Rand Paul is right about police brutality: our laws are a huge part of the problem
The police don't get their authority from nowhere
By T.C. Sottek
December 6, 2014 12:00 pm
Protests for police reform are sweeping the United States following the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and an untold number of other unarmed or innocent people of color. Amid the anger and sadness one thing is clear: policing in America is a huge and complex problem. It's also a historical problem. As Tai-Nehisi Coates observed in The Atlantic, the insane incarceration rate of blacks in this country is part of a long tradition; "America's entire history is marked by the state imposing unfreedom on a large swath of the African American population."
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The other big news in the surveillance world: The Department of Justice is using government airplanes to scoop up massive troves of data from Americans' cell phones, as The Wall Street Journal first reported last week. Rep. Justin Amash — a vocal critic of surveillance practices — is prepping a standalone bill to limit the type of surveillance revealed in those reports, set to be unveiled in the next Congress. (He's been digging into the issue for a while, but the WSJ story will certainly add fuel to the fire, an aide tells MT.) The aide said the congressman has been questioning intelligence agencies on their use of such technology to collect "particularly invasive information" and called the WSJ report "very alarming."
Amash's work will likely please privacy advocates, who began sounding the alarm for more comprehensive legislation to protect personal information after the WSJ shed light on the DOJ's practices. Katy's got the full story on that, here: http://politico.pro/1ubyL4e
Belgium Central Bank Considers Repatriation of All its Gold
It was bound to happen after the Netherlands had repatriated 122.5 tons of its gold back from the New York Federal Reserve.
The Central Bank of Belgium is considering its own gold repatriation.
“Court Historians” are the intellectual bodyguards of the State. They shape and defend the “official line” or interpretation on the State’s wars, its presidential regimes, or other key historical events and public policies. As a result they enjoy high esteem and recognition in the mainstream media and academia. As defenders of the status quo they frequently attack and label their critics as “conspiracy theorists,” “revisionists,” “isolationists,” “appeasers,” “anti-intellectuals,” or other boogie men, rather than engage in civil discourse or discussion.
As the late economist/historian Murray N. Rothbard noted:
All States are governed by a ruling class that is a minority of the population, and which subsists as a parasitic and
The guidelines warn that if it would be illegal in the street it is illegal online
Prosecutors have set out new guidelines on whether messages posted on social media should be treated as a crime.
Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland said the test was simple: "If it would be illegal to say it on the street, it is illegal to say it online."
The Crown Office said it would not pursue satirical or mildly offensive humour or provocative statements.
But it promised a "robust" response to hate crime, stalking or credible threats of violence
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has previously sought clarity on where the legal boundary lies in such matters. Continued...
Judge Andrew Napolitano on Tuesday warned that America is becoming “dangerously close to a police state.”
“The definition of a police state is when the government’s prime concern is for its own safety, not for the lives, liberty and property of the people it has sworn to protect,” Napolitano said on The Glenn Beck Program. “That is a very, very dangerous place in which to be.”
According to Napolitano, America is becoming more of a police state because of the “over-militarization of the police — which occurred in the last 12 years under the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama,” but also because of entrenched bureaucracy.
“When … the bureaucracy remains the same no matter who the president is, no matter who the governor is, no matter who the mayor is, and when the attitude on the part of those unseen people in the government is, ‘Our job is to keep ourselves in power,’ then we have lost control,” Napolitano remarked.
“When the first rule of government is for government to look out for itself, it is no longer the servant. It is the master,” Napolitano added. “Are we there? No. Can we see that in your lifetime and mine? Perhaps.”
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The action taken by a New York City police officer against Eric Garner is "clear," writes U.S. Rep. Justin Amash on Wednesday.
The Cascade Township Republican is one of several lawmakers tweeting in disappointment following a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who wrapped his arm around Garner's neck and placed him in a chokehold on July 17.
The incident was captured on video, showing Garner talking with police as they suspected him of selling tax-free cigarettes. The 43-year-old man then is overcome by officers who take him down to the sidewalk. Garner cried out, "I can't breathe," several times before becoming motionless.
Rand Paul dives back into Ferguson debate ... Rand Paul wrote a column for TIME following the decision in Ferguson. He said that politicians are to blame in Ferguson and elsewhere ... Individuals, he argued, are ultimately responsible for their own fate ... His comments are part of his aggressive minority outreach. – CNN
Dominant Social Theme: This is a crazy conservative who doesn't fit the mold.
Free-Market Analysis: Rand Paul is back in the news with statements about the war on drugs creating a "culture of violence" that puts police into an impossible situation.
In the same editorial, he also said the criminal
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