Tag: Police State

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The riddle of black America’s rising woes under Obama

Obama-Golf

The riddle of black America’s rising woes under Obama
By Edward Luce

Those who have fared worst under this president are the ones who love him the most

A paradox haunts America’s first black president. African-American wealth has fallen further under Barack Obama than under any president since the Depression. Yet they are the only group that still gives him high ratings. So meagre is Mr Obama’s national approval rating that embattled Democrats have made him unwelcome in states that twice swept him to power. Those who have fared worst under Mr Obama are the ones who love him the most. You would be hard-pressed to find a better example of perception-driven politics. As the Reverend Kevin Johnson asked in 2013: “Why are we so loyal to a president who isn’t loyal to us?”

The problem has taken on new salience with the resignation of Eric Holder. America’s first black attorney-general has tried to correct the gulag-sized disparities in prison sentencing between blacks and whites. His exit leaves just two African-Americans in Mr Obama’s cabinet. Given the mood among Republicans, it is hard to imagine the US Senate confirming a successor to Mr Holder who shares his priorities.

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5455efbe-4fa4-11e4-a0a4-00144feab7de.html#axzz3G40e0WkE

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How Awesome Would the U.S. Economy Be If It Were Set Free from Massive Government Regulations?

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How Awesome Would the U.S. Economy Be If It Were Set Free from Massive Government Regulations?

IImagine if the U.S.’s economy had grown an extra 1% every year since 1949 as a result from less strangulating federal regulation.

This is the thesis for a recent Forbes article by Rich Karlgaard, the magazine’s publisher and head writer. Using the concept of compound interest, along with an assertion that runaway federal tinkering and silly regulations have had a massive impact on the country’s economic growth over the decades, he gives a handful of answers to the question:

“Where would the U.S. economy be today without massive federal regulation?”

Here’s what he came up with:

The 2014 GDP would be $32 trillion, not $17 trillion.
Per capita income would be $101,000, not $54,000.
Per capita wealth would be $480,000, not $260,000. It would probably be higher than that, since savings rates might be higher.
The U.S. would have no federal, state or municipal debts or deficits.
Pensions would be solid. So would Social Security.
The trend of new entrants to The Forbes 400 would not favor entrepreneurs in software, the Internet and financial services but would be more broadly distributed across all industries. Electronic bits–money and software–are less prone to regulation than such physical things as factories, transportation, etc.
Faster, quieter successors to the supersonic Concorde? Cheap, safe nuclear power? Cancer-curing drugs for small populations? Bullet trains financed by private investors? Yes!
The U.S. would have the resources to fight the multiplicity of threats from abroad, from ISIS to hackers.

His conclusion is that when considering political leaders, those that are committed to less government interference should be preferred.

Furthermore, he wisely points out that it’s not a partisan idea, stating that Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton are examples of these types of leaders, whereas Truman, George W. Bush, and Obama are examples of precisely the opposite.

https://www.ijreview.com/2014/10/185794-americas-economy-look-like-without-silent-deadly-killer-astounding/

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Confidence in Obama on economy hits new low

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Confidence in Obama on economy hits new low

Confidence in President Obama’s economic policies has reached an all-time low.

Just 24 percent of Americans say they are extremely or quite confident in Obama’s plan for the economy, according to the CNBC All-America Economic survey released Tuesday. In June 2013, 33 percent gave Obama’s economic policies a thumbs-up, which was the previous record low.

Forty-four percent of Americans say they have no confidence in Obama’s economic policies, tying a previous record set in August 2012.

The lingering economic pessimism comes despite signs that the economy is growing at a solid rate and with the unemployment rate at its lowest level in six years. However, wage growth remains muted at best, leaving many Americans feeling as if the economy has not improved much at all since the recession hit.

The persistent discontent is also complicating Obama’s attempts to tout the economic gains under his watch in an effort to help Democrats hold off Republican challengers at the polls. At the same time, he acknowledges much of the lingering concern, pushing for initiatives like increasing the minimum wage and equal pay for women to further bolster Democratic campaigns.

