Your Government Will Lock You Up, Ask You If You Want a Lawyer, and then...

won't let anyone see you, and then will use legal maneuverings to argue that a lawyer can't represent you, because you haven't asked for that specific lawyer and the lawyer can't ask you because the government won't let anyone see you:

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/12/24/hide-and-seek-the-government-loses/

Your Government Will Deport You - Even Citizens and Veterans

This is going to be a general section on how fucked up our immigration system is.  Even a strong supporter of good borders needs to recognize that our government is incompetent and can't be trusted to manage even this.  20,000 U.S. citizens have been deported in the 7 years from 2003 to 2010:

https://www.thejacknews.com/free-markets/immigration/united-states-cruelly-deports-citizens-military-veterans/

Your Government Is Never Held Accountable

YOU pay when a Congressman sexually harasses someone:

http://reason.com/blog/2017/11/21/how-congress-keeps-its-sexual-harassment

Attorney's General can beat their girlfriends:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/08/politics/no-charges-for-former-ny-ag-schneiderman/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1xZT1rGat1iYhds0Ka2B6nwTeDjxWj_0Q76vXynX4Chm_GlNb5vBWDFqI

Your Government Makes Being Poor A Crime

From the article below: "Rather than say “no,” tell the kid prosecutor she won’t set bail at $500 for fare beating charge, the judge will shrug and go with the flow. When the prosecutor offers a plea that will let this same defendant, unworthy of being released on his own recognizance, out that same day, the defendant cops. If the crime is more serious, then he sits. For months. Years. All the while being presumed innocent. All the while, his life is being destroyed and he will never get it back. Even if the case is dismissed, he can never get his life back."

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/11/14/bronx-freedom-fund-to-go-national/#more-35080

From the article: "Yet again, the solution exists and has been staring us in the face all along. To fix bail, fix bail. Judges can do it today, this moment, if that’s what they choose to do. For all this hyperventilating, these journalistic epiphanies, these unduly passionate spokesmodels expressing how horrifying it all is, the answer has always been right in front of us.

The laws are great in New York. The only limitation is that judges, including superior court judges, refuse to do as the law requires. They can fix that any time they want."

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/11/25/one-bail-at-a-time/

From the article: "The sums that families lose in the for-profit bail system is striking. Over a five year period just in the state of Maryland, families of people who were accused of crimes and went on to be cleared of any wrongdoing parted with around $75 million in non-refundable bail-bond payments, according to the report. Looking at discrepancies by race makes the findings even bleaker. In 2015, fewer than 5,000 families in New Orleans together paid $4.7 million in non-refundable premiums, and black families paid 84 percent of bail premiums and fees city-wide that year."

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/bail-bonds/526542/

Your Government Let's People Kidnap And Steal From Your Parents

This is staggering.  This isn't caused by government malice,  but just its standard,  run of the mill, laziness, complacency and incompetence.   Government bureaucracies will NEVER get things right:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights

Your Government Doesn't Care About Your Rights

Constitutional rights are not subject to convenience:

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/11/08/aclu-appearing-for-whom/

Slavery?  Not if you are a convict (or sometimes just accused):

https://www.revealnews.org/article/they-thought-they-were-going-to-rehab-they-ended-up-in-chicken-plants/

Your Government Does Lots Of Stuff That You Would Be Arrested For

John Oliver doesn't actually connect these incentives to what they are: legalized bribery and graft, but he's funny as fuck, so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bl19RoR7lc

More on the Amazon BribeFest:

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/the-sad-spectacle-of-cities-groveling-to-amazon

Your Government Uses The Power You Give It To Help Their Cronies

Certainly not you!  They hate you.

