TMR: Cop Busted For Exposing Himself, USA Freedom Act Voted Down In Senate, 60% Of US Households Get More Benefits Than They Pay In Taxes
Be a pal and share The Morning Roar with a friend today!Cop Busted For Exposing HimselfA New Jersey policeman was arrested yesterday and charged with exposing himself to several male drivers over the past seven months. Officer Jason Miller, 37-years-old, is facing official misconduct and lewdness charges. He is currently free on $35,000 bail.The married father of two is accused of exposing himself numerous times to young male drivers during late-night traffic stops. Often times the officer was aware the driver had been drinking or had committed a traffic violation, but allowed the drivers to leave without a ticket, after unzipping his pants and exposing himself.The Smoking Gun reports:
“K.K.,” a 23-year-old driver, told police that he was recently stopped by a Newton officer while driving a male friend home after a late night out. The officer, “K.K.” said, “asked him if he noticed the officer’s zipper was down.” The driver said no. After the traffic stop was completed, the man dropped his friend off and continued driving.It was then that the driver realized he was being followed by the same officer who had pulled him over. The cop eventually pulled up alongside “K.K.” and motioned for him to roll down his window. “The officer again asked him if he noticed that the officer had his fly down. K.K. again told him no,” according to the affidavit. “The officer asked him if the person he was dropping off was his boyfriend. K.K. told him no, and then told him that he has a girlfriend.” The cop--whom investigators have identified as Miller--then “told him to have a good night and left the area.”As part of the probe of Miller, police have reviewed numerous videos of traffic stops conducted by Miller. The videos, investigators allege, support their claim that he exposed himself to male drivers. For example, video of a 2:39 AM stop in August “clearly appears” to show Miller’s “pants are open and his genitals are exposed” while he interacts with a 26-year-old driver.
Incidents such as these serve as a reminder to take precautions if you have the misfortune of being pulled over by a police officer. Make sure to pull your vehicle over in a well-lit area, preferably where other people can see you. The fact that a cop has a badge is not a guarantee that they are going to respect you or act in a peaceful, appropriate manner.In an August edition of Felony Friday we reported on an Oklahoma City cop that is accused of assaulting six women. This officer’s crime in New Jersey is not as horrendous as the OKC cop’s sexual assaults on women, but it serves to once again highlight the deranged element that exists in police forces across the country.USA Freedom Act For NSA Reform Is Voted Down In SenateIf a piece of legislation has the words “Patriot” or “Freedom” in the title, then there’s a pretty good chance that, at the very least, aspects of it are tyrannical or serve to suffocate freedom. Also, if a bill has the backing of both Republicans and Democrats, two heavy-weight special interests in the ACLU and NRA, and even the White House offering public support, then it is worthwhile to pause and investigate the situation.This bill meets all of the aforementioned red flags. Still, some in the liberty movement have supported the passage of the bill. This is mainly because it would have reformed section 215 of the Patriot Act by keeping bulk collection of data in the hands of the phone companies and would have required a new type of court order for the government to access these records. Regardless, there were many in the liberty movement that supported this bill.Others, like Senator Rand Paul, opposed the bill and labeled it as an extension of the Patriot Act, because the bill would have renewed parts of the Patriot Act, such as the “lone wolf” and roving wiretap provisions until 2017.Senator Rand Paul, who voted against the bill, posted this press release on blocking the “Renewal of the Patriot Act.”
Earlier this evening, Sen. Rand Paul voted against further consideration of the USA Freedom Act as it currently extends key provisions of the Patriot Act until 2017. Sen. Paul led the charge against the Patriot Act extension and offered the following statement:“In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Americans were eager to catch and punish the terrorists who attacked us. I, like most Americans, demanded justice. But one common misconception is that the Patriot Act applies only to foreigners—when in reality, the Patriot Act was instituted precisely to widen the surveillance laws to include U.S. citizens,” Sen. Paul said, “As Benjamin Franklin put it, ‘those who trade their liberty for security may wind up with neither.’ Today’s vote to oppose further consideration of the Patriot Act extension proves that we are one step closer to restoring civil liberties in America.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which can normally be counted on to be a staunch advocate for liberty, pushed for passage of the bill and released the following statement voicing their disappointment after the legislation was blocked.
We are disappointed that the Senate has failed to advance the USA Freedom Act, a good start for bipartisan surveillance reform that should have passed the Senate.The Senate still has the remainder of the current legislative session to pass the USA Freedom Act. We continue to urge the Senate to do so and only support amendments that will make it stronger. We strongly oppose any amendment that would water down the strong privacy, special advocate, and transparency provisions of the bill.We also urge the Senate to remember that the USA Freedom Act is a first step in comprehensive surveillance reform. Future reform must include significant changes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, to the operations of Executive Order 12333, and to the broken classification system that the executive branch counts on to hide unconstitutional surveillance from the public.
Call me a cynic or unrealistic, but the only way the Patriot Act will be undone is if legislation is passed to repeal it or if it is allowed to sunset. Either way, I’d much rather have the Patriot Act completely wiped off the books than see it tweaked and have portions of it expanded.I stand with Rand on this vote.60% Of US Households Get More Benefits Than They Pay In TaxesThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their annual report on “The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes”, which analyzed data through 2011 on American households. The report quantified and compared data from three areas:average market income, average household transfer payments, and average federal taxes paid by household.Zero Hedge dug into the results of the CBO’s release:
Some additional analysis and commentary will be provided here that reveal a yet-to-be discussed major implication of the CBO report – almost the entire burden: a) of all transfer payments made to American households and b) of all non-financed government spending, falls on just one group of Americans – the top one-fifth of US households by income.That’s correct, the CBO study shows that the bottom three income quintiles representing 60% of US households are “net recipients” (they receive more in transfer payments than they pay in federal taxes), the second-highest income quintile pays just slightly more in federal taxes ($14,800) than it receives in government transfer payments ($14,100), while the top 20% of American “net payer” households finance 100% of the transfer payments to the bottom 60%, as well as almost 100% of the tax revenue collected to run the federal government. Here are the details of that analysis.
Not only do the wealthiest 20% almost fully fund the bloated government budget, they also fully fund the transfer payments households receive from the federal government. It’s doesn’t take a genius to recognize that this scheme is unsustainable.Statistics like these reinforce my belief that a President such as Rand Paul, even if elected to office for two terms, will have a very hard time changing the broken system of government in this country. I’m not even sure that Rand Paul wants to change or even reduce government confiscation of property, but I gather that some of his “libertarian leaning” supporters have been led to believe that he will.With more than half of the population reliant upon government aid, the situation is dire. One man or even a group of men cannot change the system of government from one that relies on coercion to one that relies upon voluntary exchange. It is going to take a movement to change the way people think about government.Above all else, our society needs a lesson in morality. People have been taught that theft of property is ok, violation of individual rights are ok, and can even be a benefit to society, if executed by the benevolent leaders elected by a democratic government.Head over to Zero Hedge for the entire story and all the related charts and graphs.The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday right here at Lions of Liberty!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
