Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 43: Defund the Shop Lifting crime lords

Earlier this month, a couple of criminal "masterminds", Michelle and Kenneth Mack were arrested and indicted at their posh Spanish-style California mansion, charged with running a retail theft and resale operation.

According to the complaint, Mack is accused of paying airfare, hotel, and rental car costs for a network of women to travel nationwide, where they would go out and steal goods and then send them back to Michelle Mack’s home. She would then sell the stolen goods at a discount via Amazon Marketplace. 

Bonta said the group, known as the “California Girls,” operated in a dozen states nationwide and targeted stores including LensCrafters, Sephora, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Prada, Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret, Sunglass Hut, and over 231 Ulta Beauty stores, NBC San Diego reported. 

Inside Mack's 4,500 square-foot Spanish-style mansion, authorities discovered a "mini store" with beauty products, sunglasses, and designer bags. Also found were hundreds of postmarked envelopes containing stolen products ready to be shipped to unsuspecting customers at a fraction of their retail price. 

The crime ring operated in stores up and down the California coast and in states such as Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Mack chose the stores to be targeted and directed what merchandise was to be taken. The women would clear out entire shelves of merchandise into Louis Vitton bags before making off with the merchandise, investigators allege. 

Mack made “millions” through her nationwide shoplifting scheme.

Americans, like most people, have a problem with scale.  It's been pointed out that humans have a hard time grasping the very, very large (the Cosmos) and the very, very small (sub-atomic), which is completely understandable because for millions of years humans and our ancestors dealt with things of our relative size and scope.

So, when it comes to "crime", rightwing propagandists know people grasp and are frightened of the immediate crime they hear about and witness.  So seeing some shop-lifters doing a smash-and-grab of high end products, Americans consider those people to be the criminals, they keep hearing about on rightwing news.  I've pointed this out before when it comes to the catalytic car thieves and how the anger and vitriol is only directed at the thieves cutting out the converters overnight and not the ringleader or end user who is paying the thieves and massively benefiting from the crimes.  Like the Mack couple in San Diego.

A few days ago, I had to deal with several Venezuelan migrants who absconded with two shopping carts full of food.  Now... unlike the organized theft rings masterminded by respectable criminals these migrants were quickly spotted and identified.  The groceries they stole were obviously for their consumption and not to be turned around like the beauty product theft ring.  Fortunately, the manager at the well-known grocery store just wanted them to pay for the perishable foodstuffs and send them on their way.  While walking in, a pair of white men, loudly muttered "Really??? Really???" while angrily shaking their heads.  

Now, these men appeared to be low-wage workers, please note I did not say "low class", and I'm sure their anger was because of how they've followed the rules, don't steal or commit other crimes (maybe) and see those people doing these crimes and "getting away with it".

One of the key weapons the right has used to make everything LOL NOTHING MATTERS HAR-HAR is to remove all distinctions and graduations in criminal incidents.  Either the incident is a crime or it is not to their binary thinking.  This crime is no different than that crime, therefore they can justify all manner of brutality to immigrants (committing the "crime" of entering the country illegally) and the summary extrajudicial killings of black people throughout the country (i.e. you should have just complied with orders).  Of course, there are special carve-outs.  Donald Traitor Trump's plan to defraud the entire Nation and American people is justified.  The rioting insurrectionists invading and shitting in the Capitol on Jan 6th were "invited" in by Police Officers, Kyle Rittenhouse had every right to walk around with an AR-15 picking fights and yearning to shoot people, etc...

But, this is reserved for a certain class of people.  Always remember to rightwingers, white people who adhere to the Reactionary Agenda are afforded all manner of Due Process and often additional special rights above and beyond that while, minorities or those who've transgressed against the principles of MAGA are a priori guilty and deserve whatever happens to them.

There is a Two-Tiered Justice system in the United States, and there always has been.  Trump broke "The Law" in a fundamental way and showed that it should not apply to him or his most ardent cult members.  And the unequal application of "The Law" is perhaps the first and foremost component of a Fascist Takeover.

