tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post1732358366040056167..comments2024-03-28T06:32:24.557-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: American cops gone bad - Government using violence against AmericansDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-52115161961607314602014-08-14T23:57:30.278-04:002014-08-14T23:57:30.278-04:00I put up another post with the video of the local ...I put up another post with the video of the local cops dressed up as Rambo gassing a camera crew and then trying to cover the whole thing up until they notice that another crew is recording everything.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-69388501877866648882014-08-14T23:30:11.918-04:002014-08-14T23:30:11.918-04:00The District Attorney (who will have to be the one...The District Attorney (who will have to be the one to prosecute the case) is all pissed off that the Governor stood the local Swat Team down, and brought in the State Police. Holy MolyRufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-58033188638485717002014-08-14T23:28:25.968-04:002014-08-14T23:28:25.968-04:00I am not sure how many posts and comments I’ve pu...<b>I am not sure how many posts and comments I’ve put up on this subject, let’s just say a lot. Reason has been a standard bearer against this needless and idiotic militarization of US police. This is the latest </b><br /><br />In June, the House of Representatives voted on a series of amendments to H.R. 4435, the National Defense Authorization Act. Among the amendments was one by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) which would’ve prohibited funds from being used to transfer certain kinds of military surplus to local police departments. The amendment failed by a wide margin, with only 62 votes for and 355 against.<br /><br /><i>Among those voting against this bill, which would slow down the militarization of America’s police forces, was Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), whose district includes Ferguson, Missouri, where many Americans have gotten their first glimpse of America’s militarized police in action.</i><br /><br />House leadership on both sides also voted against it, including Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)<br /><br />Supporters of the amendment include the usual civil libertarian suspects, such as Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who called attention to this vote on Twitter earlier today, John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Walter Jones (R-NC), Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), John Lewis (D-Ga.), who nevertheless called for martial law in Ferguson, Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Mark Sanford (R-SC). Fourteen other Republicans and 43 other Democrats voted for the amendment.<br /><br />There were a handful of members of Congress who didn’t vote, including Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)<br /><br />See how your representative voted here.<br /><br />Here is a transcript of Rep. Grayson's argument in favor of his amendment before the vote killed it:<br /><br />Madam Chair, you may recall, yesterday, I gave an impassioned plea in favor of a different version of this amendment, which was ruled out of order. I am hoping for a better result tonight; but in any event, there is only so much passion in the world, so I will keep my remarks short.<br /><br />I rise today to address a growing problem throughout our country, which is the militarization of local law enforcement agencies. The New York Times recently reported that police departments have received thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment and hundreds of silencers, armored cars, and aircraft directly from the Department of Defense. These are military weapons. I think this is appalling. That is why my amendment would prohibit the Department of Defense from gifting excess equipment, such as aircraft--including drones--armored vehicles, grenade launchers, silencers, and bombs to local police departments. Those weapons have no place in our streets, regardless of who may be deploying them. As The New York Times article ``War Gear Flows to Police Departments'' explains:<br /><br />Police SWAT teams are now deployed tens of thousands of times each year, increasingly for routine jobs. Masked, heavily armed police officers in Louisiana raided a nightclub in 2006 as part of a liquor inspection. In Florida in 2010, officers in SWAT gear and with guns drawn carried out raids on barbershops that mostly led only to charges of ``barbering without a license.''<br />One South Carolina sheriff's department now takes a new tank that it received from the Department of Defense with a mounted .50-caliber gun to schools and community events. The department's spokesman calls that tank a ``conversation starter.'' I don't think this is the way I want my America to be. I think we should help our police act like public servants, not like warriors at war.<br /><br />I think we should facilitate a view of America where the streets are safe and they don't resemble a war zone, no matter who is deploying that equipment. We don't want America to look like an occupied territory. I hope for the support of my colleagues, and I reserve the balance of my time.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-59643704891616043402014-08-14T23:14:28.526-04:002014-08-14T23:14:28.526-04:00Active duty civilian cops have no business being i...Active duty civilian cops have no business being in either the Guard or the reserves. It is insane.