George Carlin was a brilliant mind as well as a comedian. His ability to cut through non-sense and tell it like it is in a way that was entertaining and enlightening was at a level few can appreciate.
A place for all things related to Libertarianism, Voluntaryism, Non-Aggression Principle, Anarchy, Anarcho-Capitalism, Freedom, Objectivism, and Self-Rule.
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Thursday, July 28, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Technology for your Car That Can Protect You from Unscrupulous Cops
Disruptive Technologies are new and emerging technologies that are designed to disrupt established legacy systems.
This man uses technology to disrupt the ability for police to successfully cite him for bogus infractions or crimes.
While he clearly spent a TON of money building this, not all of the technology needs to be installed at once. Clearly, people can pick and choose which of these upgrades are most advantageous to them.
Give it a watch, it's good stuff.
Study Shows 55,400 People Hospitalized or Killed by US Cops in a Single Year ~by Justin Gardner
First of Its Kind Study Shows 55,400 People Hospitalized or Killed by US Cops in a Single Year
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/landmark-study-police-brutality-problem/#HPlYW0Gu1t06hHiM.99
If anyone needed a reminder that America has a police brutality problem, the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile provided it. Actual numbers on violent police encounters are difficult to come by, but this dearth of data is getting more attention.
New research published in the British Medical Journal demonstrates the danger posed to citizens by the most routine police practice of a “legal stop.”
Researchers analyzed 12.3 million police interventions from 2012 and found that approximately 55,400 people were injured or killed by cops during legal stop and search incidents in one year. Of this number, about 1,000 were killed, with vast majority dying from gunshot wounds. The remaining 54,400 were hospitalized with serious injuries, mostly from blunt objects.
“On average, an estimated 1 in 291 stops/arrests resulted in hospital-treated injury or death of a suspect or bystander.”
Granted, some of these injuries or deaths were justified to protect officers or innocent people from actual violent people, but even the authors of the study conclude that these numbers reflect an “excess exposure” of people to police violence.
In an interview with Vocativ, lead author Ted Miller, of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, pointed out how many shooting deaths in the U.S. come from a police gun.
“In one in 11 cases where someone died because someone else intentionally shot them, a police officer pulled the trigger,” said Miller.
The fact that cops are responsible for almost 10 percent of firearm-related homicides in the U.S.—which already has an extraordinarily high rate of gun deaths relative to other countries—should be enough to cause a serious rethinking of policing across the country.
The new study also confirmed that minorities are targeted for stops at a far higher rate, although the likelihood of being injured or killed during that particular stop was equal for all groups.
“Blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be arrested when the police stop them than Whites or Asians. This differential may well result from racism,” said Miller. “But once you are stopped or arrested, the likelihood that you will be killed or seriously injured during that police interaction does not depend on your race.”
Data showed “blacks were almost four times more likely than whites to be arrested or stopped by police.” This racial bias in policing has long been assumed, and research is starting to confirm this.
The death of Philando Castile demonstrated how ‘riding in a car while black’ can lead to the ultimate tragedy. Castile, who had been harassed by cops an unbelievable 52 times before, was killed for doing nothing more than reaching for his wallet—after informing the cop that he had a concealed-carry permit for the gun he possessed.
The entire incident started with Castile and his black girlfriend being pulled over for a purported broken taillight. Cops use these petty excuses to pull people over so they can escalate the situation in the hope of searching the vehicle for drugs or other “contraband,” especially when the occupants are blacks or Hispanics.
Even police chiefs are accepting these truisms and, in some cases, making changes within their departments.
Thomas Wydra, the police chief of Hamden, Connecticut, informed his officers that they should not be so concerned with “defective equipment” such as something hanging on the rearview mirror or an attachment on the license plate.
One year later, defective equipment stops dropped from 19 percent to 8 percent of all motor vehicle stops, which resulted in the number of black people being pulled over falling by 25 percent.
Here is one clear answer to the problem of police violence being confirmed through empirical studies.
Stop pulling people over for petty “violations.” Stop pulling people over as an excuse to look for drugs. Extend this to people walking, riding a bike or otherwise going about their own business.
Just leave people alone unless they are actually causing harm to another person, and maybe the extraordinary rate of cops injuring and killing people could start falling. There is a way to address police brutality if only we look at the numbers and implement the basic solutions they suggest.
