Tag: government overreach

Tomato Gardeners: The Latest Victim in the Government’s War on Drugs

Ajournal entry from a California resident describes the government’s aerial searches for marijuana plants:

 They came again this morning at about 8:00 o’clock. A large cargo-type helicopter flew low over the cabin, shaking it on its very foundations. It shook all of us inside, too. I feel frightened … I see how helpless and tormented I am becoming with disgust and disillusionment with the government which has turned this beautiful country into a police state … I feel like I am in the middle of a war zone.”

Backyard gardeners, beware: tomato plants have become collateral damage in the government’s war on drugs, especially marijuana.

In fact, merely growing a vegetable garden on your own property, or in a greenhouse on your property, or shopping at a gardening store for gardening supplies—incredibly enough—could set you up for a drug raid sanctioned by the courts.

Keep reading

No Qualified Immunity for Kentucky Cops Who Strip-Searched a 4-Year-Old and Threatened Mom

In Kentucky, it’s a crime to leave children under the age of eight in a car under circumstances that “manifest an extreme indifference” to human life and create a grave risk of death. But the cops didn’t say she’d done that. The kids all looked fine, and they the officers left without charging Curry with a crime. Nevertheless, they felt obligated to call the state’s child protection hotline, thus opening a neglect investigation which automatically required a visit to the Curry home to check on the kids.

When the caseworker arrived at the home, Holly refused to let her in without a warrant. The worker returned with a sheriff’s deputy, but still no warrant. When Holly insisted that they still couldn’t enter, they threatened to “come back and put your kids into foster care.” Holly begged for time to call her husband. They refused. Finally, crying and terrified, Holly let them in.

Labeling that decision “voluntary consent,” the authorities entered the home. Unsurprisingly, the house and kids all looked fine. Even so, the caseworker insisted on strip searching each kid, removing their underwear and examining their genitals for signs of abuse.

A few months later, the caseworker closed the investigation as “unsubstantiated,” saying that what Holly had done was a “one-time ‘oopsy-daisy.'” But she telephoned Curry later and said, “If we ever get a call against your family again, bad things will happen to you, and we’ll take your children.”

At that point, Curry had had enough. She turned around and filed suit against the caseworker and cop, claiming violation of her constitutional rights.

Keep reading

‘Footloose’ Comes To Life In New York: Governor Cuomo Bans Dancing

This is not a joke. Syracuse.com reported the story.

There is no dancing allowed in New York’s bars and restaurants, even at a wedding reception, according to the New York State Liquor Authority.

To control the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s liquor authority has also specifically banned darts, pool, cornhole, karaoke and exotic dancing.

Bar owners are already struggling to stay open after being shut down for months. The new rules are causing a lot of anxiety as business owners are being threatened with their licensing if they don’t comply.

The intent is to reduce the number of people congregating in bars. If you go to a bar, you must sit at a table or move along, according to the liquor authority’s guidelines.

“I don’t let people dance,” said Dan Palladino, who owns Heritage Hill Brewhouse in Pompey. “I think it’s kind of sad, but I don’t want to risk my license.”

I’ve already been to an illegal wedding where there was a lot of dancing— and they’re becoming more popular. People having weddings in New York have to hide the location until the last minute and keep all signs of partying out of sight. It’s kind of exciting in a speakeasy sort of way but also extremely stupid. You cannot keep people from living their lives. And if you try to outlaw fun, they’re just going to break those laws and do it anyway.

Not only has dancing been outlawed, but pool, darts, cornhole, and karaoke are also off-limits. How much longer do the dictators in charge really think they can keep this up? I never thought I’d see the day when Democrats became pulpit-pounding puritans keeping the kids from dancing, but here we are.

Keep reading

Governments Are Faking It, and Copying Each Other

Amystery for months is how it is that so many governments in so many different places on earth could have adopted the same or very similar preposterous policies, no matter the threat level of the virus, and without firm evidence that interventions had any hope of being effective. 

In the course of two weeks, traditional freedoms were zapped away in nearly all developed countries. In a seriously bizarre twist, even the silliest policies replicated themselves like a virus in country after country. 

For example, you can’t try on clothing in a store in Texas or in Melbourne, or in London or in Kalamazoo. What’s with that? We know that the COVID bug is least likely to live on fabrics unless I have symptoms of it, sneeze on my handkerchief and then I stuff it in your mouth. The whole thing is a ridiculous mysophobic overreach, like most of the rules under which we live. 

Then there was the inside/outside confusion. First everyone was forced indoors and people were arrested for being outdoors. Later, once restaurants started opening, people were not allowed indoors so eating establishments scrambled to make outdoor dining possible. Are we supposed to believe that the virus lived outside for a while but then later moved inside? 

Or these curfews. So many places have them despite a complete absence of evidence that COVID spread prefers the night to the day. I guess the real point is to put a stop to revelry that might bring people together in a fun way? It’s like all our governments decided on the same day that COVID spreads through smiles and fun, so we have to banish both. 

Keep reading

Cops Arrest Man for Having “Their Feelings Hurt” by His Satire Police Facebook Page

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed in Hustler v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, that a parody, which no reasonable person expected to be true, was protected free speech. In the three decades since, politicians and government agencies have ignored this ruling and attempted to go after those who mock them using satire and parody.

Police officers are the worst when it comes to getting triggered after being made fun of with parody or satire accounts. As the following case illustrates, their rage at someone’s free speech can manifest into deprivation of rights, kidnapping, and extortion.

Michael Samuel Joseph Freemen runs a Facebook page under the name Borger Police Department. Aside from the content of the posts, the logo looks very similar to the actual Borger Police Department except that on the right on Freeman’s version, it clearly states that this is a “Satire / Parody” Facebook page.

The Borger Police Department claimed it wasn’t always labeled in this manner. However, it doesn’t matter as “no reasonable person expected it to be true.” What’s more, the censors at Facebook didn’t have a problem with it and our readers know how ban and censorship happy they can be.

Because many police officers do not like to have their feelings hurt, for running the page that is clearly labelled as satire, a warrant was issued for Freemen’s arrest.

He turned himself in last week on a charge listed as “ONLINE IMPERSONATION-NAME/PERSONA CREATE PAGE” which is an apparent reference to Sec. 33.07. of the Texas Penal Code forbidding creation of an online page with the “name or persona” of another person.

Spoiler alert, the Borger Police Department is not a person.

Keep reading