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The Game Is Rigged: Why Americans Keep Losing To The Police State
Submitted by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
“The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens.”—Leo Tolstoy
My 7-year-old granddaughter has suddenly developed a keen interest in card games: Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Old Maid, Blackjack, and War. We’ve fallen into a set pattern now: every time we play, she deals the cards, and I pretend not to see her stacking the deck in her favor. And of course, I always lose.
I don’t mind losing to my granddaughter at Old Maid, knowing full well the game is rigged. For now, it’s fun and games, and she’s winning. Where the rub comes in is in knowing that someday she’ll be old enough to realize that being a citizen in the American police state is much like playing against a stacked deck: you’re always going to lose.
The game is rigged, and “we the people” keep getting dealt the same losing hand. Even so, we stay in the game, against all odds, trusting that our luck will change.
The problem, of course, is that luck will not save us. The people dealing the cards—the politicians, the corporations, the judges, the prosecutors, the police, the bureaucrats, the military, the media, etc.—have only one prevailing concern, and that is to maintain their power and control over the country and us.
It really doesn’t matter what you call them—the 1%, the elite, the controllers, the masterminds, the shadow government, the police state, the surveillance state, the military industrial complex—so long as you understand that while they are dealing the cards, the deck will always be stacked in their favor.
Incredibly, no matter how many times we see this played out, Americans continue to naively buy into the idea that it’s our politics that divide us as a nation. As if there were really a difference between the Democrats and Republicans. As if the policies of George W. Bush were any different from those of Barack Obama. As if we weren’t a nation of sheep being fattened for the kill by a ravenous government of wolves.
We’re in trouble, folks, and changing the dealer won’t save us: it’s time to get out of the game.
We have relinquished control of our government to overlords who care nothing for our rights, our dignity or our humanity, and now we’re saddled with an authoritarian regime that is deaf to our cries, dumb to our troubles, blind to our needs, and accountable to no one.
Even revelations of wrongdoing amount to little in the way of changes for the better.
For instance, after six years of investigation, 6,000 written pages and $40 million to write a report that will not be released to the public in its entirety, the U.S. Senate has finally concluded that the CIA lied about its torture tactics, failed to acquire any life-saving intelligence, and was more brutal and extensive than previously admitted. This is no revelation. It’s a costly sleight of hand intended to distract us from the fact that nothing has changed. We’re still a military empire waging endless wars against shadowy enemies, all the while fattening the wallets of the defense contractors for whom war is money.
Same goes for the government’s surveillance programs. More than a year after Edward Snowden’s revelations dominated news headlines, the government’s domestic surveillance programs are just as invasive as ever. In fact, while the nation was distracted by the hubbub over the long-awaited release of the Senate’s CIA torture, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court quietly reauthorized the National Security Agency’s surveillance of phone records. This was in response to the Obama administration’s request to keep the program alive.
Police misconduct and brutality have been dominating the news headlines for months now, but don’t expect any change for the better. In fact, with Obama’s blessing, police departments continue to make themselves battle ready with weapons and gear created for the military. Police shootings of unarmed citizens continue with alarming regularity. And grand juries, little more than puppets controlled by state prosecutors, continue to legitimize the police state by absolving police of any wrongdoing.
These grand juries embody everything that’s wrong with America today. In an age of secret meetings, secret surveillance, secret laws, secret tribunals and secret courts, the grand jury—which meets secretly, hears secret testimony, and is exposed to only what a prosecutor deems appropriate—has become yet another bureaucratic appendage to a government utterly lacking in transparency, accountability and adherence to the rule of law.
It’s a sorry lesson in how a well-intentioned law or program can be perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes. The war on terror, the war on drugs, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, school zero tolerance policies, eminent domain, private prisons: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns. However, once you add money and power into the mix, even the most benevolent plans can be put to malevolent purposes.
In this way, the war on terror has become a convenient ruse to justify surveillance of all Americans, to create a suspect society, to expand the military empire, and to allow the president to expand the powers of the Executive Branch to imperial heights.
Under cover of the war on drugs, the nation’s police forces have been transformed into extensions of the military, with SWAT team raids carried out on unsuspecting homeowners for the slightest charge, and police officers given carte blanche authority to shoot first and ask questions later.
