In the just published The "Eretria of America" the writer @ "finem respice" (Latin for "Consider the End") presents an ancient-plus-very-recent history lesson for lovers of liberty. In doing so, the author delineates the darker side of the disturbingly easy "lock-down" of Boston. Highly recommended.
A brief excerpt:
"As it turns out, however, the captive audience in "The Cradle of Liberty" were a compliant bunch. As assault-weapon bearing bands of body-armored, black or camo-clad hulks fanned out through the neighborhoods door-to-dooring, skittish residents were systematically ordered out of or pulled out of their homes (some at gunpoint with hands raised). Some were frisked, or just interviewed and made to wait outside of their homes until authorities gave the all-clear signal.
"Just when it seemed to be abating, the tension level would be jacked up again when some officer thought he perhaps maybe saw something that might well have been a sign that perhaps there might be someone in that residence. Dozens of uniforms and guns would descend on the spot, a megaphone would be produced, and brusk commands would be issued to the neighborhood in general and the house specifically....
"What has become the dominant narrative of the Boston Bombers investigation, pursuit, and capture is little more than a rank lie. It is a lie that conceals not just missteps, but what would, on reflection, be difficult to label as anything other than an overwrought, excessive, authoritarian police action that is primarily notable today for having demonstrated the absolutely peerless incompetence of the authorities in question.
"Let us, just for a moment, take a step or two back.
"The net result of the unprecedented city-wide lock-down was to bring to a grinding halt one of the largest and most economically significant cities in the United States. If the United States Department of Commerce is to be believed, the GDP of Boston is on the order of $300-$315 billion. In this respect it seems reasonable to assign a daily GDP to the city (and its surrounding areas) of something like $1 billion. It seems hard to escape the conclusion that, given the reaction of the authorities, for what probably didn't exceed a couple of thousand dollars, a community college drop-out and a failing sophomore at University of Massachusetts were permitted to cause more than a billion dollars in economic damage to the United States at large (and some substantial fraction of that to the "Cradle of Liberty.")
"Given this sort of analysis one is caused to ask: "How many more such 'victories over terror' can the United States afford to win?"
"But, expensive as they are, aren't these victories worth the cost? Well, perhaps. But unless you have some means to show that the costs are directly related to the victory it starts to become hard to justify them as necessary to the end goal. And in this case? To what extent were the decisive and leadership-imbued police actions in this case the proximate cause of this "victory over terror"? It takes almost no analysis at all to arrive at the conclusion: "Almost not at all." Consider:
"All of the major ex ante efforts of the authorities were useless in this case....
"Q. To what extent can "exigent circumstances" exceptions to the Fourth Amendment be extended city-wide, or across multiple cities and municipalities, on a level of granularity that permits authorities to literally enter any home in the city they please at any time?....
"It seems hard to escape the conclusion that many of these questions might never be answered. Local authorities in Boston have now had a taste of the expediency of extraordinary police powers which obviously run up to and include the power to paralyze an entire city to hunt down one man. It seems difficult to conclude that they will easily relinquish them."
Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 23, 2013 12:21 PM
Yup, and the cops didn't even find the stupid little Chechen f*ck. It was only after they lifted the ban that a guy going out for a smoke saw the blood on the ground by his boat.
Based on the home videos that I watched of the door to door searches, it would not have been too hard to elude these guys. For instance in one video I saw, because it was trash day, the street was full of large trash containers anyone which could have hid the skinny little f*ck. They were invisible to the cops who were walking past them and frisking people and searching their homes. If it wasn't so serious, it would be a funny-as-hell SNL skit.
The sense I got in following the story was that the people of Boston LIKED having the police out there. This speaks to me of an immasculated populace full of impotent fear. (It's not the cops ... they're by and far mostly good guys who we pay to deal with the dark side of our communities so we don't have to.)
As for me, give me liberty or give me death. I WILL NOT live in fear. I will carry a gun and if that stupid little Chechen f*ck gets the edge and blows my brains out, oh well. But I will be damned if some skinny little Chechen f*ck is going to make me hunker down like a cornered rat.
Posted by: edaddy at April 23, 2013 2:03 PMThe brother, who had eluded the dragnet and was outside its boundaries, might have escaped if he weren't badly wounded.
But the more important problem is the contempt of the police for the citizens of MA, and the obsequious submission of the citizens of MA.
The NO cops terrorized the citizens of NO during Katrina, too. The "oath keepers"are an urban myth.
Posted by: bob sykes at April 23, 2013 2:58 PMWho is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?
Posted by: RPF at April 23, 2013 6:44 PMIri, I'd be tempted to sink into that kind of despair if it were any other city but Boston. Boston isn't America. Boston is an hysterical, screaming little girl of a city which completely lost its shit over an advertising campaign for a stupid cartoon in 2007. Boston is all hat and no cattle.
Posted by: Voton at April 23, 2013 6:49 PMVoton, you are a man (or chick, I guess) or rare perception and intelligence!
I live just outside the "Metro Boston" hub and when I commented on the local online journal that there was something more troubling and frightening in the massive overkill by the Police and National Guard then the two fugitives they were looking for, I got reamed, cursed, insulted and ...well you can guess.
Where was the per-declaration of Martial Law (or the justification for it?) and where were the warrants? Good thing the brothers didn't run north to the next town over, Belmont. Lot of lawyers live in Belmont. But that part of Watertown is working class with a old Armenian neighborhood. I knew it well.
What do you expect? The schools haven't taught Citizenship or American History in years. Guess they didn't want any more of them "citizens", to much trouble.
Posted by: John at April 23, 2013 7:09 PMThere have been a number of instances where killers have been on the run and I have never before seen SWAT teams order people out of their homes barking at them to keep their hands on their heads.
Obama's America.
Bomber #1 was on Boston welfare while he trained in a terrorist camp outside Russia!!!
Posted by: A.Men at April 24, 2013 6:08 AMI keep pounding these points. Some day they'll enter the mindstream:
The purpose of government -- says so right there on the box -- is to preserve the rights of the people -- individuals.
There is no such thing as a collective. Anything. Individuals are all.
There can be no compelling public interest which overrides the rights of individuals, Sandra Day O'Connor notwithstanding. The very notion is a contradiction in terms.
The public interest is (see above) the preservation of individual rights. Period. Full stop.
There is no such thing as "The Greater Good." The so-called greater good always comprises a greater evil. Otherwise, it's merely good.
M
Posted by: Mark Alger at April 24, 2013 6:32 AMGerard......thank you so much for this. While most people are thanking the "government" for their actions, you and many others realize just what has happened. What occurred was another "perfect storm" which allowed this over the top reaction by the police, etc. to justify their behavior and showcase their ability to control the masses. If this doesn't scare the shit out of you, you are just one of those unthinking sheep who want to be coddled by their government.
Is this to be the new norm in response to disasters and the like?
Posted by: BOBH at April 24, 2013 6:36 AMThe bluecoats are coming! The bluecoats are coming!
Posted by: Roger Drew Williams at April 24, 2013 5:24 PMGot it Sturgeone. You and Bethy on the bridge.
Posted by: Arlen at April 24, 2013 8:23 PMThis was just a test run for future actions. It went quite well as far as the Feral Gov't is concerned.
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