The left loves to call us fascists and Trump a dictator, yet I keep seeing more and more evidence that the left was engaged in the systematic destruction of the Constitutional protections that we are supposed to have here in the USA. For example:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has been conducting a Congressional investigation, and has uncovered FBI documents showing that President Biden’s administration was engaged in intelligence gathering operations through the use of illegal interception of the electronic communications of at least eight different opposition leaders. That’s right- the FBI was spying on Republicans.
The FBI targeted the following Members of Congress:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.)
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.)
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)
Tell me again how Trump is the one acting like a dictator. Keep in mind that Nixon was about to be impeached, and resigned from office, for doing far less than this.
This is a Sunday, and I am sleeping in. So I thought I would give you a repost of something that I said more than ten years ago.
Ignorance of the law, the judges and cops are fond of saying, is no excuse. In 1925, this is what a complete copy of all Federal laws looked like:
That one volume represents all of the laws that were passed by Congress in the first 150 years of this country’s existence. That Federal Law library has now expanded immensely.
What was one volume in 1925 expanded to become 22 volumes just 90 years later. That isn’t all, though. There is also the United States Code:
The number of federal crimes you could commit as of 2007 (the last year they were tallied) was about 4,450, a 50% increase since just 1980. A comparative handful of those crimes are “malum in se”—bad in themselves, which include things like rape, murder, or theft. The rest are “malum prohibitum”—crimes because the government disapproves, such as owning a machine gun made after 1986, when owning one made in 1985 is perfectly legal.
In 1982, the Justice Department tried to determine the total number of criminal laws. In a project that lasted two years, the Department compiled a list of approximately 3,000 criminal offenses. This effort, headed by Ronald Gainer, a Justice Department official, is considered the most exhaustive attempt to count the number of federal criminal laws. In a Wall Street Journal article about this project, “this effort came as part of a long and ultimately failed campaign to persuade Congress to revise the criminal code, which by the 1980s was scattered among 50 titles and 23,000 pages of federal law.” Or as Mr. Gainer characterized this fruitless project: “[y]ou will have died and [been] resurrected three times,” and still not have an answer to this question.
So you see, even the Justice Department of the US government is not sure of how many laws there are, yet each and every one of us is responsible for knowing every one of them, along with the court cases that modify and define them, upon penalty of prison.
That isn’t all. The laws passed by Congress are just the beginning. There are also several dozen Federal bureaus that have had the power to write laws since 1940. The laws that they write are called regulations, and they are found in the Code of Federal Regulations:
In 2013, the Code of Federal Regulations numbered over 175,000 pages. Only a fraction of those pages involved regulations based on something spelled out in legislation. If a regulatory agency comes after you, forget about juries, proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, disinterested judges and other rights that are part of due process in ordinary courts. The “administrative courts” through which the regulatory agencies impose their will are run by the regulatory agencies themselves, much as if the police department could make up its own laws and then employ its own prosecutors, judges and courts of appeals.
Then there are all of the court cases that decide what these laws all mean and how they will be applied. Here is a picture of the SCOTUS cases from 1790 to 1956:
Add in all of the cases from your Federal District and Circuit, plus all state and local courts, and you have quite a bit of reading to do.
The result of all of this is that each and every one of us is responsible for reading, understanding and following over 750,000 pages of laws, regulations, and court decisions- with complete understanding. If one were to begin studying these laws at age 12 and you read 50 pages per day, by age 53, you would finally have read all of them. The only problem is that, at the current rate, the government would have added another 500,000 pages of laws, and 28 years of reading to your quest. You would spend 75 years of your life trying to understand the laws that you must obey.
Remember, though: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. If you are spraying insect killer on some ants, and the can label says spray from 6 inches away, but you spray from 8 inches, you are a Federal criminal. If you are buying a gun, and you live in Florida, you had better use the abbreviation of FL as your address, because using the old abbreviation of FLA is a felony and can land you in prison.
Why is this happening? Ayn Rand gives us an insight into this:
The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
There is a case in NY that is important, where the U.S. Northern District Court ruled in Higbie v. James that New York’s concealed carry laws are violating the Second Amendment rights of nonresidents by making it nearly impossible for nonresidents to obtain a concealed carry license. It was sponsored by Gun Owners of America.
The plaintiffs in this case argued that they each have firearms licenses which permit them to bear arms in public in their respective states “and across most of the country.” They also claimed that New York does not permit them to carry their firearms while they are in New York solely because they are not residents or employees of the State. They argued that New York’s licensing scheme is an extreme outlier among the states because at least 27 states do not even require a permit to carry a concealed firearm in public, while the vast majority that do require permits will issue permits to out-of-state residents. The US District Court agreed, and struck down NY’s complicated and overly onerous regulations as being unconstitutionally designed to deny nonresidents their constitutional rights under the Second Amendment. The court ruled that state lawmakers can not restrict concealed carry licenses to maintaining residency, property ownership, or business interests in the state.