Asset forfeiture schemes, engineered as a way to strip organized crime syndicates of their ill-gotten wealth, have, in the hands of law enforcement agencies, become corrupt systems aimed at fleecing the citizenry while padding the pockets of the police.
Eminent domain, intended by the founders as a means to build roads and hospitals for the benefit of the general public, has become a handy loophole by which local governments can evict homeowners to make way for costly developments and shopping centers.
Private prisons, touted as an economically savvy solution to cash-strapped states with overcrowded prisons have turned into profit- and quota-driven detention centers that jail Americans guilty of little more than living off the grid, growing vegetable gardens in the front yards, or holding Bible studies in their back yards.
Traffic safety schemes such as automated red light and speed cameras, ostensibly aimed at making the nation’s roads safer, have been shown to be thinly disguised road taxes, levying hefty fines on drivers, most of whom would never have been pulled over, let alone ticketed, by an actual police officer.
School zero tolerance policies, a response to a handful of school shootings, have become exercises in folly, turning the schools into quasi-prisons, complete with armed police, metal detectors and lockdowns. The horror stories abound of 4- and 6-year-olds being handcuffed, shackled and dragged, kicking and screaming, to police headquarters for daring to act like children while at school.
As for grand juries, which were intended to serve as a check on the powers of the police and prosecutors, they have gone from being the citizen’s shield against injustice to a weapon in the hands of government agents. A far cry from a people’s court, today’s grand jury system is so blatantly rigged in favor of the government as to be laughable. Unless, that is, you happen to be one of the growing numbers of Americans betrayed and/or victimized by their own government, in which case, you’ll find nothing amusing about the way in which grand juries are used to terrorize the populace all the while covering up police misconduct.
Unfortunately, as I make clear in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, we’re long past the point of simple fixes. The system has grown too large, too corrupt, and too unaccountable. If there’s to be any hope for tomorrow, it has to start at the local level, where Americans still have a chance to make their voices heard. Stop buying into the schemes of the elite, stop being distracted by their sleight-of-hands, stop being manipulated into believing that an election will change anything, and stop playing a rigged game where you’ll always be the loser.
It’s time to change the rules of the game. For that matter, it’s time to change the game.
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ZWO protocol #7
Replace royal rule with socialist rule, then communism, then despotism
The Author does more to advance the causes of totalitarianism than he dares imagine. He paints a picture of grand juries as evil mercenaries of the state. Truthfully, they stand as a safeguard to unlimited corruption in government. Many, many times Grand Juries have indicted and caused crooked politicians to be put away. They stand as an independent watchdog on government when malfeasance in office is suspected and the system is too politically connected to respond without looking biased. I ask the Author, if he suspects that a DA is broken the law, who he will turn to for justice? Don't indict the system. Indict the people who are attempting to pervert the system.
Yes, but we're stuck with prosecutors as gatekeepers. I'm no lawyer, but I have heard of situations where the people can themselves impanel a Grand Jury, no?
CALL: The game is rigged, and “we the people” keep getting dealt the same losing hand. Even so, we stay in the game, against all odds, trusting that our luck will change.
RESPONSE:Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security
The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
-- Patrick Henry
March 23, 1775
How do people who can't give up netflix and igadgets fare in war?
Seriously, everyone calling for war... if someone can't walk away from the corporations that own us, do you really think they are going to fight?
I agree violence will be the end of it all, but we are setting ourselves up for failure trying to go from soft citizens to hardened warriors overnight. If people had been disengaging the corrupt systems in preparation for years (I know some have) then maybe enough would be ready.
We are going to burn down the house without even as much of a thought of where to sleep the next night.
Who are you even going to kill? Some asshole politicians and bankers? The real people who control the world don't have their names in newspapers and don't sit as CEOs.
This is true, the puppet-masters are not in the headlines, but they are also not the tax collectors, DMV workers, or police officers. Without puppets, the masters are powerless.
Removing the puppet-master only gives way to a new master. Remove, to the extent possible, the puppets (preferably by the "hearts and minds" thing) and the master's power fades.
Utopia doesn't exist, the problem of corruption and "injustices" will always result from any form of society. It is only the degree to which that corruption can take hold, that can be controlled by "we the people".
