STFU all hypocritical politicians

Max Keiser loses it in this clip from a recent Keiser Report, and though he's talking specifically about the hypocrisy from David Cameron's UK government, the same can be said about any politician who is trying to capitalize on the rise in lawlessness by advocating for a more repressive state (to secure the lawless and soul-less economic climate).
It's not rocket science. If there were true law and order in the world, there wouldn't be so much lawlessness. Duh.

Bay Area Billionaire wants to build floating libertarian countries

Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine.

Thiel has been a big backer of the Seasteading Institute, which seeks to build sovereign nations on oil rig-like platforms to occupy waters beyond the reach of law-of-the-sea treaties. The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place. Details says the experiment would be "a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."
-Yahoo! News

Yay! Monkey knife fights are that much closer to reality now...

They be trippin

Bay area cops are off the hook right now.
They've been seeing revolutions on television.
They're seeing youtube footage of passive cops in other countries getting pelted with stones by angry mobs.
In this country, they've been hearing about flash mobs, and copper thefts, and they know that hella stuff is fallin off of trucks these days.
They're working longer shifts.
They're worried about their jobs.
They're worried about their pensions.
They're worried about the Federal government.
They know that thousands of prisoners are committing mass suicide to protest the inhumane conditions that they have kept them in.
They're on steroids.

Ever since the night of the Mehserle verdict, they've been wanting to get in some serious stick time...or worse.

They assassinated a guy in Hayward who had the most high-profile civil case against them on Friday. On Saturday, they killed a 2nd guy in SF in as many weeks, and they didn't just kill him, they made a spectacle of it. They wanted everyone to watch that boy die, hopelessly fighting to live...and even after he stopped fighting too. It was an old-fashioned lynching.
It didn't matter that they had shot him in the back as he ran for his life, because they got it like that. And they want us all to know.

Independence Day weekend lawlessness

Our founding fathers would be proud.
Over the holiday weekend, vandals in Minnesota caused $35,000 worth of damage to a state park that is closed due to governmental shutdown.

"This is just exactly the type of thing we're going to be seeing repeatedly as the shutdown goes forward," said Steve Morse, former lawmaker and DNR deputy commissioner who is now executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership. "It shows once again how difficult it is to extricate the state from our lives, and the problems that are going to come to light once something like this happens."
-The Star-Tribune

Unfortunately, it wasn't just closed, unstaffed parks that inspired lawlessness over the Independence day weekend.

On Sunday night, a gas station/convenience store in Milwaukee was overrun by a mob shortly before midnight, and minutes later, a mob, possibly the same one, began attacking people in a nearby waterfront park. According to eyewitnesses, the attacks in the park were racially-motivated.

Cops and firefighters in Peoria, Illinois came under attack when they responded to a burning trash bin during a holiday fireworks display in the ghetto. Perhaps it was by a bunch of other city workers who got laid off after a career of paying into their own pension funds...unlike cops and firefighters.

On Monday night, a mob in Philadelphia attacked passengers on a 69th Street-bound El train full of passengers returning home after a fireworks show.

What's worse than a rampaging flash mob?
Gangster's with badges.

On Sunday evening, two officers responded to reports of a drunken man on the platform of the Civic Center station. Exactly what happened is unclear. What we know is that the man had a knife out and was also using a bottle as a weapon; that some sort of confrontation ensued; that, with passengers on the platform, at least one of the officers fired at least three shots; that one of the officers had a Taser but never used it; that the man was shot in the torso from unknown range, and that he's dead.

Chief Kenton Rainey says he doesn't know if deadly force was the only option. But, asked whether the officers followed protocol, he said Sunday morning, "From what I know at this point, yes, I'm comfortable with what has occurred."
-Inside Bay Area

Ummmm, as a frequent BART rider, I'm not at all comfortable with a 2nd BART cop killing in four years.

Weekly lawlessness recap

It ain't just Russian king crab. More and more stuff seems to be fallin off of trucks lately, with government estimates ranging from $10 billion to $30 billion a year in cargo theft.

California was the top state for the crime in 2010 with 247, followed by Texas, 91; and Florida, 66. The bureau identified 747 cargo thefts nationwide worth $171 million.

Electronics topped on the list for type of item stolen, followed by “other” and food items.

All three commodities are relatively easy for criminals to sell after they are stolen with many of the goods being resold online, at flea markets, and overseas, the report said.
-Biz Journals

In Massachusetts, thieves took it step further and stole a "gigantic" chunk of railroad track.

A mayor in Columus, Georgia has formed a copper theft task force

Increasing lawlessness

As the rich continue to get richer at the expense of the rest of us, it is obvious that more and more people are indeed leaving their respect for law and order behind.
We've been hearing about thieves stealing copper wiring and other hardware from streetlights and other municipal infrastructure. Well, even that is beginning to escalate.
Last week, we learned about a truck driver who disappeared with $400,000 worth of Russian King Crab somewhere along the West Coast.
Over the past few months, flash mobs have been overwhelming retail outlets and public spaces all across the country.

In a number of cities, gatherings have grown unruly and led to vandalism or assaults — and worse. Police have described some as "mob thefts" in which people assemble outside retail and convenience stores, loot them and vanish before police arrive.
Police and social media gurus say these flash mobs usually are organized on Twitter, Facebook and through text messages, as are peaceful flash mobs. Police say some of the thefts, in particular, appear to have been coordinated in advance but that violence and vandalism at other gatherings may have been random.
Still, the real-time immediacy and apparent randomness of the incidents can combine to outwit conventional policing methods, according to law enforcement authorities.
"Traditionally, if folks are assembling or holding a protest, there are permits or processes in place for law enforcement to prepare and be on site in case things happen. But with flash mobs, there's no advance warning. Law enforcement might not have staff on hand," says Nancy Kolb of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
-NPR

Well, what can you expect when the government won't even tell us what laws they are enforcing? When leaders don't follow the law, they shouldn't be surprised when citizens don't either.