Comments on: Weekend Linkfest/Open Thread

By: KBCraig

KBCraig — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:42:03 +0000

Livejournal pulled down the etiquette link, because it was scans of a book produced in the 1960s.

Here you go:

http://trypanophobic34.livejournal.com/163746.html#cutid1

By: JJH2

JJH2 — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:43:28 +0000

“He said 28 arrests had been made in Kano. Newspapers have reported more arrests in other cities. Those detained are fined and their bikes impounded until they buy helmets.”

Don’t worry people of Nigeria, the government is here to “protect” you by taking the money you don’t have, impounding your livelihood and further impoverishing your family!

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:36:53 +0000

Radley – why do you need your HTML unfucked? Don’t you have monkey butlers do all of your coding for you? You just hand them paragraphs and links and they do all the other shit for you. Right?

By: Whim

Whim — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:06:57 +0000

Regarding the NYC police department plans to jam cell phones:

What they are really trying to shut down is the citizen-reporter using a cell phone camera to record and TRANSMIT police department misconduct.

The proliferation of cell phone cameras in the hands of the citizenry has made it much, much more difficult for the police to simply stonewall behind a Blue Wall of Silence regarding misconduct by fellow police officers.

It would actually be more advantageous to the police to EAVESDROP on the terrorists cell phones in REALTIME to understand what their plans and capabilities are.

No, this is a police ploy to jam pesky citizen-reporters, pure and simple.

By: Cappy

Cappy — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:39:39 +0000

Couldn’t the government just contact NCIS of CBS fame and have them triangulate the terrorist’s cell phones, then take a satellite photo and then send in Mark Harmon and his team to save the day.

Couldn’t they?

Well?

Ziva is friggin’ hot!

By: MacK

MacK — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:19:58 +0000

Michael Chaney that was pure genius. Thanks!

By: perlhaqr

perlhaqr — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:07:45 +0000

Sorry Seeker, I’m no fan of the soon to be late administration, but things could certainly be much, much worse on that front. Hopefully, we will not get to experience first hand just how much so.

By: seeker6079

seeker6079 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:04:25 +0000

“If Holder ordered the entire DOJ to utterly and blatantly violate the Constitution, that would be being an agent of change, too.”

Ummmm, no. That would make him an agent of continuity, given the past 8 years.

By: Nando

Nando — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:18:37 +0000

It has already been beaten to death, but I must post my beef with the cell phone jamming in NYC. Not only would it prevent the victims from being able to call the police and give them “eyes and ears” in the room, something they might find useful, but they fail to realize that other signals would work just as well, if not better than cell phones.

What would stop them from using short-wave radios, or CB radios, or walkie-talkies, or even police scanners? Are they going to try and jam ALL radio signals in the area? I’m quite sure that would be an almost impossible feat (plus it would kill their own communication abilities).

Sometimes, security has to be weighed against functionality and reason. Just like in a computer network, where the only safe computer is one that can’t be turned on and that is not connected to any network, there is no way to make any city 100% safe and still have it serve it’s purpose. If you make a change, there is always a criminal that knows how to get around it. It’s how the world has always been and it will remain so until Armageddon.

By: Michael Chaney

Michael Chaney — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:57:39 +0000

In gauging the extent of the police department’s cooperation, the prosecutor
may consider the police department’s willingness to identify the culprits
within the police department, including senior officers, to make witnesses
available, to disclose the complete results of its internal
investigation, and to waive the attorney-client and work product
privileges. …

Another factor to be weighed by the prosecutor is whether the
police department appears to be protecting its culpable officers and agents.
Thus, while cases will differ depending on the circumstances, a
police department’s promise of support to culpable officers and agents,
either through the advancing of attorneys fees, through retaining the
officers without sanction for their misconduct, or through providing
information to the officers about the government’s investigation
pursuant to a joint defense agreement, may be considered by the
prosecutor in weighing the extent and value of a police department’s
cooperation.

Heh. Couple of minor find/replaces and Holder makes complete sense.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:42:56 +0000

Here’s the thing about the cell phone jamming. had we had it on 9/11, the passengers of United 93 would never have found out what was going on and our Capitol would have been destroyed.

What a great idea!

By: PA

PA — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:27:59 +0000

In the spirit of the open thread, death row inmate pulls out and eats his left eye.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/37357149.html

Apparently, he did this before, while he was waiting for trial:

“While in the Grayson County Jail in Sherman, Thomas plucked out his right eye before his trial later in 2004.”

Finally, the most interesting sentence follows immediately, which really ought to be investigated: “A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.”

By: perlhaqr

perlhaqr — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:22:39 +0000

From the Holder article:

Holder was part of an increasingly unhealthy culture when he served in DOJ. It seems reasonable to request that the senators on the Judiciary Committee ask him whether he, like the president-elect, will be a change agent or will simply preserve the status quo. Based on recent history, it is far more important that the next AG respect the Constitution, rather than launch some new scorched-earth crusade against the evil-doer du jour.

Large portions of the country seem to be neglecting to consider the idea that change is not always positive. If Holder ordered the entire DOJ to utterly and blatantly violate the Constitution, that would be being an agent of change, too.

By: perlhaqr

perlhaqr — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:18:35 +0000

Too bad NYC won’t do the same thing Mumbai should, and legalize CCW. Or carry at all. Or ownership, come to think of it.

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:02:15 +0000

Can we start a site listing all the GOOD government ideas. I can probably keep all content current by working 1 or 2 seconds a year.

By: Marty

Marty — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:56:11 +0000

cell phone jamming would be a fantastic tactic for terrorists or cops to use in New York. The victims stay the same.

By: Rick Caldwell

Rick Caldwell — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:05:50 +0000

Book of ettiquette link doesn’t work.

By: jac

jac — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:43:15 +0000

The cell phone jamming is just a bad idea for all the reasons already cited but if they really wanted to do this wouldn’t be easier, cheaper and more effective just to ask the carriers to shut down the towers? Jamming would be spotty at best but shutting down the cell towers would be absolute.

By: billy-jay

billy-jay — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:37:47 +0000

Or, you know, the terrorists might just plan to use a different way to communicate with each other.

By: Dave Krueger

Dave Krueger — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:34:05 +0000

Great idea. Disrupt all communication in the attack area. Sure the terror stricken civilians won’t be able to call out, but at least it will confuse the terrorists a bit.

Then we can drop some really big bombs on the area. Sure there will be a bunch civilian casualties, but it will kill the terrorists, too!

Sacrificing a few good guys is a small price to pay to get the bad guys. Just ask anyone in Law Enforcement or the Federal government (or, for that matter, anyone who supposes themselves to be safe from the policy).