In most areas of the country the Grand Jury has subpoena powers to obtain whatever evidence is desired without cherry picking by the DA.
"I have heard of situations where the people can themselves impanel a Grand Jury, no?"
Yes, the common law grand jury. Look at nationallibertyalliance.org
"who he will turn to for justice?"
No one, which is why we're fucked.
And how is all that government malfeasance prosection working out?
According to the 5th Amendment, prosecution without
an grand jury is unconstitutional at least for
"infamous crimes". This is generally interpreted to mean crimes that
can receive a year or more in the penitentiary.
I'm no constitutional scholar, even in the school boy sense, so I'm
wondering, how do they weasel out of that one?
Just one more way the Constitution is just a piece of paper.
So why are Grand Jury hearings held in secret?
Many times just the accusation by the state is enough to make someone appear guilty in the eyes of the public. They could be completely innocent.
Basically, its the same reason the jurors in a trial setting (looking to exonerate or convict a person after a grand jury has indicted them) are given privacy/secrecy.
Its no ones business who they are or how they came to the decision they did, up to & including nullification.
Fully informed Jury Association
DaddyO
At the website: http://www.exaronews.com/ they have a continuing series of how the grandees of the British government, many senior politicians, lords and QCs, had a field day raping young children at group homes through the 1990s. Files listing the crimes vanished, the Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard villified the complainants and the current investigation was to be headed by the Mayor of London until it came out she was best friends with Lord Brittain. The same Lord Brittain who in 1982, while in charge of prosecutions, destroyed a file listing numerous high ranking British pedophiles and probable murderers. Meanwhile, the guy who ran one home for children, Frank Beck, got three life sentences plus 25 years for supplying the boys to the pedophile politicians. Beck hurt his case by charging then MP, now Lord, Janner in 1992 with being one of the rapists, so off Beck went to prison, where he died, silenced for good. Janner got a standing ovation when he went back to his seat in the House of Commons after claiming he was innocent. Rule Brittania, British pedophiles rule the police and prosecutors.
Maybe the problem was poorly trained UK police all along?
I see that situation is being remedied now:
Why are London’s Police travelling to Israel?
That should fix everything. The problem isn't pedophile politicians, it's all those potential terrorists (citizens) running loose and doing whatever they want.
Look how well Israeli police training worked in the U.S. - there wasn't a single report of a pedophle politician in Ferguson all that week. See how easy?
Paedophile in Israel adopts 4 year old girl
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/israeli-sex-offender-paedophile-adopt-girl-surr...
Gummint: ctrl-alt-del
Not gonna happen. Keep dreaming and watch it blow. Country divided, delusional and full of bread and circus.
Our Federal government has become a Mafia - it has corrupted everything it touches. The military-industrial-political-security-corporate-media complex. Now isn't that a mouthful? It accomplished this with the power of the purse and institutional, bureaucratic control.
"End the Fed", anyone?
Hedge accordingly.
loose knit bunch of zh minded thinkers that in reality can only talk, type and take care of themselves waiting for the wolves to get hungry. and you see my friend(and folks), that 's where and when all the planning and training come into play. off to the woods for another training sesion with da real wolves, ha...
don't forget where the real bark is..
Another cop jerking off in his cruiser and sexting teenagers...
http://www.enterprisenews.com/article/20141210/NEWS/312119999
Well now that's reassuring.
As long as it keeps him from kiling people, I won't complain. Idle hands are the devil's playground.
The US is a fascist, police state and keeps falling ever deeper into fascism. Kennedy thought he was President so he tried to change the Fed, make peace with the Soviets, try to end the war in Vietnam and promised to shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds. Instead his brains were blown into a thousand pieces as Jackie valiantly tried to collect the pieces from the trunk of the Presidential limousine. That was the beginning of America's descent into fascism starting on November 22, 1963.
The false flag of 9/11 cemented the powers of the security state and America's descent into fascism accelerated. Now the CIA/NSA spies on everyone including the Supreme Court, Congress and the White House. All real power now rests in the hands of the spy agencies. America is a fascist, police state masquerading as a democracy. Snowden's revelations remove any doubts if you had any:
The most extraordinary passage in the memo requires that the Israeli spooks “destroy upon recognition” any communication provided by the NSA “that is either to or from an official of the US government.” It goes on to spell out that this includes “officials of the Executive Branch (including the White House, Cabinet Departments, and independent agencies); the US House of Representatives and Senate (members and staff); and the US Federal Court System (including, but not limited to, the Supreme Court).”