Obama is facing broad concern about his economic policies from all groups. Just 45 percent of Democrats say they have confidence in his policies.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/219978-confidence-in-obamas-economic-plan-hits-new-low

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Rep Scott Garrett crusade against “for-profit policing” gains traction

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Rep Garrett with two vets at the Glen Rock street fair . These two gentlemen were at the fair representing the VFW. Join me in thanking them for their service to our country!

Rep Scott Garrett crusade against “for-profit policing” gains traction 
October 6th 2014 
the staff of the Ridgewood blog 

Ridgewood NJ, In September Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ),  and Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), introduced H.R. 5502, the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, to protect Americans from having their property seized without the due process of law.  The FAIR Act makes a number of changes to civil asset forfeiture laws to restore the constitutional protections guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.

Recently unconstitutional civil asset forfeiture or Policing for profit has started to gain traction with the media .

Garrett said “I’m glad to see that more people are starting to draw attention to civil asset forfeiture laws. My bill, the FAIR Act, would protect Americans from unconstitutional civil asset forfeitures.”

Learn more here: https://1.usa.gov/1s6Yg99

John Oliver rips into the scandal of for-profit policing
Updated by Timothy B. Lee on October 6, 2014, 9:40 a.m. ET tim@vox.com
 
In America, people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Yet a crazy loophole in US law has allowed the police to take billions of dollars worth of property from ordinary Americans without even charging them with a crime.

John Oliver explains how this scheme, known as civil asset forfeiture, works:

https://www.vox.com/2014/10/6/6918047/john-oliver-explains-how-the-police-can-take-your-stuff-without

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Steve Wynn: I’m ‘more scared’ about US than China

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Steve Wynn: I’m ‘more scared’ about US than China
Jane Wells | @janewells

To rephrase a purported Chinese proverb: Steve Wynn lives in interesting times.

The casino magnate behind Wynn Resorts makes most of his money in Macau, China, and he’s worked closely with the Chinese government for a dozen years. However, gambling revenue across Macau has softened as the government has cracked down on what it calls illegal lending practices there, and as potential new anti-smoking rules threaten to turn off gamblers. Now, new tensions are rising on the heels of massive protestsin Hong Kong by residents who oppose Beijing’s efforts to dictate the candidates they’re allowed to vote for.

‘Everyone in China is pragmatic’

Is Steve Wynn bothered?

“I’m more scared about the United States than I am about China,” Wynn told CNBC this week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. The protests in Hong Kong have “become sort of a party out there.”

Wynn said he believes the situation will be resolved: “Everyone in China is pragmatic and practical.”

Wynn said Chinese officials may be willing to bend in favor of protesters who want everyone to be able to vote on Hong Kong’s chief executive, though he seemed to think it’s less likely that Beijing will stop deciding who can run and who doesn’t.

“I think the central government is willing to let everybody vote for the CEO, but they want to have some positive input on the nominations, so that whoever it is, the group of candidates, have some kind of mature, rational attitude towards the fact that it belongs to China,” Wynn said. “I don’t think (Chinese President) Xi Jinping and the central government are going to give up some level of control of their own country. It’s not part of that culture there.”

Wynn continues to praise the business climate in China compared to the United States: “The regulatory burden in China is infinitesimal compared to the crap we get in America.”

Wynn’s comments come as Western companies have come up against growing scrutiny from the Chinese government, including surprise raids, long investigations and growing fines in the name of “anti-trust” enforcement.

Wynn refused to comment on a slander lawsuit his company has filed against Jim Chanos—the suit alleges that the famous short seller intimated that Wynn has violated anti-bribing laws in order to succeed in Macau. Instead, he praised what he called “the most laissez-faire place on the planet at the moment” in China, and said Americans don’t realize how positive and aspirational the Chinese are about their own lives and their own government.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/102049852

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Bergen freeholder hopefuls debate centers on Sheriff Departments use of MRAP’s

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living in a Police State ….