Trump broke The Law in a fundamental way

This Traitor has a 50/50 shot to be President

House Republicans have spent the last two years trying to claim President Biden received money from Foreign Governments and in reality Republicans learned and covered up the fact Donald J. Trump and his Crime Family Got Millions From Foreign Governments While He Was President.

While in the White House, Donald Trump’s businesses collected millions from at least 20 foreign governments, including a vast majority spent by China, according to a new report by House Democrats based on hundreds of pages of financial documents obtained from Trump’s longtime accounting firm.

I don't know if the One Weird Trick method of keeping Trump off of ballots for the 2024 Election is going to work but, I see no downside to using ever legal means to battle him.  A group in Illinois just filed a challenge to keep Trump off of the Primary ballot and Massachusetts is going to do the same.

These legal moves have angered Republicans who have decided over the last 3 years since the Trump's violent attempt to overthrow the United States Government and successful bid to delay the peaceful transition of power that Jan6th wasn't that bad, and Antifa was responsible anyway, and Trump tried to stop it, but the insurrection was completely justified because Biden stole the Presidency anyway.

Unfortunately, The Law isn’t magic … What Trump did in his first go around was show how hollow and fragile our institutions are.  It’s been taken as a metaphysical certainty that the law along with norms, rules, morals, codes, and principles would restrain any one man and certainly an entire political party from embracing authoritarianism in the United States.  But well before Trump was in the White house the GOP threw those conventions out the window.

Now Trump knew The Law could be flouted from his decades long crime spree starting in the 1970s, "When you're a star they let you do it..."  But, during his first reign he understood that even the mighty Federal Government worked on the acquiescence of the governed.  And Traitor Trump doesn't care to acquiesce.  The United States Constitution is, as they say, the Highest Law of the Land...  until someone comes along at just the right time and says "Nope".

That's The Law that Trump broke...

The large unconcerned non-politically motivated have been taught The Magic Words which comprise the semi-mystical human endeavor known as "The Law" constrains man and keeps the peace.

This is the fault of everyone from the Law&Order writers to the legions of lawyers and obsequious political press which treated "The Law" as magical a kind of Platonic Ideal which could be attained by just the right sequence of incantations or just the proper alchemical mixture or just the right quest for the sacred building blocks instead of being nothing more than an agreed upon set of loose constraints.

Trump busted those constraints and dared anyone to do anything about it.  Sadly, I don't believe the loose constraints will hold back Trump or the MAGA Republicans if they should again reach the White House.  And more worrying is Trump's mushy brain isn't the most frightening aspect of Republican control of government it's the slimy vile underlings yearning to gain access to the DOJ and civilian control of the military.

Whenever MAGA regains power (whether that's 2025 or later) expect them to govern with no regard toto the Rule of Law, they've shown their hand by flouting everything as Republicans control the House of Representatives, but with the expectations the populace will meekly obey or passively support and abide by their rule.  And yes this includes up to the villainous plans of Mike Flynn, Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, to get trains running millions of people into Death Camps.

But, at that point the question is; 

• Will rank and file bureaucrats in the Department of Justice or Transportation or Housing and Urban Development go along with the evil plans of these odious fascists?  
• Will FBI agents shrug and execute the raids and round-up the Usual Suspects (i.e. immigrants, unchaste women, LGBTQ, un-American teachers)?  
• Will ICE just follow orders and push migrant children into the river? 
• Will Police Officers in Democratically controlled states dutifully execute Nationwide arrest warrants issued by psychotic Texas or Mississippi Judges against Abortionists? 
• Will Republican controlled State Police and Bureau of Investigation simply throw aside the rule of law and act like Israeli Forces in the West Bank (i.e. aiding the violent Settlers in killing and stealing from the occupied peoples)? 

Any individuals who choose to not follow Trump's unlawful orders and disobey at the beginning will be subject to pressure, then discipline, and then violence.  It takes a lot of bravery to stand out when the rapacious Republicans are looking for singular victims to keep the rest in line.

The largest fear isn't that the military will just follow orders.  In any successful Coup attempts, 99% of the military, state security apparatuses, and domestic law enforcement remain sidelined.  It's a fracture of the military and individual units and commands at various levels choosing to side with the Fascist Republican 2025 Plan.