The stunning implication of this passage is that NSA spying targets not only ordinary American citizens, but also Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and the White House itself. One could hardly ask for a more naked exposure of a police state.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/09/13/surv-s13.html
Started with The Civil War. Set up and run by the Red Shield bankers. They got rid of stupid Abe when he was a liability. Their agens then invaded the south aka Carpet Baggers aka dual citizens.
Well - Abe starting printing those troublesome Greenbacks not unlike how JFK started printing silver notes to pay for Vietnam. Both were quickly disposed of when they started to play the Red Shield's game. Just don't forget that the Red Shield's are the total tools of the Imperial Powers...
Kennedy might have taken on the CIA, but NOT the FED.
HE had the power to issue silver certificates. He DELEGATED that power to his Treasury Sec, who was a banker.
G. Edward Griffin explains it quite well.
pods
Sssssshhhhhh... we don't want anyone knowing the truth and actual causes of the Civil War.
As far as the serfs are concered it was all because of slavery and excessive flag waving.
It was about farm equipment.
Yankee farm equipment sucked. British farm equipment was far superior, but the yanks wanted to tax the imports, to make their own junk competitive.
That's why the South said see-ya.
I thought the south said see-ya because they elected Abe as president of the US Inc. rather than the US Republic because that darn 13th amendment didn't allow anyone with a title of nobility in office. That discounted Abe from office and so the southern states walked out of congress and it was adjourned sine dine (without a day to reconvene).
NSA whistleblower Russ Tice on NSA taps on top politcos:
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/06/19/podcast-show-112-nsa-whistleb...
They probably understand arabic better than we do anyway.
Sold out again today by the GOP in Congress to the illegals. Sad that American kids were shipped off for chickenshit wars and get blown to pieces for illegals. The GOP, Dems and Obama are all the same.
Republicans are Red.
Democrats are Blue.
Your favorite team,
Doesn't care about you!
As a totally hypothetical situation, what would happen if some of these dept. heads and board of directors, both in public and private sectors, started getting disappeared on the way to the squeezes house or the golf course?
What if there was an outbreak of nailgun suicides?
A sudden rash of unexplainable traffic accidents?
Would they get nervous and retire?
Nah - the Ivy League of Liars, Murders and Thieves has Legion of ready and willing snakes to replace the old ones...
I dunno about that. When you're a dangerous sociopath, fear of a long, drawn out, painful death is probably the only motivation you'd have to at least reduce your most harmful behavior to socially acceptable levels.
shovelhead @ As a totally hypothetical situation, what would happen if some of these dept. heads and board of directors, both in public and private sectors, started getting disappeared on the way to the squeezes house or the golf course?
What if there was an outbreak of nailgun suicides?
A sudden rash of unexplainable traffic accidents?
Would they get nervous and retire?
Nope....
Dead Banker #37? London ‘banker’ impaled after falling from penthouse
http://wtfrly.com/2014/12/09/dead-banker-37-london-banker-impaled-after-falling-from-penthouse/
‘Assassination market’: Bernanke tops ‘kill-list’ in crowd-sourced bitcoin fundraiser for wannabe hitmen
The highest bounty is currently on the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. 124 bitcoins translates to nearly $90,000. Bounties can come entirely from one person or be crowdfunded.
http://rt.com/news/bitcoin-assassination-market-anarchist-983/
System is a problem
Systems thinking has been defined as an approach to problem solving, by viewing "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to specific part, outcomes or events and potentially contributing to further development of unintended consequences. Systems thinking is not one thing but a set of habits or practices[3] within a framework that is based on the belief that the component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation. Systems thinking focuses on cyclical rather than linear cause and effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking
Police misconduct. The daily newsfeed returns Monday. Good stuff.
http://www.policemisconduct.net/
It is very simple. The dream of the House of Hanover to subjugate the American Colony was put on hold in 1776 and later in 1812.
