A home destroyed by a wildfire is shown at Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011. Some streets were virtually untouched by the fire that swept through the area on Tuesday, with homes fronted by lawns that could double as putting greens, but others were reduced to rows of scorched stone fireplaces and twisted metal frames. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Photo: STF, LM Otero / AP
POSSUM KINGDOM LAKE – Kathy Lanpher was showing a property to a client when she heard the improbable, gut-wrenching news: A wildfire like the one that destroyed her home four months ago was threatening the nearby subdivision where she had relocated.
The real estate agent raced back to her condo, grabbed a few belongings and – hearing that flames had cut off the road to safety – headed to the marina, where she and dozens of frightened neighbors eventually made it to safety by boat.
The wildfire that started Tuesday in the Possum Kingdom Lake area – one of several in drought-stricken Texas and Oklahoma – had destroyed more than three dozen homes and scorched some 6,200 acres as of Wednesday. It had a long way to go before reaching the destructive heights of the spring blaze that lasted two weeks and destroyed 160 homes here, but the late-summer blaze suggests Texas is dealing with its third yearlong wildfire season since 2005 – and its most severe.
“It’s become entrenched. It’s gotten to the point where normal rain events will have little positive impact on the drought and consequently the fire danger. It’s going to take … a weather pattern change,” Texas Forest Service specialist Tom Spencer said.
Texas is enduring its most severe drought since the 1950s, with bone-dry conditions made worse by weeks of triple-digit temperatures in many cities. Blazes have destroyed more than 5,470 square miles since mid-November, the typical start of the wildfire season.
Firefighters haven’t had much of a break this summer, even after various crews battled what turned out to be seven of the 10 largest wildfires in state history this spring.
Spencer said the three yearlong wildfire seasons are the only ones the Forest Service has recorded, but there are no records from the droughts of 1918 and the 1950s.
The subdivision burned by Tuesday’s blaze was the only one in the Possum Kingdom Lake area left unscathed by the spring fire, and the number of homes destroyed was still unknown late Wednesday, officials said. Some streets were left virtually untouched, with homes fronted by lawns that could double as putting greens, but others were reduced to rows of scorched stone fireplaces and twisted metal frames.
Flames blocked the road leading out of the subdivision and hemmed in a group of several dozen residents and law enforcement officers, so they turned back and escaped by boat on Possum Kingdom Lake, Mercer said. It took about six or seven trips, but everyone escaped safely, even if some of them left with frayed nerves, he said.
Democrats said and say that if you vote for anyone but Obama, you’re a racist.
Leftists and liberals say that if you are against Obama on any subject and for any reason, you’re a racist.
Al Gore says, if you disagree with anything the positions proponents of “Climate Change” affirm, you’re a racist.
Al Sharpton says that the Tea Party is the new KKK, just thirsting to lynch blacks and browns everywhere, and obviously, composed of racists.
Maxine Waters says that if you are part of the Tea Party movement, you‘re a racist –and should go straight to hell.
*****
Are you detecting the common theme present in the declaratives above? Let me spell it out for you: paint anyone to the right of the Democratic standard bearers as RACISTS; and worry not, the national media won’t call you on it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the number one marching orders for the Obama supporters, progressives and communists alike. They have absolutely no consciences at all. Their consciences, if ever present in the past, are totally seared by sin, greed, and blinded to truth, and all around non-operative. They are, first and foremost, liars, purveyors of atheistic, leftist, collectivist, socialist, propaganda. And they are people that don’t give a damn about truth, justice, and ethical ways of living. They are consumed with the lust for power, their greed knows no boundaries, and they are most dedicated in the long war against God, and anything that smacks of decency.
Make no mistake about it if you oppose them on any front for any reason, you too will be labeled a racist!
Ø If you oppose the ever growing redistribution of wealth –you’re a racist!
Ø If you support defending our borders and expelling those who come here illegally –gaming the system, exhausting our hospitals, clogging the courts and prisons, etc. –you’re a racist!
Ø If you support cutting government spending and reducing the size and scope of government –you’re a racist!
