Rap: Not an Art, say most musicians

I have been fighting a one-man war against rap for as long as I can remember. It has robbed the music industry of any soul that still remained to it, and made millionaires out of marginally talented and utterly untalented people. Created as a back door for those people to break into the music industry, rap, or hiphop, if you insist, is one the greatest and most brilliant marketing scams in recorded history. Much like those ridiculous white wigs of the late 1600's to mid-1700's, rap was a fashion trend that got wildly out of control. Partially due to White Guilt, partially to, again, a brilliant marketing strategy, hiphop has become a huge, unsightly stain on music in general. I do not apologize for that statement, nor for the following. Most of it is subjective, but coming from someone who has written and performed music for nearly 30 years, let's just say I know a little sumpin sumpin about it and move on, shall we?

Not Everyone Is a Selfish Piece of Doodoo

This video brought me to tears. Understandable, as I, too, am the father of a precious little girl. There's something truly special about the father/daughter, mother/son relationship. My mom used to say it all the time, but I never truly understood until I became a parent myself.

Here's a little something to help restore your faith in humanity.
And one more just in case that didn't hook you.

Hate to be a broken record but . . .

This is one of my all-time favorites - a man getting bullied by a cop immediately after an accident - because the same thing happened to me, only much, much worse. You can read the post by Joshua Karr (me) for the full story, but the short version is that I was in a really bad wreck, walked away from it . . . until the adrenaline wore off and then I wasn't doing too much walking after that. But I was not only thrown to the ground by police, I was handcuffed. It was a horrible accident, too. The car flipped six times, according to the guy behind me, and it was barely recognizable as a car when it was all said and done. I was badly injured, bleeding from my eyelid and a dozen other cuts and abrasions.

The Madness Never Ends!

This lady is very likely on a fixed income, and it is also very likely the city will not pay for the damage, and they're all laughing about it. Another SWAT raid gone wrong, but at least this time no one died. And was cuffing the (what, maybe ten-year-old?) child really necessary? They're out of control.

There are cities with populations with 1,500 people or less with SWAT units now. Did ya know that? We no longer have a police force, but rather a homeland military with badges. Anyone remember Soviet Russia? The U.S. is like that now (or rapidly getting there), only with M-16s instead of Kalashnikov AK-47s. And tanks. Fucking tanks.

Well ain't that just adorable!

Do I personally know the difference between the an AK-47/74 and an M-16? Why, of course I don't! I'm just a limp-wristed, liberal writer who catches butterflies - for the National Butterfly Reserve, mind you - and attend my weekly drum circles. And of course I volunteer time at the World Tree-Hugging Association in the interim . . .

(I actually did go to one of those drum circles back in my college days. I was stoned. It was hella fun. Until I broke out my guitar and was told [very kindly, I might add] that I was fucking up their vibe. I replied that that was cool, because I was grooving on that bonga drum anyway. But I digress.)

In truth, I love guns. I have several. They're lots of fun. And it does make me feel more on equal footing with the bad guys. I don't hunt, but I'm not necessarily against it, either. Personally, I just don't like killing warm-blooded creatures. If my family was hungry and we were penniless, I wouldn't hesitate. But I currently don't have a need to hunt, and at the same time, I love it when duck season comes around and I can bum some fresh duck off my buddies that do hunt.

All that said, I think someone who is against background checks is fucking stupid. I don't want violent ex-convicts and people who have been diagnosed with aggressive psychological conditions like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder and the like owning firearms. That makes about as much sense as giving a loaded AK to a chimp.

". . . and then Bobo just lost his shit . . ."

Are Police Still the 'Investigative Arm of the Government?'

First off, I want to apologize for the formatting. Got a little carried away before I realized I couldn't not have no background color once I'd selected one. No coming back from that. Kind of like the mob. Or war. Or sex with a baboon. Not that I would know . . . seriously. I really don't. Stop it.

". . . then there was that one time . . ."

