This spring was a rough season for the Fourth Amendment. The Obama administration petitioned the Supreme Court to allow GPS tracking of vehicles without judicial permission. The Supreme Court ruled that the police could break into a house without a search warrant if, after knocking and announcing themselves, they heard what sounded like evidence being destroyed. Then it refused to see a Fourth Amendment violation where a citizen was jailed for 16 days on the false pretext that he was being held as a material witness to a crime.No fucking shit. Bloggers on both sides of the political spectrum have been warning about this for years.*
In addition, Congress renewed Patriot Act provisions on enhanced surveillance powers until 2015, and the F.B.I. expanded agents’ authority to comb databases, follow people and rummage through their trash even if they are not suspected of a crime.
We have lost so much in this country. It was not so long ago that one never saw a policeman strutting about, wearing a German helmet and cradling a submachine gun or an assault rifle, but those are now almost common sights in some cities.
It just keeps creeping along. The Patriot Act gave powers to law enforcement to stop terrorists, but the cops were not shy about using those powers to expand garden-variety criminal investigations.
This shit has to stop. We have to stop it. We have to start electing politicians who are willing to stand up to the forces of fascism who say that they can keep us safe only if they can disregard our civil rights. We, as citizens, have to understand that when the cops abuse the rights of minorities, they are abusing everyone's rights.
But I don't see that happening. I suspect that a significant fraction of the population would cheer on the scrapping of the Bill of Rights on the tenuous promise that the forces of order will keep them safe if only the police and FBI are allowed to search when they want, arrest anyone they please and torture whenever they desire.
I do believe that the vast majority of the Founding Fathers would be appalled to see what passes for liberty and freedom in this land. But damn few people give a shit.
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* Though to be fair, a lot of bloggers on the other side of the aisle have only concerned themselves about it since January, 2009. Better late then never, I suppose.
I thought the last one was a paintball gun, so I went looking. It is, but one designed to shoot pepper balls. Guess that guy is LE afterall.
ReplyDeleteTough to imagine a major network picking up a show about police abuses of our rights, but until the average Joe cares about his real rights, instead of the ephemeral and imaginary rights "lost" when a black man was elected president, we won't be able to steer away from the ultimate police state coming our way.
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ReplyDeleteDear Dupont Hydro Industries.... go away, eat shit, and die.
ReplyDeleteAs for the blog issue.... here's a problem: When we protest this unforgivable loss of our Constitutional rights, the Police State can, under the so-called Patriot Acts, declare us as potential enemies of the state.
See y'all in Guantanamo! I'll be in the third cell on the left.
Nangleator, there is no shortage of cop shows that showcase illegal searches, seizures and interrogations. They desensitize people. Things won't change until they show some of those TV cops getting their dicks punched.
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