Bergen freeholder hopefuls debate centers on Sheriff Departments use of MRAP’s

“I don’t want them on our streets,” Candidate Bernie Walsh 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 7:55 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 10:06 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
NORTHJERSEY.COM

The four candidates for Bergen County freeholder sparred in their first debate Tuesday over the budget, armored vehicles, and consolidation of law enforcement.

In the 90-minute forum at the Teaneck Library, Republican candidates Bernadette Walsh and Robert Avery took issue with how the Democratic-controlled freeholder board avoided a tax increase this year by dipping into county trust funds.

Avery contended the move would leave the county in the red at the beginning of 2015.

But Democratic Freeholder Chairman David Ganz said only about $1.5 million of the nearly $100 million in the trust funds was tapped as revenue this year.

Fellow Democratic Freeholder Joan Voss said those funds will be replenished next year.

The mostly civil debate came amid a campaign in which control of the freeholder board is at stake. Democrats hold a 5-2 majority.

The forum — which drew about 50 people — was held by Bergen Grassroots, a citizen activist group best know for successfully pushing the county to adopt pay-to-play reforms that limited campaign contributions by professionals with no-bid county contracts.

That issue came up only at the very end of the forum. Instead, the debate over Sheriff Michael Saudino’s plan to accept a mine-resistant military surplus armored vehicle from the federal government was a much hotter topic.

“I don’t want them on our streets,” Walsh said, to some applause.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-freeholder-hopefuls-square-off-in-debate-1.1099511#sthash.FCPUgugw.dpuf

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Widow of N.J. trooper disappointed by court decision to parole husband’s killer

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Werner Foerster, killed during a traffic stop in 1973, escaped East Germany as a young man. Who would have thought that in 2014 the USA would be more like Police State East Germany ?

Widow of N.J. trooper disappointed by court decision to parole husband’s killer

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 6:41 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 11:41 PM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

She has been largely quiet over the decades about the murder of her state trooper husband on the New Jersey Turnpike as his death became entangled in a crime involving a black anti-government movement and an armed prison escape by a woman who remains one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives.

But as one of Trooper Werner Foerster’s killers moved a step closer to freedom this week, his wife agreed on Tuesday to discuss some of their life together. She touched on her husband’s escape from communist East Germany as a young man and his reason for joining the state police after the couple moved to New Jersey and had a son.

“He just wanted to have a better life for us,” said Rosa Foerster, 73, who lives in Florida.

On Monday, a panel of appellate judges overturned a 2010 state Parole Board ruling denying parole for 77-year-old Sundiata Acoli, a member of the Black Liberation Army who was traveling with Joanne Chesimard and another man when they were pulled over for a faulty taillight by police in East Brunswick on May 2, 1973.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/widow-of-n-j-trooper-disappointed-by-court-decision-to-parole-husband-s-killer-1.1099501#sthash.YqbR5JPC.dpuf

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Reps. Garrett and Cárdenas Introduce Bipartisan FAIR Act to Protect Americans from Unconstitutional Civil Asset Forfeitures

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Reps. Garrett and Cárdenas Introduce Bipartisan FAIR Act to Protect Americans from Unconstitutional Civil Asset Forfeitures

Sep 17, 2014 

Bill is House Companion to Sen. Rand Paul’s Legislation

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Chairman of the Congressional Constitution Caucus, and Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), Co-Chairman of the bipartisan Crime Prevention and Youth Development Caucus, today introduced H.R. 5502, the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, to protect Americans from having their property seized without the due process of law.  The FAIR Act makes a number of changes to civil asset forfeiture laws to restore the constitutional protections guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.

“Most Americans assume that the government cannot take your things without due process, but it is happening,” said Garrett.  “Under current law, federal, state and local police can seize your property unless you can prove you acquired it legally. This must change.  The FAIR Act will protect our constitutional rights and save American families from a costly and messy legal process to regain what is legally theirs.”

