U.S. Exceptionalism in Being a Police/Prison State

[eynon81]

awe shucks....after the move.

[Indy]

Well in Chicago yes this is virtually all gang-related but let's put it this way: it ain't white folk getting shot.

I know somebody on the CPD and also a former prosecutor here and they say the issue--gang issue aside--is that we simply do not have enough cops. The folklore goes that that would mean raising taxes and rich people don't want to pay more taxes here so that black gang-bangers stop shooting each other.

Oh but they certainly expect maximum police protection of neighborhoods like the Gold Coast or Lincoln Park and they will not tolerate those resources being diverted to problem areas.

But that's really a whole different issue.

I think Prof's post spelled it all out. WTF does a town like that need an APC for? I find the privatization thing alarming as well--what, SWAT is like, say, Blackwater? And anybody can predict what will happen when you make prison for-profit endeavors--it's the same f**k thing as hotels: money is to be made when maximum occupancy levels are achieved.

So it's always going to be the case where those interests who own such prisons, looking to achieve maximum occupancy, are going to... "incentivize" at some point people in the justice system to help them fill the beds. That's already happened.

I used to think that the War on Drugs continued because of an elderly demographic that won't let go of the Puritanical stance that all drugs are evil (while tolerating alcohol, hypocritically)--now I wonder if the for-profit prison industry are the ones that keep the WoD intact.

So yeah, freedom...

[The Dharma Bum]

Domestic surveillance and militarization are for seizing wealth. We have unfunded liabilities that will have to be paid for somehow. Our economy is a debt bubble so we aren't going to be working our way out of it with quantitative easing, which is the equivalent of the USG buying up US bonds to shore up their value.

in other words we are running a pump and dump scam that the rest of the world has caught on to and are seeking to avoid in various ways.

[Indy]

How is breaking down some poor slob's door in the bad part of town with an entire SWAT team to confiscate his bag of weed confiscating wealth, when the overwhelming majority of wealth in this country is owned by the top 10%? And they certainly are in no danger of having SWAT come to their mansion/penthouse.

[The Dharma Bum]

[eynon81]

[eynon81]

[Indy]

[eynon81]

[Indy]