Ethanol is universally bad for you...
But GOP cronies get rich:

http://bit.ly/2xm65fR

DUI arrests of the connected are handled differently:

http://www.wbur.org/news/2017/11/07/trooper-lawsuit-edit-police-report

Occupational licensing is used to protect politically connected industries from competition:

https://www.mercatus.org/publications/effects-occupational-licensure-competition-consumers-and-workforce

They'll REALLY protect you from competition if you're a big U.S. airline.  Think this keeps prices low?

http://www.aei.org/publication/profitable-us-airline-oligopoly-enjoys-global-marketplace-but-doesnt-like-competition-from-low-cost-gulf-carriers/

Your Government Doesn't Give a Shit What You Want

Some posts just write themselves...
You vote about how you want to vote for people and the people you voted for vote down the way you voted that you want to vote...

http://mainebeacon.com/14-democrats-join-republicans-in-repealing-ranked-choice-voting-referendum/

Your Government Lies To You With Impunity

Especially after they kill innocent people...

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/world/americas/drug-enforcement-agency-dea-honduras.html?referer=http://m.facebook.com/

Your Government Can't Be Counted On In An Emergency

Puerto Rico...

http://reason.com/reasontv/2017/10/19/puerto-rico-blackout-mostly-weekly

Your Government Will Spend Your Money Wantonly And Without Oversight

From my buddy Bob, some crazy shit we may not need, with a bonus giveaway to a well-connected corporation, and limited oversight as a bonus.

https://firstnetfiasco.wordpress.com/
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/342398-when-government-contracts-become-corporate-welfare

No disaster goes to waste.  No oversight allowed:

http://reason.com/blog/2017/10/27/no-audits-allowed-of-300-million-no-bid

$1200 dollar coffee cups. WTF?

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-air-force-spent-1280-on-coffee-cup-2018-10

Your Government Doesn't Care If Your Child Dies

In the WTF, Why? Category:

http://feeltheliberty.com/toddler-denied-kidney-transplant-because-donor-violated-parole/

The headline is a little misleading but still fucked up.

If It Sounds Good, Your Government Doesn't Care If The Law Fucks Everyone

The ADA sounds good, does some good, but lately just enriches lawyers and assholes, while ruining things for the rest of us.  It could be easily fixed, but Your Government knows that their political opponents would make any reform sound like they wanted to rape babies, so...fuck it:

https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/08/web-accessibility-advocates-breaking-court/

Your Government Will Steal Your Shit

Your government will take $58000 dollars.  Your life savings!  Without bothering to charge you with a crime, mainly due to the inconvenient fact THAT YOU DIDN'T COMMIT ONE!!

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/06/02/us/ohio-us-customs-cash-taken/index.html

Now this lady was almost criminally naive, but she met all the requirements to get her $41,000 back and the government is continuing to hold it.

That said, she was traveling with money to build a clinic in Nigeria to provide free health care to poor people, and the government STILL tried to steal her money!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/09/she-saved-thousands-to-open-a-medical-clinic-in-nigeria-u-s-customs-took-all-of-it-at-the-airport/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c692f4704e89

Own a cab?  Give a ride to a criminal?  Bye-bye cab.
Governments are using Civil Asset Forfeiture as a revenue stream.  It is STEALING:

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/11/20/paved-with-gold/

http://kdvr.com/2017/11/13/denver-city-attorneys-office-made-2-4-million-in-car-seizures-in-2016/

There's a lot more to say on the subject of Civil Asset Forfeiture, but, for now, AG Sessions is making sure no reform is left intact.

http://ij.org/press-release/ij-statement-responding-ag-sessions-civil-forfeiture-oversight-announcement/

They will steal $59,000 from you because you deposited it in the bank wrong:

https://mises.org/blog/gas-station-hold-thieves-seize-59000

They stole $4,000,000,000 in 2015!

https://www.facebook.com/libertarians/photos/a.10150126121157726.302978.5978057725/10155690811812726/?type=3

Your Government LOVES telling You What You Can and Can't Do

Soda: NO!

http://blog.independent.org/2017/10/13/dont-shed-any-tears-over-the-repeal-of-cook-countys-soda-tax/

As far as taxes go, I'm actually more okay with sin taxes than just about any other tax.  I hate unavoidable taxes and tolerate those I can avoid by modifying my behavior.  But, as the above article makes clear, sin taxes (just like everything the government does) rarely work out as planned.