“Two principles that we as Americans hold dear are innocent until proven guilty; and that the government may not seize our property without just cause,” said Cárdenas.  “Satisfying a profit motive must never be the reason for law enforcement, and it certainly must never be allowed to support the seizure of personal property by those who we trust to protect and defend our nation and our Constitution.”

The FAIR Act would ensure that Americans are innocent until proven guilty by requiring the government to meet a higher legal standard before seizing an individual’s property.  This legislation would raise the standard to seize assets from a preponderance of evidence to a higher standard of clear and convincing evidence.  In addition, the FAIR Act would eliminate the practice of equitable sharing and eliminate all profit incentives by requiring that all funds seized by the federal government go into the general treasury fund.

Click here for a one-page explanation of the bill, and click here for a section-by-section summary.

To read the Washington Post’s three-part series on civil asset forfeitures, click here.

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Bergen County freeholders discuss guidelines for military vehicles

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Bergen County freeholders discuss guidelines for military vehicles

The debate over the militarization of law enforcement in Bergen County reverberated at Wednesday’s Freeholder Board meeting, where a full-throated discussion took place over the wisdom of the Sheriff’s Office accepting two military surplus armored vehicles. (Ensslin/The Bergen Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-freeholders-discuss-guidelines-for-military-vehicles-1.1076873

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The truth about libertarians, police and Ferguson’s fury

Police Converge Mass

The truth about libertarians, police and Ferguson’s fury

By John Stossel

Published August 20, 2014
FoxNews.com

Libertarians warned for years that government is force, that government always grows and that America’s police have become too much like an occupying army.

We get accused of being paranoid, but we look less paranoid after heavily armed police in Ferguson, Missouri, tear gassed peaceful protesters, arrested journalists and stopped some journalists from entering the town.

One week before the rioting began, Fox News aired my documentary on the militarization of law enforcement, “Policing America.”

That show didn’t stop some left-wing commentators from making the bizarre claim that libertarians like me have been silent about Ferguson.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/08/20/libertarians-police-and-ferguson-fury/

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The Rise of the Warrior Cop: Police Militarization in Ferguson — and Your Town

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The Rise of the Warrior Cop: Police Militarization in Ferguson — and Your Town

As the unfolding events in Ferguson, MO—a town of 21,000 outside of St. Louis—demonstrate, America’s domestic police forces have come to resemble the standing armies the Founders feared.

“Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb?,” asks Cato’s Walter Olson. Why fire tear gas canisters at people standing in their own yards? “Shock and awe” tactics are fast becoming the new normal as federal policy has fed an unhealthy warrior mentality among what used to be called “peace officers”—with federal subsidies and Pentagon giveaways of military ordnance.

The clampdown in Ferguson highlights the dangers of our drift toward paramilitary policing, as well as the broader trend of law-enforcement lawlessness documented by Cato’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project.

https://catoinstitute.tumblr.com/post/94781017377/the-rise-of-the-warrior-cop-police-militarization-in?utm_content=buffer1fa05&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Dershowitz: Perry Indictment ‘What Happens in Totalitarian Societies’

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Dershowitz: Perry Indictment ‘What Happens in Totalitarian Societies’

The indictment of Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry over abuse of power and coercion is reminiscent of the way that political dissent was handled in the Soviet Union, legal scholar and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax TV’s “America’s Forum.”

Dershowitz, who make clear he would never vote for Rick Perry, said Monday the governor’s indictment was driven by politics and is representative of “what happens in totalitarian societies.”

He said disagreement with Perry’s actions is “not the basis of what a criminal charge should be,” adding that Americans have the ability to “vote against him” if they don’t like his actions.

Dershowitz, who calls himself a “liberal Democrat,” said he doesn’t “approve of [Perry’s] views on most matters, certainly on social matters.” However, he said Perry’s actions were “not the basis of what a criminal charge should be,” and explained the indictment was “political in nature, and that’s why I’m so opposed to it.”

