Category: Uncategorized

Rule the Wasteland
The host of a popular preparedness and survival channel on Youtube, recently received a $10k settlement from the city of Gainesville, FL (of which he will receive $7,500 after attorney’s fees). The settlement was for a false arrest that originally occurred in November 2013. As part of the settlement agreement, Eric English also received an apology letter from Gainesville Police Chief Tony Jones.
Mr. English filmed the initial encounter and arrest and posted it to his Youtube channel, along with several other video updates on the case in the following months.

Interestingly, after making an initial settlement offer of $2,500, …read more

This Examiner story says that Michigan does not permit candidates in major party presidential primaries to later appear on the ballot as independent candidates. The story says that this will injure Donald Trump if he decides to run outside the major parties.
The story is inaccurate. Michigan’s sore loser law, sec. 168.695, makes no mention of independent candidates. It only says that when an individual has run in the primary of one party, he or she can’t be the general election nominee of another party. When Gary Johnson was kept off the ballot in 2012 as a …read more

Confronted with a deepening distrust and hostility from the communities they are sworn to serve and protect, police officers cannot adequately perform their jobs without the public’s confidence and support. As videos continue to emerge of cops violating the law and killing unarmed suspects, the rift between the police and the public continues to widen with each passing day. By examining economic, racial, and judicial factors, the public can determine how to improve their police departments without waiting for the Justice Department to step in and institute another series of ineffective reforms.
During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the …read more

Philadelphia, PA — Perry Betts, one of the most corrupt narcotics officers in the history of the Philadelphia Police Department, has been fired, again, for failing a drug test.
Bett’s situation is especially interesting because he was just recently rehired by the police department. His rehiring came after he was acquitted in a federal corruption case, in which he was accused of 47 different charges including extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and drug dealing.
He was acquitted of all of those charges along with six co-defendants who were also Philadelphia Police Officers implicated in the conspiracy. The officers were not only acquitted on all …read more

This newspaper describes the Canadian four-party debate of August 6. The consensus seems to be that the leaders of all four parties did well. Also see this story.
UPDATE: here is a Huffington Post article about the debate. The emphasis of this article is not on the fact that Canada let four party leaders into the debate, but on the substance of what was said, as it relates to how Canada and the United States work together on joint energy and military policies. …read more

On August 7, the Arizona Secretary of State compiled the July 1, 2015 registration tally. Arizona does this every three months. The new percentages are: Republican 34.04; Democratic 28.35; Libertarian .83; Green .145; Americans Elect .015; independents and unqualified parties 36.63%.
The April 1 2015 percentages were: Republican 34.21; Democratic 28.53; Libertarian .82; Green .147; Americans Elect .014; independents and unqualified parties 36.27.
Americans Elect will be removed from the ballot in a few months for failing to have .67%. The Greens are also below that standard but they won’t be removed because they petitioned for 2016 …read more

Did your so-called government purposely create #ISIS?

Our previous message argued that…
Legitimate government only uses force defensively — police and courts defend us against domestic criminals while the military defends us against foreign criminals.
But illegitimate government initiates force to make innocent people do things against their will.

We also argued that…
Initiated force is criminal, even when done by government.
Any organization that routinely commits crimes cannot really be viewed as a crime fighter.
Our current government is therefore illegitimate, and unworthy of being called a government.
We suggested alternative names, so that it was clear this ruling institution wasn’t behaving like an actual government… …read more

On August 6, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a 31-page opinion in Commonwealth v Melissa Lucas. The opinion strikes down a 1947 Massachusetts law that provides “no person shall make or publish any false statement in relation to any candidate for nomination or election to public office, which is designed or tends to aid or to injure or defeat such candidate.” The law has another section applying to ballot measures.
The opinion is based on the Free Speech portion of the Massachusetts Constitution, and was unanimous. …read more

Fullerton, CA — Four years ago, Kelly Thomas – a homeless, mentally ill man from Fullerton, California — was beaten to death by police officers while he cried out piteously for his father. A newly released “systematic review” of the Fullerton PD depicts an institutional culture in which police administrators are dismissive of excessive force complaints by citizens, and broadly indulgent of misbehavior by officers.
Officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cincinelli, two of the six officers who participated in the beating, were acquitted of second-degree murder on January 13, 2014. Ramos, who was subsequently fired by the department and no longer …read more

Franklin County, KY – One of the major failings of the black market is the fact that entrepreneurs in the underground economy don’t stick together, and that they will easily turn on one another, and even use violence if they happen to have disagreements.
Despite the fact that these people have a common enemy in the police and the government, they will regularly fight amongst themselves.
This dynamic came to light recently in Franklin County, Kentucky when the local sheriff asked nearby drug vendors to snitch on their competition. Although the flyer posted to facebook was answered with laughter, jokes, and ridicule, …read more