Ø If you believe we are already bankrupt (seeing as how we have to borrow 40% of every dollar we’re spending, and have over 15 trillion in immediate Federal debt that is growing at an astronomical rate), and you believe we must stop this insanity and mindless rush to oblivion –you’re a racist!
Ø If you believe that the Federal Government has overstepped its Constitutional boundaries under both parties and in all recent administrations –you’re a racist!
Ø If you believe in liberty, self-government, blind (but not stupid) justice, and ethical ways of living –you are obviously a racist!
Ø If you believe in Stat’s rights and right reserved to the people –you’re a racist!
Gosh? Hmm?
I guess that makes me a racist –Not!
I am for liberty for all. Thus, in no way, shape, form, or manner, am I to be rightly or justly labeled as a racist.
The absolute indispensible cornerstone of liberty is private property rights for all. Real property rights begin with the individual. And real capitalism extols private property rights, first and foremost. Without a cherished and scrupulously held to private property rights belief and practice, there can be no real sustained liberty, or capitalism for that matter. That thievery is unlawful and illegal –one of the strongest affirmations of the Bible– is itself the very foundation for private property rights.
What are the basic “property rights” to which we refer? The following presents them in shorthand:
· You own your own life
· You own your own body (in reality, the same as the first, said in differing fashion)
· You own the fruits of your own labor
· You own your real property that you own free and clear
· You own your other possessions, which you own free and clear
· You have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
The opposite of liberty is slavery. One of the primary reasons liberty bursts out wherever biblical faith thrives, is because those finding salvation in Jesus have a measure of freedom from sin. In other words, they experience the power of liberty first hand –personally, as it were! The bible says that the unredeemed, in contrast, are constant slaves to sin, but that those who come unto Christ and follow Him–we enjoy some measure of freedom from sin, from the all-encompassing slavery of sin. And we are called to work toward increasing that freedom in practice (i.e., to live Godly lives advancing His kingdom) and to doing all we can to increase liberty in this world.
Give me liberty, or get out of the way of my bible and my gun –as I fight for it!
@ColonelSixx
Every normal man must be tempted,at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag,and begin slitting throats. H. L. Mencken
With the official repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” less than a month away, members of the military can expect to see a new gay-themed magazine available at military exchange stores on Sept. 20, the same day the repeal goes into effect.
The gay-advocacy group OutServe launched the magazine last Spring and has already produced two editions. The group says its September edition will be available for free at select Army and Air Force bases.
According to the group’s website OutServe Magazineis a publication that “highlights the contributions that actively serving LGBTs are making to the United States military, discusses and educates readers about DADT repeal policies, and advocates for the continued fight for equality for all Americans.”
The new September edition will feature a photo spread of nearly 100 people who are both active duty service members and members of OutServe. It will presumably be the first time these individuals have made their sexuality known among the military ranks.
OutServe’s online magazine features a self help section called “Ask Sarge,” where readers are encouraged to discuss their problems with a mental health and substance abuse expert who has experience working at a Combat Stress Clinic in Afghanistan.
“Our first objective with the magazine is to let all the gay, lesbian, bi, and trans members currently serving know that they are not alone,” OutServe’s co-director, an active-duty officer who goes by the pseudonym JD Smith said in a written release. “And we also want to communicate to all troops that there are capable gay military members serving honorably, and that accepting that and moving on will make our military stronger.”
Lt. Col. Tom Shrader, a spokesman for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, did not know which bases will carry the first print editions of the magazine.
We don’t have a debt crisis, a tax crisis or a spending crisis in this country. We have a hate crisis, an extremism crisis and a lack of patriotism crisis.
Let’s take that last one first, since you are never supposed to accuse anyone of a lack of patriotism because we are all good Americans, right?
But I will accuse most members of Congress of a lack of patriotism because they love power more than they love their country. They love knee-jerk ideology more than they love their country. And they love getting reelected more than they love their country.
Which is why so many of them are sitting on their ample behinds rather than doing anything meaningful to avert a global economic collapse.
That’s right. Too many Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the rich, no matter what happens to this country.
