The late great Sam Francis, explaining the concept anarcho-tyranny said, “we refuse to control real criminals (that’s the anarchy) so we control the innocent (that’s the tyranny).” By “we” he meant society as a whole, which was then, and is now, dominated by the managerial class. This process has accelerated, as anyone who owns a car surely knows. If your car is stolen, the cops don’t bother to look for it. If you run a red light they send a SWAT team after you.

The new wrinkle in the late empire phase of America is to import the idea of thought crimes from Europe. Instead of policing the ghetto, for example, they would rather chase after a couple of drunks because some people think the drunks had prohibited thoughts.

Police late Wednesday released sketches of the three suspects who apparently mistook a woman and her mother for a couple and assaulted them in an anti-gay bias attack in Midtown East.

Around 1 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, Tiffany Santiago and her mother went to the BarKogi restaurant at Second Avenue and 51st Street for a quick late-night bite, when they were attacked by a group at a nearby table who started yelling anti-gay slurs and throwing things, Santiago told CBS2 exclusively.

“Me and my mom look very similar in age, and so I think me with the short hair, and my mom’s really tall – she’s like five-eight; she’s a big lady,” Santiago said. “I think they thought we were on a date.”

Santiago said the fighting escalated from shouting into shoving, and then an all-out brawl.

“He threw me across the restaurant,” Santiago said. “I don’t even know how far I went, but I went through tables, chairs, glasses.”

She said her attackers were drunk, and said the restaurant owner – who also appeared drunk – did little to help.

When asked for comment, the owner would not speak to CBS2.

The second suspect is described by police as a white woman in her mid-30s, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, 130 pounds with dirty blonde hair. She was last seen wearing light-colored shirt, black pants and light-colored high heel boots.

The third suspect is also described as a white woman in her mid-30s, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, 120 pounds with long wavy black hair. She was last seen wearing a white tank top, black pants and black high heel boots.

Police have also released surveillance video of the suspects.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.

The fact that such a thing as a Hate Crime Task Force exists is proof enough that we have descended into madness. Putting people in jail for unclean thoughts is exactly what you would expect in a theocracy, which is what we have now. Instead of a sensible Christian sect running things, it is neo-Puritan lunatics from Yankeedom.

Public Protestantism used to be about converting the savages on the other side of the horizon. Having given up on dominating the Americas, the heirs of Jonathan Edwards first went to convert the Indians and then set sail for wherever the heathen savages need ministering. Sadly, in this last century, they are back to purging the sins from the locals.

The insanity of thought crime laws is that it untethers the state from principle. No one can know what is in the mind of a criminal or the victim. We can only know their deeds. Giving the state the right to police thought can only work if the rulers are clairvoyant psychics. Otherwise, they are left to guess and that means the law becomes arbitrary, at best, and capricious at worse.

In this case, if it were two straight white guys attacked by three blacks, there would be no manhunt and no hate crime task force. It would not merit a police report. The cops would have told the victims to shake it off and go home. But since this one has all the narrative elements, it’s front page news and the mayor is giving pressers about it.