Author Archives: Dave Krueger

After-the-fact justification for the execution of Awlaki

One of the biggest reasons for not trusting the establishment media is their symbiotic relationship with the state and their long established willingness to intentionally misinform the American public at the behest of the government, especially in war time (which is now perpetual).  Nothing more aptly demonstrates this than the endless stream of “reporting” derived from “unnamed sources” in the government.

Glenn Greenwald tears into a Saturday New York Times article that dutifully details the justification for the Obama administration’s execution of US citizen, Anwar Awlaki.  Greenwald makes a good case that the decision to execute Awlaki hinged not on Awlaki’s operational activities, but on what he was saying about the U.S.   Since the entire justification for the Presidential kill list centers on the requirement that the targeted individuals pose an imminent threat to the U.S., killing someone simply because the government doesn’t like what he’s saying would be murder, even if done by the President (at least for now).

Monday morning links

  • Former SFPD crime lab tech pleads guilty to misdemeanor.  She resigned in 2009 after being caught using cocaine that came in as crime scene evidence. She thought the cocaine would help her control her drinking problem.  The scandal led to the dismissal of hundreds of drug cases.
  • West Sacramento police officer Sergio Avarez for using his authority to rape women in his patrol car.  He was put on administrative leave back in September and an investigation ensued.  the police chief says they are reviewing their procedures to see how this could have happened.
  • The U.S. Air Force is no longer reporting data on drone attacks in Afghanistan.  Reporting this data was fine when no one was paying attention, but routinely killing innocent civilians in numerous other countries seems to be drawing unwanted attention to the U.S. war-based foreign policy.
  • When a Michigan elementary school third grader brought cupcakes topped with toy soldiers to school to celebrate his birthday, the school principal removed the little figurines saying it was inappropriate and inconsiderate considering recent school tragedies.
  • Police in Garland, Texas, illegally searched a property and car without permission or a warrant.  Unfortunately, for the cops, the search was caught on surveillance cameras before one of the cops was able to twist the camera around so it pointed at the wall.  The police department is self-investigating the case, so we can rest assured justice will be done.
  • Grace Wyler at Business Insider thinks “Paul’s filibuster — and the groundswell of support for it across the conservative spectrum — was a crowning moment, signaling their reintegration into the mainstream Republican Party,”    So that’s all it takes to bring libertarians back into big government, war mongering, bible thumping, big spending, republican party?  I think not.

There are no bad people…

There are only people with a great capacity to rationalize.

Pat HedgesThis is certainly the case with the state and federal officials who joined together to crucify Charles C. Lynch, who meticulously followed state law and set up a medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, California in 2006.   And no one was more enthusiastic in that crusade to destroy Lynch  than San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Pat Hedges (pictured at left).

While Lynch had the blessing of the city and repeatedly solicited guidance from the DEA on the federal ramifications of operating a dispensary under California state law,  he was still targeted by Sheriff Hedges.  Lynch was never charged under state law and Morro Bay police did not participate in the 2007 raid that started the train of events that would ultimately leave Lynch bankrupt.  But, the DEA was a willing partner in the sheriff’s campaign of against Lynch.

lynching-charlie-lynch-coverI just finished watching “The Lynching of Charlie Lynch” available in disc or streaming video from Netflix.  This documentary tells the story of a man who is, by any common sense definition, the epitome of a responsible member of the community and the absolute antithesis of a criminal.  His only crime was that he chose to follow the wrong set of conflicting laws and not a single member of the entire federal justice system had the courage or integrity to stand up and say “stop” to this vindictive little shit of a sheriff and his equally self-important buddies in the DEA.  About the only bright spot in the case was that the Judge, with no help from the Obama Justice Department, doled out the lightest prison sentence he could justify under federal mandatory sentencing requirements.

What is most disturbing about the Lynch prosecution is how clearly it illustrates the point that the federal government is willing to act completely contrary to the welfare and wishes of the population in pursuit of its own self-serving interests.   The only beneficiaries of the crusade against Lynch were members of the machine of state and most of that gain simply served to enlarge their already swollen egos.

I recommend the movie because it angers us and helps remind us that there are a lot of real casualties in the war against the drug warriors.  It’s the Charlie Lynches of the world who do the most to convince the public that the drug war is destructive and ineffective.  But it’s also the Charlie Lynches of the world who make up the wake of death and destruction left in the path of organizations like the DEA.  When it’s finally all over and the drug war is just painful memory, I wonder if we’ll ever see a monument to the fallen heroes who had the balls to challenge the mindless government automatons whose job it is to destroy other people’s lives in exchange for a weekly paycheck.

