop knew his legal limitations, and the citizen's civil rights. Whenever a cop willfully violates a citizen's civil rights, he is no longer protected by 'qualified immunity' and is exposed to be personally liable. Not that he has any assets accumulated this early in life, but no doubt he can be sued for a percentage of all his future income.TomPosted: Jan 06 2015, 3:43 PM

Link 6742One of the benefits of my proposal to require all police to carry individually-purchased professional liability insurance is that this young cop could not just go to another city and get hired again without this following him. His insurance company would raise his premium, just like a driver who has been at fault in an accident. His insurance company might even see this moron as too great a risk and refuse to insure him at any premium, which would end his career.PutschPosted: Jan 06 2015, 3:49 PM

Link 2469I'll Wager the Old Guy won't make it another Year.
Creeping Insidious Collectivism and its attendant Stress with Tasing tossed in for Good Measure pretty much assure it. My Dad went downhill fast. This heavy handedness is wholly unacceptable. 200V Electrocutions for any who find Cattle-Proddings of the Elderly a valid Leadership endeavor.Tom Posted: Jan 06 2015, 6:43 PM

Link 71222The gangsta rap music this cop was listening to surely merits a notation regarding his violent actions towards this mundane. This cop is recently graduated and I can guarantee he was briefed upon Supreme Court case Castle Rock v. Gonzales. In 2005 the SC ruled that it is NOT the duty of police to serve and protect. This court ruling is probably the underlying cause of the upward incidents of violence against the public. New cops know they will never be held accountable for harm, destruction of property or death when they dish it out. However, what happened here was there were too many crimes and gross ignorance of the law and firing the cop is probably a City decision to attempt to lessen the upcoming consequences when this man sues the cop and the City. AnonymousPosted: Jan 06 2015, 7:48 PM

Link 24154'Contempt of cop' (asking a question), though not illegal, is punishable by anything from false arrest and fining, up to and including tasing, beating and summary execution. AnonymousPosted: Jan 07 2015, 12:04 AM

Link 174134Fired!? Usually they get a long paid vacation. Oh right, that's only if he killed his victim. He was probably fired for leaving a witness.Comments 1 - 20 of 23Page 12 of 2 >

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

MPAA Wants Regulators To Force ISPs To Block Sites 'At The Border'

by Tim Cushing

When SOPA died its inglorious death, the MPAA's best shot at ISP-level site blocking died with it. But the MPAA is nothing if not stubborn and is still willing to wreak havoc on the internet in exchange for a slight dip in infringement.

According to a leaked document from the MPAA's law firm [pdf link] and two public filings in support of the International Trade Commission (sent over by Charles Duan of Public Knowledge), the movie industry is hoping to use the agency's new willingness to regulate digital transmissions like physical goods as a foundation for site blocking.

As we've discussed for years, the ITC has been an active player in helping US patent holders go after those they believe are infringing. Generally, this has taken the form of blocking imports of infringing physical goods -- that the ITC deems as infringing (using different rules than the US court system). This has often allowed patent holders two separate bites at the apple -- one in the courts, and one at the ITC. But a recent case saw the ITC shift its focus -- and its purview -- in response to some circuitous patent infringement. Russell Brandon at the Verge details the case that has led to the MPAA's next attempt at site blocking.

The heart of the case is a company called ClearCorrect, which 3D prints clear plastic braces custom-designed for each patient's teeth. Much of the technology involved in the process is already under patent, but ClearCorrect has gotten around those patents by farming out its intricate computer modeling to an office in Pakistan. That modeling violates a number of US patents ? and if ClearCorrect were shipping back the resulting braces in a box, it would be a simple case: the goods would be contraband, to be stopped at the border. But instead, ClearCorrect is only transmitting digital models from Pakistan and printing out the braces in local offices in Texas. The only thing coming in from Pakistan is raw modeling data. So what's a trade commission to do?

In October of 2014, the trade commission -- blowing past legal precedent and established statutory limits -- granted itself the power to treat the incoming digital models as physical goods? and stop them at the border.

In the sweeping and unprecedented decision below, the International Trade Commission found that its authority to regulate trade extends to pure "electronic transmission of digital data" untied to any physical medium. Generally, by statute, the Commission's jurisdiction is limited to oversight of "importation . . . of articles." However, the Commission expansively construed the term "articles" to potentially include anything "bought and sold in commerce," thereby leading to its conclusion that digital data was an article of importation.

The MPAA, which has entered comments in favor of the ITC's self-granted power expansion, wants to use the agency's power over digital imports to block websites at the ISP level. The leaked Jenner & Block memo confirms this. The MPAA's lawyers don't consider it a slam dunk but they are cautiously hopeful that the ITC's land grab will pay off.

As discussed in the 2012 ITC Memo, seeking a site-blocking order in the ITC would appear to offer a number of advantages over federal court litigation, at least at first blush. This now seems even more so given the ITC?s recent decision (albeit now on appeal) holding that electronic transmissions are ?articles? within the meaning of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. ? 1337. As also discussed in the 2012 ITC Memo, however, such an action would still involve several difficult questions of first impression, making the prospect of success in that forum uncertain.

