Police State

Unimpeachable

From commenter D, we get this comment:

The state sees cops as “unimpeachable witnesses” meaning whatever they say is gospel unless you can prove otherwise.

For this reason, I will always side with my fellow citizen and give him or her the benefit of the doubt.

When I was in the Navy, we had a commanding officer who was incredibly authoritarian, Captain Macke. He was a douche, but retired after getting his fourth star. More on that in a minute. Why was he a douche? He would hold Article 15 (Captain’s Mast) like this:

They would put all of the accused on an aircraft elevator at the hanger deck level, maybe 20 or 30 of them, and the Captain would be standing behind a lectern on the flight deck. They would raise the elevator to the flight deck, and the Captain would say: “You all must be guilty, or your officers wouldn’t have sent you here. I find you guilty as charged. You are hereby reduced in rank one paygrade, fined one half pay for two months, restricted to the ship for 45 days, and 2 hours of extra duty every day for 45 days, to be served under the duty master at arms. Dismissed.” (This is the maximum punishment he can give without a courts martial)

The reason that this is important is that Macke believed that officers were absolutely unimpeachable. One of the things he used to say was, “If I have 100 enlisted men with 100 video cameras that show me 100 videos of something taking place, and I have one officer who tells me that isn’t how it happened, I will believe the officer every time.”

Of course, it’s also telling that he retired after being investigated by the Defense Department inspector general for allegations that he used military aircraft for personal trips and improperly fraternized with female subordinates while he was CINCPAC. They dropped him two paygrades for that. His new civilian job appeared to be using his military contacts and influence to arrange funding and lucrative government contracts. So much for unimpeachable officers. The best thing that I can say about the hypocritical sunovabitch is that he died last year.

So you’ll excuse me if I don’t buy into the “unimpeachable officer” trope.

By Divemedic, ago

Remote Control

The EU has a law that takes effect next year- it would mandate that cars made after June 2024 have installed in their innards a device that allows the government to remotely limit when, where, and at what speeds the car can be driven.

The State of New York is proposing similar legislation, calling it a “safety measure.” New York City is also proposing that the devices be added to the vehicles of people with older cars who are caught speeding.

The limiting device, once installed, would bar vehicles from traveling no more than 5 mph above the posted speed limit. The devices would have to be installed in cars caught six or more times by an automated speed camera.

Now go back and refer to my post about updates to electronic devices being updated and changed without your permission before you proceed with this post.

This isn’t about speeding. New York makes far too much money from speed cameras each year. $100 million each year, in fact. There is no way that they are getting rid of this income stream. No, this is not intended to stop speeding. It’s obviously for another reason.

How long do you think it will take before this device has been expanded to limit or stop people from driving to a political protest? Or from preventing anyone who doesn’t vote for Democrats from driving? Or even disable the cars of Republicans on election day? This is a way for the government to remotely control the people.

By Divemedic, ago

They Wouldn’t Dare

One of the things that I keep hearing from the right is how the military and police won’t shoot at or go door to door, because many of them have ties to the community. I have been telling people “don’t be too sure about that.” It’s because Federal law states that only U.S. citizens can serve as police officers and deputies.

It turns out that Illinois has found a solution for that particular problem. They have passed a law that permits non-citizens to become police officers. It only makes sense- illegals can become doctors, nurses, and can join the military. So why not carry guns and arrest you for violating the law? So governor Pritzker signed the bill into law on Friday. The next time a cop pulls you over in Illinois:

It’s a great way to ensure the cops will do whatever you want- they are already familiar with how third world cops act, and don’t give a shit about the constitution.

By Divemedic, ago

Cops Are Lying in Florida

I was at work last night and the supervisor of security came wandering through the ED. One of the nurses asked him if Florida’s new concealed carry law was going to make his job more difficult. His reply was that many people in Florida don’t realize that concealed carry doesn’t apply to the hospital. When I asked him why the law didn’t apply, his reply was that there were three reasons:

  • Concealed carry isn’t allowed on private property in Florida, unless the owner allows it
  • Concealed carry isn’t allowed in police stations, and our hospital contains a “police substation”
  • Concealed carry isn’t allowed in hospitals

When I told him that most of those statements weren’t what the law says, he told me that he and the police likely know more about the law than I do, so I should just stay in my lane. Let’s tackle his claims one at a time, with this post addressing the “property owner” argument:

The police are the ones circulating the “carry isn’t allowed on private property” trope, and I am not sure where it’s coming from. I searched the social media pages of every sheriff’s office in central Florida, along with a sampling of city police departments. This is what I found:

Hillsboro County and Tampa Police
Lake County Sheriff
Columbia County Sheriff’s Office
Sarasota Police

It’s being pushed by a fair number of law enforcement agencies all over the state. The problem here is that the law says nothing of the sort. The new law says that a person who doesn’t have a permit but would otherwise be eligible for one may still carry a concealed weapon or firearm wherever they could carry that weapon if the DID have a permit. There is a list of places off limits to carry that can be found in 790.06(12). Property owners prohibiting carry is not anywhere on that list.