The tyrants of NY government attempted to make the argument that their licensing measures were not entirely prohibitive for non-residential applicants, saying certain guidelines allowed for those who owned habitable property or a business stake in the state to apply for such a license. In essence, they claimed that, because they allowed one nonresident to have a permit, this excused violating the rights of the rest of them. In essence, they are relying on the “token negro” defense. The court rightly called them out on this.
Look, this case will have no direct impact upon the reality of CCW for nonresidents in New York. We all know that, because those ass clowns will simply find another way to violate the rights of US citizens while bleating loudly about the rights of illegal immigrants to take a dump on New York city streets. Even those residents who have permits nominally have to have criminal background checks, a mental health professional sign off on the permit, and multiple references.
The reality is that New York’s scheme is all about who you know and political payoffs when deciding who gets a permit. I know someone who has a New York carry permit. He also has a state police license plate, which starts with 1SP. He began telling me that the state police union had a series of special plates made, and they are only available through Hamilton county in New York. He claimed that this plate was given to “friends” of the police union, and the lower the number was that followed the 1SP, the more important you were to the cops. He said that this plate routinely gets him out of traffic and parking tickets. Not because he paid for it, nor did he jump through hoops. It’s because he knows someone, or as he puts it, “I’ve got a guy.”
This sounded like a lload of BS to me, so I activated my Google skills. What I found was that handing out special plate numbers is a common practice in New York. and I quote:
To some recipients, special license plates issued by the Saratoga County clerk are a symbol of county pride. For others, they are an inherited treasure passed on by a family member or loved one. For many who have them — a list that ranges from county workers to state Supreme Court judges — an unwritten rule is that a lower number may indicate a special driver. Indeed, an examination of the recipients of the special plates, which carry an “SP” prefix, shows they are coveted by a select group of government employees and elected officials, including judges, prosecutors, town supervisors, attorneys and political party leaders. The spouses and children of those people are also among those, estimated to be in the hundreds, who have the plates.
Now the SP prefix goes to Saratoga County. The 1SP prefix, which I can find little about, belongs to the State Police. This is how things are done there, from Concealed Weapons Permits to License plates, corruption and special favors rule the day.
They claim it is for “county pride” but I am sure there are not that many people who believe that. This is a way of announcing to the police that you are politically well connected and should receive special treatment.
The real impact of the Higbie case is that the noose is closing. The era of violating people’s rights to bear arms is closing through the courts. That doesn’t mean the fight os over. Evil, corruption, and man’s quest for power to rule others never ceases. That’s why the fight can’t either.
Donate to the GOA or the FPC. They are doing the work of patriots.
I once lived near a school zone with signs posted that read “School Zone. Speed Limit 20 mph when children present” and I thought it was too vague. The way that the sign was worded, a child nearby at 2 am on Christmas morning would trigger the 20 mph speed limit.
But Weaver doesn’t dispute that it was him behind the wheel or that he was going over the 20 mph zone limit, he believes the violation was issued to him in error.
“I’m not happy, I’m not happy,” he said.
That’s because what the camera doesn’t show is the speed limit sign that’s posted warning drivers that the speed limit is 20 mph “when flashing,” wasn’t flashing at the time.
In fact, it can’t.
“There’s not a device that would afford a light to flash because they did not attach a lighting system or flashing system to this particular post,” he explained.
People are contesting the fines, but the judges are upholding them 90% of the time. The judges are claiming that the law says the sign has to either have times that the speed limit is in effect, or it has to have the words “When flashing,” but showing a complete lack of sense, the same judges claim that their hands are tied because the law doesn’t require that the lights be flashing, or even present.
A single company called RedSpeed is responsible for the cameras. So far, the company’s cameras have written half a million tickets. About 3,000 of them have been contested, and only 300 of them have been dismissed. Since the fine is $100 and the company gets 20% of it, it’s quite a lucrative shakedown.
The officers of the corporation? They are retired cops. One of them (a retired assistant police chief of Miami Beach) had this to say:
“I’m sympathetic with the ‘I didn’t understand the signage in the school zone.’ I’m sympathetic to that, but we have to implement and install in compliance with whatever [the Florida Department of Transportation] and the state tell us,” De La Espriella said.
When asked if he believes the law, as it’s written right now, is fair to drivers, he responded, “I think it’s an excellent law.”
I bet you do, you corrupt piece of shit. Where does the law say to entrap people by putting “when flashing” on the sign, but having no flashing light? We all know that isn’t what the law intended, you weasel. I am ready to vote against every single proposed law or politician who wants to make a law favoring any cop. I am on the verge of agreeing with the “defund the police” assholes.
