Smokin

I know that many people are about as interested in Constitutional law as they are about internal politics of Bolivia, but anyone that is a public servant and particularly those responsible for law enforcement should have a working knowledge of the Constitution and how local, state, and federal laws work under the Constitution. If those cops had taken a Constitutional law class (should be mandatory for law enforcement), they would have known that what they were being told to do is illegal. You are morally and legally obligated to not follow an illegal order. You shouldn't just do what you're told and wait for a judge to sort it out. I am not anti-police. I am very pro law enforcement. But when cops break they law, they become traitors to their responsibility to the public and that is far worse than a run of the mill criminal.

The Constitution preempts any and all state laws including business licenses. It doesn't matter what law a state passes allowing police to search businesses. Just like a state cannot pass a law saying National Guard troops can be lodged in someone's home without consent. A butcher shop is subject to state inspections, but those inspections are consented to. If an inspector shows up, wants to do an inspection, is refused, and then continues anyway and arrests the person for not complying, that is an unlawful search and wrongful arrest. The state can immediately revoke the butcher license, but they cannot continue a search (or "inspection") after being turned down without a warrant. In this case the police should have said 'fine, you won't let us in, we'll suspend your license'. As soon as they forced their way in anyway, they became the bad guys.

Seriously? I'm assuming that you're military and have actually read the Constitution that you've sworn to protect. Police don't conduct "inspections". They are clearly searching the store without a warrant, which is against the Constitution. They arrested a man for not complying with their illegal search, which is a wrongful arrest. Very likely they broke some things in the process, like the cop going over the counter by sitting on a glass case and other guys forcing the door open that is designed to keep people out. Every one of these cops should be fired and then arrested for breaking and entering. The modern tyrannical police state has broken the public faith and the only way to restore that faith is to hold themselves accountable for following the law they pretend to enforce.

I get what you're saying and in general agree, but closing the gap won't eliminate the debt. We have a deficit and debt problem. Killing the deficit would decrease the debt growth to only interest, which would be a significant victory in these absurd times. But I don't think a 5% surtax that is only applied to the debt would even cover the interest at this point. The interest alone was pushing 1 trillion last year. If we balanced the budget and found an extra trillion in the seat cushions, that would only stop the debt from growing, wouldn't pay off a penny. We'd still owe $267K per taxpayer.

This. We cannot tax our way out of this mess. Our current debt is approaching $267,000 per taxpayer. Or about 30% more than last year's GDP. You'd have to have a 100% federal tax rate on absolutely everything, not just those who currently pay taxes, for an entire year and we still would be in debt. To say it another way, the entire US population would have to give all their income for an entire year to the Feds. And state, county, and local governments would have to also work for free for the year. And that would still only pay off 69% of our debt.

The best college football teams have a good percentage of the starters with a rap sheet. If a team isn't having to bail a few players out each season, they likely aren't winning either. Not an endorsement, just a fact.

As I understand it, they were supposed to be executing a search warrant, not arrest warrant. And the presumption of innocence is not just the court, it is the entire criminal justice system and those working for it, not me. He was suspected of a non-violent offense. Maybe his actions generated violence down the line, but no one has accused him of a violent act prior to his door being kicked in. That is a vitally important part. If he were suspected of a violent crime, then the ATF actions would be entirely logical. But he wasn't, and they weren't. It appears to me based on the evidence I've seen that this was either some of the grossest police negligence and stupidity to execute a search warrant in the manner they did or it was intentional. I cannot believe that even an ATF new hire that hasn't finished the academy, or whatever pretense of training they send these guys to, would consider the method they used to be reasonable. So, the only logical conclusion is they intentionally did they actions they did in order to incite the logical response of the homeowner in order to generate a violent event. Maybe there are other options, I just can't think of any based on the evidence available. I totally understand that is a serious accusation, but it is the only logical one. You say he was the bad guy, and he likely was. Again, now we'll never know because all we have are ATF allegations. Many people have had terrible allegations made against them by government agencies that later were shown to be false. But I haven't heard anyone accuse him of kicking in the door of someone in the dark and killing them. He's not the only bad guy in this scenario.