The only statement that could be construed as allowing a property owner to prohibit carry is the general property rights that any property owner has. If you are in a place not specifically mentioned in the law as being prohibited for concealed carry, but it has posted “no guns” signs, and they ask you to leave, you must leave. If you refuse to leave then you are breaking the law and can be charged. Even if the property is not posted and you are asked to leave you must leave, but that is different from claiming that the “law doesn’t apply” to private property. If they don’t ask you to leave, it is legal to carry right past a “no guns” sign.

Since this is being widely pushed by some (but no all) police agencies all over the state, I can’t help by believe that this is an intentional misstatement by law enforcement to enforce a law that doesn’t exist.

Next, we will take a look at carry in hospitals and police stations.

By Divemedic, ago

Detained for What?

This guy knows his rights. This happened in Homestead, Florida last year. Watch to the end.

Here is the news story on the incident. It seems that they were investigating a car burglary where a firearm was stolen. The police knocked on his door and began asking questions. The homeowner wisely refused to answer, which the police then claimed was reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime and told him that he was detained.

When the man’s wife arrived, he told her not to answer questions and to just go inside. The police told her that she wasn’t allowed to enter her own house, but also admitted that she was not being detained. They said that they were going to get a warrant for the house and didn’t want her entering. The basis for the warrant? The owner exercised his right to remain silent. When they begin asking questions, his response is “I don’t want to answer any questions,” to which the cop responds: “Bingo.”

It’s hard for me to understand how exercising your right to remain silent is somehow an indication that you are committing a crime and can be used as evidence that you are committing a crime. This is a clear violation of both the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of this man.

By Divemedic, ago

IRS Agent Illegal Entry

An IRS agent used a fake name in order to enter a woman’s house and threaten her. When she contacted her attorney, the attorney advised her to ask the agent to leave. The agent refused, replying “I can be in any house at any time.”

Don’t let cops into your home for any reason. He either has a warrant or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t have a warrant, he will ask to enter. The answer to any cop, IRS agent, Fed, whatever, asking to enter your home for any reason should be “No, you can’t come in. You can contact my attorney.” (you do have one, right?) They will likely try to put pressure on you by claiming that they will arrest you if you don’t comply and they are trying to cut you a deal. Bullshit. If they had enough to arrest you, they wouldn’t be asking. If he continues to insist, say “fuck off, get a warrant.” then slam the door in his face.

If he has a warrant, he won’t ask. If he comes in after this warning and doesn’t present you with a warrant and his credentials, assume that he isn’t a real cop and is committing a home invasion.

By Divemedic, ago

Armed Robbery

Seward County, Nebraska has a population of less than 17,700. In 2004, the county commission was short of money and instructed Sheriff Joe Yocum to find new sources of revenue. So he did. His deputies began using any pretext to pull over out of state motorists on Interstate 80, with luxury cars having priority. Now Seward county leads the state in civil asset forfeiture. In the past 10 years, the deputies of this county have averaged more than a million dollars a year in seized cash.

It goes like this: you are pulled over on any pretext, no matter how weak. They ask for permission to search the vehicle. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not. If you refuse, they get a drug dog to alert on your car. Whether they find drugs or not, they take any money they find. They tell the motorist to sign a form abandoning the cash or face a felony arrest. Sign it or not, they are taking the cash and you are never getting it back.

Nebraska lawmakers made this scenario illegal in 2015, but the cops don’t care. They either file the forfeiture in Federal court, or they claim that there was evidence of drug activity. No matter what, if you have money, they are taking it. In my opinion, this makes those deputies no better than any other armed gang, and makes Sheriff Joe Yocum the head of a criminal syndicate. I would cheer if someone capped his ass, or any of his deputies.

Any cop who tells you that civil asset forfeiture is morally or Constitutionally acceptable is a tyrannical asshole, and I will cheer their getting capped as well. Even in the presence of a criminal conviction, taking thousands of dollars from someone is a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Don’t bother quoting any bullshit case on the matter. I can fucking read, and some lawyer in a black dress trying to justify his boss’ theft of the people’s hard earned money is a travesty.

To those who think that the cops or the military will take your side in the civil war that we all see coming: they won’t. They will take the side of whomever is signing their paychecks, and that isn’t you. Tell me again how most cops are good people doing a tough job. So for now, I will rejoice whenever I see that someone has killed a Nebraska criminal cop. Maybe the “defund the police” people are right. At least I can shoot criminals without having the National guard tanks called in to burn down my house with everyone in it.

I think that many people who are drawn to police work do so for good reasons. They are then captured by the lust for power and money. This is why the original Constitution purposely kept the government weak and subservient. People, however, just love having the power to tell others how to live. In order to do that, they gave the government more and more police powers. Those police agencies are now so powerful, that we are in a virtual police state. One where you can’t even be confident in your ability to drive down the highway without being robbed at gunpoint.

By Divemedic, ago