And too many Democrats refuse to consider cuts in entitlement spending, no matter what happens to this country.
That’s the extremism crisis, which makes people willing to follow their ideologies off a cliff. Are the two sides equally to blame? No, I don’t think so.
But it really doesn’t matter because it has led to a paralysis that has brought us to an economic abyss. Talk to lawmakers about economic theory? Heck, some of them don’t even believe in evolution.
So let’s skip to the probable result: If the United States defaults on its debt, your savings could be wiped out. The money you have been keeping for your retirement or your kids’ college education or just for a rainy day could be gone. Even brokerage money market funds could take a huge hit. At the end of 2008, there were 2,000 such funds in this country with assets of $3.8 trillion. People think those funds are safe. People are wrong.
Think I am being extreme? Think I am shouting“Fire!” in a crowded theater?
It is OK to shout“Fire!” in a crowded theater if the theater is really on fire.
Now let me get to the hatred part. Let’s admit it: A lot of Republicans just plain hate President Barack Obama’s guts. You can’t blame racism for all of it. Former President Bill Clinton was hated, too. As Mike McCurry, Clinton’s press secretary, told me in 1997, the year before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, “One-third of the American people have a deep, visceral dislike for this president.”
And economic times were good under Clinton: Debt was changed to surplus and millions of jobs were created. Note, I don’t say that Clinton created those jobs. The truth is, presidents have far less to do with job creation than we think. (And gas prices, too.) But because presidents claim to create jobs when times are good, it is tough for presidents to escape blame for job loss when times are bad.
And while nobody calls him “Slick Barack” like they called Clinton “Slick Willie,” there is the feeling among Obama haters that he is too smooth, too intellectual and, to some, just too darn uppity. Like when in April 2008, he said of small-town voters, “It’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
A lot of people didn’t like that. And for all the “post-racial” bliss that Obama’s election was supposed to signal in this country, keep in mind he lost the white vote by a landslide 12 percentage points.
But, as I said, it’s not all race, either. Remember Velma Hart? Sure, you do, even if you don’t remember her name. She’s the middle-age black woman who stood up at a nationally televised town hall in September 2010 and said this to Obama: “I’m one of your middle-class Americans, and quite frankly, I’m exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.”
When she made that statement, Hart was the chief financial officer for a nonprofit veterans’ group. Two months later, she lost her job. “It’s not anything she did,” her boss said. “She got bit by the same snake that has bit a lot of people.”
That snake is still biting. Obama is trying to avert an economic crisis by agreeing to make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in exchange for raising taxes on the rich.
“No tax hikes!” scream some Republican lawmakers.
“No cuts in benefits!” scream some Democratic lawmakers.
They scream because they are afraid of losing their jobs. They don’t want to compromise, even if compromise would be best for this country and would avert a financial catastrophe.
And who elected these bozos? We did.
So if the crash comes, and you are wiped out and looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror.
Roger Simon is POLITICO’s chief political columnist.
NOTE: I AM WRITING THIS THE WAY I WANT TO. DON’T SEND ME THAT SILLY ASS BULLSHIT ABOUT NOT “WRITING LIKE AN OFFICER”.
PALO PINTO COUNTY, TEXAS
IT IS NOW OFFICIALLY THE HOTTEST SUMMER IN TEXAS HISTORY.
The biggest story in my world today is that my home county is burning, and has been half destroyed. There are over 200 firefighters, 2 helicopters, and some fixed wing planes fighting the second massive fire in Palo Pinto County, Texas this year. There has been 2 1/2 inches or rain in the county since June 2011.
Possum Kingdom Lake and the resorts that replaced the make out spots of the 1970’s. PK. It was the best kept secret in Texas for decades. They built a hell of a golf course there. People have had land in “The Kingdom” for years. Everyone that lives there is not rich. The Cliffs were evacuated to the Harbor. The Harbor opened up some very expensive rooms for free for those people. The head chef stayed up all night last night feeding them. Now, the Harbor is being evacuated.
