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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Are Your Cops Following the NSA's Lead? Are Your Cops Following the NSA's Lead? Dear Laissez Faire Today Reader, "Why would someone feel threatened if you are not doing anything wrong?" You've probably heard that line a thousand times. Either from a public servant that wants to keep you safe or maybe from a fan of the Big Government surveillance state that's necessary in our modern world (or at least that's what they're told). These people don't know better. But what if the person saying it was your local chief of police? That's the situation the people of Columbia, S.C., found themselves in. Interim police chief Ruben Santiago seems to hold the people of the city to the same standard to which many members of Congress hold America. Some background is in order. It all began when the Columbia Police Department made a Facebook post touting a local pot bust. An annoyed citizen took this opportunity to criticize the department, posting the following, "Maybe [you] should arrest the people shooting people in 5 Points [a Columbia neighborhood], instead of worrying about a stoner that's not bother anyone." Not to be upstaged by someone who's grown tired of the government's pointless drug war, Santiago replied: "We have arrested all of the violent offenders in Five Points. Thank you for sharing your views and giving us reasonable suspicion to believe you might be a criminal, we will work on finding you." [Emphasis added.] So much for fostering a civil discourse between citizens and law enforcements. But maybe this was the work of an immature intern or other employee at the station. Considering that his post was quickly deleted, that might be safe to assume. But apparently, Santiago didn't want to leave any doubt that he wasn't taking kindly to opponents to the drug war. In a much longer post, he made clear his feelings: "I was just notified that one of my staff members deleted my post. I put everyone on notice that if you advocate for the use of illegal substances in the city of Columbia, then it's reasonable to believe that you MIGHT also be involved in that particular activity. Threat? Why would someone feel threaten[ed] if you are not doing anything wrong?" At least he's being honest about his complete disregard for your personal liberties. A spokesperson for the department later tried to claim that the posts by the interim chief were misinterpreted. But that's hard to believe. When the chief actually posts a 140-word response (yep, we counted) to clarify his original post, there's not much room for misinterpretation. Maybe Santiago isn't the norm when it comes to law enforcement officers. But more often than not, it's government "servants" like him that rise through the ranks and take key roles. Why? Because they're more likely to play the government's game. People like him won't try to scale back the size and scope of their government authority. So they're more likely to succeed and reaffirm the broken system. We try not to go off on these rants too much, but when they're as blatant as this, it's hard to keep quiet. Especially when they're just using the playbook of their federal counterparts. Today's article by Jeffrey Tucker returns to the government failure that keeps getting worse with every passing day, the federal health care exchanges. Jeffrey expands his investigation to look at another underlying cause for the government's failure, something that can't be fixed by bringing in the tech experts from Silicon Valley. Poster Comment: I have no idea what is going on out here in Lamar. The local cops seem friendly enough, and I know the Chief. ;) Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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