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/landmark-study-police-brutality-problem/#HPlYW0Gu1t06hHiM.99
When Cops Prepare to Shoot You and The War of Fatal Force
WHEN COPS PREPARE TO SHOOT YOU AND THE WAR OF FATAL FORCE
By Rachel Sunshine
This week has culminated, once again, in loud calls for retaliation against police brutality and excessive/lethal force across the United States. As video surfaces of police trying to shoot an Autistic 23 year old man with a toy truck- instead shooting a fully complying therapist laying down next to and trying to talk the man out of suicide- anger and calls to action against police brutality and excessive force have ripped through the online community, which is still trying to come to terms with the fatal shootings of two men and a young, unarmed teen in late June and early July. So far, there have been an estimated 643 fatal police shootings of citizens in 2016, with at least 60 fatal police shootings in the month of July alone, meaning that nearly 3 citizens have been killed every day by police across the country since the beginning of the month. In contrast, according to Operation Enduring Freedom at iCasualties.org, there have only been a total of 4 American Soldier deaths by combat in this entire year.
Some have believed the police shootings to be justified and have expressed outrage that the police have received blowback for what seems to be indiscriminate use of fatal force. Individual Officers have even gone so far as to state they are at war with the people they serve and that they are under attack, as vigilantes have targeted police in several retaliatory shootings across the country in Dallas, Baton Rouge and Columbus, so far, killing at least 8 police officers since the beginning of July. Facebook user, Linda Marie Jourdain asks of those that do not feel sympathy for the officers, “Why can’t People (sic) just have respect for authority. It’s sad that they don’t get enough.”
It may be because continued release of footage- a compilation of videos from the month of July too long to list- of police brutality and excessive force shows that police are, in fact the ones preemptively planning to attack the citizenry, as you can plainly see in the fatal shooting of 19 year old Fresno teenager, Dylan Noble, and in new footage surfacing this week showing activists that had been protesting at the Republican National Convention getting raided in a form of intimidation early in the morning by police and federal agents who did not have a warrant. In the shooting death of Philip Castille, recordings of the conversations between the police officer and dispatcher apparently indicate that he was pulled over for having a wide-set nose.
In newly-released footage by the Fresno Police Department from the second officer’s body cam, police are seen to already have their guns drawn while still driving down the street, in a long moment, pointing the gun at the back of Noble’s head after turning sirens on to pull the teen’s truck over just 25 seconds before that for excessive speeding. In what I am now deeming Aggravated Panic, police already had their guns unholstered and were even dangerously driving with one hand on the wheel while simultaneously holding a loaded police-issued gun in the obviously premeditated death of unarmed Noble. Once pulled over, Noble is almost immediately shot for “not complying” with the officers that had just pointed a gun at the back of his head moments before while waiting for him to pull over. The Fresno police chief is stating that we should understand what was going through the policemen’s heads when they shot Noble two more times while he lay bleeding on the ground, as, apparently, Noble had reached for a clear plastic square that the officers have not yet shown to the public. Noble was not armed on his person, nor was there any weapon in his vehicle.
Earlier this week, police awaken Brittany Om with guns drawn in the morning in her motel room that she and other activists were staying in while protesting the Republican National Convention. In a show of pure intimidation, police even state that they will not be back if the protestors do not come back to the Convention, an obvious attempt to use their position of authority to silence those practicing their First Amendment Rights. In the video, Law enforcement was recorded, telling them, “If you don’t want to see us again, stay away from the RNC.”
In the case of Philip Castille- a man fatally shot Fourth of July weekend during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota- new evidence has surfaced that he was shot at point-blank range for having awide-set nose. His girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter watched helplessly next to him in the vehicle. His girlfriend then live-streamed the aftermath directly to Facebook, where it was removed shortly after by Facebook authorities, also known as the Facebook Police.
Also this week, footage from May surfaced of a man fully complying with police after taking them on a high-speed chase through multiple states and ending in New Hampshire. As he laid down on the ground, a mob of policemen ran toward him and started pummeling him, kicking him, and beating him with their batons. It was all captured by a media helicopter, catching the beating on live footage.
These are just a few instances that have made the news over the past month. Police have been using war rhetoric against the citizenry for over three decades; The War on Drugs and the War on Poverty have turned into a War on the Poor and Middle Class.
We now have a War of Fatal Force, where police have taken it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner. In a society that has developed countless non-lethal forms of weaponry such as gases and sprays, sticky foam, bean bags and rubber bullets, electroshock weapons and directed energy weapons there is no need for police to be shooting citizens to death 3 times a day, period. With only 8 police casualties this year directly attributed to the retaliation against use of lethal force against the citizenry, it’s entirely up to the officers to find a solution that could help the escalating situation resolve in a peaceful call to put down arms. As concerned citizen Eric Wilson states, “I would expect the people in positions of power to hold themselves to a higher regard than those they are serving. Having the ability to be judge, jury and executioner without accountability is where much of the anger comes from fellow citizens. Their ‘job’ is to give every person their ‘day in court.’ As the initiator of conflict, I would expect them to be experts in conflict resolution, and not further escalate already tense interactions.”
