Crime With and Without Punishment. Nine Things to Know about the US Justice System

Crime With and Without Punishment. Nine Things to Know about the US Justice System


Sensational crime news has clarified the new rules on crime with and without punishment in the United States. Listening to the District Attorneys and Dick Cheney, I’m reassured it’s all for the better.

But it’s important to teach your kids and yourself the rules. Step out of line and who know what might happen.

First, you can be killed with impunity for the crime of walking while black, playing with a toy gun, or breathing while black. Even an indictment has now become a grave threat to the sanctity of law and order.

Second, if you are rich and part of a powerful financial institution who commit control fraud, cook the books, bankrupt the world economy, put millions out of work and into the streets, there will be no perp walk. You will no even lose a single mansion. 1,000 bankers went to jail in the 1980s after the savings and loan debacle. It’s now too risky to enforce the law and make bankers nervous.

Third, the largest financial institutions responsible for the global financial collapse have been anointed as “too big to fail”. This is likely to guarantee a forthcoming future collapse, since risk has been wisely removed from speculation. And if you are worried that the Dodd-Frank law unduly burdens the bankers, the Congress is taking steps to roll back the modest financial reforms.

Fourth, torture of terrorism suspects by the CIA and it’s contractors, reminiscent of methods of the /Stasi/ and /Gestapo, /will go unpunished. The most we expect is that our torturers will be granted a pardon indicating what they did was technically illegal, violating the UN Convention Against Torture and the older Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners of war.

Fifth, non-judicial execution of Americans has been embraced. The President regularly attends meetings where votes are taken on who shall live and who shall die, usually though drone attacks that kill not just targets but any nearby unfortunates. This, we are to understand, is a crucial tool in the long war against terrorism.

Sixth, all information, conversations, telephone calls, e-mails, images, your face, your car, everything to do with you can be appropriated by the national security state and used at the discretion of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the President (POTUS) to prevent terrorism, or whatever else they decide in their infinite wisdom is a threat to their power, their fortunes, their friends fortunes.

Seventh, all information of all sorts can also be gathered and employed for commercial purposes by friendly corporations interested in providing services for us.

Eight, your location and not just your communications will soon be added to the data cloud from a network of sensors and cameras that identify you and track you and vehicle and everything else you own. What American with nothing to hide could possible object to being protected by our all encompassing security state.

Nine, the role of elected government is now limited to passing blanket resolutions authorizing for an indefinite period of time war that is limitless in time and space against our newly designated enemy. The government will be empowered yet again to take all steps necessary to protect the interest of freedom loving people.
I feel safer and more secure by the day.

I do have one reservation. Coming from a law enforcement family, I’m disgusted by the you-tube videos of police violence that reflects a combination of racism and cowardice. I’m similarly repulsed by descriptions of CIA torture. It probably never occurred to our brave torturers that we are inviting abuse of captured American soldiers.

Otherwise, all hail Big Brother.