An elderly man was sentenced to 8 months in a cage after he was photographed driving through a red light camera while flipping up his middle finger.
The post Man Sentenced to 8 Months in Prison After Flipping Off a Red Light Camera appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
Every driver who was issued a red light camera ticket in New Miami, Ohio will be refunded after an appeals court ruled the fines to be unconstitutional.
The post VICTORY! Court Finds Red Light Camera Fines ‘Unconstitutional’—Forces City to Refund ALL Tickets appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
There was a 20-nation security meeting in Vancouver on Tuesday, 1/15/18, and the nations in attendance agreed to impose stronger sanctions against North Korea in a bid to stop their nuclear weapons buildup and tests. China and Russia did not attend, and stated the meeting was evidence of another Cold War forming. The most alarming rhetoric, however, emanated from the U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson, who flat out stated that if the North Koreans do not negotiate, it will bring about a military response. Here is the video clip and an excerpt heading as released by Reuters on 1/17/18, entitled US Warns Pyongyang on Military Option:
Twenty nations agree to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warns Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it does not choose negotiations.”Twenty nations agree to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warns Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it does not choose negotiations.
As headlines run, there is nothing that “jumps out” with this one, until you delve into the substance of it. This is very serious, as the U.S. has been narrowing the cone of the funnel toward war, now, for several months…a quiet escalation in the form of movements of military assets into the area, military exercises (designed to provoke North Korea), and steadily-increasing sanctions.
Bottom Line? Tillerson threatens a U.S. military response if North Korea does not negotiate: military action not to counter or prevent military action, mind you…but military action if they do not negotiate.
Akin to an Anglo-Centric schoolyard, the Vancouver Summit was a “closed” meeting of nations with stances determined prior to the meeting. The U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia…and the “English-speaking kids,” only invited nations that either fought in the Korean War or nations that would abide by the program…nations that would not present dissenting views.
Russia and China were not invited: go figure.
Another headline sums it up most eloquently as released by CBC News. The article is entitled, North Korea Summit in Vancouver to focus on enforcing sanctions ahead of diplomacy.
How do you like that one? “Focus on enforcing sanctions ahead of diplomacy.”
The imposition of sanctions prior to diplomatic discourse is extortion: nothing less.
Here’s another statement from Tillerson on 1/16:
“We cannot and will not accept DPRK as a nuclear state.”
Big news, Rex: North Korea already is a nuclear state. If they were not? Jaime Dimon would be the North Korean “Czar,” heading a round-table discussion group on how many McDonald’s and Wal-Mart’s were to be “emplaced” in North Korea, Un would be dead, and the IMF would be sending in an army of accountants and other vampires under UN protection…to parcel off all North Korea’s natural resources…as “caretakers” for the North Korean people’s benefit.
Bigger news, Rex: Russia and China will not permit it, as any such in-roads at “transforming North Korea into a democratic member of the family of nations” …translation: [making North Korea another IMF and Rothschild vassal enslaved under the guise of democracy] would cut into their sphere of influence.
Some have analyzed this as an attempt by Tillerson to shore up his position in the White House, but that doesn’t hold water, because it benefits the administration to make it seem as if diplomatic options are being offered before an attack by the U.S. It’s a “CYA” policy by the U.S. administration, and Tillerson still takes the fall if anything goes wrong.
Just within the past week, we have seen one false alarm (intentional or accidental?) missile alert in Hawaii, and another one in Japan. The “predictive programming” paradigm holds, and war is always the answer to bolster a politician’s position. Schachtner just won a state seat in Wisconsin’s senate that had been Republican-held for 17 years, and Doug Jones recently defeated Roy Moore in Alabama. The midterms are not even here yet.
A sitting U.S. Secretary of State…the head diplomat of the U.S., mind you…has just announced that if North Korea does not negotiate, that a military response will occur. Not one attempt has been made by Tillerson (or the State Department, for that matter) to initiate face-to-face dialogue and relegate arrogant imperialistic hubris to where it belongs…in the basement. Millions of lives are at stake that are not considered important. What takes center stage is the pride of a narcissistic handful in the administration. Truly, the Empire is at an end. A sitting U.S. Secretary of State…the head U.S. diplomat…resorts to the pandering of extortion to force diplomats from North Korea to bargain.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee took to Twitter to warn his followers that they have a mere 59 days to save children from global warming. The Tweet, which was posted yesterday, is meant to scare readers and the Washington legislature into enacting a carbon tax.