Those folks are going to have to go to Mineral Wells, Weatherford, Strawn, Gordon, Stephenville, and Ft. Worth.
Hwy 16 is closed north of here. There is not much to the south. It is 103 degrees. There is 150 acres on fire over in Wise Co. They say somebody was burning trash. We don’t expect to be visited by the son of a bitch in D.C.
Back in the spring, the fires burned a great deal of the county up. We put in a request for federal assistance. Did not hear a word for months.
Not even news that 90 percent of the state park had been blackened by the wildfires could keep them away.
They love the customer service at local stores and the fireworks show at Hellsgate, but most importantly, the peaceful lake where they spend most of their time relaxing in their boat.
“The lake didn’t dry up, so there’s no reason not to go,” Iocco said. “We love Possum Kingdom Lake. The lake is just one of the best in the state. Needless to say, we could stopped at lakes in Houston, but this is the one we come to every year.”
On Friday,(from spring) President Obama granted federal disaster declarations for 45 Texas counties following this spring’s wildfires.
But Palo Pinto County was excluded, and local lawmakers want to know why. During the wildfires that spread from the Possum Kingdom area, dozens of homes were destroyed.
More than 3 million acres burned across the state. The declaration allows the federal government to pick up 75 percent of the cost of battling the fires that burned between April 6 and May 3.
This all a personal thing between Obama and Perry. Perry met Obama at the airport in Houston last spring and tried to give him a note. Obama told him to give the note to someone that was coming off the plane and kept walking. Maybe you may understand why I absolutely hate Obama. I know, you ain’t supposed to hate nobody. You can’t go to heaven, blah, blah, blah. I am an officer in the Marine Corps. That whole going to heaven thing has been off the table for decades. You can read more about the situation here:
COLONEL SIXX: THIS HAPPENED IN MIDDLE OF THE DAY IN AN AREA WITH MORE POLICE OFFICERS ON PATROL PER SQUARE MILE THAN ANY OTHER IN TEXAS.
A security guard has died after being shot during a failed bank robbery in Dallas on Wednesday, police say.
Dallas police said a man had entered a secure teller area at the Bank of America on the 3500 block of South Lancaster when the security guard, 55-year-old Lionel Newell, intervened.
During the confrontation, the man grabbed Newell’s gun and shot him.
The man then left the bank and went about a block away to the 1800 block of Overton where he confronted two people working on the air conditioning system of the Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ.
The armed man demanded a vehicle and tried to take a car but was stopped by police before he could get away.
NOTE THAT THE DAILY MAIL IS PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
I WAS OUT OF TOWN WHEN THIS HAPPENED LAST WEEK. NO ONE CAN REMEMBER A BIGGER FUNERAL.
Five-year-old Naim was starting his first day of school. His brother Elijah, three, also died
23rd August 2011
A father drowned his two young sons after abducting them and their mother while they were walking to school on Monday, according to police.
Naim Rasool Mohammed, from Dallas, was arrested in a creek bed hours after police issued an alert saying he was suspected of abducting the two boys, aged three and five.
According to a police report, Mohammed, 32, approached the boys and their 22-year-old mother as they were walking to school and forced them into his vehicle by threatening her with a brick.
The woman eventually managed to jump from the vehicle and flag down a Dallas County constable, who notified police but did not give chase.
Yesterday Mohammed also tried but failed to take his youngest child, a one-year-old, from another location, Police Deputy Chief Craig Miller said at a news conference.
A Harris County deputy constable is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly fondling a woman he stopped for a recent traffic violation, officials confirmed.