But, before we get to the 2025 Plan, we have a chance to defeat Trump a 3rd time and keep him from getting his fat fascist fingers onto the levers of power.  It's not going to be easy, Reactionary agencies like Police Unions, the Corporate Media, Foreign Powers (Israel and Russia), the Billionaire Class, the malcontent anti-anti-Trump cohorts, the ratfvcker Third Way RFK Jr, Cornel West, Marianne Williamson, and others yearn to have a little Fascism and will try and sow as much confusion as possible in the election so Republicans can successfully steal it this time.

But, either way 2025 is going to be a Year in Terrorism.  Republicans have no intention of ever following “The Law” ever again and Rightwing violence is here and it's not "going away".  The question is will it be lone wolves continuing the low-level domestic terrorist attacks they've been doing for a while or will it be a 21st century style State-Sponsored Reign of Terror with Republicans getting concentration camps and death squads liquidating millions across the Nation?

ETA:

I see the Supremacist Court will hear the Colorado Ballot case at Trump's request, because State's Rights to run elections only counts when Wisconsin Republicans gerrymander and rig their districts for them to win even when they lose the election or when Mississippi carves up the black population so white rightwingers can win every district.  Republicans have no intention of following "The Law",  it's going to be whatever they say it is subject to change to ensure they wield political power forever. 

Republicans plan to murder Police and Federal Law Enforcement Officers

Watch out because if you have an acronym Republicans and conservatives are going to murder you.

And no I'm not just talking about LGBTQ persons, though conservatives are aching to kill them, but members of the FBI and IRS.

The biggest lies in modern politics is that conservatives love and cherish the military and police.  They don't.  Conservatives only support Veterans, servicemembers and law enforcement who openly aid in their advancement of the rightwing agenda of oppression and intolerance.  When courts or officers arrest rightwingers for crimes then the murder threats emerge.

And conservatives openly make these declarations of terrorism and threats on social media platforms and in crass mass murder tik tok videos.  The rhetoric of murdering law enforcement is so heated even Faux News morons are begging Trump's lackeys and elected Republicans to tone it done.

Meanwhile, Traitor Trump is not only doing his hammiest mob boss imitation but is also aping the plot of a lurid spy novel.  Trump has been passing covert HUMINT sources and intelligence to foreign agencies resulting in numerous deaths.  From The New York Times article;

Republicans don't care because Republicans hate America.  Republicans long ago voided The Social Contract and no longer adhere to their professed beliefs about "Natural Rights" and "Positive Rights" even if some more widely heard Conservatives voices mouth the Theories expounded in in Locke's political philosophy.  This is no better illustrated than in the Kyle Rittenhouse case.  In Locke's legal theory of rights you have to the "right" to self-defense, but you also have the duty to submit to the state to prove you asserted this right lawfully. 

Conservatives no longer believe this; what Conservatives believe is they have absolute rights.  Rightwingers asserted it was a supreme injustice that Rittenhouse even had to face a trial; the fact he was a right-winger made his actions de facto lawful.  

And more to this point, conservatives believe government is only legitimate when they are in power.  This extends all the way from the Presidency to local school boards.  See for instance Ted Cruz, whining on Twitter with the passage of the IRA, 

"the Democrats are trying to overturn the Supreme Court’s West Virginia v. EPA victory.

This is easily understand due to the fact conservatives abandoned Lockean Liberalism for Fascism years ago.  Historical rightwing pleas towards Law&Order have always been hollow and used a rhetorical cudgel to Bash the Left;  hatred of Federal Law Enforcement was on full display in the 1990's but, now social media platform let's us see starkly how vicious, vile, mean, and criminal a large percentage of conservatives are in a way that the media landscape in the Nineties didn't capture.

Conservatives are yearning, begging, aching to be unleashed to act as a paramilitary Secret Police rounding up and liquidating "dissidents".  And the list of dissidents has the Usual Suspects but, is ever-growing as rightwingers salivate at the prospect of over-throwing the US Government and installing their Fascist White Supremacist Slave State.