According to the Daily Caller, the state legislature’s session ends in 59 days, on March 8. Democrats have a slim majority in both state legislative chambers. Inslee wants lawmakers to pass a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities.
We have just 59 days to do our part to save our children from an endless cycle of crop-killing droughts one year, and rivers spilling their banks the next. To save salmon from dying in ever warming rivers, and our forests from being reduced to plumes of ash.
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) January 9, 2018
Inslee’s plan would tax carbon dioxide emissions at $20 a ton in 2019, that would gradually rise at 3.5 percent above inflation each following year. Inslee’s office estimates it will raise $3.3 billion over the next four years.
About $950 million would go toward education programs. The rest would go toward green energy programs and research, water infrastructure, wildfire mitigation. Some money would offset taxes or go to poor families, but the bill isn’t clear on this particularly murky additive to it. The plan could raise household electricity prices five percent, and gas prices by about 10 percent, according to official estimates
Half of the money from the tax (which would be paid by power plants and fuel importers but would ultimately be passed onto the consumers) would go into efforts to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“So, yes there will be impacts on fuel and energy prices, but we expect these to be modest and fully within the range of what would be expected by normal price fluctuation,” said Lauren McCloy, a senior energy policy advisor in Inslee’s office who is trying to ease people into accepting more extortion and theft.
At least some people have actually read the “science” behind “climate change.”
The 19th-Century junk science regarding the so-called atmospheric "Greenhouse effect" has been turned into a political propaganda and a "moral" religion with no relevance to the physical reality! Climate is INDEPENDENT of atmospheric composition, see: https://t.co/SgWzeWz5WE
— Ned Nikolov, Ph.D. (@NikolovScience) January 10, 2018
What Inslee is proposing is simply a tax on his own constituents no matter how any politician spins it. It will affect the consumer. It won’t actually help reduce the global warming he claims they only have 59 days to stop. And it really is too bad most Americans cannot see through this charade. Inslee wants a tax. That’s it. Politicians don’t care about “global warming.” If they did, it would have been over by now – but they can’t exploit the issue for more money either.
Even if Inslee’s carbon tax plan passes, the legislation would have no measurable impact on projected future global warming. In fact, even if the United States as a whole stopped emitting all greenhouse gases, the impact would be extremely small, based on the government’s own climate models.
Inslee’s first carbon tax plan failed in 2016 after liberal groups couldn’t agree how to spend the stolen money it was expected to get. Inslee also proposed a cap-and-trade program, that both Democrats and Republicans rejected in 2015. It sure looks like Inslee just wants to destroy Washington’s economy and steal as much as he can from those residing in the state of Washington.
Democrats are always coming up with fascinating new ways to steal people’s money.
Taxation is theft. But I’ve seen some people defend taxes with typical arguments like, “It’s not theft because you get something for your money.”
Perhaps the confusion lies in the fact that not all thieves act the same. There are at least three different types of theft in which the government engages.
1. The Con
The con artist cheats you out of your money. He makes you think you are getting something of value, or he tricks you into being robbed without your knowledge. Most people are conned into supporting taxation, assuming taxes are the price of civilization. They assume that is the way it has to be, and that taxes are justified because people get government services in return.
So when someone argues that taxes aren’t theft because you are getting something for your money, this is a con. Yes, the government maintains the roads, but both the price and delivery are the con. You must use the government to get the roads, you have no choice. The con artist convinces you roads could be built in no other way, and for no lower cost. The same goes for security, education, food safety, and so on.
And of course sometimes long after the government has taken your money, you realize that they never delivered on whatever promise they made: to keep you safe, to create more jobs, to strengthen the economy, to reduce crime etc. Think you’ll get your money back? Think again, you’ve been conned.
2. Extortion.
Maybe you see the con coming, as many of us do, and refuse to pay taxes. Well, then comes the extortion.
“You’ve got a nice home here, it would be a shame if someone seized it for back taxes. Come on man, don’t make us come back here, we’re not gonna be as nice next time around. You don’t have health insurance? What’s gonna happen if someone breaks your kneecaps? Pony up buddy.”