Of course, I’m sure the folks at the DEA easily manage to rationalize what they do.  Destroying people to save them probably makes perfect sense to them.

ACLU starts campaign against police militarization

From a March 6th entry on the ACLU national website:

American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in 23 states today simultaneously filed more than 255 public records requests to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used overseas.

ACLU-storiesThe site lists ten horror stories like the one at left to make the point that the aggressive tactics routinely employed by over-zealous police departments for ordinary crime are becoming more like the battlefield methods used in war zones, often visiting preventable tragedy on innocent people.  The scary part is that these tactics are becoming increasingly common even for low risk, non-violent situations.  The supply of battlefield weapons is expanding under continuing armed forces hand-me-down programs.

This blurring of the line between police and military will eventually transform “the land of the free” into an occupation zone as police substitute brute force where they once used reason and intelligence.  It will fuel an “us against them” mentality which will only result in further deterioration in the relationship between police and the community.

Just minding our own business when 7 cops beat us up

This incident happened on February 10th.  Video (below) shows two black teens, 17 and 18 years old, standing on a street in the French Quarter in New Orleans when they were approached by a group of seven white plain clothes state police officers.  From the NOLA Defender:

One state police officer slings one of the men across the sidewalk. The rest then pile on each of the men. According to Fox 8, the incident took place in the 700 block of Conti St. after a parade on Sun., Feb. 10. The mother of 18-year-old Ferdinand Hunt, who is a New Orleans police officer, left her son to get something to eat. That’s when the cops approached him and 17-year-old Sidney Newman, Fox 8 reported. During the video the mother returns, and the police then leave the scene.

The cops say they just approached to ID the boys.  Here is the video from Fox 8:

FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports

At a N.O. City Council hearing on March 5th, LA State Police Superintendent Michael Edmondson emphasized his commitment to transparency saying “I believe the public has a right to know.”  But there were complaints that the NOPD makes it difficult to file complaints.  This is a common strategy among many police departments.  The police profession is not known for transparency.  It has established a reputation for being just the opposite.  The only kind of transparency that cops respect is publicly available video which is probably the only reason this story received any attention at all..

The LA State Police are conducting an internal investigation, but it’s already pretty clear that no one in their department feels these officers are in any real trouble.

The officers in question are still in active duty, and [LA State Police Superintendent] Edmondson emphasized that the group has “80 years of experience between them.” Many who took to the mike following Edmondson’s testimony were outraged that the officers were still in the field, noting that such an investigation usually warrants desk duty or suspension for officers involved.

Luckily, the FBI is also involved, not that the FBI is necessarily any more ethical, but at least they are independent.

The March 6th NOLA Defender article ends on an interesting note:

Elsewhere yesterday, two NOPD officers, Mike Field and Jamal Kendrick, were suspended for beating handcuffed captives in two 2012 separate incidents.

Carry a condom, go to jail

The problem with “crimes” like gambling, drug use, and prostitution is that there are no victims to file complaints with the police or testify against the perpetrator in a trial.  So, to catch people engaged in these kinds of consensual activities, police resort to sleazy deceptive sting entrapment tactics to trick people into doing something for which they can be arrested.  In effect, police become complicit in creating the crime for which they ultimately arrest someone.  This, by itself, makes the phrase “the land of the free” utterly ridiculous.  But, going after consensual criminals is a big part of the criminal justice industry, so don’t expect it to end anytime soon.

Cops have long since figured out that real criminals hide and don’t commit their crimes where anyone can see.  That makes them hard to catch.  But, ordinary non-criminal people are everywhere and they don’t hide what they do because they don’t have any criminal intent.  So, if their behavior can be criminalized, arrests would be easier and the assembly-line justice system can more easily be supplied with fresh bodies to prosecute and incarcerate.

Such is the case in New York City where, not only prostitution is illegal, but merely looking like some cops idea of a prostitute is cause for suspicion.  Suspicion then becomes justification for a search.  If condoms are found in the search, the cops can justify an arres based on the twisted logic that the person might commit prostitution in the future.  This is referred to as “precrime” and was popularized in the movie, Minority Report.

Molly Crabapple has a few words about this practice:

Like most laughably cruel tricks of the justice system, you probably wouldn’t know that you could be arrested for carrying condoms until it happened to you.

But, it’s just an arrest.  How bad can that be?