Your Government Doesn't Want to Stop Sexual Assault or Harassment...

...they want to use it for their own power.

Some want you to think Weinstein was the disease, not a symptom:

http://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/10/these-five-media-players-thrived-for-years-despite-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct/

Sexual Assault and harassment is an epidemic.  The woman (or man) who has not been a victim is the exception, not the rule.  This problem will never be solved until people stand up to it, EVERY TIME they see it.  It will never be solved until we create a culture in which victims feel comfortable coming forward (or at least the discomfort is justified by the potential benefits).

Government is not going to fix this, though they are perfectly capable of making things worse.  Like many pervasive problems, this will require a sea change in the way we think and behave.  It will require education and INDIVIDUAL action and courage.

Are Trump's Tweets Just Designed to Distract Us?

They do seem to drive the media conversation:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/20/trump-senate-budget-vote-tweets-243983?lo=ap_c1

I really don't know if Trump Tweets are a rabbit hole I want to dive into...

Your Government Wants You Talking About the NFL and Kneeling...

...instead of how they fuck you over and over and over...

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/19/1708158/-NFL-owner-says-Trump-s-bashing-of-the-league-is-calculated-revenge-because-he-was-denied-a-team

I despised Kaepernick and what he was doing because his message was a mess, the pig socks, the Fidel shirts, the stupid statements.  When others joined in, I felt they were more on message about a very real problem.  I still didn't like the kneeling, but I don't like the NFL fake patriotism either.  When a President decides to become a bully and try to threaten people and organizations into doing what he wants (really he's just virtue signaling for political gain), I start to side with the players unequivocally.  If you want to see me do something, try bullying me into not doing it.  I would probably kneel myself at this point if I was in the NFL.

Your Government Cares About Money, Power and Reelection...

...that's just about it.

Send them a check!  It's like a sports contest.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/20/1708332/-Morning-Digest-Our-massive-quarterly-House-fundraising-chart-covering-141-races-is-now-here

Seriously.  Every time a politician says or does something, the first thing you should ask is how does this benefit them personally or politically.  Does it help them get reelected?  Does it benefit industries they are involved in?  Will it help them fundraise?  Does it benefit their Cronies?  Does it distract us from actual important things?  And the tough one: Will it ensure that a problem sounds like it might get solved, but in reality makes sure it will remain as a political piggy bank of future "solutions".

A poor politician is a poor politician:

http://blog.independent.org/2017/11/07/a-poor-politician/

Republicans would vote for a CONVICTED child molester to maintain control of the Senate, let alone one accused 40 years later. Democrats would do the same to take control back.

If this was the House, he would probably have been booted already.

It's hard to argue with Republicans or Democrats on this from a political standpoint. That seat is EVERYTHING right now.

AND THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR FUCKING CORRUPT TWO PARTY OLIGARCHY THAT YOU MORONS JUST KEEP PERPETUATING WITH YOUR POLITICS AS SPORTS ATTITUDE AND WILLINGNESS TO BELIEVE ANY GODDAMN THING YOUR MASTERS TELL YOU!

I Will NEVER vote for a Republican or Democrat EVER and this is reason 57,329 why.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/13/1715253/-Epic-Washington-GOP-v-Alabama-Republicans-war-breaks-out-as-the-GOP-civil-war-goes-nuclear

Your Government Lets Police and Prosecutors Get Away With Murder

"Roughly an hour after he arrived, Roper “moved into the street,” which was closed to traffic in order “to photograph and video record the police action from a different perspective”. Sometime thereafter, defendant Inspector Timothy Beaudette ordered the protestors to move from the street to the sidewalk. As the result of barricades and a “wall of NYPD officers,” Roper was unable to access the sidewalk in order to comply with the order. Roper heard an NYPD supervisor instruct his officers to “[j]ust take somebody and put them in handcuffs.” One of the  officers then arrested Roper for “standing in the street,” and placed him in plastic “flex-cuffs.”"