I read this story about a former firefighter in the Keys who has been accused of making bombs. The cops found him with what they called an unregistered short barreled rifle. I don’t trust cops to know a machine gun from a shoestring, so there is that. Maybe it was a pistol AR with a brace. Because they could see part of the rifle in his backseat, they arrested him for open carry. So much for the incidental exposure part of the law, eh?
They used the short barreled rifle as an example of a threat to the public to get a red flag order, which they they used to get a search warrant for his house. Inside, they found “dozens of firearms” and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition. They also claim to have found bombmaking materials.
This sort of breathless fearmongering sets off my bullshit detector. We all know the ATF lies to make headlines. Read about this Navy guy who got 20 years for possessing unregistered NFA items when the ATF was able to replace the firing mechanism for some replica devices with the firing mechanism from real devices, which enabled them to fire them.
Now ask yourself if someone could take all of the items in your house and spin a tale of you being a danger to society. Do you have lamp timers? Pipe? Gunpowder? Fertilizer? Constructive possession, in the eyes of the ATF.
The “Keep Americans Safe Act” is a proposed Federal law that would ban the sale, transfer, possession, import, or manufacture of magazines over 15 rounds, with the obligatory carve out for law enforcement.
“We in Las Vegas know all too well what happens when a mass shooter is armed with a weapon equipped with a high-capacity magazine,” Congresswoman Titus said, referring to the 2017 Harvest Festival shooting that claimed the lives of 60 people. “As a gun owner myself, I know these are not for sport or hunting, they are killing machines. The Keep Americans Safe Act would protect families, law enforcement, and community members from this deadly form of gun violence.”
It would require all magazines that are manufactured to have a serial number permanently engraved on it. It also mandates the mandatory buyback (which of course is a politically palatable way of saying confiscation) of all magazines holding more than 15 rounds.
This is the story about how cops will try to lie to gain entry to your house. As an example, I am going to use the story of Stephanie Rapkin, a woman who lived in Shorewood, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. She was 64 years old at the time of these events. She was on her way home in 2020 when BLM decided to stage a protest in front of her house. They were blocking traffic and wouldn’t allow her to get to her house. She got in a confrontation with a 17 year old protester and wound up spitting in his face. The confrontation was caught on film. She then went inside of her home. Police were called. She was arrested then released due to COVID restrictions.
This is what BLM and their willing accomplices do- they provoke a confrontation while filming it. Then the cops come over and arrest you. That’s exactly what happened here. Never open your door or speak to police, they aren’t there with your best interests in mind. This continued the next day, when BLM decided to protest directly in front of her house. This is how the press characterized it:
peaceful protesters showed up on the sidewalk of Rapkin’s home to denounce the actions she took the day prior. The woman came out of her home and again started arguing with the demonstrators. That exchange led to her slapping and shoving one of the protestors.
Shortly after, police arrived at Rapkin’s residence and attempted to arrest her. At that time Rapkin kneed an officer in the groin before she was placed in the cop car. Rapkin is (still alive and) now facing criminal charges for battery, disorderly conduct, resisting an officer and battery to law enforcement,
The cops spent the next 30 minutes knocking on her door, but she didn’t answer. Good for her. Eventually, the cops decided that she wasn’t opening the door because she was probably committing suicide, even though there was no evidence that this was the case. They used this pretext to kick down her door, enter her home, search her home, and arrest her. Rapkin, who is an attorney, pointed out to them that they were illegally in her home without a warrant, but they arrested her for disorderly conduct anyway, claiming that they were there to check on her welfare and didn’t need a warrant due to exigent circumstances. During the arrest, she kicked one of the cops in the balls. Good for her.
The police were caught on camera before they entered the home, discussing how they were going to arrest her on sight, and discussing how to find a pretext to enter her home. Rapkin sued them, and the discussions about circumventing her rights were enough to prove that the cops knowingly violated Rapkin’s constitutional rights, thus removing their qualified immunity. The case was settled out of court for $760,000.
Zone three cities are areas where violence has has taken place with little to no attempt at mitigating response from local authorities. Additionally, police and/or prosecutors are likely to bring the full weight of the law down upon those who attempt to defend themselves from these actors, or those who speak out against them.
Don’t think that, just because Trump won the election, that the cops, officials, and communists in Milwaukee have simply given up or decided to follow the law. No, they are simply biding their time until they can attack again. Stay out of Milwaukee. I wonder what the loss of USAID slush fund money has done to the movement?
A pair of cops in Virginia Beach were shot and killed this weekend. The area of town in which they were killed is just a couple of miles where I was involved in an incident between myself, a couple of military guys, and a local street gang. The area where these cops were killed is lousy with gangs.
You can read about my own incident here in part one, then you can find the rest of the story in part two and in part three. It’s a good story that tells how I was once arrested for aggravated battery and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.
At any rate, it’s a bad neighborhood, and the VA Beach police are pretty ineffective, or at least they were 30 years ago when I lived there.
I used to express condolences to police when they were killed in the line of duty. I don’t any longer.
