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You Break the Law Every Day ... Without Even Knowing It
Wired notes:
James Duane, a professor at Regent Law School and former defense attorney, notes in his excellent lecture on why it is never a good idea to talk to the police:
Estimates of the current size of the body of federal criminal law vary. It has been reported that the Congressional Research Service cannot even count the current number of federal crimes. These laws are scattered in over 50 titles of the United States Code, encompassing roughly 27,000 pages. Worse yet, the statutory code sections often incorporate, by reference, the provisions and sanctions of administrative regulations promulgated by various regulatory agencies under congressional authorization. Estimates of how many such regulations exist are even less well settled, but the ABA thinks there are ”nearly 10,000.”
If the federal government can’t even count how many laws there are, what chance does an individual have of being certain that they are not acting in violation of one of them?
As Supreme Court Justice Breyer elaborates:
The complexity of modern federal criminal law, codified in several thousand sections of the United States Code and the virtually infinite variety of factual circumstances that might trigger an investigation into a possible violation of the law, make it difficult for anyone to know, in advance, just when a particular set of statements might later appear (to a prosecutor) to be relevant to some such investigation.
For instance, did you know that it is a federal crime to be in possession of a lobster under a certain size? It doesn’t matter if you bought it at a grocery store, if someone else gave it to you, if it’s dead or alive, if you found it after it died of natural causes, or even if you killed it while acting in self defense. You can go to jail because of a lobster.
If the federal government had access to every email you’ve ever written and every phone call you’ve ever made, it’s almost certain that they could find something you’ve done which violates a provision in the 27,000 pages of federal statues or 10,000 administrative regulations. You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.
And that’s just federal laws.
Crazy State Laws
There are a lot of crazy state and local laws:
Practicing New York attorney Nathan Belofsky has gathered a bunch of them.
Do you imagine that it is possible for you to go through life without violating a federal, state or local law? It’s impossible.
As Stalin’s notorious chief of secret police famously said:
Show me the man and I will find the crime.
Blurring the Lines Between Average Americans and Bad Guys
Law enforcement is blurring the lines between average Americans and potential terrorists.
As such, even normal people can fall under unwarranted suspicion in America today.
NSA Spying Can Trap You In Suspected Wrongdoing
Top NSA whistleblower William Binney – the former head of the National Security Agency’s global digital data gathering program – has repeatedly explained that just because you “haven’t done anything wrong” doesn’t mean you can’t be severely harmed by spying:
The problem is, if they think they’re not doing anything that’s wrong, they don’t get to define that. The central government does.
Binney explains that the government is storing everything, and creating a searchable database … to be used whenever it wants, for any purpose it wants (even just going after someone it doesn’t like).
And he notes that the government will go after anyone who is on its enemies list:
If you ever get on their enemies list, like Petraeus did, then you can be drawn into that surveillance.
Similarly, Edward Snowden said:
Because even if you’re not doing anything wrong you’re being watched and recorded. And the storage capability of these systems increases every year consistently by orders of magnitude … to where it’s getting to the point where you don’t have to have done anything wrong. You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody – even by a wrong call. And then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you’ve ever made, every friend you’ve ever discussed something with. And attack you on that basis to sort to derive suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a wrongdoer.
[If people don't oppose the surveillance state now] it will be turnkey tyranny.
Remember, it’s not just the NSA which is spying on your. Numerous government agencies are spying on all of your data, and sharing that information with federal, state and local law enforcement, the drug enforcement agency, the IRS and many others. So if any of those agencies thinks – rightly or wrongly – that you might have broken a law, they might target you.
Get it?
Mass surveillance is incredibly dangerous … and no one is immune.
* We’ve checked some of these, and verified that they are still on the books today. We have not checked all of them.
Many of the crazy laws which are on the books are normally not enforced. But there are two systems of justice in America … one for the fatcats, and one for everyone else.
So if someone in law enforcement takes a dislike to you – for whatever reason – they could easily harass you with laws or interpretations which are seldom enforced.
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http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382543575&sr=8-1&keywords=three+felonies+a+day
"The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance."
Thanks ... I added a link at my website version of the post...
The good news is that Russia does not extradite in case where an individual is avoiding imprisonment for harboring a small lobster.
One thing I notice goes unmentioned about all this gubbamint spying...they have all this information in digital formats. It is easy to synthesize or manipulate it. If you were a saint among the saints, and they could find NOTHING ON YOU, they have only to synthesize it.
How is THAT for skeery?