Arrest is always violent. The NYPD may or may not break your ribs, but the process of arrest in America is still a man tying your hands behind your back at gunpoint and locking you in a cage. Holding cells are shit-encrusted boxes, often too crowded to sit down. Police can leave you there for three days; long enough to lose your job. If this seems obvious, I say it because the polite middle classes trivialize arrest. They talk about “keeping people off the streets.” They don’t realize that the constant threat of arrest is traumatic, unless it happens to them or their kids.

This is not a legitimate function of a justice system in any free country.  This is state sponsored persecution, plain and simple.  Of course, historically, persecution is never recognized as such by the people doing it.  As an adult, your sex life is your business and that applies even when sex is your business.  The government should have no more control over you than they have over any other business (which, by most libertarian standards, is way too much).

Medical Marijuana for dogs

People seem to become far more outraged by the suffering of dogs than by the suffering of people.  When the government raids a house in search of marijuana and winds up injuring or killing the occupants, it barely merits a glitch on anyone’s radar, but if the cops kill a dog during a drug raid, people are outraged.

When people claim medical marijuana eases their suffering from disease, people are skeptical, so they have no problem with the drug war denying those people access to pot.  But how about when it turns out that pot can relieve the suffering of a dog with some terminal disease?  Nick Gillespie writes about how the veterinary medicine establishment coldly denies that pot could benefit pets.

In my opinion, the pharmaceutical industry, whether for pet’s or people, supports the war on drugs because they don’t want the competition.  The same is true of the alcoholic beverage industry.  These industries don’t care about your mother on her deathbed or you dog suffering from cancer.  They care about their bottom line and the government is always a willing partner in helping them to squeeze the public.

School shut down triggered by man dressed in camouflage

L’Anse Creuse High School in Harrison Township, MI, was shut down today when a man dressed in camouflage was was spotted at the school.  It turned out that the man was a former student who worked at a nearby Air National Guard base.  He was there to try and get a recommendation.

In response, the school was closed for the day and sheriff’s deputies were called in to investigate and check the building.  Students being bussed to school were diverted to a safe location away from anyone dressed in scary camouflage.  For good measure they also closed L’Anse Creuse Elementary and Middle schools.

In typical bureaucratic style, school spokeswoman Kelly Allen says “We still believe that the right decision was made by making sure our students were safe…”

I think this is exactly why today’s heavily militarized police wear Gestapo black instead of the more war-like camouflage.

Kid is suspended for chewing pastry into a gun shape

A few days ago seven year old Josh Welch was sent home from school for chewing a breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.

Josh takes full responsibly for trying to shape his breakfast pastry, but admits it was in innocent fun. He told FOX45, “All I was trying to do was turn it into a mountain but, it didn’t look like a mountain really and it turned out to be a gun kinda.”

When his teacher saw the strawberry tart he knew he was in trouble, he recalls, “She was pretty mad…and I think I was in big trouble.”

The school, immediately went into damage control mode trying to get a jump on the epidemic of childhood trauma caused by this disaster, sending out the following message to parents offering the services of the school’s counselor to help troubled students navigate past this devastating event and get on with their lives:

Dear Parents and Guardians:

I am writing to let you know about an incident that occurred this morning in one of our classrooms and encourage you to discuss this matter with your child in a manner you deem most appropriate.

During breakfast this morning, one of our students used food to make inappropriate gestures that disrupted the class. While no physical threats were made and no one [was] harmed, the student had to be removed from the classroom.

* * *

As you are aware, the … Code of Student Conduct and appropriate consequences related to violations of the code are clearly spelled out in the Student Handbook, which was sent home during the first week of school and can be found on our website, www.aacps.org….

If your children express that they are troubled by today’s incident, please talk with them and help them share their feelings. Our school counselor is available to meet with any students who have the need to do so next week. In general, please remind them of the importance of making good choices.

It’s pretty clear that pastries are covered under the school’s weapons ban…

Any gun of any kind, loaded or unloaded, operable or inoperable, including any object other than a firearm which is a look-a-like of a gun. This shall include, but is not limited to, pellet gun, paintball gun, stun gun, taser, BB gun, flare gun, nail gun, and air soft gun.

Josh’s dad seems to be in denial about the seriousness of the matter:

I’ll just call it insanity,” Josh’s father said. “It’s a pastry.”

Hit & Run makes this observation about the letter to parents:

To be fair, the phrasing leaves open the possibility that the students would be “troubled” not by the imaginary gun but by the suspension, and by the ensuing realization that they’re powerless pawns in a vast, incomprehensible game run by madmen.