Know Your Rights

Whatever you think of  Edward Snowden, everyone should at least read this and think for themselves:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/11/edward-snowden-new-yorker-festival/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000591

United Police States of the WORLD

It looks like the Military Industrial Complex is flexing it's muscle and influence again. And how "ironic" if you can call it that, that this plan was outlined to the public on September 11th? For those of you who did not catch Obama's speech see the article below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/middleeast/obama-speech-isis.html 

Unsure what to think?

Well as my friend perfectly said, "This oughta work about as well as training ISIS to fight Assad. And Saddam to fight Iran. And Al Qaeda to fight the USSR. And Israel to fight the Arabs. And the Arabs to fight the Ottomans. And..."

I have had countless discussion about this as of late and it just takes a little common sense to connect the dots of what's going on in the world, and the agenda that is being laid out behind the scenes. This is a great article and really a must read for people to read and understand because I believe the majority of Americans do not even know who ISIS or ISIL is or where they came from. http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/65540 Yes, it's disturbing but true. Just like Al Qaeda was trained and supported as well.

Without even going into the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the issues there (which I still have yet to post about but have not because I wanted to wait a bit longer to see how it played out) this is just history repeating itself over and over and over again. I hoped Obama would be different but he was just another puppet in the game.

Europe is far from perfect but I much prefer to reside here than the United Police States no matter what I have to do. And the concept seems to be catching on with at least a very small minority of people. But it's all about perspective and your inner circles. Almost every expat I speak to that has been here long enough seems to agree on one thing: the US is no longer a force for good in the world. In fact I question whether it ever was. All I know is it certainly appears to be headed on a path of destruction that seems irreversible and I'm not going down with this ship. I didn't sign up for this.

Ferguson a Microcosm of What's to Come

What is going on in Ferguson should not upset people because of race. Racism has existed since the dawn of man and it shall continue until its sun has set. What people should be aware, and wary, of is how police militarization in the U.S. has quietly grown over the years into a very scary reality as I have written from the very beginning of this blog. That is the very real issue and I hope that people are really starting to wake up to this. 

http://news.yahoo.com/can-the-police-really-do-that-105437241.html  

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/08/walking-while-black-beverly-hills-arrests 

http://www.upworthy.com/here-are-10-images-by-the-time-i-reached-the-third-one-i-was-crying-by-the-10th-i-was-furious?c=ufb

Growing Militarisation of American Law Enforcement

The police do a difficult and dangerous job, and it is completely understandable that they do not wish to be outgunned by bad guys. A big show of force can sometimes deter criminals from starting a fight. And police departments are right to spend generously on defensive equipment. Nonetheless, the growing militarisation of American law enforcement is alarming http://econ.st/1kMzpjQ

Land of the Oppressed, Home of the Militarized Unchecked Police State.

Well folks the very first incident which caused me to start this blog in the first place where Orange County police beat a homeless, schizophrenic man death seems to not have been an isolated incident.

I cannot believe that more people do not realize what's going on.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/26/justice/oklahoma-arrest-death-video/?c&page=1

Sometimes I Can't Help but Wonder WTF is Wrong with America?

I'm sitting at my desk at work and anxiously awaiting the Czech-USA Quarter-final olympic hockey showdown to start and it occured to me. There's really no question in my mind that I'd love to see the Czech Republic win. I have been living here for almost six years now and I've always been a fan of the underdog. This is the perfect David vs. Goliath example.

But below I think explains in a very simple and simplistic way why I am proud to call Europe my new home. The US has lost its way. It doesn't matter one bit if they win or lose this game.

This just says it all.

The US Congress is a Disgrace

I'm only 34 years old but this is truly the most dysfunctional and extreme Congress that I have ever seen. The Congress is not only refusing to get with the program regarding serious issues that require worldwide support and action (like the plethora of Environmental issues plaguing our planet) but they are actually taking steps backwards and literally acting like children. I am ashamed to say that I am even from the US these days (even more than usual). The three sentences below perfectly sums up what the problem is in my opinion.

Norman Ornstein and Thomas Man, two congressional scholars, have said the following:

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise, unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science, and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.

***Not to say that the Democrats seem to be much better these days but what else is Obama supposed to do? I'm just glad I live in Europe now.

Obama to Go it Alone

 

United Police States of America

I had to start a blog after witnessing the Kelly Thomas Case on numerous news outlets, facebook posts and the many personal conversations I’ve had in the last couple of weeks. For those of you who have not yet heard or are aware of this case, you should be. It is a perfect example of not having a snowball’s chance in hell of convincing a jury in the “Great” County of Orange (arguably the strictest County in the entire US and not at all the Utopia the OC and Laguna Beach TV shows portray it to be) to hold police accountable for their absolutely shocking and appalling actions. I don’t even know the words to describe what this is. Grotesque? Disgusting? Repugnant? Inhumane? No that’s not even close to adequate for what this was. There is no all-encompassing word in fact, but it is the perfect example of a police state at its worst that has gotten completely out of control. And it's not just about this incident in Orange County, California. This drift towards total blanket immunity for authority has been going on for some time now and people are finally starting to take notice.