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-88393452676704231712014-08-14T23:07:22.057-04:002014-08-14T23:07:22.057-04:00Just looking at the photos of those paranoid assh...Just looking at the photos of those paranoid asshole cops in combat gear, with assault rifles and helmets and it makes you sick. WTFDeuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-90411737475784877022014-08-14T21:46:47.596-04:002014-08-14T21:46:47.596-04:00Looks like a big difference in Ferguson, Mo, tonig...Looks like a big difference in Ferguson, Mo, tonight.<br /><br />State Highway Patrol in charge. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/ron-johnson-ferguson_n_5680351.html" rel="nofollow">Goodbye assholes, hello Professionals</a>Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-36796276145107271092014-08-14T20:23:03.873-04:002014-08-14T20:23:03.873-04:00US Central Command said drones and fighter jets to...US Central Command said drones and fighter jets took part in the latest strikes, the first at 1505 GMT to take out two armed trucks that had been firing on Kurdish forces.<br /><br />The second strike took place just over 30 minutes later, targeting an MRAP -- a heavy armored truck of the type supplied by Washington to Iraqi forces and presumably captured by IS forces in recent months.<br /><br />"All aircraft exited the strike area safely," Centcom said.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/us-jets-strike-armored-vehicles-iraq-221330961.html" rel="nofollow">attrition</a>Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-39160506113973294832014-08-14T20:18:11.328-04:002014-08-14T20:18:11.328-04:00Hope does not bring Change, "O"rdureHope does not bring Change, "O"rdureFarmer Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04758671613961287976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-5340773485875993422014-08-14T20:17:07.737-04:002014-08-14T20:17:07.737-04:00Exploiting the ISIS Vulnerabilities in Iraq
The te...<a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/michael-pregent-and-michael-weiss-exploiting-the-isis-vulnerabilities-in-iraq-1407884145" rel="nofollow">Exploiting the ISIS Vulnerabilities in Iraq<br />The terrorists' heavy military equipment is hard to maintain, easy to target from the air.</a><br /><br />http://online.wsj.com/articles/michael-pregent-and-michael-weiss-exploiting-the-isis-vulnerabilities-in-iraq-1407884145<br /><br /><i>Yet ISIS is not nearly so invincible as its weaponry and territorial gains have made it seem. The terror group has clear vulnerabilities that the U.S., working with Kurdish Peshmerga militia and Iraqi forces on the ground, can exploit. In particular, U.S. airstrikes can negate or degrade the terrorist group's military capabilities and supply lines.<br /><br />The first ISIS vulnerability is their weaponry. After U.S. military forces withdrew from Iraq at the end of 2011, U.S. contractors performed maintenance on the equipment left behind. Those contractors are no longer in the country.<br /><br />Today, we estimate that ISIS has less than a total of 30 working M1 Abrams tanks and howitzers that are either self-propelled or towed behind trucks (based on our knowledge of how the Iraqi army is equipped and what divisions were in the north). These are the weapons that gave the Islamic State the advantage over the Peshmerga in recent firefights. Yet ISIS does not have the highly trained maintenance crews that are necessary to keep these weapons in good working order. The same problem exists for its armored Humvees and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected personnel carriers. Without maintenance, these captured U.S. vehicles and weapons will break down.<br /><br />The ISIS stock of Russian-made equipment, most of it confiscated from the Syrian and more recently the Iraqi military, requires less maintenance and can withstand the heat and the sand. The terror group has vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft weapons like the ZPU-4 and DShK—heavy machine guns mounted on pickup trucks. They are effective against low-flying, rotary-winged aircraft and ground targets. But they can be tracked and destroyed by U.S. fighter jets flying at higher altitudes.<br /><br />ISIS does have some Russian-made, shoulder-fired systems that can take out transport aircraft and helicopters, but it did not capture any equipment with the capability to shoot down U.S. fighter jets (because the U.S. didn't give the Iraqi Army such weaponry). The heat and image signatures for U.S. and Russian equipment are well known to American fighter pilots and most, if not all, of the heavy weapons systems remaining in Iraq can be easily destroyed from the air.<br /><br />The U.S. should also supply the Kurdish militias with anti-armor weapons and heavy machine guns. These will enable the Peshmerga to destroy captured U.S. armored vehicles and suppress ISIS fighters. The absence of such weaponry prevented the Peshmerga from retaking Sinjar—the city that ISIS sacked in the past 10 days, driving as many as 40,000 of its Yazidi minority population to seek refuge atop a desolate mountain.<br /><br />The Peshmerga do have an arsenal of inferior, dated Russian equipment—mainly old battle tanks and towed-artillery pieces in the contiguous Kurdish territories. Most of it was captured from the Saddam Hussein era. But the Peshmerga cannot move this weaponry to Sinjar without exposing it to attack by ISIS.<br /><br />The other side of the coin is that the Islamic State's supply and support lines from Sinjar to Mosul are open to U.S. airstrikes. Protecting the supply lines of the Peshmerga and cutting off ISIS supply lines by U.S. air power would enable the Peshmerga to retake ISIS-controlled territories. </i>Farmer Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04758671613961287976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-40363229167267160012014-08-14T19:55:13.403-04:002014-08-14T19:55:13.403-04:00You? Mr man of 100 names?