And if you wanted to recover the source(s) of their alleged digital evidence to try to defend against the government's accusations, they might simply tell you that it is classified and cannot be revealed because it would harm national security for the terrorists to understand how it had been gathered. Of course this won't be necessary, undesirable people will be threatened out of doing anything cray like running for office or becoming a whistleblower or speaking to the press. So we are all in Gitmo now. And here I thouhgt all those liberals screesching about Dick Cheney's fascism were really interested in individual rights.
PS, now that all your medical records are a part of Leviathan, better not tell your doc you're feeling depressed or how much you drink or your sexual practices, or anything that might be made to look unappealing to a potential employer. Live your life as though you are on a 24/7 job interview.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. 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."
Ayn Rand
XXX
Until a critical mass of citizens decide that they will burn any son of a bitch agency or department that decides to abuse them in an arbitrary way this will continue.
Speaking up should not get you slapped down and run over, never to be seen again. If they want to take it this way, make it their choice. And THEN make them regret it, at least some of them.
Scene of the judging of Inspector Javert, Les Miserables (1935):
(Quietly). You've been a gendarme five years? St. Quentin
district. I see your record is . . . ah . . . hum . . . good.
Examination not brilliant . . . but shows painstaking care . . .
application for promotion denied on the grounds of . . .
(A man to whom words come not easily). But, sir . . .
Javert . . . this is left to my discretion . . . the higher courts
seems to have doubts about you. You know what it says in
this report.
(Sounds of paper being crin\led).
You had a father . . . who died in the galleys! Well? (Fair-
ly shouts significance of words).
(Huskily) Yes, sir . . . it's all quite true . . . what it says
there . . . my mother was a gypsy . . . my father died in the
galleys ... I, myself . . . was born ... in prison . . . (He
sobs).
Well?
(Words tumbling out in desperate plea, the promotion means
much to him). Sir, I swore to myself I'd not be of that class
... I swore to get out of it . . . and I have. I said to myself,
there are only two kinds of society . . those who attack
it . . . and those who guard it ... I swore to guard it. It
was hard. I knew nothing. I had to teach myself every-
thing. I've studied. I've worked. I've slaved. My record
is my Bible. Why, if this is taken from me, what is there
left? I beg of you to believe I would never fail in my duty
to the law. It's my whole life. To fail now would break
me ... it would be the end of me, sir.
You're the kind of man we want. Appointment confirmed.
You are assigned to superintend the galleys of Toulon. Re-
port there immediately. Next case.
javert: Thank you, sir. I will not fail the law.
* * #
amerika is a nazi concentration camp...the rockefellers took over amerika in 1963 and have simply been tightening the noose ever since....spying is used to destroy people...the police are terrorists and they look to destroy people....god only knows how many people they have murdered....
In Oklahoma it is illegal to take a bite of another man's hamburger
Here in the US were going to end up with 150mm prisoners and 150mm prison guards.
Burn After Reading Trailer (HD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N99kv6ojn48 (2:11)
The funniest scene from 'Burn After Reading'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQfCdwjk048 (3:14)
The rule of law is not what we have here any longer we have the law rules. Here in Illinois our tolls have just doubled, the state personal income tax was bumped from 3 to 5% and I believe they also just bumped corporate income tax rates as well. Our country is being eaten from the inside out. There are government agencies and employees everywhere you turn. In my business because I have to run credit reoprts most mid level government people I see, law enforcement included, make close to 100K a year and many of them much more. I sold a large remodeling job to a federal employee who wrote grants for a living. Writing how to get free Federal money from a federal employee. Paper pusher. 120K a year,,,, benefits for life. We will implode. It may not be while I am still a working stiff but my kids will see it. Our jig is up. We have seen our best years. It is undeniable. The will, the backbone, the desire for what is right is no longer in our people. For God sakes we have to teach ethics in business college? Really? You either have them by college age or you don't. I got to stop, bad for blood pressure. I say at least 25% of working age people are directly or inderectly employed by government money of some kind. Don't believe me? Look at your property tax bill and see how many different agencies you are paying into retirement pensions for. Who is paying into yours? I rest my case. Have a good week. I am going into the woods with my bow this week and hope to be eating venison by the end of the week. Takes my mind off this stuff. Gets the cobwebs out too.
I don't think ethics has to be taught, it needs to be practiced. I remember when a conflict of interest was considered important enough to permanently rule out the possibility for someone to get a particular job or work in a particular area. Not anymore, it almost is considered a credential or qualifying criteria.
There is no doubt that this system is in the process of disintegrating... how can it not be? I haven't see any politician or the justice system address and effectively deal with the primary reasons for the country's inability to regain some semblance of economic stability for over 30 years. Trade policy isn't even open for discussion or debate while the US Constitution clearly states it is to be regulated.