The future for the safety of citizenry from police use of lethal force will look grim until police learn to use non-lethal force discriminately as a form of conflict resolution, and it would be no surprise to continue seeing police casualty numbers rise by as much as 75% over the coming months, as citizens finally start defending themselves in the War of Fatal Force.
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Originally posted to: http://www.distract101.com/when-cops-prepare-to-shoot-you-and-the-war-of-fatal-force/
By Rachel Sunshine
This week has culminated, once again, in loud calls for retaliation against police brutality and excessive/lethal force across the United States. As video surfaces of police trying to shoot an Autistic 23 year old man with a toy truck- instead shooting a fully complying therapist laying down next to and trying to talk the man out of suicide- anger and calls to action against police brutality and excessive force have ripped through the online community, which is still trying to come to terms with the fatal shootings of two men and a young, unarmed teen in late June and early July. So far, there have been an estimated 643 fatal police shootings of citizens in 2016, with at least 60 fatal police shootings in the month of July alone, meaning that nearly 3 citizens have been killed every day by police across the country since the beginning of the month. In contrast, according to Operation Enduring Freedom at iCasualties.org, there have only been a total of 4 American Soldier deaths by combat in this entire year.
Some have believed the police shootings to be justified and have expressed outrage that the police have received blowback for what seems to be indiscriminate use of fatal force. Individual Officers have even gone so far as to state they are at war with the people they serve and that they are under attack, as vigilantes have targeted police in several retaliatory shootings across the country in Dallas, Baton Rouge and Columbus, so far, killing at least 8 police officers since the beginning of July. Facebook user, Linda Marie Jourdain asks of those that do not feel sympathy for the officers, “Why can’t People (sic) just have respect for authority. It’s sad that they don’t get enough.”
It may be because continued release of footage- a compilation of videos from the month of July too long to list- of police brutality and excessive force shows that police are, in fact the ones preemptively planning to attack the citizenry, as you can plainly see in the fatal shooting of 19 year old Fresno teenager, Dylan Noble, and in new footage surfacing this week showing activists that had been protesting at the Republican National Convention getting raided in a form of intimidation early in the morning by police and federal agents who did not have a warrant. In the shooting death of Philip Castille, recordings of the conversations between the police officer and dispatcher apparently indicate that he was pulled over for having a wide-set nose.
In newly-released footage by the Fresno Police Department from the second officer’s body cam, police are seen to already have their guns drawn while still driving down the street, in a long moment, pointing the gun at the back of Noble’s head after turning sirens on to pull the teen’s truck over just 25 seconds before that for excessive speeding. In what I am now deeming Aggravated Panic, police already had their guns unholstered and were even dangerously driving with one hand on the wheel while simultaneously holding a loaded police-issued gun in the obviously premeditated death of unarmed Noble. Once pulled over, Noble is almost immediately shot for “not complying” with the officers that had just pointed a gun at the back of his head moments before while waiting for him to pull over. The Fresno police chief is stating that we should understand what was going through the policemen’s heads when they shot Noble two more times while he lay bleeding on the ground, as, apparently, Noble had reached for a clear plastic square that the officers have not yet shown to the public. Noble was not armed on his person, nor was there any weapon in his vehicle.
Earlier this week, police awaken Brittany Om with guns drawn in the morning in her motel room that she and other activists were staying in while protesting the Republican National Convention. In a show of pure intimidation, police even state that they will not be back if the protestors do not come back to the Convention, an obvious attempt to use their position of authority to silence those practicing their First Amendment Rights. In the video, Law enforcement was recorded, telling them, “If you don’t want to see us again, stay away from the RNC.”
In the case of Philip Castille- a man fatally shot Fourth of July weekend during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota- new evidence has surfaced that he was shot at point-blank range for having awide-set nose. His girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter watched helplessly next to him in the vehicle. His girlfriend then live-streamed the aftermath directly to Facebook, where it was removed shortly after by Facebook authorities, also known as the Facebook Police.
Also this week, footage from May surfaced of a man fully complying with police after taking them on a high-speed chase through multiple states and ending in New Hampshire. As he laid down on the ground, a mob of policemen ran toward him and started pummeling him, kicking him, and beating him with their batons. It was all captured by a media helicopter, catching the beating on live footage.