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha came to power on the promise of a new age of British rule. Where George(s), William and Victoria had failed, the House of SCG, later renamed Windsor to Angelophile the name, would succeed. The irony that Brittania is being ruled by descendants of House of Dracula is not apparent in name but obviously in action.
And they have suceeded in subjugating the America colony brilliantly. It is not an accident that before their reign of influence on the USA, there was no official secrecy, no centralization of intelligence, no income tax, no effective central banking, no real national military, and so on. All these are the necessary and proper instruments of Imperial Power. The removal of those pesky individual States was one of the most important moves.
All they have to do is repeal the 17th Amendment then everything else will fall in line as the States once again see their interests properly pursued in the Senate.
Repealing the 17th is only a start. The 16th will have to go as well as a hoard of laws.
The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha descended from Dracula? Why do you insert such discrediting, falsifiable things in your tale? Not that the rest of the tale can be really salvaged, but it literally smells of the cheapest, most sheepish ignorant propaganda, usually used by Agent Provocateurs, making anybody wonder where you got such things or if you even believe them yourself
yes, the American Colonies became independent. and eventually acquired all those... instruments. Some of them, during wars against Britain, including one in 1812 where the British burned the White House down because the American "Imperial Pretensions" extended to Canada
lern your own history a bit
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9656769/Prince-Cha...
If you think 1812 was only about Canada then you are a well trained subject. It was about returning America to the fold. Now that America is effectively a client-state of Brittania such extreme measures are unnecessary.
Please go on and enlighten us by refuting all my statements.
+1 well, you were correct. though it's Vlad the Impaler, the real Vlad, not the "Dracula" vampire of the legends
It is not a game, as our lives, and the lives of our children, and grandchildren, hang in the balance.
Accepting that it's a "rigged game" is defeatism, and acceptance.
I for one am not defeated, and I do not accept, or bow, to their crimes, treason or tyranny.
I stand and before them and state, "No, I do not acquiesce and will not comply."
Don't struggle against tyranny, make tyranny struggle against you.
An American, not US subject.
Revolutions always start with the word, "No."
It is not possible to revolt if the People have no idea who is in power. Elimination of the current heads of Snakes would be futile as a) NATO would come to their defense, b) UN invasion c) replaced by a new set of Snakes soon thereafter.
UN invasion? With what? The UN navy? The UN airforce?
Traitors in your own military (and others) will bring them here. UN has no standing army but member states do. Member states would be pressed to invade on their own without UN cover. Well - some states (China) might decide to take advantage of the opportunity.
I guess you've revolved then.
> I stand and before them and state, "No, I do not acquiesce and will not comply."
...and then they shoot you. This will only work if you are well armed, well skilled with those arms, and probably in a large enough group of similar-minded, and similarly well armed and skilled individuals. Oh, and also have the stomach to go through with the violence required to protect yourself.
This depresses me, because I know I'm not equipped for anything like what is required.
More defeatism.
We still remember Nathan Hale: "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."
Yes, they can kill you, but then whether you die free, fighting, or enslaved, cowering, is up to you.
While I respect those that wish to accept and comply, I always find their virulent rejection of my desire to be free, and fight, curious.
An American, not US subject.
So I take it you don't have a family to take care of then...if I get killed, I have other people to think about, else I'd be with you 100%
(not the downvoter on your comment, I don't downvote people for lucidly stating a different opinion)
Jon Gruber was right. Hans Gruber was right.
Americans (humans) are stupid, and Die Hard was just a movie.
YOU have to be your own Hero. Yippie ya Ay Muthafucker
We’re in trouble, folks, and changing the dealer won’t save us: it’s time to get out of the game.
Well, fuck you, fuck you.
Maybe it's time we get out of our bodies so we no longer need to shit, piss, or pass gas. Maybe it's time we got out of the universe because so many, many neutrinos, Higgs bosons, and perhaps other exotic particles are wreaking the Creator's vengenace on us in a slow burn kind of way. Maybe it's time we got out of this thinking thing; like, for example, thinking that the statement that "It's time to get out of the time" is so fucking nonsensical as to make anything else nearly as nonsensical to become eternal wisdom writ on the very fabric of the universe.
