Rogue Cops?

 No crime in progress, ma'am. 

We just want to look out your windows and fuck up your dog.

What follows appears to be a particularly egregious example of police misconduct that is finally winding its way through our legal system. It took two years for this incident to reach the courts and the local Las Vegas media seems to have completely ignored it.

I have no problem with the application of deadly physical force when needed. But I do have a problem with the "them vs us" attitude of so many cops and the way that the new generation of officers is trained to steamroll over the citizenry. When I joined in 1974, the number of police officers killed in the line of duty was 280; last year in 2012 it was 120. Our tactics at that time were much less intrusive and we were very concerned with maintaining good relations with the people we served. How things have changed.

I thank God that fewer officers are making the ultimate sacrifice, but I deplore the tactics being used against citizens whose only crime appears to be wanting to be left alone.

From the Daily Caller:

A family is suing the city of Henderson, Nevada for violating their Third Amendment rights — the constitutional prohibition against quartering soldiers in a private home during peacetime without the owner’s consent.

The Mitchell family says that’s essentially what happened when Henderson police allegedly arrested them for refusing to let officers use their homes for a “tactical advantage” in a domestic violence investigation into a neighbor, according to an official complaint.

Police officers contacted Anthony Mitchell on July 10, 2011, with a request to use his house as a lookout while investigating his neighbor. When Mitchell told police that he did not wish to be involved, the complaint alleges, police decided they would use the residence anyway.

If the police were executing a search/arrest warrant for the neighbor I could understand. Dangerous people pose significant threats to both police and innocent civilians and and I for one would want to move innocent people out of harm's way - we do this all the time. But to toss out a family to conduct surveillance on a site for possible domestic incident? This just doesn't pass the smell test... it stinks. And the stink gets worse.

According to Courthouse News Service, the police department decided that if Mitchell refused to leave or open the door, officers would force their way in and arrest him.

Mitchell claims this is exactly what happened. First officers “smashed open” Mitchell’s door with a “metal ram” after he did not immediately open it himself. He then “curled on the floor of his living room, with his hands over his face,” as the police shot Mitchell and his dog — which the family claims did not attack the officers — several times with “pepperball” rounds.

Pepperball is a projectile containing chemical irritant pepper spray, which is released upon impact.

Afterward, Mitchell was arrested for “obstructing a police officer.”

The ordeal didn’t end there. Mitchell’s parents, Michael and Linda, were also neighbors to the home where police officers suspected domestic violence, so the police wanted to use their home as well. Michael Mitchell was invited to a local police command center to assist “in negotiating the surrender of the neighboring suspect.”
But upon arriving at the commander center, the elder Mitchell was informed the negotiations wouldn’t be taking place, the complaint says. When he decided to leave, he was also arrested.

The elder Mitchell’s wife was not arrested, but she was roughly escorted from her home while other officers entered the house without permission, the complaint alleges. The family claims that when she was allowed to return, “the cabinets and closet doors throughout the house had been left open and their contents moved about… Even the refrigerator door had been left ajar, and mustard and mayonnaise had been left on their kitchen floor.”

The charges against both the father and the son were dismissed.

The current trend for the militarization of our police forces worries me.  I see many young cops who are more concerned with their images as ninja tough guy enforcers rather than citizen protectors. Believe me, there is a difference.

Police executives must look at their enforcement efforts and decide whether they are acting as a civil servants or an invading army. The City of Henderson, NV, has a lot to answer for.

Art Imitates Nature

Bird poop on a windshield looks like bird pooping.

How weird is that?

If They Can Do It, So Can We

It was rather surprising to see how fast the new "democratic" regime in Egypt folded under pressure. Apparently, it was nothing more than a paper thin Islamic veneer that attempted to impose Sharia Law over a nation of 90 million souls.

Wonder how long Obama would last under a sustained barrage such as that?

Time's a-wasting....

Thank You King George

The Grand Union Flag, first used by George Washington on January 1, 1776.
This modification of the  British Red Ensign became in effect the first national flag of the United States.

It is always a joy to read an article penned by Daniel Hannan; youmay not agree with him but he certainly stirs the pot in a most agreeable manner. Read the whole thing, it's well worth the time.

From the UK Telegraph:

Why Britons should celebrate the American Declaration of Independence

We all know the story of American independence, don't we? A rugged frontier people became increasingly tired of being ruled by a distant elite. A group calling themselves Patriots were especially unhappy about being taxed by a parliament in which they were unrepresented. When, in 1775, British redcoats tried to repress them, a famous Patriot called Paul Revere rode through the night across eastern Massachusetts, crying 'The British are coming'. The shots that were fired the next day began a war for independence which culminated the following year in the statehouse of Philadelphia, when George Washington and others, meeting under Betsy Ross's gorgeous flag, signed the Declaration of Independence.

It's a stirring story; but it's false in every aspect. Neither Paul Revere nor anyone else could have shouted 'The British are coming' in 1775: the entire population of Massachusetts was British (what the plucky Boston silversmith actually yelled was 'The regulars are out!') The overall level of taxation in the colonies in 1775 was barely a fiftieth of what it was in Great Britain, and the levies to which Americans had objected had been repealed before the fighting began. The Boston Tea Party, which sparked the violence, was brought about by a lowering of the duty on tea. George Washington wasn't there when the Declaration of Independence was signed. The flag which the Patriots marched under was not, except on very rare occasions, the stars-and-stripes (which probably wasn't sewn by Betsy Ross); it was the Grand Union Flag, which incorporated the flag of Great Britain.