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2018/01/06/when-any-offense-will-do/

"The Justice Department was caught in another high-profile travesty last month that continues to reverberate through the western states. On Dec. 20, federal judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and others after prosecutors were caught withholding massive amounts of evidence undermining federal charges. This is the latest in a long series of federal law enforcement debacles that have spurred vast distrust of Washington."

and

"The Bundys have long claimed the feds were on a vendetta against them, and 3,300 pages of documents the Justice Department wrongfully concealed from their lawyers provides smoking guns that buttress their case."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/01/05/bundy-fbi-misconduct-another-example-why-feds-need-leashed-james-bovard-column/1001603001/

The world of police and prosecutors have essentially manufactured entire systems of evidence and "science" tilting the playing field away from the presumption of innocence.  14 people have been put to death based on science they now admit was bullshit:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/04/fbi_s_flawed_forensics_expert_testimony_hair_analysis_bite_marks_fingerprints.html

The key point in this story is that students get up to $6,000 after essentially being sexually assaulted by police officers, and no one went to jail for the assaults.  From the story: "According to the suit, deputies "touched and manipulated students' breasts and genitals" and "inserted fingers inside girls' bras." The suit also alleged that the searches revealed the students’ body parts."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/georgia-high-school-students-win-3-million-settlement-against-sheriff-n821131?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma

Four-part series on Chicago police corruption:

https://theintercept.com/2016/10/06/in-the-chicago-police-department-if-the-bosses-say-it-didnt-happen-it-didnt-happen/

If a police officer is so scared of a white woman on a bike that he has to handcuff her...how scared would he be of someone else?

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/10/29/but-for-video-white-womans-weapon/

Seriously fucked up...a DA fails to disclose information to the defense that he is required to.  The defense tries to get a new trial,  the court says no, but the name of the DA is in the denial.  The DA's office GOES BACK TO COURT TO GET THE DA'S NAME REMOVED!  Because we wouldn't want people to know he's crooked...THE COURT AGREES!

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/10/27/erasing-ausa-john-wortmann/

The Nurse Incident:

http://www.antolin-davies.com/research/usnews0917.pdf

This section might be a really long one, and a theme you will see will be one of not just the tragedy of a dead or battered police victim, but the way the system protects them from any real consequences.  Another theme will be how "brave" police officers are terrified of the slightest threat.  Brave men and women would take the extra second, despite the risk, to ensure an innocent person lives.  That's bravery.

Especially in Chicago:

http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2017/10/police-misconduct-in-chicago-the-forgotten-past.html

They'll kill you even after you've been tased.  They'll acquit the officer, fire her, and then re-hire her:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/20/us/oklahoma-tulsa-police-shooting/index.html

Cameras aren't going to fix the problem.  This one is a must-read.  SHG knows his shit and has written on this subject extensively (and with serious dark humor).

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/10/21/the-cameras-broken-promise/

South Carolina at least manages to convict a guy...but it was pretty cut and dried...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/02/us/michael-slager-federal-plea/index.html

Your police will claim a handcuffed teenager "consented":

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/10/23/arrested-cuffed-raped-and-brooklyn-da-sees-a-consent-question/#more-34767

Police Road Rage is Okay:

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-dashcam-lawsuit-road/

Your Government Will Never Solve a Problem...

...problems require solutions...which require taxes...and government power.  Solving them would kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Save Endangered Species?  Nah, just keep telling people what to do:

https://www.farmerhayek.com/single-post/2017/10/07/Efficiency-of-State-Level-Endangered-Species-Regulation

Your Government Loves That You Talk About What Words Are Acceptable...

...As opposed to what government is doing to you.