We are getting closer and closer to people understanding that the purpose of the spy state is the creation of informants. ALL spy states from the beginning of time sought to create informants because that led to true unchecked, power. In fact, I am coming to conclusion that the lack of reporting on this topic is precisely because some mainstream journalists were flipped in the past decade and they are quietly redirecting their peers away from exploring the possibility that millions of intercepted coms resulted in thousands of government informants.
Indiana
No doubt, everyone in Indiana is breaking teh law.
If taken literally this law would effectively ban wheelchairs in Indiana -
Wife: I'm tired of you pushing me around and always talking behind my back.
Husband: I'm sorry dear, but you are in wheelchair.
Dredging up archaic and comical laws that remain on the books in various cities and states totally trivializes the serious main point of the article which is that we are dangerously over burdened with a great multitude of real laws which could be used to build a real case against almost anybody. Zerohedge should do better than this kind of dumb sensationalism.
For the umpteenth time, no banker is in prison for massive felony financial fraud.
Brainerd, Minnesota...home of the American Taliban.
Say what?
Well, last night when I posted this, the article included a laundry list (now missing) of crazy laws from around the country, one of which was a law from Brainerd, MN that required every man to grow a beard.
Take a look at 'Three Felonies a Day'
http://www.threefeloniesaday.com/Youtoo/tabid/86/Default.aspx
Lays it all out nicely.
It's a legal system DEFINITELY NOT A JUSTICE SYSTEM.
Excellent Georgie! Keep up the fight brother....
Thank you for relating the issue of spurious criminality and the security state. Too few Americans recognize Chelsea Manning and Ed Snowden for the heroes they are.
In the real world, here's a case of how things are done, political hatchet jobs, (see also Pete Dominici, NM) and such, but in the end justice was served, when the judge threw out the conviction of an SD councilman.
Zucchet was the target of a three year FBI sting, (brought by new SoDistAG Carol Lam, a Bush appointee. Ms Lam's office never noticed (GOP REP) Duke Cunningham doing anything wrong until the SD Union mailed her a copy of the story. Duke did eight years for bribery, and it was the tip of a much bigger political scandal, Tom Delay and such. She did work with the FBI on trying to clear out the city council in SD, and by most guesses those LV strip club operators were probably planted to make the wiretap work
The FBI wiretap was to prove Zucchet took money from some strip club operators (one of them was later booked on weapons charges for selling machine guns). Why did the FBI care about an SD councilman? (who was also (liberal) deputy mayor who figured to ride into office when the sitting mayor (probusiness republican) Dick Murphy was recalled. just base political shennanigans. there were a lot of reasonss why the mayor of SD is important, and how this happened, but the story of Gary Condit makes better reading, (or perhaps the Boston bombers).
if you never talk to the police, never ever go near the FBI.
http://www.federalcriminaldefenseblog.com/2010/10/federal-prosecutors-ob...
Nice string of strawmen but Zucchet took the money.....
1) suggesting the FBI set up the strip club owners in SD, this is how they operate 2) Zucchet declared the money, the judge tossed the decision in a minute, and the Feds decided not to retry, that says it all 3)why such a huge waste of efforts when a criminal congressman is operating out in the open? priorities 4) NSA or no NSA political hatchet jobs are always going to be with us. i am sure obama has done his share
Zucchet is/was dirty - there are a few little facts that you are leaving out.
and none you are citing. back in your cave mathias
Land of the rave, and home of the fee.
And the criminals of the US government and the FedRes commit treason every hour.
Add to the list using marijuana, prostitution, 'resisting arrest', income tax violations (any unreported yard sales?), weapons violations, copyrights, hateful speech, threatening, felonious conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, directly or indirectly aiding and abetting, and don't forget the host of presidential executive orders prohibiting directly or indirectly supporting 'terrorism' or undermining certain friendly governments.
It has gone beyond just 'he who is without sin throwing the first stone".
We are all now subject to discretionary prosecution by the state. And not just for motor vehicle violations.
edit: almost forgot, with the 'Patriot" laws, one can be indsfinitely "detained" and 'harshly interrogated' even if having obeyed ALL the laws.
Damn, that's my usual morning list of things to do before coffee.
Not just discretionary prosecution. The current accepted position in our society seems to be that the police are free to use discretionary deadly force anytime they feel even remotely or theoretically threatened. Turn the wheel of your car so that it points somewhat in the direction of a cop and he can freely whip out his firearm and murder you, claiming that you were assaulting him with a "deadly weapon", namely your family car.
Actually, it's much worse than that. They only have to *say* you did. In other words, lie. Think they don't?
http://gawker.com/dallas-cops-shoot-mentally-ill-man-standing-in-the-str...
They got Rick Santelli. He hasn't been seen since Thursday.
did he go somewhere by boat?
Wow, what a field day Inspector Javier would have in the contemporary USA!