These are just a few instances that have made the news over the past month. Police have been using war rhetoric against the citizenry for over three decades; The War on Drugs and the War on Poverty have turned into a War on the Poor and Middle Class.
We now have a War of Fatal Force, where police have taken it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner. In a society that has developed countless non-lethal forms of weaponry such as gases and sprays, sticky foam, bean bags and rubber bullets, electroshock weapons and directed energy weapons there is no need for police to be shooting citizens to death 3 times a day, period. With only 8 police casualties this year directly attributed to the retaliation against use of lethal force against the citizenry, it’s entirely up to the officers to find a solution that could help the escalating situation resolve in a peaceful call to put down arms. As concerned citizen Eric Wilson states, “I would expect the people in positions of power to hold themselves to a higher regard than those they are serving. Having the ability to be judge, jury and executioner without accountability is where much of the anger comes from fellow citizens. Their ‘job’ is to give every person their ‘day in court.’ As the initiator of conflict, I would expect them to be experts in conflict resolution, and not further escalate already tense interactions.”
The future for the safety of citizenry from police use of lethal force will look grim until police learn to use non-lethal force discriminately as a form of conflict resolution, and it would be no surprise to continue seeing police casualty numbers rise by as much as 75% over the coming months, as citizens finally start defending themselves in the War of Fatal Force.
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Originally posted to: http://www.distract101.com/when-cops-prepare-to-shoot-you-and-the-war-of-fatal-force/
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Lack of Ballot Access and Electoral Votes Crush Chances of Viable Third Party Candidate
LACK OF BALLOT ACCESS AND ELECTORAL VOTES CRUSH CHANCES OF VIABLE THIRD PARTY CANDIDATE
By Rachel Sunshine
Approximately 15% of the voting population has been disheartened by the Democratic and Republican parties for the 2016 General Election Cycle, according to recent polls, that will be voting Libertarian (10%) or Green (5%) as Independent voters. Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party Candidate, and Jill Stein, Green Party Candidate, have been fighting vigorously against the Clinton and Trump campaigns, seeing unprecedented voter support for this year’s presidential election. However, all the hard work, campaigning, and ballot access initiatives will not pay off before Election Day. Despite acting as viable third-party candidates to give hope to those with a sour taste for the two-party system, they are, in fact, not worthwhile or even fully eligible candidates for the current election cycle, due to lack of state ballot access and historically non-existent Electoral College votes.
The Green Party has had significant issues with gaining access to state ballots in more than half the states, with many ballot initiatives requiring court intervention and petitions in states such as Arizona, Georgia, Nevada,Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. According to the Green Party website, they only have access to the general election state ballots where 60% of the population resides, leaving the other 30% still in progress and some 10% still battling it out in courts. Most states have passed the deadlines for candidates to be allowed on the ballot, leaving for the Green Party the only rectifications in the forms of court orders and recommendations to Attorney Generals to allow Jill Stein on the ballot, despite expired deadlines. Below is a map of Green Party Ballot Access for the 2016 Election.
Jill Stein is currently receiving a hefty support of 5% of registered voters, but only 60% of them have equal access to vote her into office. With the inability to vote for her in nearly half the states, it will be very difficult and, historically, unlikely that she would receive even one Electoral College vote, especially as a write-in candidate. Currently, the Green Party also holds no Senate or House seats in Congress, nor do they hold any Governorships or even State Congressional seats.
As it stands, with equal access to only 3% of registered voters that would align with the Green Party, Jill Stein’s candidacy is only just beginning the process of becoming a viable third-party candidate, and it is unlikely that she would succeed in competing against a Democratic or Republican candidate.
As it stands, with equal access to only 3% of registered voters that would align with the Green Party, Jill Stein’s candidacy is only just beginning the process of becoming a viable third-party candidate, and it is unlikely that she would succeed in competing against a Democratic or Republican candidate.
Likewise, Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, while on the ballot for a majority of states, has also had issues with ballot initiatives and currently does not have equal ballot access in several states, also making his viability an unrealistic goal for this year’s election. While he has had unprecedented support among registered voters, he also will not be an equally accessible candidate for the entire voting population, making it a near impossibility that he would be elected president. Just as with the Green Party, the presidential seat is not the only election Libertarians are having difficulty with, as currently, there are no Federal Congressional seats in the House or Senate that the party holds. Below is a map of the Libertarian Party’s ballot access, with the Blue states representing in-process ballot initiatives.