I don't think anyone on here is saying he was a saint or even a good person. But we don't ignore government over reach because the victim of that over reach was a criminal. What we are saying is the government for all practical purposes murdered a US citizen. A US citizen who is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He cannot be proven guilty now because he was murdered by the government. There have been many instances of these no knock warrants being served to the wrong address. The government would have also then murdered a random citizen because the ATF, local police, FBI, etc want to pretend they're SEAL Team 6 attacking the Bin Laden house when stopping him as he walked out of his office at work would have been equally effective and had near 0% risk.

Yes he allegedly shot at cops. Cops that apparently didn't announce themselves, cut the power, covered his camera, and smashed in his door. All of which are the same thing a gang might do. Are you really going to say that if you hear a crash at your front door and walk out of your bedroom in the dark to see the outline of multiple armed individuals dressed in dark clothes walking in the front door that they just smashed in, your first thought is "I bet this is a group of peace officers executing a lawfully attained search warrant". BS. Based on the available info, he fired warning shots at a group of people that just broke into his house. He showed more restraint that morning than the ATF did. If the current evidence is even close to correct, it was absolutely not suicide by cop, it was an execution by cop. Every single individual that was even remotely involved in the decision to execute the "raid" in this manner this should go to prison. It would be difficult to figure out a way to execute a search warrant that would be more likely to result in death. The ATF allegedly has evidence that he commuted many gun law violations. Trafficking sounds like a stretch, more like he was acting as a firearms dealer without a license. A big deal? Yes. Worthy of dozens of armed agents murdering him in the dark? Absolutely not. And we'll never know because they killed the one dude that really knew what he had done and apparently intentionally prevented any video evidence of the act. By the way, the same ATF just published an administrative rule that grossly expanded the definition of acting as a firearms dealer. Not Congress, not a law, but a bureaucrat published a rule which opens up tens if not hundreds of thousands of Americans to the same horror as this.

Was NATO's refusal to sign that ultimatum in 2021 also the provocation of the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014? How about Georgia in 2008? To say that NATO refusing to sign an absurd ultimatum constitutes a provocation is absurd. Putin is an egomaniac tyrant in charge of a large county. Small countries nearby rulers like that have always been at risk since the dawn of time. Putin knew NATO wouldn't sign it. It was obviously sent as a pretext when he had already decided to invade. He would have invaded regardless of any treaty because he could and he wanted to. That's all the reason he needs.

While I don't like the suspension of elections in any scenario, the situation Ukraine is currently in is likely the most justifiable. Carrying out a campaign, having debates, and conducting an honest and open election in the middle of a war for their very survival on their own land would likely be a significant distraction from the battle and unlikely to meet the purpose of an election. How would votes from occupied territory count? The chances of those votes being cast with a Russian political soldier looking over their shoulder would be almost certain and risk a Russian puppet being "voted" into office. I don't like the suspension, but I understand it as reasonable. Biggest problem is the get well plan. An all out victory is unlikely while Putin is alive, so when will Ukraine hold an election next? Real Russian political opponents end up dead or in prison. I don't pretend that Ukraine is a model of a democracy, but Russia very well may be a model of what a democracy is not. To say that Ukraine postponed the elections and therefore this war is not about freedom and democracy anymore is a bit too jaded at this point in my opinion.

As opposed to Russia.... oh, wait, also a dictatorship.

Deadline for military Epic Pass is Monday (at least at the cheaper price).

The last vaccine rollout went so smoothly with a highly effective vaccine and zero reported problems, so let's just run that play again...

I think this is why he is so hated. He shows everyone what our political system has created. But rather than buckle down and fix the system that lets guys like this get into office from both parties, people would rather pretend that the system is OK, that he is just a single aberration and that if we can get rid of him then everything is going to back to being fine. We have gotten here by an absurd mix of a shockingly extreme level of willful ignorance, stupidity, selfishness, and a host of other problems in America. We need to get back to a system that creates national leaders like Doug Burgum, but he has zero chance because I'm betting 95% of America has never heard of him. He is the personification of the American dream; a self-made billionaire that has turned around and became a public servant rather than enjoy his money on a yacht. While I've never met the guy, I'd like to think that it is out of a genuine desire to make America a better place. That is the kind of people we need in Washington.

He quit smoking tobacco... I have no doubt that he's still smoking, just switched to sulfur.

So, where can I buy these? Someone please take my money! Put this in a 410 round to be shot with the judge and I think you have a solid bear gun.