Those who counsel "getting out of the game" are, in reality, major players in the game, one gambit of which is to try to convince their fellow game players to leave the playing field, and thus reduce the number of players in the game.
Don't be sheeple, peep. The fucking author is a fucking con artist.
If anybody really wanted to get out of the game, they would cancel their internet, smartphone, and paid tv service.
When verizon, comcast, t-mobile, and others lose 20%, I'll know that the real game is on.
bla bla bla all rigged and this article easier written then acted upon. this country has become a joke Hele copters over my house all the time and I live in a nice part of ok city. to give up is to let them win and I am no quoted. I really can't wait for what is obviously coming and these lazy no good milenials will get what they think they want.
I think all those post apocalyptic movies are meant to show Americans what life can be like when it's lawless.
That fear along with terrorists is why Americans will accept it.
I have done my share of accepting, yellowsub. I am too old to want to quit the game. To really quit the game means to fight and die. It would be a wasted death. A few lines of obituary and I would be in the ground with no one better off. My wife and children much worse off. The media would say I went insane and after the daily news is over, no one would care. I will continue to accept until there is a better, workable option. Wish it weren't so.
So what happens when the "terrorists" begin making sense?
but, one can't be squeamish about blood and still be really free.
How Complex Systems Fail - Richard I. Cook, MD
Cognitive technologies Laboratory
University of Chicago
http://web.mit.edu/2.75/resources/random/How%20Complex%20Systems%20Fail.pdf
Interesting link, thanks. Systems Theory and Cognitive Psychology is
fruitful IMHO and Cook is apt.
The end-game goal now is to completely delegitimize the USA - that will make the final invasion by the Blue Helmets much more palatable to the Sheeple.
Does not matter one bit. We've turned money into a God; buying up nice things for people to believe in is child's play at this point.
Eminent domain, intended by the founders as a means to build roads and hospitals for the benefit of the general public, has become a handy loophole by which local governments can evict homeowners to make way for costly developments and shopping centers.
I love this one. A decade ago the corrupt local council taking orders from a large developer was set to steal my and my neighbors homes at what they called fair market value, and hand our homes to this developer, whose ownership of our property would have jumped easily 300% within a year, as we own lake front, and he needed it, once he had it, valuation would have skyrocketed, even as empty land.
We were saved by a brave state legislator, he believed in freedom, and went to work, not just for us, but for others in the same boat, and on general priciple. He got a law passed that forbid taking of private property for personal gain of developers of condos and hotels. His law returns the old Public Good and Necessesity clauses. So we won.
But, it was close, the local city council was 6 months away from taking our homes before this law passed. That developer soon left town, and the 4 councilers that his money got elected all gave up their seats, once their profit potential was gone.
Fuck, I stil can't believe how close we came!
And in the end you were just going to bend over and take it weren't you.
VOTING RECORDS
We once made a city councilmen voting record.
We listed past issues in which neighborhoods had asked the city council to say no to developers, and went back and found how each councilman had voted on each issue. We tabulated those votes. There was a coalition of neighborhood associations, and we presented the list at one of the coalition's meetings. At the next meeting, EVERY councilmen attended!
Not long after, there was a mayoral election. The mayor's voting record showed that the mayor had voted against neighborhoods, and for developers, every time. We attended a regularly-scheduled city council meeting (which of course was broadcast over the local "access" television council). At the meeting, we presented the voting record during "citizens to be heard", giving each councilman a grade based on his voting record. The mayor's grade was "F". The mayor did not get reelected.
The President can moan all he wants about police being too heavy handed towards blacks and minorities, but he shares a great deal of the responsibility. Over the last six years while Obama has been in office the unrelentless trend to add a military component to police forces across the nation has continued to ramp up. Many people see this as the governments way to extend control and power over the masses in case of a civil uprising in the future
We should not be mislead by how media is trying to spin the protest sprouting up across America into just being about blacks being abused. The issue spills over into the general demeanor of police and how they interact with society. Abuse, violence, and unnecessary force is not used only on blacks and other minorities but is also employed on whites, or as I like to call them "people of non-color." The article below delves deeper into this ugly trend and the issue of who holds this power.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/12/police-violence-goes-beyond-black-and.html
Talking with my brother earlier to day I learned of a small battle happening between he and his wife. He keeps setting the background on his desktop to all of the crosses and occasional star that are the cemetaries in France. His wife does not like it because it is "too depressing" and changes the theme but he changes it right back. His argument is that he will not forget them and that they never had a chance to come home. That is an awfully strong point. My brother served his country back in the late 70's and early 80's but he stated that if he knew that this current situation would be the end result he would not have served. He thought he was doing the right thing and pehaps he was but he is more than a bit disillusioned now with the whole scenario as it is now.