Beyond that, since the Libertarian Party’s inception in 1971, there has only been one Electoral College vote for the party, ever. This means that this year, Gary Johnson has a .0002% chance of receiving any Electoral College votes, nevertheless the nearly impossible feat of receiving a majority. The Green Party’s chance of receiving Electoral College votes is just as dismal, if not worse, due to its current standing as a non-viable third-party in many states.
Historically, Libertarian candidates have seen voter turnout in the low to mid hundreds of thousands, with a large jump of support from 523,000 in 2008 for Bob Barr to just shy of 1.276 million voters in 2012 for Gary Johnson. Registered Libertarian voters have increased in the same time by 36%. Currently the Libertarian Party has just 411,000 registered voters, while the Democratic and Republican parties have almost 43 million and 31 million, respectively. The Green Party has approximately 305,000 registered voters. Combined, Libertarian and Green Party registered voters currently equate to just shy of .01% of registered Democrats and Republicans, thus competing with the two-party system is merely symbolic for the 2016 presidential race.
Until full ballot access is gained at the state level, neither party will ever realistically win a Presidential Election. The Electoral College votes as the deciding body on who will be our next President- not the popular election- and it is important for voters to realize that they need to divide their focus between gaining support from individuals, but also to ensure that their Electoral College representatives are willing to vote for and support a third-party candidate. Not only do they need to focus on winning the presidential seat, but they also need to successfully vote in Representatives at the Congressional level. Without the realization that third-party candidates must receive support from the top down within the system, independent voters will continue to face disappoint with each election cycle.
Labels:
Election Fraud,
Elections,
Green Party,
Jill Stein,
Third Parties,
Voting
Thursday, July 14, 2016
How Many People Claim That a Man Should Never Strike a Woman Have No Problem Supporting These Cops?
Friday, July 1, 2016
‘Giant Meteor for President’ in Virtual Three-way Tie With Trump and Hillary Among Independent Voters
(ANTIMEDIA) In what has become a presidential race based almost solely on scorn for the candidates, the establishment, fraud at the polls — and, hell, the entirely stale and wholly rigged electoral process — it’s clear no one will win in the traditional meaning of the word.
While third party candidates have experienced growing success in the dearth of acceptable duopoly offerings, a dark horse has emerged.
According to Public Policy Polling, ‘Giant Meteor for President’ now ranksas a serious contender — garnering “far more support than the third party candidates actually on the ballot.”
No, this most certainly is not the Onion.
“[W]e find that the Meteor would poll at 13% … with Clinton at 43% and Trump at 38%,” with the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson the favorite among just 5 percent and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein winning just 2 percent of votes.
Yes, seriously.
In fact, the PPP notes, “The Meteor is particularly appealing to independent voters, functionally in a three way tie at 27% to 35% for Clinton and 31% for Trump.”
A previous, albeit fictitious candidate who found enormous success at the polls, Deez Nuts, managed only to garner a 9 percent support rating — making Giant Meteor officially the most popular non-Democrat/Republican duopoly ‘candidate’ in the running yet.
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump owe their so-called success almost solely to contempt for the other — with unfavorability in the latest pollrunning 54 and 58, respectively — as voters align behind either to prevent the former secretary of state or the demagogic billionaire from being the next leader of the no-longer Free World.
But the Meteor — whose wildly popular bumper sticker reads, “Giant Meteor 2016: Just end it already” — might be the most representative of voter disenfranchisement and frustration with the politics-as-usual and wall-building candidates the two negligibly different parties coughed up as presumptive nominees.
Meteor’s, well, meteoric rise in popularity isn’t difficult to understand, given the circumstances. After all, another poll today revealed a whopping 67 percent of Democratic voters would rather see President Obama stay in office for another term than endure a Hillary Clinton administration.
In addition to aversion to Clinton, Trump’s success could be attributed to the xenophobic vitriol and ‘fearanoid’ negativity common during similar periods of economic stratification that gave rise to such stunners as Adolf Hitler.
And while the Libertarian Party has made gains in popularity, grumblings among party diehards indicate a preference for candidates other than Johnson.
Perhaps Giant Meteor’s astronomical rise in the polls could be easily brushed off with a laugh — or maybe, just maybe, the idea that a heavenly body careening to Earth to kill us all having more appeal than actual candidates for president of the United States proves the people know the jig is up.
Maybe now — in a year pockmarked by political turmoil, typically ruinous scandal, and blatantly fraudulent electoral dealings — the people will slam down their collective foot to say they’ve finally had enough of the ‘lesser of two evils’ bullshit so ingrained in the American electoral mindset.
Labels:
Decision 2016,
Donald Trump,
Elections,
Gary Johnson,
Hillary Clinton,
Voting
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