Man of invented histor...You? Mr man of 100 names?<br /><br />Man of invented history?<br /><br />Man who lies, distorts, slanders and misdirects?<br /><br />Fuck you...<br /><br />Really.. <br /><br />What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-49873744392851278412014-08-14T19:54:01.995-04:002014-08-14T19:54:01.995-04:00We knocked off another couple of ISIS armored vehi...We knocked off another couple of ISIS armored vehicles, today. drip. drip.Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-14356051645674313132014-08-14T19:53:39.792-04:002014-08-14T19:53:39.792-04:00When Israel makes them.... Then sells them to who...When Israel makes them.... Then sells them to whomever wants them... Then America will come and say no don't sell those, here we will help, we want to BUY in to control you... <br /><br />But this time? Israel may say no thank you...<br /><br />I hope.What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32092789034520030022014-08-14T19:51:24.306-04:002014-08-14T19:51:24.306-04:00.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration denied on....<br /><br /><i>WASHINGTON — The Obama administration denied on Thursday that it was surprised by the processing of a munitions delivery by the Pentagon to Israel during its operation in Gaza last month.</i><br /><br />Plugging those lines into google the first url that pops up is from the JP 4 hours ago.<br /><br />http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/No-change-in-policy-on-weapons-deliveries-to-Israel-US-says-371159<br /><br />The story is chocked full of diplomatic bullshit from both sides saying how both much they like each other. Most of it is just trinkets for the natives. However, if you read it carefully and can decipher a couple of weasel worded comments, like those by the State Departments spokesperson Marie Harf you get the feeling the real relationship isn't going all that swimmingly. <br /><br />From this story, I can't tell when Israel will get their missiles.<br /><br />.<br />Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-50018204915403623472014-08-14T19:08:09.944-04:002014-08-14T19:08:09.944-04:00The "Real" problem in Ferguson is that t...The "Real" problem in Ferguson is that the police, and DA, are not forthcoming on "who did what to whom."<br /><br />This information is supposed to be Public Record.<br /><br />If I were a citizen of Ferguson, I would assume (with good reason) that the police, and DA, were going to "cover up, and whitewash" the killing. I would be pissed, too.Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-16713638263308363442014-08-14T18:32:06.439-04:002014-08-14T18:32:06.439-04:00Yep, coming from me, you are liar.
A contributor t...Yep, coming from me, you are liar.<br />A contributor that cannot back up his bull shit.<br /><br />Lies from the liar, that is all that is expected from "O"rdure ...<br />You never fail to meet expectationsFarmer Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04758671613961287976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-20048807676479228172014-08-14T18:23:20.539-04:002014-08-14T18:23:20.539-04:00Farmer RobThu Aug 14, 05:28:00 PM EDT
More lies ab...Farmer RobThu Aug 14, 05:28:00 PM EDT<br />More lies about shit you can never reference, does nothing for your credibility.<br /><br /><br />This coming from YOU?<br /><br />LOL<br /><br />What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32450948262820520942014-08-14T18:22:51.402-04:002014-08-14T18:22:51.402-04:00I don't jump thru your hoops, nor am I a puppe...I don't jump thru your hoops, nor am I a puppet on your your string…<br /><br />If I choose to post something on my blogs I will.<br /><br />Trust me trying to prove anything to you is not worth my spit.What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-49835960302272279642014-08-14T18:22:40.926-04:002014-08-14T18:22:40.926-04:00 The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—thou... The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.<br /><br /> The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action….<br /><br /> There is a systemic problem with today’s law enforcement.<br /><br /> Not surprisingly, big government has been at the heart of the problem. Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement….<br /><br /> When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and due process that allows the police to become judge and jury—national security letters, no-knock searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture—we begin to have a very serious problem on our hands.<br /><br /> Given these developments, it is almost impossible for many Americans not to feel like their government is targeting them. Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them.<br /><br /> This is part of the anguish we are seeing in the tragic events outside of St. Louis, Missouri….<br /><br /> Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.<br /><br />http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/08/14/rand-paul-on-ferguson-police-militarization-and-racial-disparities-in-the-criminal-justice-system/Rand Paulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-77021386249476569472014-08-14T18:17:47.643-04:002014-08-14T18:17:47.643-04:00It was not the JPost, you lying Zionist.It was not the JPost, you lying Zionist.Farmer Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04758671613961287976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-46623758693436418022014-08-14T18:04:03.876-04:002014-08-14T18:04:03.876-04:00from Juan Cole:
http://www.juancole.com/2014/08/i...from Juan Cole:<br /><br />http://www.juancole.com/2014/08/intervention-premier-parliament.html<br /><br /><i>Al-Abadi appears to believe that the army needs to be bolstered by “international” troops to take Tikrit. It seems a little unlikely that the international community will actually send combat troops to Iraq, at least unless Baghdad looks as though it is about to fall. Though, Australia’s far-right wing prime minister seems prepared for this possibility. British special operations forces, SAS, have arrived in Iraq and there are about 1,000 US special operations personnel in country now. Perhaps it is to these small contingents that al-Abadi is referring when he says “international forces.” A few special operations warriors go a long way, since they can paint lasers on targets for precision air strikes (and perhaps al-Abadi is thinking of US and other close air support for his army in its next push on Tikrit.)<br />It seems to me remarkable that al-Abadi is speaking in this way, of recognizing that the Iraqi army (which he says he wants to rebuild) is inadequate. His Da’wa Party had been a form of Shiite fundamentalism seeking an Islamic state itself. It was so anti-imperial in the 1980s that it targeted the US and French embassies in Kuwait, and in Lebanon helped form Hizbullah. Now the party’s prime minister openly speaks of bringing international troops into the country to help recover the last Sunni Arab regions.<br />Polling shows that the US public is OK with using the air force in Iraq to supply the Yezidis or bomb IS positions, but they emphatically do not want war-fighting boots on the ground.</i>Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-49184586741343006032014-08-14T17:59:05.295-04:002014-08-14T17:59:05.295-04:00You have been telling the same lie for what, four ...You have been telling the same lie for what, four or five years, "O"rdure?<br /><br />Come up with that reference, why don't you?<br />The one no one else could ever find, not even the FBI.Farmer Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04758671613961287976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-57789783996626060772014-08-14T17:57:57.193-04:002014-08-14T17:57:57.193-04:00http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/08/milit...http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/08/militarization-liberals-and-libertarians-agree.html<br /><br /><b>Police Militarization Is a Problem the Left and Right Can Agree About — and Solve</b><br /><br />By Benjamin Wallace-WellsFollow @benwallacewells<br /><br /><br />The outrage over the shooting death of Michael Brown escalated in part because of a sense that nothing had changed, that police officers were still operating in minority communities with a wantonness and brutality that belonged to another era.<br /><br />But over the past two days — as the police in Ferguson have responded to very angry protests with an alarmingly heavy hand, looking and reacting as if they were not the community's own peace officers but an invading army — something remarkable has happened. The longstanding liberal concerns about police racial hostility has seemed to merge with the longstanding libertarian concerns over police militarization. It isn't just that no one is defending the cops. It's that many of the criticisms from the left and the right sound very similar.<br /><br />"We need to demilitarize this situation" is how Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill's statement began this morning. The whole piece sounded awfully similar to Senator Rand Paul's op-ed, which appeared a little bit later under the headline, "We Must De-Militarize the police."<br /><br />Kevin D. Williamson, the roving correspondent for the conservative journal National Review, wrote from Ferguson this morning of "ridiculously militarized suburban police ... pointing rifles at people from atop armored cars, i.e. the worst sort of mall ninjas." (This is the same Kevin D. Williamson who compared a black child to a primate 24 hours earlier.) In a similar vein, the liberal MSNBC host Chris Hayes introduced a segment on police militarization on his show last night by mentioning the surreal fact that the police — in a suburban setting, not a jungle, were wearing camouflage: "What exactly are they trying to camouflage into?"<br /><br />By no means has every conservative been outraged by the police response in Ferguson. On Fox News this morning, the story was still that the protestors threw Molotov cocktails, and the police responded. But the argument against a militarized police is a longstanding libertarian concern, whose most dogged journalistic proponent has been the libertarian Radley Balko, author of The Rise of the Warrior Cop. Just as notably, the conservative perspective on law and order has been subtly changing, most obviously in the strengthening conservative enthusiasm for reforming prison sentencing, a cause embraced not only by libertarians like Mike Lee and Rand Paul but also by more conventional Republicans like Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan.<br /><br />Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-40014428644916359552014-08-14T17:46:59.208-04:002014-08-14T17:46:59.208-04:00I notice you still have not made those blog entrie...I notice you still have not made those blog entries, "O"rdure.<br /><br />Why not?<br />Was it not a subject you thought important?<br /><br />Or are you a fraud that cannot post a thread, on blogs you claim are yours?<br />Farmer Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04758671613961287976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-21408451045765759442014-08-14T17:34:56.061-04:002014-08-14T17:34:56.061-04:00BAGHDAD (AP) — Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime m...BAGHDAD (AP) — Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister for the past eight years, says he is relinquishing the post to fellow Dawa Party member Haider al-Abadi.<br /><br />Al-Maliki says his decision is based on his desire to "safeguard the high interests of the country," adding that he will not be the cause of any bloodshed.<br /><br />"I will stay a combat soldier to defend Iraq and its people," he added in the televised address late Thursday, with al-Abadi standing by his side.<br /><br />Iraq's President Fouad Massoum named al-Abadi on Monday to form the next government, but al-Maliki had until now refused to step aside.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/maliki-stands-down_n_5679590.html" rel="nofollow">Stepping Down</a>Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-76997793771106128462014-08-14T17:34:42.617-04:002014-08-14T17:34:42.617-04:00It is not so easy using an iPhoneIt is not so easy using an iPhoneDeuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.com