So, I found myself watching yet another video of a police officer - which shortly became police officerS - using intense aggression where it was neither needed nor warranted. The video was in my Facebook news feed, and it featured a group of 20-somethings standing in the door of their apartment where a cop was attempting to coerce one of the occupants out of the 'house' (for brevity, we're gonna call it the house, or home), presumably in order to get him in a "public" place where his authority held more sway. I have been told by a friend who is a police officer that this is standard procedure. And after reading loads of comments which were by and large, and quite surprisingly, outraged at the treatment of this kid (I say "kid" because, to me, he's a kid, and that's all I'll say regarding my age), I had to respond, particularly because it has become glaringly apparent to me that the police force has become a paramilitary unit, with more in common than the National Guard than with Andy Griffith. All this over a noise complaint. And that scares the shit out of me.

Here are a few of my comments and replies:

In response to a former officer who was disgusted with the police work depicted in the video: Unfortunately, at least in my experience, you are the exception, not the rule. Don't get me wrong, I have several friends who are officers. But as an example of power going to a police officer's head, one of my closest friends in high school became a cop. He pulled me over one day, not knowing my vehicle. I shook his hand and was glad to see him.....until he began searching my vehicle. Without my consent. Without cause and without finding anything. We are no longer friends.

I worry that they are training you guys as paramilitary units now, not as investigative units - or with little emphasis on investigation - which, as you know I'm sure, that the police force is supposed to be the investigative arm of the government. Instead, thanks to Reagan and his ridiculous War on Drugs which turned small-time dealers into violent drug offenders and created far more criminals than it defeated. But as a result of that perpetual, unwinnable war, we now have a police force that gets incrementally more militaristic each year in order to combat the increasingly violent drug offenders.

But the most worrisome part is that I am not so sure that the training in which those officers engage differentiates between the different classes of offenses, nor is that differentiation emphasized. It seems to me that more and more often they cannot tell the difference between a harmless kid on a skateboard and a gun-wielding psychopath - and deal with both situations with the same degree of aggressiveness. And as you said, it's contemptible police work.

This incident represents SO many scenarios just like it or similar, across the nation, every single day. In their defense - and I admit I am reluctant to say anything in their defense - and in the interest of fairness, the cop DID say the kid was being arrested for grabbing his arm. Something about harassment. The subheaders were reading, "and he wouldn't tell the guy why he was being arrested," only . . . he was  told. But the situation should never have gone that far, even if the kids were total smartasses, even if they had all been wearing T-shirts that read, "All cops snort shit and fuck chickens." 

Not only do cops have far too much power with little to no accountability, but what's worse is that they're being trained now as paramilitary units, NOT police officers, who are supposed to be the investigative arm of the government. As we all know, there is very little investigating being done these days. That Law and Order shit exists solely in TV Land today.

Tanks!

I just can't get over this tank . . . This police tank. 

Cops have no accountability. They are never held accountable when they abuse their power, abuse people, or abuse people's rights. If they had killed every person in that apartment, very likely they would have received a slap on the wrist, maybe a formal reprimand, and at worst a short suspension, usually WITH pay. Or . . . nothing at all. No reprimand, no suspension, no nothing. 

And those are Southern cops, and down here, these Republican judges will side with the police every. single. time. Regardless of evidence. Regardless of guilt or innocence. It's a good-ole-boy system here, where prosecutors and judges often, and literally, share law practices together or practiced together in the past, were in the same fraternity, etc. It has very little to do with justice, and a whole shit-ton to do with who you know.

In response to a commenter who stated that cops can never enter your home without a warrant: Actually, there are several states that have state* constitutional laws that circumvent the U.S. Constitution. Yeah, it happens, and it happens a lot. In several states, mine included, if a cop simply "sees something suspicious," they can enter your home. So, for instance, if they "see" a vase and think it's a bong pipe, they can come into your home and search it, even after learning it isn't indeed a bong pipe. See how that works? We have "no reasonable expectation of privacy." Because the U.S. Constitution doesn't really cover privacy, not even under the Fourth Amendment. That was a federal judge who said that, by the way, but I can't remember which one. You can Google it though. I don't have to Google it because I'm a badass just for remembering it was said at all. See how that works?