Don't argue when they tell you something, even if you're trying to be funny about it:

https://appellatesquawk.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/squawk-is-interrogated/

Shut Up.  You aren't allowed to speak:

https://jonathanturley.org/2017/10/20/your-existence-is-a-disturbance-to-every-marginalized-person-in-this-country-protesters-at-uc-santa-cruz-shut-down-young-republican-meeting/

Your Government Wants You to Fight Over Reproductive Issues Rather Than Solve Them

Seriously, birth control requires a prescription:

http://www.jeffjacoby.com/20409/if-you-can-pay-for-aspirin-you-can-pay-for-birth

How many lives could be saved and how many ruined lives could be prevented if the sides in this debate would stop screaming at each other and actually work towards improved RESULTS as opposed to entrenched ideological positions.  The realities involved in birth control, reproductive rights, teen pregnancy and all the others RUIN lives.  The potential positive social impact that cooperation could provide are incalculable.  But politicians don't get votes out of cooperation.

Your Government Will Use Its Power to Suppress Dissent

Including using flagrantly illegal subpoenas to get your information:

https://www.popehat.com/2017/08/14/department-of-justice-uses-search-warrant-to-get-data-on-visitors-to-anti-trump-site/

Pay attention to this.

From the linked article below: "Sheriff, that’s political speech, and it’s protected speech. You don’t get to silence it because you don’t like it, or even because it offends you, the District Attorney, or anyone else. The Disorderly Conduct[3] statute in Texas is very clear on this.

You can charge someone with Disorderly Conduct if “the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace,” or if the “display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace…”  That hasn’t happened here. If Fonseca and her family have been driving around for almost a year and there have been no fights, no disturbances, no riots or so forth, you are not going to be able to prove that there was a danger of an “immediate breach of the peace.”

What you may have, instead, is another crime, a much more serious crime, being threatened by Sheriff Nehls. If Nehls goes through with his threat, it could very well meet the elements of the offense of Official Oppression,[4] which states:

(a) A public servant acting under color of his office or employment commits an offense if he:

(1) intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment, or lien that he knows is unlawful;

(2) intentionally denies or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, knowing his conduct is unlawful…

So if Nehls is trying to shut Fonseca up, Nehls should be subject to prosecution for violating Fonseca’s rights. He won’t be, but he should. In any event, Nehls immediately drew backlash from his comments on Facebook, so he did what all cops do—he held a press conference and doubled down on his bet."

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/11/16/prickett-what-do-you-mean-i-cant-arrest-someone-for-political-speech/

Your Government Wants You Talking About Calls to Widows...

and not about what the fuck special forces were doing in Niger, who approved it, how long they've been there, what the fuck the plan is, and how the fuck they got ambushed.

No, just keep bitching about insensitive phone calls based on eavesdropped conversations, partial quotes, and obfuscation about what Presidents called what widows.

http://reason.com/archives/2017/10/17/four-commandos-dead-in-niger-is-a-bipart

Politicians REALLY, REALLY want you to conflate this with Benghazi for political points, but the only similarity is that it's part of an incoherent policy of military intervention:

http://reason.com/blog/2017/10/19/how-niger-is-kind-of-like-benghazi

Used to be we had to manufacture a war every few years to maintain and expand government power.  Now we have the "Forever War":

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-soldier-widow-phone-call-us-marine-politics-obama-president-care-know-signed-up-press-a8008716.html

They surely don't want you thinking about whether or not our military interventions are incompetent, or if they are lying to us about them.

Your Government Doesn't Care About the Opioid Epidemic

Hell, they caused it!
But if it can be used to help them get votes, or more power...They're on it!

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/10/19/the-murder-epidemic-spreads/

Your Government Doesn't Care About Gun Violence

Well they do...in that it can be used to get them votes.
But preventing it...where's the benefit for them in that?

https://fee.org/articles/gun-violence-would-plummet-if-we-just-called-off-the-drug-war/

Your Government Hates You and Wants You to Hate Each Other

https://fee.org/articles/the-source-of-americas-divisiveness-isnt-what-you-think/

Divided They Stand