I pulled into the shopping center
And saw a little boy wrapped around the legs of his mother
Like ice cream melting they embraced
Years of bad decisions runnin’ down her face
All mornin’ I’d been thinkin’ my life’s so hard
And they wore everything they own, livin’ in a car
I wanted to tell ’em it would be okay
But I got just got in my suburban and I, I drove away
I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry
I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry
Keep having this dream about my old man
I’m 10 years old, and he’s holding my hand
We’re talkin’ on the front porch watchin’ the sun go down
But it was just a dream
He was a slave to his job and he couldn’t be around
So many things I wanna say to him
But I just placed a rose on his grave and I talk to the wind
And I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry
I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry, don’t cry
I’m sittin’ here with my kids and my wife
And everything that I hold dear in my life
We say grace and thank the Lord, got so much to be thankful for
Then it’s up the stairs and off to bed and my little girl says “I haven’t had my story yet”
Everything weighin’ on my mind disappears just like that
When she lifts her head off her pillow and says, “I love you dad”
I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry
I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry
And I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry
I don’t know why they say grown men don’t cry, don’t cry
@ColonelSixx
Every normal man must be tempted,at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag,and begin slitting throats. H. L. Mencken
COLONEL SIXX: NOW DO I WANT TO WATCH A STAGE FULL OF LOSERS DEBATE SHIT THAT THEY OBVIOUSLY DON’T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT, OR ONE LOSER INTRODUCE SOME BULLSHIT JOBS PROGRAM THAT WILL NOT MEAN ONE JOB? DECISIONS!!!!!!!!!!!
House Speaker John Boehner is asking President Obama to change his mind about giving a big jobs speech to a joint session of Congress on September 7, which — whoops! — just so happens to be the same night Republican 2012 candidates will debate at the Reagan Library. It will be the first debate to feature flashy new frontrunner Rick Perry. Boehner wants Obama to move the speech to the next night, a Thursday, though not because of the debate, but because the House will have just gone into session, with votes set for 6:30p.m., meaning there wouldn’t be much time to do a security sweep of the chamber. “We look forward to hearing your ideas and working together to solve America’s jobs crisis,” Boehner writes.
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza writes that there’s no way — despite Obama’s press secretary’s insistence to the contrary — that this is an accident. “It’s clear that this White House saw an opportunity to drive a major — and direct — contrast between President Obama and his potential Republican rivals and took it,” Cillizza writes. Democratic strategists aren’t sure it’s a good idea, Cillizza reports, but from Boehner’s letter, it looks like Republicans don’t like it at all.
@ColonelSixx
Every normal man must be tempted,at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag,and begin slitting throats. H. L. Mencken
The destruction by NATO airstrikes of Libya’s intelligence headquarters at the heart of Tripoli has transformed the once-feared building into a symbol of how Gaddafi’s regime has been all but toppled.
Guarding the compound are dozens of armed rebel fighters, some of them told me their friends and families went missing as a direct result of “intelligence” gathered by those who worked in the building.
It’s fair to assume that among the rubble and ransacked offices, are some of the darkest, deepest secrets of Gaddafi’s regime. I’m looking for files entitled “Lockerbie” or “IRA”, but the place is a mess.
I’m taken to the office of Abdullah Alsinnousi, head of Libya’s intelligence service and one of the Gaddafi regime’s most notorious and feared strong men.
Papers and files were strewn about the offices of Libya’s intelligence agency [Evan Hill/Al Jazeera
Scattered on his desk are dozens of documents branded “top secret”, but the rebels accompanying me aren’t keen on me taking anything away. I find a folder titled “Moussa Al Sadr”, who was the founder of the Amal movement, a Shia party in Lebanon, who went missing in Libya over 30 years ago. Within seconds, the folder is taken by my minder who said none of these documents can leave the compound.
In the room adjacent to Sinnousi’s office is a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom kitted with a plush jacuzzi, an indication of the lush lifestyle led by the heads of the former regime. Sprawled on the bed a rebel fighter was taking an afternoon nap. The scene is almost surreal. “Gosh, how times change,” I whispered.
Communication with US officials
I managed to smuggle away some documents, among them some that indicate the Gaddafi regime, despite its constant anti-American rhetoric – maintained direct communications with influential figures in the US.
I found what appeared to be the minutes of a meeting between senior Libyan officials – Abubakr Alzleitny and Mohammed Ahmed Ismail – and David Welch, former assistant secretary of state under George W Bush. Welch was the man who brokered the deal to restore diplomatic relations between the US and Libya in 2008.