Those of us who aren’t conned into thinking taxes are necessary or proper generally pay because we don’t want the government to ruin our lives. It’s the classic mafia style, being forced to pay protection money, even though they are your largest threat. Sure they might keep other thugs off the block, but then again, they might not. Either way, you are going to pay, or they will hurt you in any way they can.
Ultimately, all taxes are collected under the threat of violence. Obtaining something through threats or force is extortion.
3. Armed Robbery.
Finally, if you refuse to play into the con, and you refuse to be extorted, you will face a home invasion, which is really the final phase of extortion. When your home is invaded you will either be kidnapped or killed, depending on your reaction to the assault, and the mood of your attackers.
Then they will take everything of value until the original amount they said you owed is paid, plus some extra for not cooperating. If they claimed you owed them an especially high figure, they will keep you caged as an example to others who refused to be extorted.
So yes, taxation is theft, and most people that disagree have been so easily conned that they simply think they haven’t been robbed. But they never bother to think about what would happen next if they didn’t accept the sham products and overprices services!
Being conned is theft: we are tricked into letting go of our money, or having it taken while we aren’t looking (like inflation). Extortion is clearly theft as well: the “alternative” of having your kneecaps broken or business burned down is no alternative at all, it is simply a method of having you turn over your money in order to avoid a violent attack. And armed robbery is clearly theft. You are in the midst of the violence and can no longer avoid it. You must turn over your money, or see the violence escalate until ultimately you are killed.
No matter how you slice it, taxation is theft.
Berkeley, CA — Berkeley police are in the spotlight this week after one of their officers not only cited a man for selling hot dogs to willing customers without a permit but then opened up his wallet and robbed him of his cash as well.
The entire robbery was captured on video and subsequently went viral. But that was only the beginning. Showing how much society respects hard working entrepreneurs while decrying the police state that robs them, a Go Fund Me for the hot dog vendor has raised over $57,000.
The Go Fund Me campaign was started by the person who was brave enough to question authority and film the road side robbery. According to the campaign:
The funds raised will be utilized to cover legal and personal loses. In addition, funds in excess are to cover other vendors who have been robbed of their hard earned living through citations and removal of their carts. It is my goal to locate Juan in Berkeley. Any and all help to support and locate him is welcome.
On Monday, the video became so viral that UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy had to issue a statement, in which he justified the theft of the hot dog vendor’s money.
“While I cannot comment on the specifics of this particular case, our practice is to issue warnings before giving a citation,” Biddy said. “In a case such as this, it is typical to collect any suspected illegal funds and enter them into evidence.”
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According to NBC 5, UCPD officials said that three other people were warned about vending without a permit, but the vendor in the video was the only person who was given a ticket.
READ MORE: Eyewitness: Laredo Police Knew it was a BB Gun Before Firing 80 Rounds Into Schizophrenic Man
Perhaps it was because he had the thickest wallet.
Whether or not the money in the man’s wallet was from selling unlicensed hot dogs remains to be answered. However, that was apparently of no importance to UC police officer Sean Aranas who found it necessary to confiscate it all.
Yes, selling food without first paying the government for permission—known as a permit—is against the law. However, this does not in any way justify this incident.
“That’s not right man, that’s not right,” Martin Flores, the man who took the video, said as he used his phone to record Aranas issuing the hot dog vendor, Beto, a ticket.
“That’s how it works,” the male officer responded. “Take it to a judge, and the judge can decide whether or not it’s right.”
The officer then took the money out of the vendor’s wallet, and when he began to protest in Spanish, the officer told him to “Back up.”
“You’re going to take his hard-earned money?” Flores asked. The officer replied, “Yep.”
“He doesn’t have a permit,” the officer replied as he dug through Beto’s wallet to steal his cash. “Yep. This is law and order in action.”
In an interview with NBC Bay Area’s sister station Telemundo, the street vendor said he holds down a regular job in construction. He was selling hot dogs to earn a little extra money, he said.
“People saw I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” he said of the response to the video. “I wasn’t stealing or drinking. I was just working to sustain my family.”
As TFTP has reported, in the Land of the Free, if you do not pay the State before you attempt to sell a product or service to a willing customer, you can and will be extorted, kidnapped and caged, with extreme prejudice.
