Category: Pat’s Opinions

There has been a long-term agenda to change these United States from the conception birthed by our Founding Fathers to something where the power elite control the “Great Unwashed” through the cooperation and demands of the rank and file sheep of the flock. Some parts of the agenda span only a few years while others take over a century to unfold. You might call it a “ten-point program”, a “new world order” or “hope and change”. Over the next two weeks the plan will be presented in no particular order.

The Agenda — Part Ten: Gather and centralize power in the Federal government leading with the non-elected agencies and bureaus of the Executive Branch.

The federal government has exceeded its constitutional bounds. Congress functions far beyond its “few and defined” powers, to encroach on those reserved to the states and the people. Examples include education, health care and various criminal laws.

Even more intrusive, however, are the more than 400 federal agencies that issue thousands of regulations controlling every aspect of our lives, from our air and water to our farms and factories.

The executive branch chooses which laws to enforce and issues its own laws through executive orders and administrative rules.

The federal courts now routinely decide matters of public policy historically reserved to the states, including life, marriage and morality.

Why does any of this matter? As long as we have food on the table and a car in the garage, why does it matter if we are governed from our state Capitol or Washington — by legislators or federal administrators? Unchecked federal power is not only oppressive, but a distant central government is less efficient, less responsive and more expensive.

The answer in one word — liberty — for ourselves and our posterity.

“Federalism is more than an exercise in setting the boundary between different institutions of government for their own integrity. State sovereignty is not just an end in itself. Rather, federalism secures to citizens the liberties that derive from the diffusion of sovereign power. … Federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power. When government acts in excess of its lawful powers, that liberty is at stake.”
— Justice Anthony Kennedy

In short, the unchecked growth of federal power — without a counterbalancing state power — restricts individual liberty and threatens tyranny.

Here are just a few examples where the Federal government, (and our elected officials who are supposed to serve us)  has ignored rather than honor the Constitutional liberties guaranteed to us as Americans.

1) dictate school curriculum, testing, lunch menus and transgender use of bathrooms and locker rooms;

2) prohibit mining and burning of coal;

3) regulate ditches and canals as “waters of the U.S.”;

4) revoke accreditation of colleges whose standards are not “politically correct”;

5) force private religious employers to provide contraceptive services;

6) dictate overtime pay in private employment;

7) revoke tax-exemptions for nonconforming religious beliefs;

8) protect wildlife that damages property or threatens domestic livestock;

9) force one-size-fits-all health care plans;

10) limit use of public lands; and so forth.

Despite what some may think, the Constitution is no magical incantation against government wrongdoing.

It’s only as effective as those who abide by it. However, without courts willing to uphold the Constitution’s provisions when government officials disregard it and a citizenry knowledgeable enough to be outraged when those provisions are undermined, it provides little to no protection against SWAT team raids, domestic surveillance, police shootings of unarmed citizens, indefinite detentions, and the like.

Unfortunately, the courts and the police have meshed in their thinking to such an extent that anything goes when it’s done in the name of national security, crime fighting and terrorism.

America no longer operates under a system of justice characterized by due process, an assumption of innocence, probable cause and clear prohibitions on government overreach and police abuse. Instead, our courts of justice have been transformed into courts of order, advocating for the government’s interests, rather than championing the rights of the citizen, as enshrined in the Constitution.

The rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, once the map by which we navigated sometimes hostile terrain, has been unceremoniously booted out of the runaway car that is our government, driven over and left for road kill on the side of the road. All that can be seen in the rear view mirror are the tire marks on its ragged frame.

What we are dealing with is a run-away government hyped up on its own power, whose policies are dictated more by paranoia than need. Making matters worse, “we the people” have become so gullible, so easily distracted, and so out-of-touch that we are ignoring the warning signs all around.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the NDAA indefinite detention case—which challenged whether the government can lawfully lock up American citizens who might be deemed extremists or terrorists (the government likes to use these words interchangeably) for criticizing the government—is one such warning sign that we would do well to heed.

The building blocks are already in place for such an eventuality: the surveillance networks, the militarized police, the courts sanctioning the government’s methods, no matter how unlawful, and the detention facilities, whether private prisons or FEMA internment camps, to lock up the troublemakers.