Welch now works for Bechtel, a multinational American company with billion-dollar construction deals across the Middle East. The documents record that, on August 2, 2011, David Welch met with Gaddafi’s officials at the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo, just a few blocks from the US embassy.
During that meeting Welch advised Gaddafi’s team on how to win the propaganda war, suggesting several “confidence-building measures”, according to the documents. The documents appear to indicate that an influential US political personality was advising Gaddafi on how to beat the US and NATO.
Minutes of this meeting record his advice on how to undermine Libya’s rebel movement, with the potential assistance of foreign intelligence agencies, including Israel.
The documents read: “Any information related to al-Qaeda or other terrorist extremist organisations should be found and given to the American administration but only via the intelligence agencies of either Israel, Egypt, Morroco, or Jordan… America will listen to them… It’s better to receive this information as if it originated from those countries…”.
The papers also document Welch advising the Gaddafi’s regime to take advantage of the current unrest in Syria. The documents held this passage: “The importance of taking advantage of the Syrian situation particularly regarding the double-standard policy adopted by Washington… the Syrians were never your friends and you would loose nothing from exploiting the situation there in order to embarrass the West.”
‘Encouragement to Gaddafi’
Despite this apparent encouragement to Gaddafi to pursue a propaganda campaign at the expense of Syria, the documents claim Welch attacked Qatar, describing Doha’s actions as “cynical” and an attempt to divert attention from the unrest in Bahrain.
The documents allege that Welch went on to propose the following solution to the crisis which he said many would support in the US administration: “[Gaddafi] should step aside” but “not necessarily relinquish all his powers”.
This advice is a clear contradiction of public demands from the White House that Gaddafi must be removed.
According to the document, as the meeting closed, Welch promised: “To convey everything to the American administration, the congress and other influential figures.”
In one of the high-ranking officer’s offices, several old portraits of Gaddafi sat on the floor [Evan Hill/Al Jazeera]
It appears Welch was not the only prominent American giving help to Gaddafi as NATO and the rebel army were locked in battle with his regime.
On the floor of the intelligence chief’s office lay an envelope addressed to Gaddafi’s son Saif Al-Islam. Inside, I found what appears to be a summary of a conversation between US congressman Denis Kucinich, who publicly opposed US policy on Libya, and an intermediary for the Libyan leader’s son.
It details a request by the congressman for information he needed to lobby US lawmakers to suspend their support for the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and to put an end to NATO airstrikes.
According to the document, Kucinich wanted evidence of corruption within the NTC and, like Welch, any possible links within rebel ranks to al-Qaeda.
The document also lists specific information needed to defend Saif Al-Islam, who is currently on the International Criminal Court’s most-wanted list.
Scattered across the headquarters were smashed frames holding “the brother leader’s” pictures, powerful images which depict Gaddafi’s sudden fall from grace.
It took six months to topple Gaddafi’s regime, but the colonel did rule for over forty years. During his reign thousands of people went missing, planes were blown up, and billion-dollar deals were struck in the most dubious of circumstances.
Finding out the true story behind all this will take a long time, and even then there are some things that will never be known.
A spokesperson for the US state department said that David Welch is “a private citizen” who was on a “private trip” and that he did not carry “any messages from the US government”. Welch has not responded to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.
Dennis Kucinich issued a statement to the Atlantic Wire stating: “Al Jazeera found a document written by a Libyan bureaucrat to other Libyan bureaucrats. All it proves is that the Libyans were reading the Washington Post… I can’t help what the Libyans put in their files… Any implication I was doing anything other than trying to bring an end to an unauthorised war is fiction.”
Every other case involving people arrested for filming cops has been thrown out of court
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
41-year old Illinois mechanic Michael Allison faces a life sentence in prison for recording police officers after authorities hit him with eavesdropping charges based on the hoax that it is illegal to film cops, a misnomer that has been disproved by every other case against people filming police officers being thrown out of court.
The state of Illinois is trying to charge Allison with five counts of wiretapping, each punishable by four to 15 years in prison.