The men who raised that standard believed that they were fighting for their freedoms as Britons – freedoms which had been trampled by a Hanoverian king and his hirelings. When they called themselves Patriots – a word that had been common currency among Whigs on both sides of the Atlantic long before anyone dreamed of a separation – they meant that they were British patriots, cherishing the peculiar liberties that had come down to them since Magna Carta: jury trials, free contract, property rights, habeas corpus, parliamentary representation, liberty of conscience and the common law.

[...]As the Virginia-born Lady Astor later put it, the war was fought “by British Americans against a German King for British ideals.”

More here.

We Should Have Known

Happy 4th of July!

Ok Obama, render the Kenyan Krotch Salute in 3...2...

Another Arab Spring, Er, Summer... Fall?

Egyptian Army General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announces that 

Islamic nutjob President Morsi has been kicked to Egypt's curb. 

Hmmmm, I wonder if he could do the same thing for us in America?

So, President Mohamed "I will fight to the death... NOT!" Morsi is out and the Generals are in. I wonder how much influence the Israeli Defense Force had in this turn of events; as in, "Get rid of the clowns or we trash the circus."

From the Daily Mail:

'Morsi is no longer president': Military coup forces out Egyptian leader as tens of thousands celebrate in the streets

Thousands celebrate after military chief says president has been forced out

Morsi moved to undisclosed location as military chief calls for elections

Troops deployed near protest sites and key military sites

America says it is 'very concerned' about conditions on the ground

Nearly 40 people have died since protests began on Sunday

One of Morsi's top advisers said country is experiencing a coup


Celebrations were taking place across Egypt this evening after the military chief said President Mohammed Morsi had been forced out.

The head of Egypt's armed forces issued a declaration suspending the constitution and appointing the head of the constitutional court as interim head of state.

In a televised broadcast, flanked by military leaders, religious authorities and political figures, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi effectively declared the removal of elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

The president's aide has said the Egyptian leader Morsi has been moved to an undisclosed location.

To Vegan Or Not To Vegan

Behold Evil Incarnate!

It's hilarious. There is a vegan site that outs "ex-vegans" in an attempt to shame them. Ex-vegans are viewed as apostates; people who leave the Meatless Society of Bean Sprout Lovers are traitors and objects of scorn. They must be punished. Kinda sounds like Muslims, no?

From the NY Post:

These carnivores are dead meat!

A group of vegan extremists has launched a Web site meant to shame scores of “ex-vegans” — even posting the names and photos of the meat-munching traitors.

The The Vegan Sellout List, at exvegans.com, features a directory of former vegans, including plenty of New York City residents.

It says its mission is to hold responsible folks who eat animals and know better.

The site accuses the former non-meat-and-dairy eaters of once being vegans only to be trendy or to make friends.

“The spirits of the billions murdered have risen to deliver: The Vegan Sellout List,” the site declares.

“The Vegan Sellout List is our answer to . . . those who are aware of the suffering caused by meat, dairy, egg, fur and leather production, yet choose to look away while the animals suffer,” the site says, calling out “swarms of haughty, nose-turning carnists.”

Reminds me of Johnny Carson's "Carnist The Magnificent."

 Medium rare - broil for  six minutes on one side and five minutes on the other. Andit'sbetter wrapped with bacon. Speaking about bacon, here is an entry from the ex-vegan web site excoriating some lass who couldn't resist the unholy temptation of bacon.

She was a gluten-free vegan for 5 YEARS and used to be an inspiration to her young vegan listeners and radio fans. Then, one day, she suddenly decided that she enjoys MURDERING INNOCENT ANIMALS and devouring their flesh more than being a role-model. Now she parades around town in her yoga pants, eating entire packages of bacon on every street corner as a middle finger to honest vegans everywhere. Psh, Sell-out.

Hmmmmmm, bacon.... and she's cute to boot.

He's Bad

Once again the FBI, Feckless Bureau of Investigation, has proved that it cannot be trusted to safeguard the safety of American citizens. Its sin this time is sitting on thousands of pages of evidence that shows how perverted freak Michael Jackson gave tens of millions of dollars in hush money to the parents and victims of his unholy affections. Jackson's trial for child molestation took place in 2005 and the FBI had evidence showing him to be a serial molester since 2002.

As reportedin the Mirror:

Secret FBI files exclusively seen by the Sunday People reveal Michael Jackson spent £23million buying the silence of at least two dozen young boys he abused over 15 years.

The documents – case numbers CADCE MJ-02463 and CR 01046 – were not passed on to prosecutors in the King of Pop’s 2005 trial, when he was cleared of molesting a child.

But they throw a disturbing new light on the megastar’s insistence he never laid a finger on any of the scores of kids he invited to his home for unsupervised sleep-overs.

Agents have thousands of pages of evidence dating back to 1989 indicating Jacko groomed and molested children – sometimes right under the noses of their starstruck parents.

The FBI files include private investigators’ reports, phone transcripts and hours of audio tapes.

[...] Ironically, many of the damning reports in the FBI collection had been commissioned by Jacko himself.

Terrified the parents of boys who spent nights with him at his Neverland ranch might go to the cops or expose him in the media, the desperate singer hired “private eye to the stars” Anthony Pellicano to target potential skeletons in his closet – and make sure they stayed out of the limelight.

But when Pellicano was investigated himself in 2002 for bugging Hollywood stars such as Sylvester Stallone, the FBI seized all his files – including many about Jackson. It is copies of these to which the Sunday People has had exclusive access.

I wonder how many other people are now subject to government extortion due to Pellicano's impounded documents and much special "alone time" Obama is enjoying while perusing these documents while sitting on the White House crapper.