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No, seriously, I could swear the water in this pot is getting a little hotter… (#6) (posted 19 September 2008)
Quick quiz. Try to identify where this photograph was taken, and what military force the people pictured in it are members of.
The photograph was taken in Richland County, South Carolina. The people in the photograph are Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and his Special Response Team
. They are posed in front of their recently acquired Army-surplus Armored Personnel Carrier, which has a top speed of 30 miles per hour and a turret-mounted .50-caliber belt-fed machine gun. They call it the Peacemaker,
apparently because this is exactly the sort of military hardware Jesus would use to terrorize or kill suspected meth addicts.
Sheriff Leon Lott told the Columbia State newspaper that he hoped the vehicle, named
The Peacemaker,would let the bad guys know that his officers are serious.
We don’t look at this as a killing machine,Lott told the paper.It’s going to keep the peace. We hope the fact that we have this is going to save lives. When something like this rolls up, it’s time to give up.
Take another look at that photograph, and let me know whether that’s what peace
looks like to you. Please keep in mind, if you happen to be in Richland County, South Carolina, that, in the view of the Sheriff’s Department, keeping the peace
means putting so much firepower in the hands of government police that their capacity for violence terrorizes the rest of the populace out of any thought of defying or resisting their orders.
The Richland County Sheriff’s department got their new armored personnel carrier through a federal government program which provides military surplus weapons to local law enforcement agencies.
As Radley Balko said back in May, in response to another story:
I’m afraid this intermingling of domestic police and military is well beyond the point of no return.
Do you feel safer now?
(Via John Markley 2008-09-04, Radley Balko 2008-09-01, and Pete Guthier 2008-09-01.)
See also:
- GT 2008-08-22: No, seriously, I could swear the water in this pot is getting a little hotter… (#5)
- GT 2008-07-12: No, seriously, I could swear the water in this pot is getting a little hotter… (#4)
- GT 2008-06-05: Neighborhood Safety Ghettoes in D.C.
- GT 2008-05-15: No, seriously, I could swear the water in this pot is getting a little hotter… (#3)
- GT 2008-05-12: No, seriously, I could swear the water in this pot is getting a little hotter… (#2)
- GT 2008-05-06: No, seriously, I could swear the water in this pot is getting a little hotter…
- GT 2008-04-28: Is it just me or is the water in this pot getting a little hotter?
Darian W replied:
Wow, George Orwell nailed so many things.
War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery can be applied to so many things these days.
This is just the latest example of how statist “peace” means the fortification of the exploitive status quo through coercion and threats of violence.
This is what a police state looks like!
Nick Manley replied:
One would think they expect to face an armed insurgency or something…
Nick Manley replied:
Oh well, it’s not as if anyone who breaks the law is ever a good guy.
Nope! Us law breaking individualist types are all in need of an APC’s machine gun pointed at us.
And if these cops are wrong about people backing down, then it’s not like a shootout with an APC involved would be that big of a deal. You may kill a few non-combatants with your macho man machine gun spray, but they are “mere” civilians, so who gives a fuck?
Fuck; I really hate this country’s so called “criminal justice” system.
Jesus Kills replied:
I’m proud to live in a country that touts violence so proudly. We are an inspiration to warmongering sorts everywhere.
This proves that Jesus MUST be on our side.
Insurgent replied:
A quote from the 03/08 issue of Tactical Weapons magazine: “LE tactical teams are undergoing a “militarization” in everything from equipment and uniforms to tactics and terminology… They call themselves “operators” and they’re fighting terrorists on a dangerous urban battlefield.” So it is obvious that the “War on Terror” is a war on anyone who is resisting the NWO, especially civilians.
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