My time came in the early 90's and I chose to go to the library instead of joining the military. There was no war at the time. I was the first male in my family who chose otherwise from military service. I broke tradition. ALL males in my family had served to that point. Not anymore. I did not want to be cannon fodder. I do mean to discredit those who did serve and gave up their lives. Precisely, it is exactly the opposite. What are you fighting for exactly? A cousin of mine ended up in the battle for Fallujah Iraq. He was a proud Marine going in and now he won't talk to anyone about it. He won't talk to anyone. Just leave the guy alone. The guy is pissed off. So be it.
So what are the cops going to do? Did they really think about this? Many cops are veterans too but that does not mean that much. So what, or who, are the cops fighting for? Do they have a reason to fight their own citizens? I do not think so. Don't they realize that they are outgunned? As far as that goes, I really don't care about your stupid "bullet proof vests". First of all, those vests are not bullet proof and second of all I will go right for your thigh and take out your femoral artery. You have no chance of living very long if you get shot in the thigh with a high powered rifle. I would rather not have to do anything like that but that is up to you cops. Think about your family instead of your .gov paycheck. It just isn't worth it.
The game was changed back in March of 2008 and that's why the Ponzi is blowing apart at the seams now. In terms of rigged games Bernie
Madoff is no longer plying his Ponzi anymore and that game was exposed because of the change that occured on March 10th 2008. If Bear Stearns and Lehman did not go down back in 2008 Madoff would likely still be in business today. In brief, Whitehead is all wrong about the 'game' and does not understand that the USA will never be the same as it was before Bear Stearns and Lehman went awry. One cannot ignore the fact that the USA has completely tanked since March 10th 2008 because the greatest minds in Macroeconomics in the entire World don't have a fucking clue what they are advocating or talking about when it comes to Quantum Behavioural Economics. Greenspan, and Professor Emeritus Milton Freidman did not have a fucking clue when it comes to the probability of expectations when it comes to markets or investments.
Very few people in the entire World actually know what is going on with regard to the World economy or where it is going to end up. The games all changed back in March of 2008 and the MIC of the USA is being restructured to reduce overhead and operating costs since 2008. In brief, the game has changed markedly and only fools think otherwise. The entire superstructure of the Government of the USA will eventually have to be revised because of the 2008 markets crash. The entire World woke up to the reality of rigged markets back in March of 2008 and since that time all the markets have gone through major quantitative and qualitative changes that were not evidenced during other market crashes in history. 2008 was different, folks. Don't let Whitehead kid you on that whatsoever. This is not a game or just more rhetoric.
John Whitehead is one of my favorite writers AND one of my favorite lawyers.
White wolf.
DA RULE OF DA GAME CONE OUT OF THE END OF AN AK47 .... and goes thru their brain... comprendo capiche.... POW
All politicians should be required to run as independants, that is there are no parties.
All politicians should be required to run as naked contestants in a nationally televised race where the losers get to be tied to a tree and used as a sperm repository for a week.
After which, they are tattooed with the words "Your First Husband" and then turned over to the ladies for a round of distaff fun.
Excellent. I come to ZH every day to learn something new and I'm rarely disappointed. Today I learned a new word, the collective noun for a group of wolves - a "government of wolves". Now they didn't teach me that one at (state) school.
If you can't stop the bankers you won't stop the police.
"As if there were really a difference between the Democrats and Republicans. As if the policies of George W. Bush were any different from those of Barack Obama."