There should absolutely be a drug test for the debates. I don't believe for a second that he wasn't on something last time. Watch the last debates and then watch him completely whiff at softball tosses the press gave him in the weeks before and after. Two different people. He still wasn't 1970s or 80s Biden at those debates, but he also wasn't senile grandpa in a home like he is most of the time either.

There should be a cognitive test to vote, that would make a cognitive test for office irrelevant.

I was just diagnosed with this as well and the doc said to take "gaviscon advance". It is OTC and available on amazon. I've been taking it for about two weeks and I think it is helping. Almost no instructions on the meds, but he told me one before and after breakfast and another after lunch and dinner. Might be able to control it without any other medical intervention.

You get 30 days of leave per year. You can only accumulate 60 days at the end of each fiscal year and it looks bad on the squadron if you get leave taken away for not using it. I'm approaching retirement and I've lost 1/2 day of leave in 20 years. If you are not taking 30 days of vacation a year, then there's a 90% chance its a you problem. Obviously extenuating circumstances exist (deployments, exercises, upgrades, etc) but even bad commanders rarely gives anyone grief for taking leave if it isn't during an exercise or something like that.

Problem is after that Ferguson "hands up don't shoot" incident, I would imagine the overall quality of police recruits had to have dropped. The job never paid that great, much of the public hates you just because, and even if you do everything right you still run the risk of pilloried and left to hang by political prosecutors looking to make a name for themselves or to appease the mob. Throw in a higher turnover rate and being undermanned, under trained, and under funded and it is honestly surprising things like this are not happening more often.

After watching the video my impression from the first report was that he entered the place was clearly incorrect. But I think one take away from this is that if I hear someone banging on my door yelling "police, open up" then I'm going to first arm myself assuming ill intent and then call 911 before I get anywhere near the door. The 911 dispatcher should be able to verify if it is an actual cop outside. As I said before, an improved front door will buy you some time. Second life lesson for everyone; don't artificially put a sense of urgency into a situation where none is required. The cop was responding to call about domestic violence. If the cop arrived and he can't hear anything happening inside, then the chance of a life threatening situation happening inside is an unreasonable assumption. Time to wait for backup and take in the situation. Maybe if he had waited a minute he might have heard laughing or something inside that could have made him realize that his SA was not what he thought it was.

The drastic rise in no-knock warrants (or apparently warrantless door busting in this case) is appalling. Also, a great reason to up-armor your front door. Shocking how easy it is to kick in a front door and it is relatively easy to significantly bolster most front doors. That would likely give the homeowner a minute to assess the situation a bit better. Problem is, with police acting like criminals and criminals acting like police, what would be the right thing do to? You have no idea if the guy kicking in your door is a gang-banger thug looking to rape your wife and kids or only an ATF agent looking for an excuse to discharge his duty pistol. Either way, there's a solid chance you die.

I get that people have different lives than me and I don't expect everyone to make similar decisions that I have made. Divorce sucks. Taking care of sick family members can take a toll. Losing what you thought was a golden parachute is rough, especially for the dudes that were near retirement or had just retired. If the 67 argument were being made on financial reasons shortly after 9/11, I'd buy it. But the guys turning 65 now were 42 at 9/11. Off the top of my head, most majors had offered recall from furlough to everyone in the 2010 time-frame. That's almost 14 years of 401K contributions and high year airline pay to catch up from losing the pension. Someone that needs the money and is turning 65 is likely senior enough to be a wide-body captain and is capable of pulling in $350,000 by just flying the line and $60K of 401K on top of that. It doesn't take many years of that to be able to retire comfortably if you're not living like a redneck that just won the powerball. Obviously this is just for the majors, but that's all the dude in Congress that is pushing the bill is talking about. I know there are some serious heart string cases of guys that just can't catch a break, have a sick kid, wife that went crazy, etc. But I have zero sympathy for the dude that bids captain at 100% for the money, then still lives beyond his means, and talks about his third vacation home in front of the dude driving the hotel shuttle. There are guys in both camps, but the second group looks like a party on the Titanic (both numbers and lifestyle) while the first group could fit in a few of the lifeboats. On the whole, I question the decision making ability of guys that live beyond their means then freak out when they see the end of the gravy train approaching and they realize their savings account is non-existent.