While the ITC's new aim -- stopping infringing digital files at the "border" -- would seem to be the ideal starting point, the memo points out that many technical limitations make this approach less than feasible. The "transit" ISPs -- those that "ship in" data from other countries -- can be handled more easily by other court orders than by ITC regulation. The ITC's purview only covers inbound traffic, and technical limitations make this a weaker approach. For one, the lack of information on incoming packets means the blocks would only affect IP addresses. If a "pirate site" shares an IP address with another site, the block won't work. And IP addresses could easily be shared to circumvent blocking at transit ISP level.

The memo also notes that the internet is designed to flow around obstructions. Applying blocks at the transit level would simply shift infringing loads to other pathways, nullifying the blocks altogether.

The law firm then addresses blocking outbound traffic to infringing sites at the ISP level. This would ignore the inbound traffic of "transit" ISPs and demand action be taken by US ISPs.

Even though site blocking by transit ISPs may be impractical in most (and likely all) cases, it may still be possible for the ITC to issue orders to the consumer-facing network access ISPs requiring them to cease and desist from providing their subscribers with access to the pirate site. To do so, however, the ITC would first have to find that the network access ISPs, by providing their subscribers with access to the pirate site, have themselves violated Section 337.

That's the sales pitch for ISP-level site blocking. It somewhat ignores the new powers of the ITC and instead relies on convincing the agency that access to "pirate sites" -- even as a "dumb pipe" -- is a violation of Section 337. Definitions will need to be stretched and ISPs that allow their customers to roam the web freely will need to be painted as contributors to infringing activity.

Because it is the transit ISPs and not the network access ISPs that actually carry the infringing data across the border, we would need to persuade the ITC that the network access ISPs? conduct is also tantamount to ?importation into the United States? of copyright-infringing articles... For this reason, we may be able to develop a case that the network access ISPs, by virtue of the integral role that they play in the process of accessing and delivering infringing content from the foreign site to the end user, should be treated as an importer for purposes of Section 337.

If that doesn't work, the next argument is to portray the ISPs as involved in the sale of counterfeit goods.

Even if we cannot persuade the ITC that network access ISPs are ?importers? of the infringing articles, it can plausibly be argued that the network access ISPs are engaged in a post-importation ?sale? of the infringing articles to their end-user subscribers, in violation of Section 337. See 19 U.S.C. ?1337(a)(1)(B) (providing that ?sale after importation into the United States? is an unlawful act). The difficult question presented here is whether an ISP, by providing network access in exchange for its subscribers? payment, can be found to have engaged in the ?sale? of the infringing articles as that term is used in Section 337.

The arguments don't get any less ridiculous. There's a pitch for ISPs to have participated in "unfair acts" by "forcing" (read: allowed customers to access sites the MPAA doesn't like) the motion picture industry to "compete" against infringing copies of its own works. There's even a small paragraph that pushes the notion of contributory infringement, although the law firm notes that this would be the longest shot of all. The likeliest approach appears to be the use of the ITC's power to obtain cease-and-desist orders against ISPs, forbidding them from allowing access to "pirate" sites.

Public Knowledge's brief [pdf link] in opposition to the ITC's pending power shift points out that even though the statute itself is old (Tariff Act of 1930), its authors directly contemplated the difference between physical and more ethereal goods -- and made it clear that the two shouldn't be treated identically.

Evidence from the early 1900s indicates that Congress and others would have cleanly distinguished importation and telecommunication, vesting authority over each in distinct agencies. Treating the Commission as having authority over telecommunications data, then, conflicts with this distinction. To the extent that the Commission?s interpretation of ?digital data? as an imported article encompasses such telecommunications data, this Court should reject that erroneous interpretation of the Commission?s purview.
[...]
There is substantial evidence that, around 1930, data transmissions were generally understood to be distinct from articles of commerce and international trade. This understanding influenced Congress, as reflected in its creation of separate and distinct agencies to oversee trade and telecommunications.

The distinction was highlighted by the Supreme Court as early as 1887, in considering one specific type of telecommunications data, namely telegrams:
Other commerce deals only with persons, or with visible and tangible things. But the telegraph transports nothing visible and tangible; it carries only ideas, wishes, orders, and intelligence. Other commerce requires the constant attention and supervision of the carrier for the safety of the persons and property carried. The message of the telegraph passes at once beyond the control of the sender, and reaches the office to which it is sent instantaneously. It is plain, from these essentially different characteristics, that the regulations suitable for one of these kinds of commerce would be entirely inapplicable to the other.

The brief also points out that, while the ITC is correct in noting that internet transmissions couldn't possibly have been envisioned during the crafting of the 1930 Tariff Act, similar "articles" like telecommunications and radio signals had already been discussed by Congress, and each time, these were not allowed to fall under the same regulatory agency.

