The Real News (updated)

Step 1) Find somebody who knows something
Step 2) Ask a few smart questions
Step 3) Shut up and let him talk

hat tip = FB buddy DR via truthdig

(And Uh-Oh.  My guy Martin O'Malley took a bit of a hit there (starting at about 3:45) when Mr Powers slags him for misunderstanding the Broken Windows approach to the point of total FUBAR.  I guess I need to figure out a way to ask him about that.)

So, wouldn't it be nice if we could take a hard look at the whole process?  Maybe we could start with: Coin-Operated Politicians getting elected partly on Big-Money donations from the Crime-&-Punishment Industries which eventually makes for a very tidy loop of criminalization and recidivism (Bust. Bargain. Jail. Repeat).  The cycle of Poverty, Ignorance and Crime isn't a bug in the system - it's a fucking feature.

And as a nice bonus, it gives our returning war heroes some occupational therapy so they can work out those PTSD issues that they don't have and that nobody ever needs to talk about because they couldn't possibly manifest themselves in the worst possible ways at the worst possible times - but like I said, let's not worry about any of that. Ever.

Anyway, concentrating your Zero-Tolerance approach on the "problem areas" almost ensures those problem areas will forever remain problem areas.  Which is, again, actually the point.  While it's being sold to us as Public Service, law enforcement is being administered as a Profit Center.  And the Revenue piece of any good business plan includes Recurring Revenue Opportunities - Returning Clientele, Customer Retention, Repeat Business, pick a buzz phrase, any buzz phrase.

BTW - the people filling our prisons aren't the "customers" of the Crime-&-Punishment Industries; the same as the patients filling our hospitals aren't the "customers" of our Healthcare Industries.  The main point there being that a healthy patient is a detriment to somebody's profitability the same as a law-abiding citizen walkin' around free isn't putting money into the pockets of an ever-widening system of interlocking "security" businesses.  

But weirdly - healthy patients and law-abiding citizens are very good for taxpayers and premium payers and business owners and families and and and.  So how come it seems like somebody doesn't want us to be particularly free or particularly healthy?  It's a wonderment, ain't it?

Prisoners (like Patients) are both the raw material and the product.  This is a strictly Business-to-Business proposition. The customer base consists of corporations which spend lots of time effort and money getting you and me to line up so we can volunteer to get scammed into believing we're buying ourselves a little law and order; some peace of mind; a feeling that we'll be allowed into the powdered wig salon just as soon as we've kissed all the right asses and stepped on all the right fingers - when actually, we're just identifying ourselves as resources for a system that eats people, extracts power and money, shits people back out; and then starts over again.

What, you weren't still thinking Law Enforcement's about enforcing the law, were ya?  You're so cute.  We live in USAmerica Inc, silly - America's business is business.  And business is fucking great.  

You're very important to us, so please stay in line - we'll get to you soon enough.

Just A Tho't

"A mote of dust suspended on a sunbeam." --Carl Sagan



hat tip = Facebook friend VWE

So, Earth is all we've got.  It's home and there's literally nowhere else to go.

And then there's a guy like Charles Koch (just an example), who seems to be going to great lengths to fuck up the joint, making life in our little corner of the universe less and less likely to continue.

If some nutball ammosexual suddenly got all tree-hugger-y and walked up to Ol' Chuckles and poked 5 or 6 holes in Mr Koch's torso with a Glock .40, do ya think the shooter's lawyer'd have a chance to get him off by claiming it was justifiable under the Stand Your Ground statutes?

Just wonderin'.



(No - seriously, you knuckleheads - don't be out there pullin' shit, OK?)

I Don't Like Thinking This Way

It's a pretty lousy feeling when you're not so sure the "good guys with the guns" are on your side.

And that lousy feeling doesn't get any better when you start thinking you may have something in common with these assholes:

One Bit More

...on the Cliven Bundy thing.

I seem to recall that ol' Cliven said the only authority he was willing to acknowledge was the local sheriff.

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Rancher Cliven Bundy must be held accountable, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said Thursday.

But, the sheriff added, the federal agency trying to do it must reconsider its methods in order to prevent the bloodshed that was so narrowly avoided in April.

Gillespie, speaking to a Review-Journal editorial board, minced no words when recounting the mistakes made in the days and weeks before an April 12 standoff between armed protesters and the Bureau of Land Management on Bundy’s Bunkerville cattle ranch, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The sheriff harshly criticized Bundy and said his family committed “serious errors” when BLM officers tried to round up more than 500 of the rancher’s cattle. Bundy, who believes the public land is his to use, hasn’t paid his federal grazing fees for 20 years and ignored a federal court order to remove the cattle.

Gillespie said he spoke to Bundy many times in the months before the roundup. He said he made it clear to Bundy that, if his family was going to protest, it must be peaceful.

But Bundy crossed the line when he allowed his supporters, many of whom were armed militia members, onto his property to aim guns at police, the sheriff said.

“If you step over that line, there are consequences to those actions. And I believe they stepped over that line. No doubt about it,” Gillespie said. “They need to be held accountable for it.”

Yer move, Clive.

hat tip = Addicting Info

Don't It Make Ya Wonder

These two Alaska state troopers were killed the other day by a kid with an assault-style weapon.  They were shot in the back several times as they were trying to arrest the kid's dad.

From NY Daily News:

The charging documents for Nathaniel Kangas, 19, say he fired seven shots and killed two Alaska State troopers at close range as they wrestled with his father during an arrest on misdemeanor charges.

All eyes were on the shackled teenager as he was escorted to his arraignment in a Fairbanks courtroom packed with solemn law enforcement officers and the families of Sgt. Patrick Johnson, 45, and State Trooper Gabriel Rich, 26, who were shot to death on May 1.