Americans haven’t been overly concerned about the rights of others, whether non-citizens or suspected terrorists, and now we’re the ones in the unenviable position of being targeted for indefinite detention by our own government.

It will only be a matter of time before they learn the hard way that in a police state, it doesn’t matter who you are or how righteous you claim to be—eventually, you will be lumped in with everyone else and everything you do will be “wrong” and suspect.

“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion — when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing — when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors — when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you — when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice — you may know that your society is doomed.”
— Ayn Rand

This page and its links contain opinion. As with all opinion, it should not be relied upon without independent verification. Think for yourself. Fair Use is relied upon for all content. For educational purposes only. No claims are made to the properties of third parties.

(c) 2018

There has been a long-term agenda to change these United States from the conception birthed by our Founding Fathers to something where the power elite control the “Great Unwashed” through the cooperation and demands of the rank and file sheep of the flock. Some parts of the agenda span only a few years while others take over a century to unfold. You might call it a “ten-point program”, a “new world order” or “hope and change”. Over the next two weeks the plan will be presented in no particular order.

The Agenda — Part Nine: Synchronize and fully integrate local law enforcement with state Federal and private contract military forces. Prepare collection/relocation/internment contingencies, systems & personnel.

There is a long-standing tradition in the United States of separating police and military powers. This practice stems in part from Reconstruction (1865-77), the bitter post-Civil War experience of martial law when victorious Northern troops occupied the South.

After Reconstruction, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. While the roots of this federal law are controversial, the law is generally recognized as limiting the power of the U.S. military to interfere with civilian law enforcement.

The use of military forces under Posse Comitatus remained relatively static until the events of September 11, 2001 after which U.S. military surplus equipment was given to civilian law enforcement agencies under the Department of Defense (DoD) 1033 Program.

Some dispersals of equipment seem to reflect poor decision making. For example:

• The Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, Police Department, policing a village of approximately 6,700 residents, has received 10 helicopters, a mine-resistant armored vehicle and two Humvees, as well as other equipment.

• The Oxford, Alabama, Police Department, policing 22,000 residents, has received nine Humvees, two armored vehicles, a general purpose truck and other equipment.

The primary argument in favor of police militarization is that law enforcement agencies face increasingly sophisticated threats from criminal gangs and terrorists.

Arguments against police militarization center on the marginalization of the Posse Comitatus Act and the appearance of police as members of the military. Unlike military forces that exist to defeat the enemies of the United States in combat, the role of the police in America is to protect and serve their communities.

Having police in military camouflage, carrying heavy military weapons and patrolling in armored or other military vehicles gives  the appearance of an armed police confrontation. That public image belies the traditional image of police as servants of the community.

Civilian police referring to their fellow citizens as “civilians” is an example of how police militarization has crept into our society. For police officers to refer to their fellow community members as civilians promotes a “we – they” type of relationship in which the police are separate from the community.

Look at it for a moment from the cops’ point of view.

When someone calls 911 for police service, there is a tacit admission by the caller that the situation at hand has deteriorated beyond his or her control, and police are needed in order to bring the situation back under control. There is the unstated assumption that the officer has going into each situation — not that a social equilibrium needs to be maintained, but that a situation needs to be quickly and efficiently brought back under control.

Further than this, when he gets to the scene of many to most of these 911 calls, he encounters people who seek to frustrate his endeavors. He talks to witnesses who lie in circles about not seeing anything. He talks to suspects who lie about where they’d just been or what they were just doing. He talks to drunk people who can’t coordinate themselves and won’t remember what was said in ten minutes’ time. He talks to addicts who try to conceal the fact that they’re high even though involuntary tics have consumed their body. He talks to grade school kids and teenagers who have been conditioned to mistrust or despise police. He talks to people who lie about their identity because they have warrants or because they just want to frustrate him. He talks to people who act nervous and take too long to answer simple questions, raising his suspicions. He talks to people who have drugs, guns, knives, and any manner of other contraband hidden in their residence, in their vehicle, or on their person.

Now consider that the officer is doing this many times per shift — 10, 20, maybe more — encounters every day. He will quickly learn that, in order to get anything accomplished with these liars and obstructionists, he is going to have to employ tactics that in any other field would be unacceptable. He is going to have to be blunt, brusque and curt. He’s going to have to call bluffs and smokescreens and BS. He’s going to have to interrupt rambling, circular explanations. He’s going to have to look people in the eye and say, “We both know that you’re lying to me right now.”