I won't go into US domestic policies, but when it comes to foreign policies, we foreigners and we allies see huge differences between the two
I could complain for hours about the foreign policies of Barak Obama. While about George W. Bush... only one thing to say: send him to us. We have some very pointed questions we would like to pose him
"As for grand juries, which were intended to serve as a check on the powers of the police and prosecutors, they have gone from being the citizen’s shield against injustice to a weapon in the hands of government agents. A far cry from a people’s court, today’s grand jury system is so blatantly rigged in favor of the government as to be laughable. Unless, that is, you happen to be one of the growing numbers of Americans betrayed and/or victimized by their own government, in which case, you’ll find nothing amusing about the way in which grand juries are used to terrorize the populace all the while covering up police misconduct."
I am so incredibly... daunted by this subject. I mean, I literally know nothing about grand juries. We don't have anything like that, in Europe. The UK used to have them, while on the continent they were scrapped by Napoleon's judicial reforms
How is it even possible to corrupt a system like that? If someone has some sensible explanation, I'd be terribly grateful
It provides a pretence of indepence to the slaves, just like trias politica and a independent federal reserve does.
on the other side, this is something where I feel more then adequate to make a statement
"Private prisons, touted as an economically savvy solution to cash-strapped states with overcrowded prisons have turned into profit- and quota-driven detention centers that jail Americans guilty of little more than living off the grid, growing vegetable gardens in the front yards, or holding Bible studies in their back yards."
It's very simple: private enterprises are terribly efficient and tend to find ways to grow. If you allow prisons to be in private hands, you get a very efficient and growing private prison business
are you sure you want that?
It's not private as long as it is funded under coercion by taxes.
Privately owned, but publicly funded; the most dangerous situation possible. Especially when it involves any kind of police, court, or spy companies. Also especially when it involves professional gamblers, such as Wall Street mega-gambler Fed-member banks who get bailouts from the public, claiming they are "too big to fail". Some call this "privatization". Some call it an older word, "fascism".
The term 'shadow' government suggests that the real government is moral, but is just not in power. This is a misconception. Government is a monopoly of force and is always occupied by the corrupt and evil. Nothing about government is well intentioned, but unfortunately gets corrupted. It is a fantasy to think that a just and moral government can exist. They are a group of people, who put a gun on your head and take your money, always and ever.
There is a simple fix. Change the existing representative democracy to a direct democracy.
so when do we burn this bitch down!
Hey thats a good idea for any of you D.C residents out there here's your homework: stand out side whitehouse where it is legal and lawful to do so and just hold a sign that says "burn this bitch down!" secret service comes over start askin ?'s just say you are holding this sign in reference to your ex wife's female dog!
Endeavor to persevere..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ
Many people who comment on this site want big and support big government. Now they have their wish.
How did you reach that conclusion ?
We need to organize and start a war on DC. Good Luck.
"We’re in trouble, folks, and changing the dealer won’t save us: it’s time to get out of the game"
That sums it up. Find ways to get off the grid and do it now.
Tiocfaidh ar la, bitchez...
Rahm Emmanuel tells me that Red light cameras save literally thousands of childrens lives every year in Chicago and its not about revenue... Why would Rahm Emanual lie?..........
Your intro where you're letting your granddaughter win is the antithesis of what you should be doing. I never "let" my kid win at any game, and I destroyed her early on and she learned how to lose, we examined ways to improve her game, and now she's almost always the winner with no desire to stack the deck.You're creating a future moocher.
Teaching a kid that cheating is a viable strategy is setting her up for a lot of disappoint. Sure, you want as much in your favor as possible, but in the "civilized" world you don't want to create a cheater (except when fighting for your life or safety, then below the belt, eye gouges, etc. are all fair game).
Lighten up, Francis
.....all this silliness about Revolution / shooting... talk about running around the bases and missing putting your foot on second base.
Just sit the fuck home for 3 weeks. If all the "producers" meaning the people who do not make a living off of "the skim" just sat the fuck home for three weeks, you'd get what ever it is that you want.
I agree wholeheartedly with the premise of this article. The fundamental problem, in my view, is that our leaders are not held to our Constitution, their own laws or even morality. They pass laws that don't apply to them, regulations now bypass the Constitutional means for enacting law, and even when they are caught red handed there are no negative consequences.
This is why I wrote The Fourth Branch, to reign in our lawless lawmakers.
80% is free here... https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/277193
The best you can do is cash in your chips and walk away from the table.
Got your passport?