Allison refused a plea deal which would have seen him serve no jail time but would reinforce the hoax that it is illegal to film police officers, as well as acting as a chilling effect to prevent other Americans from filming cases of police brutality.
Allison has chosen to reject the plea bargain and fight to clear his name via a jury trial, arguing, “If we don’t fight for our freedoms here at home we’re all going to lose them.”
A judge is expected to rule on when the case will go to trial over the next two weeks.
As another report concerning the Allison case documents, in every other example where people have been arrested for recording police officers, the charges have been dropped and the case thrown out of court. Despite this fact, the state is so desperate to make an example out of Allison that an assistant from the Attorney General’s Office was recently sent to speak during his hearing.
The notion that it is illegal to film police officers is a mass hoax that is being promulgated by authorities, the media, and police officers themselves.
In the latest example, charges were dismissed against a woman who filmed cops in her own back yard in Rochester, New York.
Despite the fact that recording police officers (public servants) is perfectly legal, Americans are still being arrested for doing so, and the establishment media is enthusiastically perpetuating the hoax that such conduct is unlawful, even though in doing so they are completely eroding protections that guarantee press freedom.
There is no expectation of privacy in public, the police are fully aware of this, which is why they have dash cams on their cars to record incidents, wear microphones and utilize other recording equipment as part of their job.
Cases like Allison’s have been thrown out all over the country and yet police continue to arrest people for filming them as a form of intimidation.
The fact that the state is knowingly ignoring its own laws in order to engage in acts of official repression highlights the rampant criminality that has infested every level of American government. This behavior is reflective of a predatory system that seeks to criminalize all first amendment activities.
It also highlights how petrified the system is about the public being able to document and record acts of police brutality.
Prosecutors in Allison’s case are deliberately attempting jail innocent man for life for an activity that they know full well is not illegal. If anything, they should be the ones being charged with illegal conduct and official oppression.
This summer the LAPD paid two visits to Eagle Rock artist Alex Schaefer to discuss his “incendiary” paintings of Chase bank branches engulfed in flames.
The oil painting above, which Schaefer, 41, painted on the sidewalk across the street from the branch, clearly features the roof of the building exploding with orange flames.
According to the LA Times, “Schaefer had barely added the orange-and-yellow depiction of fire shooting from the roof of a Chase Bank branch when police rolled up to the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Sylvan Street on July 30” and informed Schaefer that a concerned citizen had called to report his provocative oil painting.
They then asked if he was a terrorist and if he planned to do what the painting suggested.
This visit by the police was followed by another in which detectives showed up at Schaefer’s house to ask the biting questions: “Do you hate banks?” and “Do you plan to do that to the bank?”
As reported by LA Times, “He explained that the artwork was intended to be a visual metaphor for the havoc that banking practices have caused to the economy.”
While Schaefer’s symbol for social havoc (red and orange flames) may seem a little played out, his story—terrified civilians calling the cops on a middle-aged oil painter, the LAPD sending detectives to the painter’s house—is almost its own more unique symbol which connotes how far everyone will go to protect banks.
It’s been repeated endlessly in the news: in recent years, banks, more than consumers, business owners, or any other entity in the US, have received enormous protections from the government, to an even greater extent than we originally thought.
As Bloomberg News reported earlier this month, the Fed gave banks $1.2 trillion in secret loans after 2008′s crash at record low interest rates, in part to protect the individuals who defrauded investors in the first place—individuals who have largely managed to evade jail time, as Matt Taibbi reported on in his epic Rolling Stone story “Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail.” Over the last three years, the protections granted to banks have enabled them to dodge countless bullets, most of which they fired themselves.
And now, with the help of a concerned citizen on Van Nuys Blvd, banks are also being protected from harmless oil painters who are expressing, in overt symbolism, the devastation the banks have caused everyone else—those who don’t receive protection.
You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
A home destroyed by a wildfire is shown at Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011. Some streets were virtually untouched by the fire that swept through the area on Tuesday, with homes fronted by lawns that could double as putting greens, but others were reduced to rows of scorched stone fireplaces and twisted metal frames. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Photo: STF, LM Otero / AP
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