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Alan-Dershowitz-Rick-Perry-indictment-Lehmberg/2014/08/18/id/589413/#ixzz3AnTNOJv8

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Police Militarization in Ferguson — and Your Town

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Police Militarization in Ferguson — and Your Town
By WALTER OLSON

Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such asbans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“ ‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?

As most readers have reason to know by now, the town of Ferguson, Mo. outside St. Louis, numbering around 21,000 residents, is the scene of an unfolding drama that will be cited for years to come as a what-not-to-do manual for police forces. After police shot and killed an unarmed black teenager on the street, then left his body on the pavement for four hours, rioters destroyed many local stores. Since then, police have refused to disclose either the name of the cop involved or the autopsy results on young Michael Brown; have not managed to interview a key eyewitness even as he has told his storyrepeatedly on camera to the national press; have revealed that dashcams for police cars were in the city’s possession but never installed; have obtained restrictions on journalists, including on news-gathering overflights of the area; and more.

The dominant visual aspect of the story, however, has been the sight of overpowering police forces confronting unarmed protesters who are seen waving signs or just their hands.

If you’re new to the issue of police militarization, which Overlawyered has covered occasionally over the past few years, the key book is Radley Balko’s, discussed at this Cato forum:

Federal grants drive police militarization. In 2012, as I was able to establish in moments through an online search, St. Louis County (of which Ferguson is a part) got a Bearcat armored vehicle and other goodies this way. The practice can serve to dispose of military surplus (though I’m told the Bearcat is not military surplus, but typically purchased new) and it sometimes wins the gratitude of local governments, even if they are too strapped for cash to afford more ordinary civic supplies (and even if they are soon destined to be surprised by the high cost of maintaining gear intended for armed combat).

As to the costs, some of those are visible in Ferguson, Mo. this week.

https://www.cato.org/blog/police-militarization-ferguson-nationwide

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Rand Paul: ‘Big Government Has Been at the Heart of the Problem’ in Ferguson

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Rand Paul: ‘Big Government Has Been at the Heart of the Problem’ in Ferguson
Katrina Trinko / @KatrinaTrinko / August 14, 2014

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., today blasted “big government” in response to the current situation in Ferguson, Mo.

In an op-ed published in Time, Paul wrote, “Not surprisingly, big government has been at the heart of the problem.” He continued:

“Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.”

Talking about the photos and footage coming out of Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, Paul wrote that they “resemble war more than traditional police action.”

The Kentucky senator, however, also sounded a cautious note about the protests in Ferguson, writing, “The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting.”

“There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace,” Paul added, “but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.”

There have been protests in Ferguson since the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was killed in an interaction with a police officer Saturday.

https://dailysignal.com/2014/08/14/rand-paul-big-government-heart-problem-ferguson/

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The Pentagon gave nearly half a billion dollars of military gear to local law enforcement last year

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The Pentagon gave nearly half a billion dollars of military gear to local law enforcement last year

The events in Ferguson, Missouri this week are an uncomfortable reminder of the militarization of America’s small town law enforcement agencies. The photos coming out of the town–of heavily armed officers in full combat gear squaring off against unarmed protesters–look like images we’re used to seeing from places like Gaza, Turkey, or Egypt, not from a midwestern suburb of 21,000 people.

One of the ways police departments have armed themselves in recent years is through the Defense Department’s excess property program, known as the 1033 Program. It “permits the Secretary of Defense to transfer, without charge, excess U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) personal property (supplies and equipment) to state and local law enforcement agencies (LEAs),” according to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.

The 1033 program has transferred more than $4.3 billion in equipment since its inception in 1997. In 2013 alone it gave nearly half a billion dollars worth of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, according tothe program’s website.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/14/the-pentagon-gave-nearly-half-a-billion-dollars-of-military-gear-to-local-law-enforcement-last-year/