READ MORE: Officers Kept Piling Parking Tickets On Man"s Windshield As He Sat Dead In His Car -- For Days
Sadly, Americans are being conditioned to think that in the land of the free, people are somehow morally wrong if they try to make a dollar without first being extorted by the state.
The bottom line is — in modern day police state, USA — exchanging goods and services is a crime unless the State gets their cut. We are told that this is for our safety and that we could all die if a brown man sells unlicensed hot dogs on the road side. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Morality does not equal reality — and the video above is more than enough evidence to prove this.
Victoria, TX — When Sarrah Pitts checked out the anime series “One Piece” from her local public library for her children, the last thing going through her mind was that this could land her in jail. However, that is exactly what is happening to her thanks to the state’s ability to escalate force.
“I’ve always heard of people going to jail for library fines, and I never knew anyone till now,” Pitts, who is 35 and a mother of four, said.
Pitts checked out the books back in September of 2013. However, she failed to bring them back after she moved from Chillicothe to Victoria. During the move, the books were lost and fell out of her memory.
Because she moved, the library notices were not getting to her. So, a lost item fee of $21.75 continued to progress. Eventually, the library, in following their protocol, turned matters over to law enforcement who quickly and unnecessarily escalated the situation.
As all those involved attempted to get a piece of the ‘bounty’ for the book, the $21.75 late fee snowballed into a massive $784.98 warrant — for failure to return a library book.
While this was all going on, Pitts was oblivious as the stressful move had long since wiped the memory of the book from her mind.
According to the Victoria Advocate:
A week before Christmas, the mother of four decided to apply for a loan.
During the application, she was told she needed an updated driver license.
At the Department of Motor Vehicles, Pitts was told she had a failure to appear in court for Victoria County.
Pitts’ had been driving with a suspended license since 2013.
In the moment she found out about the money she owed, she could not believe it.
“I cried. I can’t afford this,” she said. “I’ve done what I’m supposed to do, and I’m trying my best to raise my kids.”
READ MORE: Cop Caught on Dashcam Plotting to Kill Dog
Pitts is unable to pay the fine and is naturally worried as the failure of payment will result in jail — for a library book.
“I work 40 hours a week at a convenience store; I can’t afford a lawyer,” she said. “I have four kids, my husband’s disabled with heart problems.”
According to the library, these excessive fines are not common, but they can happen.
“Circulation gives a copy when people sign up, so they know exactly what they are signing up for,” Victoria Public Library director, Dayna Williams-Capone said.
However, the idea of going to jail is hardly at the front of people’s minds when checking out a book. But, that is exactly what happens.
Because she moved, Pitts did not receive the warnings that were mailed to her old residence notifying her of the $0.10 per day late charge. So, the municipal court was then brought in.
“When people move, they don’t think of the library,” Williams-Capone said. “Please keep an updated address with the library.”
Once the court receives the notice from the library they begin levying extortion fee after extortion fee until they amount to so much money that police action is warranted.
The Pitts family is now finding this out the hard way.
Nothing illustrates the brutal nature of the state quite like the possibility of jail for a library book. However, this should come as no surprise as the entire system is ultimately enforced through the barrel of a gun.
Roseville, MI — In Police State USA, warming up your car in your own driveway can land you in jail, or worse. Residents across the land of the free are quickly learning how unfree they actually are as they are issued citations for everyday activities such as allowing your engine to warm up on a cold morning.
Nick Taylor, of Roseville, Michigan, has taken to social media to express his anger over police issuing him a notice of extortion (citation) for doing what millions of people every morning do across the country.
“Every person warms up their car,” Taylor said. “We live in Michigan!”
If you don’t think a citation for warming up your car will land you in jail — try not paying it. If you don’t think a citation for warming up your car can lead to your death — try resisting your captors when they come after you for nonpayment.
All tickets are enforced with the threat of violence. To deny it is to deny reality. So, when government officials begin issuing threats of violence for everyday activities such as warming up your car, it’s time to start paying attention.
“Vehicle parked in drive with keys in ignition, motor running — no one around,” the Roseville officer wrote on the ticket in a sorry attempt to justify the extortion.
The officer never attempted to knock on Taylor’s door to inform him of the asinine law, and instead issued a demand for money.
