Police in Fort Meyers, Florida set out to the bars to catch establishments that violate the state’s law against serving liquor after 12am on Sunday. Problem is, “after 12am” on Sunday is actually Monday. And on Monday, there are no restrictions on serving alcohol. I found this article while researching an upcoming piece for reason, and you’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t) how many city councils and state legislatures have made this mistake.
So drug warriors often cite the growing marijuana problem by noting how many people have checked into addiction treatment centers because of the drug. I’ve always found that line of argument suspect, given that marijuana simply isn’t addictive. A new study says that 70 percent of people in Texas who sought treatment for marijuana “addiction” did so as part of their punishment for being arrested. In other words, the drug warriors cite the increasing number of people in addiction centers as a reason we need to crack down on marijuana. But there are increasing numbers of people in addiction centers because we’re cracking down on marijuana. You could pick just about any substance–coffee, alcohol, water–and you’d get the same loop.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to be released on bail pending his appeal. That’s significant, because for the court to make that ruling, they’d have to have determined that Siegelman’s appeal “raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial.”
NY Times gets hoaxed on article about rickrolling.
More fallout from incarceration nation. That 1 in 100 statistic is really mind-blowing. I think we’re going to be seeing the unintended consequences of the soaring prison population for a long, long time.
Some really remarkable Americana photos from 1939-1969 (banner ads on site may not be work-safe).
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on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 9:44 am by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
You may want to put a NSFW tag by the Americana pics, due to ads that pop up on the right nav. Generally neat though.
I’d a appreciate an NSFW tag
Police in Fort Meyers, Florida set out to the bars to catch establishments that violate the state’s law against serving liquor after 12am on Sunday. Problem is, “after 12am” on Sunday is actually Monday. And on Monday, there are no restrictions on serving alcohol.
So they’re just off by a day. They could go out on Saturday night @ 11:59pm and get ready to shut bars down, according to the letter of the law, right? Frivolous law - reminds me of those guys from Britain who went across the US breaking horribly frivolous and unnecessary state laws that were still on the books (can’t ride a bicycle in a swimming pool in Montana, can’t take a nap in a cheese factory somewhere else, etc. - the best was a law against whale-hunting in Utah).
From the Florida police article where they shut down a bar two hours early on Sunday:
“Hopefully they will regain their lost funds through spring break,” said Daniels.
Instead of what, suing the city? They can’t “make up” or “regain” those lost funds by doing normal business — that’s money they would have made anyway.
Problem is, “after 12am” on Sunday is actually Monday.
Couldn’t they just shift this plan to Saturday night and screw a lot of bars with the technicality? Actually, I think that the laws considers the hours of operation say (5pm-1am) to be one “day” for these purposes. I remember there always be a question of whether a person could legally drink in a bar at midnight on their birthday, and the general answer that was no, because the midnight to 2am was considered part of the previous day.
Those pics are really nice. I wonder who went thru and colored them (they look like they were B&W, originally).
[...] Also, The New York Times sorta gets RickRolled. Hoaxes are fun. Radly Balko linked both of these earlier, always worth a [...]
I have always thought that distinguishing 12 am and 12 pm is far too confusing and ambiguous. People should use 12 noon or 12 midnight instead. I always think that 12 pm should mean midnight, no matter how many times people try to tell me otherwise.
The law was created in 1936, a time when religion and politics sometimes mixed.
Thank God we’ve progressed since then…
Fort Myers Story –
Perhaps it’s not a mistake but simply an attempt to give the appearance of doing something without accomplishing a thing. How many laws are passed simply because elected officials and their constituents want to ’send a message.’
I think it’s more likely that they wanted something to enforce, and this is what they came up with.
Zeb: It’s true that a.m./p.m. are confusing. A couple things that might help are that the a.m./p.m switch should happen when the hour switches, otherwise 12:01 am and 12:00 am aren’t next to each other. Heck, 12:00:01 am isn’t near 12:00:00 am, or 12:00:00.1, etc.
But even going with “midnight” still has the ambiguity of the night before or the night after. 12:01 am and 11:59 pm work but, exclude a minute, which could be a problem when describing different regulatory regimes. One solution, if you’re not allergic to military time is to use 0:00 and 24:00 to distinguish.
One thing I’ve learned in my business.You can never make up lost income.
Re: the 1939-69 photos. They r part of the Charles Cushman collection of approx. 14,500 slides he bequeathed to Indiana University. U can access them all from here:
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/index.jsp
Thanks, claude! It’s an amazing collection and quite a nicely done site.
The confusion between 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. is why it’s always best to simply say “noon” or “midnight.” And if you still have Associated Press style burned into your brain from writing that way for years at newspapers, you’ll think it’s the ONLY way to do it.
“I have always thought that distinguishing 12 am and 12 pm is far too confusing and ambiguous. People should use 12 noon or 12 midnight instead.”
It’s not simply “confusing” — calling noon “12 pm” is nonsense — 12 noon IS the meridian, not post the meridian.
“A couple things that might help are that the a.m./p.m switch should happen when the hour switches, otherwise 12:01 am and 12:00 am aren’t next to each other. Heck, 12:00:01 am isn’t near 12:00:00 am, or 12:00:00.1, etc.”
Aren’t you bothered that, in this system, 11:59.99999999999999999 pm is not near 12:00.00 pm?
It’s noon and midnight, mate — there ain’t no 12 pm!