Combine a siege police mentality with the transformation of  police from “Peace officers” to “Law Enforcement” officers add military weapons and tactics into the mix and you have a volatile and explosive situation. Enter “Special Weapons and Tactics, S.W.A.T.

Initially S.W.A.T. was an elite force reserved for uniquely dangerous incidents, such as active shooters, hostage situations, or large-scale disturbances.

While SWAT isn’t the only indicator that the militarization of American policing is increasing, it is the most recognizable. The proliferation of SWAT teams across the country and their paramilitary tactics have spread a violent form of policing designed for the extraordinary but in these years made ordinary.

As the number of SWAT teams has grown nationwide, so have the raids. Every year now, there are approximately 50,000 SWAT raids in the United States. In other words, roughly 137 times a day a SWAT team assaults a home and plunges its inhabitants and the surrounding community into terror.

Nearly 80 percent of all SWAT raids reviewed between 2011 and 2012 were deployed to execute a search warrant.

Pause here and consider that these violent home invasions are routinely used against people who are only suspected of a crime. Up-armored paramilitary teams now regularly bash down doors in search of evidence of a possible crime. In other words, police departments increasingly choose a tactic that often results in injury and property damage as its first option, not the one of last resort. In more than 60 percent of the raids  investigated, SWAT members rammed down doors in search of possible drugs, not to save a hostage, respond to a barricade situation, or neutralize an active shooter.

The military mentality and equipment associated with SWAT operations are no longer confined to those elite units. Increasingly, they’re permeating all forms of policing. Recruit training favors a stress-based regimen that’s modeled on military boot camp rather than on the more relaxed academic  police departments previously employed. The result is young officers who believe policing is about kicking ass rather than working with the community to make neighborhoods safer.

This authoritarian streak runs counter to the core philosophy used to dominate American thinking: community policing, and its emphasis is on a mission of “keeping the peace” by creating and maintaining partnerships of trust with and in the communities served.

Police across America are being trained in a way that emphasizes force and aggression.

The more militaristic look of the BDUs, (Battle Dress Uniforms),much like what is seen in news stories of our military in war zones, gives rise to the notion of our police being an occupying force in some neighborhoods, instead of trusted community protectors.

Why is this dangerous to our Constitutional freedoms?

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) may be an obscure agency within the Department of Defense, but through the 1033 program, which it oversees, it’s one of the core enablers of American policing’s excessive militarization. Beginning in 1990, Congress authorized the Pentagon to transfer its surplus property free of charge to federal, state, and local police departments to wage the war on drugs. In 1997, Congress expanded the purpose of the program to include counterterrorism in section 1033 of the defense authorization bill. In one single page of a 450-page law, Congress helped sow the seeds of today’s warrior cops.

Astoundingly, one-third of all war materiel parceled out to state, local, and tribal police agencies is brand new. This raises further disconcerting questions: Is the Pentagon simply wasteful when it purchases military weapons and equipment with taxpayer dollars? Or could this be another downstream, subsidized market for defense contractors?

Whatever the answer, the Pentagon is actively distributing weaponry and equipment made for U.S. counterinsurgency campaigns abroad to police who patrol American streets and this is considered sound policy in Washington. The message seems striking enough: what is necessary for Kabul is also be necessary for DeKalb County.

In other words, the 21st-century war on terror has melded thoroughly with the 20th-century war on drugs, and the result couldn’t be anymore disturbing: police forces that increasingly look and act like occupying armies.

Evidence is mounting that America’s militarized police are a threat to public safety.

In a country where the cops increasingly look upon themselves as soldiers doing battle day in, day out, there’s no need for public accountability or even an apology when things go grievously wrong.

If community policing rests on mutual trust between the police and the people, militarized policing operates on the assumption of “officer safety” at all costs and contempt for anyone who sees things differently. The result is an “us versus them” mentality… and that is a dangerous mindset both for police officers and for those they “serve and protect”.

This page and its links contain opinion. As with all opinion, it should not be relied upon without independent verification. Think for yourself. Fair Use is relied upon for all content. For educational purposes only. No claims are made to the properties of third parties.

(c) 2018