[albie]

By the way, the “bad guys” are now defined as hard working, tax paying, law abiding citizens.

[Wolfie]

No-Knock raids were premiered as part of the Drug War. Had to be no-knock so the suspects didn’t flush the evidence. Of course, everybody was all for them back then. And so here we are.

[sockmonkey]

I liked Stossels's article witht he exception of:

it's harder to assume -- as conservatives often do -- that as long as you behave yourself, you have nothing to fear. The raids should also trouble libertarians who sometimes believe that government can mostly be trusted when it sticks to "legitimate" functions like running police, courts and the military.

Conservatives worry about a repeat of incidents like the raids on religious radicals at Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas. Liberals condemn police brutality like the recent asphyxiation death of a suspect at the hands of police in New York.

I would think these things would be of concern to everyone no matter their leanings, whether conservative, libertarian, or liberal.

[DJ MacWoW]

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence.
It is force.
And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
George Washington

Support Free Republic

[Leaning Right]

To a hammer, everything resembles a nail.

Well said, Stossel.

[upchuck]

Lots of psychology going on here. Conditioned responses, etc.

Arm yourself if your not.

Buy more guns and ammo in any case.

[ConservingFreedom]

JBT ping.

[null and void]

JBT Ping list

[sixthmarine]

our government is the legal mafia. it started with the 13 colonies, or as I like to call them, the 13 original east coast crime families. all other states began as territories. they all wanted to join the legal mafia but first had to prove they were “good earners”. once this was done, they became “made” states. this allowed all fifty crime families to send their reps to Washington D.C. for the big “sitdown” sometimes called a congressional session. at the sitdown the crime families decided how to split the money from their rackets. like the income tax racket, cigarette tax racket, gas tax racket, etc. the legal mafia also has a “commission”, frequently refered to as the us supreme court. their job is to mediate disputes between the rival crime families. if your still not convinced the government is not the legal mafia. then just remember this. you can get in the mafia, but you can never get out. if you try to leave, they will kill you. I think the civil war proves my point.

[Robert Teesdale]

This is a stupid, weak and inexcusably enabling article that reads like the defense of a wife beater by a codependent.

"...it's harder to assume -- as conservatives often do -- that as long as you behave yourself, you have nothing to fear."

Who the hell in the conservative world has assumed this since Ruby Ridge and Waco?

"Conservatives worry about a repeat of incidents like the raids on religious radicals at Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas."

Worry is not what Americans have been doing.

Planning IS what Americans have been doing since Waco and Ruby Ridge. Hint to Mr. Stossell: I don't care whether they are "religious radicals" or not, they are still Americans and you don't burn, gas, crush, and shoot Americans to death without trial in this country and claim that there's any legitimacy to it - or expect forbearance on the part of the citizenry that remembers the concepts of "consent" and "duty" where governance is concerned.

"If cops continue to take a warlike us-versus-them approach to policing the population, they just might bring the left and right together."

My estimation of the rule of Constitutional law in the United States bottomed out at about the same time Vicky Weaver's cranial contents hit the ground next to her infant. And I bulldozed my expectations of future legitimacy right alongside the tractors at Waco removing the evidence.

I understand that John Stossell wants to preserve his image of reasonability and centrist calm along with politically correct line-towing when he uses language like "may" and "concern" and mitigates with "religious extremist".

Moderation is no virtue here. Pick a side, Mr. Stossell.

A million Americans already have.

[bamahead]

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