A salute to the 3-letter dick-taters...
http://www.globalpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gp3_full_article/photos/2013-October/cerny1.jpg
The whole point of the surveillance state is to acquire leverage that can be applied against anyone and everyone.
it was reported today in the NYT that the immigration passport clerks at airports are using credit record data bases among other data bases and will transmit their findings / data to creditors
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/business/security-check-now-starts-lon...
I've been saying it for years.
We live in the most oppressive regime the world has ever known.
But nevermind, there is still some cold beer in the fridge....
Very good because warm beer is a crime.
Sources or its not true.
This looks like the same copy and paste list I've seen over and over of dumb laws, but the ones I've tried to track down don't seem to really exist - i.e. the Charlotte law requiring women to wear 16 yards of fabric can't be found anywhere in their list of ordinances. I even tried the adult entertainment and modeling ordinances.
Definitive source is by practicing New York attorney Nathan Belofsky, Esq states that all of the following state and local laws are authentic and currently still in effect:
[Anyone have 2 hours to go through and check? If not, I'll do it later]
I will give you a long example.
I have chickens. I researched the city ordinances in advance to find out if they were legal to own. I found no ordinance banning them, so I bought me some chickens.
A year later, an animal control officer drove by and noticed I had chickens wandering around in my fenced in yard. He eventually ran into me coming home, and handed me a mimeogrpraphed copy of a law supposedly called Title IX, which states in the text that chickens were verbotten in my town.
Fast forward a couple of years as I yessed him to death when he demanded that I get rid of the chickens, Ultimately, he took me to court, and sued me in housing court. I own my house and he was from the city.
The city attorney, before we went in to court. told me that I had an excess of chickens. I asked what an excess of chickens were? She repllied, Zero, anything over zero was an excess. I then asked what the fines were. She replied that she had no idea, but that IF I agreed to get rid of the chickens within two weeks, she would waive all fines and penalties.
Got in front of the judge and thats when the LIES started. Animal control officer lied his ass off, and so did the city attorney. Funny thing is, the judge actually read the documents the city sent me. One of the documents stated that I had an excess of chickens. The judge, in a ommon sense sort of way, asked the city attorney, "what is an excess of chickes? The city attorney replied anything more than zero. The judge shook her head. Replied that an excess implies that some number of chickens in allowable.
The city attorney was gob smacked. The judge said she'd have to think about the case and would send us letters in a week.
The letter I received stated that since the chickens posed no 'imminent threat', the city's request for an injunction on said chickens was denied.
The Moral of the story is, DON'T be bullied by the shitbags that work for the government. And by the way, ALL people who draw a government paycheck are shitbags by definition. Don't associate with them, don't help them, don't have anything to do with them. Ostracise them and make sure all your friends do the same. 30% of our fellow americans work for the government enslaving us. They're a minority, it's time we put our boots down on the throats of that minority, before they become the majority.
its crazy in california you have overlapping districts, which confer authority to the city where the district resides, even though the person in that district is outside the city. so a friend put a new room on his house, (he lives in the county, but he is inside the cities FIRE district) the city planner came out and told him he would have to widen his driveway to meet the building code. the width of private roads and driveways is determined by the FIRE department. fortunately the planner did not press the issue, since the improvement did not actually go off the existing foundation. (it of course remains a case on non compliance, and they have something on him there should they want to push it)
if you want something here you can go before the city council and say, i want ten chickens and they will grant a ZONING variance. i have a lot which is zoned estate, and there is an exact list of everything i can have, two of most everything, but i could have more if i ask for a variance.
In the city of independence,Ky, it costs $500 to apply for a variance. Just doing so in no way guarantees that it will be granted. There is a HUGE amount of good 'ole boy BS here. An old timer told me when we moved into the area, "They are a bunch of crooks". I nodded politely as I didn't know the town that well then. Since then, he has been proven right by several zoning issues that I have either been involved with or observed. I once tried to get a 'connected' property owner to cleanup a bunch of decrepit undrivable vehicles off of vacant land zoned residential. Instead, the local zoning people came after me for having a boat in the driveway- even though I didn't live in the town boundaries. He was left alone and ten years later, the rusty crap is still on that land. For a while, the zoning people rode through my neck of the woods to show their clout. A guy across the road that worked for the town ALWAYS conveniently moved his boat and a few days later, I'd get a letter in the mail. I figured it out and now move mine when he moves his-the municipal mafia is alive and well...
Go and beg for a zoning variance.
HAHA
build it and fight
I always build it with 25 foot 'skids' underneath
on top of the foundation
it's 'movable'
fuck off
that's how it goes usually
if you want me to move it, get inside and I'll pull it with the tractor