It's not everyday that a fella gets to experience everything that everybody else gets to experience, but they say that final moment of life can sum it all up quite succinctly.
Here is to all of us that want that to happen only in a dream.
Or, nightmare, as it may be.
Most of the people that will come in contact with this series of posts will not have first hand personal knowledge of many of the aspects of this reality that I tend to go on and on about, if that were the case I wouldn't need to bring up the things I need to bring up, ad nauseam.
So, in the interests of entropy and energy conservation, allow me to introduce you to a professional treatment of today's topic:
Free people don't seek masters.
Rebellion is the natural existence of freedom, the compliant have to be slaves.
“when a person cannot know how a court will apply a settled principle to a recurring factual situation, that person cannot know the scope of his constitutional protection, nor can a policeman know the scope of his authority.”
Justice Potter Stewart, New York v Belton, 453 US 454, 459-460, 101 SCt 2860, 2864 (1981)
You're likely to get into trouble.
Perhaps it’s because of your weakness for some good “smoke” now and then, or because out-of-season game tends to find its way into your freezer.
Maybe you keep a handgun in your car, or can’t resist exaggerating a bit when you fill out loan applications, income tax forms, and the like.
In one way or another, most of us do occasionally break the law.
It might even be that you're into something a bit more “substantial,” such that you'd be considered a professional outlaw.
Maybe you deal drugs, smuggle, hustle, steal, or engage in some other illegal operation for profit.
Perhaps you’re already a fugitive with your name on the hot list and the law on your tail.
Whether you’re a lawbreaker, or you just like the company of those who are, your ignorance about the law makes you a danger to yourself and to your friends.
It could easily cost you your life.
It is primarily for your benefit that this book was written, so read on and be the wiser.
If, on the other hand, you’re as innocent as a newborn lamb, and merely harbor a little academic curiosity about how your own rights measure up against those of the police, then this book is for you, also.
You probably don’t like the idea of being dominated and manipulated by the police, and may have had occasion to wonder just how far the law really does entitle them to push.
Such a curiosity is very healthy, because no matter how saintly a person may be, he never knows when he might find himself facing a criminal charge — a circumstance where some practical knowledge of constitutional rights can be lifesaving.
Law books are too dry and technical for most people to read, and this is why the average citizen never really learns what his rights are.
It fits right into the plans of those captains of the System, the cops and the lawyers, because with the citizens in the dark, they can do pretty much what they please without recriminations.
This book aims to put a stop to that situation by laying out in plain English an up-to-date overview of the citizen’s legal rights against police activity.
It gives an explanation from the common man’s perspective of how the criminal justice system works in real life.
It tells precisely where and to what extent a person has an equally reliable right to privacy.
It tells precisely what limits are imposed by law upon the police.
In short, it tells you how the cops operate, how far they can go, and what you can and cannot expect to get away with.
While the presentation of this material is non-technical and geared to the ordinary person, precision and completeness have not been abandoned.
The idea here is to present an accurate picture of the overall law that governs us, regardless of which state we happen to be in at the time.
Most of this information has therefore come from the federal law books.
State laws are sometimes either stricter or more lenient than the corresponding federal ones, and for some types of crimes there don't even exist comparable laws in both state and federal jurisdictions.
To the extent that every state is ultimately under the authority of the United States Constitution, however, state laws are controlled by federal law, and a person can pretty much rely on that during his confrontation with state and local police.
You don’t have to know all the ramifications of the law in order to get along.
State law is occasionally mentioned in this book in order to give you some idea of the variations that can exist in the law from one place to another, but no attempt is being made here to provide an exhaustive summary.
This book is strictly for getting the “big picture.”
If you want to know exact/y where you stand, you'll have to go to a local law library and look up the state and federal statutes that apply to you where you are — either that, or ask a lawyer.’
Every person knows that he doesn’t want to go to jail: you don’t need a book to tell you that.
Unless you've had personal experiences with the criminal justice system, however, it isn’t likely that you really know what you're up against.
Those of you who've already taken a fall know what the System is all about.
You’ve met the players on the field and seen them in action; you may skip on ahead to Chapter 5.
But if you haven’t yet been in trouble with the law, the next three chapters will give you a valuable opportunity to make the acquaintance of your enemies before they meet you.
They aren’t anything at all like those mythological creatures which our middle-class orientation has taught us to believe in.
You've seen them on the street... you’ve had drinks with them at the Club... perhaps you’re even related to one of them.
No matter how well you think you’ve known them, however, you really don’t know them at all until you've seen them from behind bars.
The insight that comes from that perspective is very important, for it teaches you to beware of them and to avoid underestimating them; underestimation is the deadliest sin of all.
The criminal justice system, which we'll henceforth refer to simply as “the System,” can be likened to a predatory beast.
From the point of view of its prey, there are three significant parts to the beast: the claw, which it uses to reach out and snatch up prey; the jaws, into which the prey is stuffed and processed for digestion; and the belly, where the chewed-up prey is digested and sapped of all its nutrients.
The prey in this simile is the citizen — you.
The claw represents the police, the jaws the court system, and the belly the prison system.
All three organs work together toward the ultimate benefit of each other, and all three live off the destruction of the prey.
Meet each one of them now — the Cops, the Courts, and the Keepers.
REFERENCES
- You can learn to look up the law for yourself by reading Legal Research in a Nutshell, by Morris L. Cohen, West Publishing Co., St. Paul (1978).
Then go to any county courthouse to use the law library, because they'll have all the local law books there, and citizens are entitled to use them.
IF you haven't caught the clue that your gov't isn't here to help you, I don't know what to say to you, that is a level of obliviousness that is extraordinarily rare.
The best I can tell you is, no record, no appeal.
Always demand a court reporter.
Ask how they got an authority nobody on the planet has, namely, the right to force their opinions onto you.
Being in geographical area cannot be consent, provided you speak your non-assent to the proceedings.
You only have the rights you can defend in court, if you don't defend them, you have waived them.
This is how you allow your gov't to screw you, conveniently, for them.
Rise up, slave.
While you still can.
Are you are tired of paying your masters to bomb children in far away places?
Perhaps it is time you pushed back on that.
A simple way that anybody can do that is to hoard your coins.
The fed buys coins at face value from the mint.
A dollar of change in your pocket is a dollar of value out of the banksters' pockets.
Stop playing in their shell game that allows them to play in the amusement parks from hell and shop in the human grocery stores.
How to defend the constitution.
Billy Jack, the movie.
The Trial of Billy Jack.
Billy Jack goes to Washington.