If you think the United States is “the land of the free and home of the brave,” you need to seriously reassess. William Wells Brown once said:

This [the United States] is called "the land of the free and the home of the brave"; it is really the "asylum of the oppressed," and some have been foolish enough to call it the "Cradle of Liberty." If it is the "Cradle of Liberty," they have rocked the child to death.”

Well it’s been a rocking for a while. And it’s reached the tipping point.

I am quite familiar with the mentality of the authorities in Orange County all too well having started law school in 2004 at Chapman University in the city of Orange. I’m sure I will elaborate more in future blog posts but for now we’ll stick to this incident. Anyways, it surely doesn’t take first-hand experience to understand how horrific this truly was. So let’s get to the facts…

In short, what happened a couple weeks ago was that two former Fullerton, California cops charged with killing a homeless man in 2011 that was schizophrenic, Kelly Thomas, were found not guilty of all charges.

The officers not only beat the living shit out of Thomas until his face was so battered it was literally beyond recognizable, but they also broke several of his ribs and crushed his thorax. In layman terms, that means it pretty much made it impossible for him to breathe, and quite obviously, was a big contributing factor to the cause if his death.

To any reasonable person, this was murder clear as day! There’s really no question about it, no matter who you are. But Orange County you see, is not made up of a majority of reasonable people. In fact, you could say that same statement for the generally uninformed population in the entire United Police States of America. You see, I added that police part? Well in my opinion, that is what it has become I’m afraid. (**Obviously this is not to say that all authority figures such as cops are evil and responsible for this type of action-many truly lay their lives on the line and anyone who can’t see BOTH sides of the argument depending on the given situation at the time is an idiot. And I don’t consider myself an idiot so I wanted to point that out. But it is the trend towards this police state mentality that I am worried about. And it is an extremely disquieting one. The American people need to wake up to this. Take a quick look here to get a quick reference to what I am talking about Beginning of a Police State

Now getting back to the facts, despite these truly horrendous injuries, defendant police officer Ramos' attorney, (the same scum bag that represented one of the LAPD officers involved in the beating of Rodney King) had the audacity to say the police officers involved were attempting  "to use less force, not more," in beating Thomas to death.

John Barnett, the aforementioned attorney scumbag, told one of the most obvious lies I’ve ever heard at the trial, which included the following:

1.       Prosecutors conspired with four dishonest doctors to “frame” the defendants

2.       Kelly Thomas posed a violent, lethal threat necessitating responding deadly force by officers.

3.       The several-minute police beating did not lead to the death that occurred…somehow, someway, the cause of death will be forever an unsolved mystery (Maybe we’ll see the old host of the show come back for this one ). 

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Kelly died as a direct result of these unspeakable acts by the police, you know the same ones that are supposed to “protect and serve.”

At the end of the trial Barnett, lying through his teeth, said, "The jury clearly understood the law and the facts,"

Oh really? Did they?

Ramos was the first to instigate. And as Ramos (the main police officer charged) stood over a frightened and disoriented Thomas he made a show of putting on his latex gloves.

"See my fists?" Ramos asked Thomas.

"Yeah," Thomas replied. "What about them?"

"They are getting ready to f— you up."

"Start punching, dude," Thomas replied.

After this, Thomas was tackled, hit with a police baton, held to the ground, punched multiple times in his ribs, kneed in the head, tasered four times and then struck in the face with the taser device eight times. As a result he suffered brain injuries, a shattered nose, a smashed cheekbone, broken ribs and internal bleeding all resulting, all while crying out to please stop and asking his Dad for help multiple times. This truly sickens me....

See for yourself on this video. But I warn you, it is truly graphic:

 

There’s really not a whole lot more to say after you see this. It's got to be hard for anyone to make it through this video without feeling sick. And such a thing can happen from the very people who are supposed to be protecting us? This surely has to be an isolated incident right? I’m afraid not folks.

Some additional things that might pique your interest:

These are also a couple of pretty good sites that provide a great summary of the case and other information I won’t get into now.  

Police Who Dont Protect and Serve

Good Summary of the Case

For those of you who have your doubts about the direction the US is heading, check the following stories out that happened in the last couple of weeks as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/man-gives-change-to-homeless-person--is-handcuffed-and-held-by-police-for-an-hour-223247155.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/21/this-google-glass-user-went-to-the-movies-then-he-got-interrogated-for-about-four-hours/

And this article from a year ago in Rhode Island which shows that this exists on both extreme sides of the US.  Sorry to say but the United Police States of America mentality has been going in this direction for a while now. This is not an isolated incident. It's time to wake up to this abuse of power by those in authority. Please sound off in the comments.

http://www.breakingworldnewstoday.com/2013/02/1293.html