Police

Since George Floyd was murdered, we have seen an increasing convergence of the “war at home” against Black and brown people with the “wars abroad” that the U.S. has waged against people in other countries. Army and National Guard troops have been deployed in U.S. cities, as militarized police treat our cities as occupied war zones. In response to this “endless war” at home, the growing and thunderous cries for defunding the police have been echoed by calls for defunding the Pentagon’s wars.

Festishizing democracy

There have been for some time, especially from libertarian quarters, accusations that the COVID-19 crisis has led to a state that has been called by some “medical martial law”. I believe the more accurate term and point of departure is “medical social engineering and management”. Martial law sounds more dramatic and seems simpler to understand. Yet we have to get beyond slogans and deal with long-term processes and policies if we are to find adequate responses today.

Samantha Shader is accused of hurling a Molotov cocktail at an NYPD van full of police during a George Floyd protest, and she claimed a trio of “black” strangers made her do it. Prosecutors say the bottle failed to ignite because she used toilet paper instead of a rag as the fuse. The facts do not support her story.

In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless, we have a tyranny without a tyrant.
― Hannah Arendt, On Violence

Source : Russia Today France, Interdit d’interdire

Frédéric Taddeï reçoit Alain Bauer, professeur de criminologie au Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, et Paul Rocher économiste, et auteur de «Gazer, mutiler, soumettre: politique de l’arme non létale» aux éditions la Fabrique
Source : Russia Today France, Interdit d’interdire

Here is a link to an audio version of my Mises Institute article, “Repealing Useless and Abusive Laws Might Do More Good Than “Defunding” the Police.”    Thanks to Millian Quinteros for reading the piece.

Clad in full riot gear, wielding batons and pepper spray, police in Aurora, Colo, broke up last night’s vigil to the memory of 23-year-old massage therapist Elijah McClain  — a man killed by the same police force last August. The day had begun with demonstrations organized by the local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. At 8.30 p.m. a somber violin vigil was held in the city’s Center Park, where dozens of musicians, including children from local orchestras, congregated to mourn his killing last year.

Submitted by M.A.Richardson…
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” – Winston Churchill
Twenty-two police officers injured as Brixton party ends in violence

Scenes of sorrow spread across the US. Football teams apologize. Cops march with demonstrators. Democratic Party politicians call for “structural change” in police departments.