“That would have been respectful,” Taylor said. “I had no clue that this was a law, an ordinance.”
When asked by WDIV 4 why cops were stealing money from people for warming up their cars, police said the key component of the case is whether the key is in the car. Using a remote starter is OK because the key isn’t in the car. If the key is in the car, it’s a state and local violation, because somebody could take off in the car.
“You’re putting the public at risk,” Roseville police Chief James Berlin said. “This is purely a public safety issue.”
However, if the public were truly at risk by a car running in a driveway, this cop should have notified Taylor of it — in the interest of public safety. But that did not happen.
Instead, this officer showed that revenue collection and revenue collection alone was his mission by doing nothing to stop the supposed risk.
Taylor quickly went to Facebook after receiving the citation and let his feelings be known. The idea of being extorted for warming up one’s car apparently resonated with people as it has shared more than 13,500 times as of Monday.
After seeing the post on Facebook, Chief Berlin had no problem publicly noting that he wished ill-will on Taylor.
“You see the disparaging comments he made about my officer?” Berlin said. “Drop dead.”
Taylor said he didn’t mean to call the officer a name, but noted how ridiculous the ticket was.
“Unattended car?” Taylor said. “I’ve done this every day for seven years. Every person warms up their car. We live in Michigan.”
Pocatello, ID — There is a saying among law enforcement when they are questioned for writing asinine tickets for non-crimes and arresting well-meaning people who may be in possession of a plant to treat their child — ‘Just doing my job.’ This phrase is uttered countless times a day as police officers write tickets for everything from window tint to license plate lights — as they somehow think it justifies this level of extortion.
The most recent case of extortion for non-crimes is getting a lot of attention in Idaho because police extorted a man who was actually providing a community service.
When it snows in his community, Mitch Fisher is ready to help.
“I take care of the neighbors. They’re all elderly and I like to help them out,” Fisher said.
Fisher’s community service of plowing streets and sidewalks — for free — is so highly regarded that he was featured in a segment on a local news station in December.
“I try to clean my spot and all the neighbors around me so we have a nice area to park and pull in,” Fisher said las month. “Also, hopefully, so no one gets stuck in front of my house.”
But his good deed did not go unnoticed by the revenue collectors. On Wednesday, a Pocatello police officer came prowling and issued Fisher a citation for ‘depositing material on a public right of way.’ Fisher will now be extorted for over $200 for helping the city clean the roadways.
Naturally, according to Local 8 News, Fisher was baffled.
“I tried to talk (the officer) out of it and tell him what I was doing, that I was trying to get it out of the street because (the street) hasn’t been plowed since the beginning of snow season,” he said. “Of course, he was doing his job, wrote the citation and went on his way.”
The law used to extort Fisher was Chapter 9 of Pocatello’s city code which states, “It is unlawful for any person to deposit, place or allow to remain in or upon any public right of way any material or substance injurious to persons or property.”
Obviously depositing trash, debris, or anything else that would obstruct the street is a dangerous practice. However, Fisher was doing the opposite of this as he moved the snow into a pile right next to his curb.
“I didn’t want it in front of (my neighbors’) houses because they can’t park. I don’t care if it’s in front of mine,” Fisher explained of his community service.
Fisher’s ticket received heavy backlash after he posted it on Facebook in the group “You know you grew up in Pocatello when…” However, the administrator took it down after the conversation apparently got too heated.
To highlight how caring of a man he is, Fisher posted to the group yesterday — apologizing for sharing his ticket in it and didn’t mean for it to start any controversy. Within that post, Fisher was praised by his neighbors and community for providing the service and the overwhelming majority of people are on his side.
Also, there is good news to this story as Fisher says he will not back down. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. I don’t care about the city,” he said.
According to Local 8, Fisher plans on fighting the ticket. However, even if he loses — he will continue to help.
“If it cost me 206 dollars a year so be it, I’ll have peace of mind knowing it helps them out,” Fisher said in the Facebook group.
It is quite heartening to hear of such resistance to petty tyranny. Unjust laws will remain unjust until they are disobeyed by good people like Fisher. Had brave individuals throughout history not risked imprisonment or worse to challenge tyrannical, racist, and immoral laws, society today, would be much less free.
Thank you, Mitch Fisher, for standing up for what is right.