The judge stated his charges as felony assault and two counts of murder and set the bail at $4 million before asking, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported, if Kangas had anything to say.

The teen took his time to respond with two words: “I’m sorry.”

Kind of interesting that NY Daily News put up a fairly straightforward story. More interesting (to me anyway) is that FoxNews.com ran the pre-packaged report from the wire service and as of 9:00am, the comments section is closed.  Hmmm.

Meanwhile, over at Washington Times, "this story is no longer available".  Hmmm, again.

But I was really just wondering when Oath Keepers or any of the other gun-suckin' militia mites are likely to show up to protect the nobly rebellious Mr Kangas from the evil clutches of an over-zealous and tyrannical state government.

One tho't: More training for the cops and less weaponry for everybody could make this kinda shit pretty rare.

Where's The Outrage?

From RTD:

RICHMOND -- A felon and admitted longtime gunrunner caught on Interstate 95 headed to Boston with handguns in the trunk of his car is set to be sentenced Tuesday in federal court.

Anthony T. Champion, 33, of Columbus, Ga. who pleaded guilty in November to possession of a stolen firearm, faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer.

According to court documents, Champion was stopped by a state trooper near Doswell on Jan. 31, 2013, and nine handguns in a cloth bag were discovered in the trunk of his Toyota Camry -- two were stolen and one had the serial number obliterated.

Gun freaks and Libertarians oughta be teamed up and jumpin' all over this one.

Doesn't a US citizen have the right to take his guns with him on a trip up north?

Doesn't he have the right to make a living selling guns (the ones he owns anyway) to whoever he wants to sell 'em to?

And why do we care if the serial number on one of those guns was obliterated?  It's his gun - he can do what he wants with it.

Since when is it OK for the lawdogs to search a guy's car just because he gets a little nervous and decides to stop by the side of the road and take a short walk to clear his head?

What's this country comin' to?

Interesting Tidbit:  In 2010 and 2011, 825 guns that were used in crimes in New York were traced back to Virginia (eg).  It stands to reason that some number of people were arrested here in The Old Dominion for some kind of illegal-ness connected with those guns in New York.  I wonder if any of the cops (here or there) who made arrests in any of those capers were adherents to some bullshit outfit like the Oath Keepers.  Cuz, y'know - 2nd Amendment is a holy sacrament and if we don't hold it inviolable, Jesus won't love us anymore and then we're really in trouble and ... and actually, as you widen it all out, it just gets weirder and weirder.

God, Guns, and Goons In Uniform - what could possibly go wrong?

Thank God - It's Friday

Now wait just a durn minute, I almost fergot - Fuck You, NSA.

Is It Really Real? - updated

So, right on schedule, The Curse of the Second Term comes home to Obamaland.

The IRS thing is a bit lame when I stop to think that every Prez (at least since Kennedy) has used the threat of an IRS audit to fuck with their political enemies.

And scooping up the AP phone records has a good solid stink to it too, even tho' it's pretty easy to remember how lotsa people tho't that was just peachy under FISA and USA PATRIOT Act.  Yeah, it sucks, but c'mon.

I'm not saying we shouldn't slap some people around if they've pulled some shit - but I will say a coupla things that I think oughta get said.

First, this is a game of power.  If you give anybody the power to fuck with people, you'll need to try a little harder not to act surprised when they start fucking with people. Power will be abused.

Second, stop giving them that kinda power.  The laws they're hiding behind can be changed.  We can do that here in God's America.  Maybe we could try evoking a little of that Star-Spangled American Exceptionalism we hear so much about (that nobody seems to understand very well).

ie: These little games are played everywhere, all the time - we're supposed to be THE EXCEPTION.  See how that works?

Let The System Work

When we follow the plan (as directed in that silly old thing called The US Constitution), it seems like we always end up better off for the effort.

Sometimes, it doesn't feel quite right - we don't always get the exact results we're hoping for - but on average, the system works for us when we let it work.

So, when the news came out that about half of the local Justice System was convened in Jahar Tsarnaev's hospital room yesterday, and they read out the charges against him; and they informed him of his rights; and they made sure he understood them; and that he was properly "lawyered up" - I just felt better.  There was something kinda normal about it, and I'm exceedingly relieved that John (Get-Off-My-Lawn) McCain and Lindsey (Huckleberry Closetcase) Graham didn't get their wish about turning him into a super villain straight out of the comic books.

This guy is nothing special.  We should be looking at how his brother got riled up and a little crazy; and how Jahar got caught up in it, but that's a different thing altogether.  What we don't do - what we must never allow - is for anybody to make him out to be anything more than the punk-ass little shit he chose to be.

God Love The Onion

I'm really hoping Candy Crowley et al at CNN were just trying to give us some small added  perspective about how perpetrators fuck up more than just their victims' lives - and to warn other young dudes about impulse control - but in our current style of political debate, where only Binary Reasoning is allowed, this is what it ends up sounding like:


College Basketball Star Heroically Overcomes Tragic Rape He Committed

Today In Lawlessness

hat tip = Democratic Underground

This Won't End Well

If you like the way things have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan with outfits like CACI and Blackwater, then you're just gonna love what happens over time with pay-to-play cops.

Your tax cuts at work.  And you can see a much clearer connection now between the push for more tax cuts and the growing trend towards more privatization from the Free-Marketeers and the Adam Smith-ers.

This particular development is alarming to me because a private police force fits neatly into a private prison system.  Where before the Corrections Industry had to rely on expensive lobbying efforts to influence policy that would keep the prisons full, now they can kinda cut out the middle man and be almost assured a steady stream of revenue simply by helping to supply the means of investigation and arrest.

Activist Post

The Freeman

Washington Post (archives 2007)