Don't Get Tripped Up by Cops at Desert Trip

As I announced and predicted in various forums would occur, there were many arrests at the latest incarnations of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival [Coachella Fest] and Stagecoach, most could have been avoided if my advice had been followed, and things will be even worse for liberty at the Desert Trip events this and next weekend.

These wonderful and fun-filled gatherings are sadly “fish in the barrel” opportunities for the combined police forces sneaking around to nab whomever they find having too much fun.

You need to understand that local government coffers swell with these sorts of arrests, and subsequent prosecutions, because they are Grant funded, meaning the local agencies receive enormous sums of money from Sacramento, which was sent there from Washington, D.C., which was taken from you in taxes back here, to screw over people, in the disingenuous name of “health” and “safety,” in this nation conceived of Liberty.  And most of these sorts of arrests were and are avoidable, if you just are careful of to whom you are speaking, of who you are letting sidle up to you, and then of what you say and permit when you are questioned, and then detained and then arrested.  Remember that you are not never required to talk to cops, nor to let them search, and you should not, because neither ever, ever helps.  They are there to put cases together, not to seek the neutral ends of justice, nor to help you out of the downsides of your bad choices.

Many times the officer, plainclothes or otherwise, does not have all the information he/she needs, so they will start asking seemingly benign questions: what did you take out of your [sock, bra, pocket]; how old are you; where did you get [       ]; what is that white powder, etc.  You do not need to answer, and you never should.  If they suspect you of underage drinking, don’t offer over your license – make them take it; don’t say it’s fake – make them prove it.  Don’t consent to searches of your person, property, or vehicles.

Do not get deluded into thinking the police will help you out if you are just “honest” with them, because they won’t: they are not social workers, pastors, psychologists, nor your friends; they are government agents with an agenda and one that does not include helping you out.  Do not plead with them, because that makes them happy that they have “won” over your spirit as well as your liberty.  Do not think it is being dishonest to tell the police you have nothing to say; I am not advocating lying to the police – only they can get away with that in this system – I am advocating not saying anything, either before or after you are arrested.

Don’t fall for the palaver that you will most likely get diversion or a hand-slap if you “cooperate,” because they cannot make that commitment, and many seemingly minor dispositions of drug or alcohol offenses can have long-range effects on your plans in life.  Indeed, the classic PC 1000 deferred entry of judgment disposition here is deemed a conviction for moat federal purposes, which include immigration and sometimes federal grants and job applications.  Do not believe anything you hear from the police about what will happen with your case, because they cannot control it after having screwed you over with an arrest or a citation.

Even though avoidable things have not been avoided, that which should have been avoided can be mitigated or eliminated if you have the proper attorney.

No one is more effective nor experienced with dealing with drug, alcohol, and conduct related offenses at these festivals [or anywhere else] than am I.  No one has a better track record, credibility in the Courts, grit, or scholarship than I.

If you have been victimized at one of the festivals, this weekend’s or next weekend’s Desert Trip, or later Coachella Fest and Stagecoach, contact me.  You can do no better than having me on your side if you have been accused of crimes; you can [and too many do!], however, do much worse.

It does not cost to talk to me about your case; it will, however, cost you more than mere money if you choose to go elsewhere.

The Courts are Unfriendly = Contra-Constitutional and Outrageous

The courthouses of this state have become very unfriendly places.  There was a time that people interested in what was going on in their courts, and the courts are the people's property, could walk in and out without being molested by “The Man.”  Indeed, I got interested in law by watching proceedings in the Fresno courts for years.  I would walk in, in my shorts and orange sneakers, and sit in the back, and watch the drama unfolding.  There were good judges and bad, good advocates and bad, worthy cases and unworthy, trustworthy and untrustworthy cops, and I took it all in.

No one cared about my shorts and sneakers; no one cared that people walked in and out of the courthouses and courtrooms; there was no presumption of guilt searches, and gropings. and paranoia-o-matic machines as we have now.

 

To the Framers, the court was the place of ultimate protection of the polity from oppressive government.  It was a place that all should feel free to enter for help, for enlightenment, for education, for participation in our popularly sovereign government ruled by law not by men [and women], and for witnessing the operation of our system, kept somewhat honest by popular observation.

 

Sadly, paranoia is sweeping across the land.  There are glass and plastic barriers between the government and the people who have empowered it [police stations, court clerks, district attorneys, public defenders, etc.], and there are checkpoints and search-o-mats at the doors of our own government buildings.  The sovereigns, the people, are increasingly unwelcome in the corridors they have authorized, paid for, and legally control.

 

The grossest irony is at work in the courts.  They were established to protect us from agents of government.  One need only read the Federalist Papers, especially No. 78, and Madison's Notes on the Debates in the Convention of 1787, to understand that.  The modern day oppressors from whom the populace are to be protected by the courts are various levels of police forces.  So who are the ones presumed to be guilty and hence subjected to suspicionless searches?  The populace.  Who are the ones who can walk in and out of the courthouses, OUR courthouses, without being hassled, searched, and molested?  Badged members of police forces!

 

Are the presiding judges who have authorized this obscene topsy-turveyism oblivious to the contra-constitutional outrage they have wrought, or don't they care, or do they arrogantly believe that the people no longer control or matter, except at their re-election time, when many of the judges boast “endorsed by law enforcement” on their campaign materials?  If you ever wonder what the quid pro quo is for those endorsements, look at the marginal warrants being signed, look at free access to courthouses by the cops, and look at the presumption of truthfulness awarded cops in traffic court trials: you will wonder no more.

 

Justice O'Connor, upon her retirement, noted that our undoing will evolve from the people not knowing about the constitutional underpinnings of our Republic.  One need only see the extending lines of people waiting to get into their own courthouses to understand that ignorance of the Constitution is not only rampant, but an art form etched by government masters.

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Line of Citizens trying to get into their own Indio Courthouse

 

And detain me from the inept and rationalizing pabulum that things are different now, so oppression is more warranted than in founding times [and in my time in Fresno].  What isn't different is that the people are sovereign and ALL government are the servant of those sovereigns.  The only thing really different now is the arrogance and paranoia of those in government, and the tolerance by the people of their government's insolence.

 

Government agents from whom we are to be protected by the courts can waltz in and out of the courthouse unmolested with knives, guns, tear gas, whatever, whereas the citizens who own the courthouse [and the government agents] are subjected to abuse and scrutiny and searches of their belongings and seizures of their property if it is of any ambiguous sort that someone imagines to be forbidden.  I, who am an officer of the court, was told [by a door sentry who is not an officer of the court!] that I was carrying forbidden contraband when I entered the courthouse with fountain pen ink - fountain pen ink I have carried and used for over 50 years!  Ink is mightier than the sword sometimes, and maybe that is the anxiety, but more likely it is just another exercise of arbitrary power by those who think superficial security is more important than fundamental liberty, about which Ben Franklin warned us.

 

In the words of Ronald Reagan, “Mr. Government, tear down that wall.”  And the paranoia-o-matic machines in the courthouses.  Those in government too afraid to welcome their masters without barriers and suspicionless searches need to get out of government employment.