Evil Frodo (Riley Williams) wants to go to the Renaissance Fair despite being a Felon

America has an unequal system of justice.

Evil Frodo Riley Williams Renfair Garb

It's predicated on the belief that white people are inherently good and if they happen to get involved in crimes it is due to them being the wrong place at the wrong time or getting caught up in a situation which somehow got out of hand.  Whereas black (and brown) people are a priori guilty of something so if the Police kill them in an extrajudicial violation of the 4th Amendment well that saves the taxpayers the cost of a trial.

Now certainly a white person can abdicate his inherent get out of jail free card, usually by acting like a "mope" or being a liberal squish or advocating for criminal justice reform or sometimes by being poor.

But, if all one is doing is trying to Make America Great Again well then latitude, mercy, and all sorts of accommodations are coming your way.

Evil Frodo Riley Williams Nazi Garb

Riley Williams is a little Nazi Magat, who actively broke into the Capitol on January 6th with thousands of other domestic terrorists.  Once inside Riley made her way to Speaker Pelosi's Office and stole the laptop from the desk in the Office.

Whatever her plans for the laptop and I have to conclude besides a vague idea of downloading all the evidence of Voter Fraud or Deep State nefariousness or selling it to the Russians these actions were not a spur of the moment but a long sequence of crimes showing clear intent and a determined mental state.

Of course, since her arrest she's flouted Judge's orders, lied to her probation Officers, and demanded the trial be moved from Washington DC to central Pennsylvania because she can't get a fair trial in DC but, can get one on her homeground (wink wink).

But, as we approach Labor Day, Riley is worried she will miss an annual summer tradition; Renaissance Fairs!  So besides petitioning to have her trial moved Riley requested special leave to attend the Pennsylvannia Renfair this weekend.

After all, Riley isn't a "mope" but, a good person caught up in a swirl of events that got out of hand.

ICE Gestapo Raids; Did you ever wonder what life was like in Germany in the 1930's?

Well wonder no more because history, as the phrase goes, has a way of repeating itself.

The Founding Fathers had a large fear of a standing army in the United States. Well, the various police forces throughout the country constitute that army. And an army tempts Government to use it.

ICE conducted a raid which captured nearly 700 people working in plants in 6 cities across Mississippi. I don't know if these people were shipped by train to their "relocation camps".  Note these raids weren't in liberals states or in those dastardly sanctuary cities but in deep evil Trump country.

If you think the raids by Trump's Gestapo are going to be limited to immigrants, you are fooling yourself. Since 9/11 the United States Government has been steadily pushing the boundaries and testing the frog in the boiling pot theory.

It starts with a group that no one could possibly object too; terrorists engaged in outright combat with US forces (of course, many of those captured and sent to GITMO, including 4 of the detainees traded by President Obama for Bowe Bergdahl never took up arms against the US). Who could object to to terrorists being extraordinarily renditioned?

And thus GITMO and various black sites are born.

But, overseas terrorists aren't the main enemy of conservatives; those are closer to home.

So, the fight moves from over there to over here. Illegal immigrants. Now, who could possibly be against rounding up and imprisoning Illegals? And thus, like Judge Dredd a new law enforcement unit is born with the sole purpose of capturing people who look like they don't belong here. And if any namby-pamby liberals get queasy about a Police State with full tactical gear ICE and CBP agents running around zip-tying brown people while demanding 'Papers Please' just point out They Broke The Law!!!

Now, of course don't expect these hypocritical conservatives to demand they face the same punishment for their domestic battery abuse or speeding. The "broke the law" argument is disingenuous and always done in bad faith.

But, while rounding-up immigrants and refugees and throwing them into concentration camps is unspeakably cruel and the cruelty is the point of modern conservatism, it doesn't target the other two groups conservatives hate the most; Liberals and Feminists.

One day soon, maybe after he loses the 2020 election Trump is going to call on his #MAGAt Horde to rid him of those angry Democrats who are engaged in the biggest political scandal and witch hunt in American History. And the Trump's ICE Gestapo will link arms with the legions of rightwing gun nut domestic terrorists and begin Civil War 2.0