Putting the ITC in charge of digital transmissions will turn ISPs into ad hoc customs agents who need to inspect incoming packets and outgoing requests. Cloud services would also be negatively affected, as load balancing would need to be rebuilt from the ground up in order to accommodate the legal concerns now inherent in every transmission. The DMCA safe harbor would no longer exist, forcing ISPs to stay one step ahead of IP holders, building in anticipatory takedown response systems and choke points. The MPAA still wants site blocks and is still willing to break the internet to get them. Even the cautiousness displayed in the legal memo still glosses over the severe disruptions this use of the ITC's new powers will cause.

The good news? The ITC's "digital = physical" shift isn't in effect yet. The case prompting this shift is still under appeal and no decision is expected until late 2015. Chances are, this decision will be appealed as well, likely landing it in front of the Supreme Court sometime in the next few years. The MPAA can't move on its arguments until this is all decided. But it's ready to move as soon as it can, and this isn't its only plan of attack.

Use of the ITC to Block Foreign Pirate Websites (PDF)

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View the original article here

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

by Phillip Smith

A high-ranking DEA agent in Mexico is in trouble, so is a former North Carolina SBI narc, an Alabama police officer and a West Virginia jail guard. Let's get to it:

In Washington, DC, the DEA's resident agent in charge in northeastern Mexico was arraigned last month on charges he took reimbursements for doing "favors" on behalf of unnamed Mexican nationals. Agent Leonardo Silva is accused of abusing his position by advising the State Department to cancel the US visa of a Mexican national at the behest of a friend. Silva allegedly falsely said the woman was a cocaine user and trafficker, and then bragged about it. He is also accused of taking nearly a hundred private plane trips that he didn't pay for or report, as well as taking a $3,000 payment for obtaining a job for the son of a US consulate worker. He is charged with fraud and making false statements.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, a former State Bureau of Investigation narcotics agent was arrested early last month on federal charges he was involved in a major cross-country marijuana trafficking conspiracy. Fredrick Tucker is accused of transporting more than a thousand of pounds of marijuana from California to North Carolina via South Dakota, where he now lives, in a conspiracy with his son Ryan. Tucker had resigned his SBI position "while under investigation for improprieties." He is now charged with conspiracy to traffic more than 50 kilos of marijuana and money laundering. He's in jail in Charlotte pending a March court date.

In Birmingham, Alabama, a Huntsville police officer was arrested last Tuesday on charges he conspired to make cocaine trafficking charges against a person go away. Officer Lewis Hall, 45, allegedly conspired with another person to pay another police officer $5,000 to claim a search he made that resulted in a drug trafficking arrest was unlawful. The officer who they hoped would help make the charges vanish instead turned them in. Hall faces charges of conspiracy, bribery, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to investigators.

In Exxon, West Virginia, a Western Regional Jail guard was arrested last Wednesday carrying 74 grams of marijuana. Preston Chase Thacker, 20, is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. It's not clear whether the weed was destined for the jail or not.

View the original article here

Monday, January 26, 2015

NYPD 'Slowdown' Saves Taxpayers $10M A Week In Parking Ticket Fines

Chris | InformationLiberation

The New York Post is reporting the NYPD's slowdown in issuing parking tickets is "costing the city $10m a week in revenue."

From the perspective of the state's tax-victims, that means taxpayers are saving $10m a week.

The New York Post reports:

The city is losing about $10 million per week on parking ticket revenue because of the NYPD work slowdown, according to budget watchdog estimates.
There were just 1,191 parking summonses handed out between Dec. 29 and Jan. 4 ? down nearly 93 percent from the same period last year, when 16,008 of the dreaded orange envelopes were slapped on windshields.
Based on the weekly average ticket take of $10.5 million in fiscal 2014, the Citizens Budget Commission estimated the reduction could have bled about $10 million from city coffers.
And that doesn?t include other revenue losses from similar reductions in moving violations and court summonses during the slowdown, which is now in its third week.
?While losing $10-$11 million in a week is real money, in the context of the city?s $77 billion annual budget it?s a very small amount,? said Doug Turetsky, of the Independent Budget Office. ?But if the losses continue over weeks and months, the effect on the budget becomes more substantial.?

If you do the math, the state is looting people for $546m a year from parking tickets alone. The fact this is meager considering the city's budget is just further evidence how insanely large their budget is.

I covered the other day how New York police working for the port authority are making over $300,000 a year, that money doesn't materialize out of thin air, it has to be stolen from the general public before they can gorge on it.

This police "slowdown" is the best thing that has happened to New York taxpayers in ages, may it continue in perpetuity until all the cops and the bureaucrats they serve are out of work.

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The police are doing the people a favor with this slowdown. 9 billion dollars state wide, is collected in fines each year in new york,one can only wonder how much fine money is collected in the whole country. Big change is coming, and coming very soon.

View the original article here

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