Sunday Links/Open Thread

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
  • Stupid drug story of the week, courtesy of Slate’s Jack Shafer.
  • Fairfax, Virginia police shoot, kill unarmed man suspected of stealing flowers.
  • California town to photograph every car that enters/leaves.
  • Deer antlers, porn, Christmas lights, and alleged police misconduct. What more could you want in a story?
  • This is a pretty striking animated map charting unemployment over the last few years.
  • Tyler Durden does Peru.
    Digg it |  reddit |  del.icio.us |  Fark
  • 25 Responses to “Sunday Links/Open Thread”

    1. #1 |  skootercat | 

      Stupid drug story has no link.

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    2. #2 |  ClubMedSux | 

      skootercat (and anybody else who’s interested): the Slate stupid drug story can be found here.

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    3. #3 |  bd | 

      FWIW, the city of Medina (where Bill Gates lives) already photographs and checks the license plates of every car entering town.

      http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009873854_medina16m.html

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    4. #4 |  Rune | 

      Today it’s huffing Dust-Off

      Tomorrow it’s cheesing cat’s urine

      What can be done? Think of the children!!!

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    5. #5 |  Marty | 

      thank god that guy won’t be around to terrify flower dealers in fairfax any more… good judgement on that one, eh? MURDER has become a small paragraph, back page item when the govt does it.

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    6. #6 |  Aresen | 

      Fairfax, Virginia police shoot, kill unarmed man suspected of stealing flowers.

      The officers involved have been placed on “administrative leave.”

      If I kill someone, can I get a vacation with pay?

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    7. #7 |  Elroy | 

      The unemployment map kind of looks like that Verizon commercial. I am afraid I might be adding some more color to the Ohio portion come the first of the year.

      Regarding the Peruvian gangs there are a lot of people in this country paying to have fat removed, this seems to be a supply chain issue.

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    8. #8 |  MacGregory | 

      Trooper who resigned over sex incident now chief in Hinton
      Derek S. Snavely, who was accused of raping a woman while on duty as a West Virginia State Police officer last year, is now police chief in Hinton.
      http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200911200946

      This is from the same reporter who chronicled gypsy cop Michael Leavitt. I’m wondering how long it will be until Mr. Harki is run out of this state by the cops.

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    9. #9 |  Mike | 

      The family in that Fairfax incident is showing admirable restraint. If I found out someone I love was shot through the passenger-side window while he was unarmed, I doubt I’d be in a “wait ’til facts out” mode.

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    10. #10 |  Mike | 

      Another comment: anyone notice what city on the eastern seaboard is unaffected by the surge in unemployment?

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    11. #11 |  Highway | 

      The facts won’t come out. What really really agitates me is that the police ‘declined’ to say why the officer shot. WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DECLINE TO SAY!?!?! Why are people who are supposed to be civil servants, to serve the citizenry, to have special powers that the rest of society just isn’t able to handle (according to them) allowed to kill a man and then just clam up?

      That the police are not directly accountable to citizens is the biggest mistake that was made and ultimately may be a fatal mistake for individuals and society as a whole.

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    12. #12 |  Bob | 

      WTF? The police in Fairfax can just blow some guy away through the window and then just say “No comment”?

      According to a witness, the car was slowly driving away “As if he took his foot off the brake” when officers opened fire. No officers were in any danger, with the vehicle rolling slowly away from them.

      The amazing part? The witness actually said he thought police “did the right thing. The last thing you want is a high-speed chase…”

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/11/20/ST2009112000382.html?sid=ST2009112000382

      Fairfax’s new Police Motto! “Comply or die”

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    13. #13 |  anonymous | 

      Fairfax, Virginia police shoot, kill unarmed man suspected of stealing flowers.

      “The officer’s name has not been released.”

      What are the odds that the officer’s name is Deval Bullock? Any bets?

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    14. #14 |  Samsam | 

      In January 2006 the Fairfax cops shot and killed Salvatore J. Culosi Jr., and optometrist suspected of gambling. Mr. Culosi was unarmed and was not resisting arrest, they just killed him for no reason.

      http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/update-on-the-news/culosi-case-languishing-in-fed.html

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    15. #15 |  Mack | 

      “the city of Medina (where Bill Gates lives) already photographs and checks the license plates of every car entering town.”

      The article (thanks!) gives an average income of $222,000. If Gates lives there, everyone else must be unemployed.

      Maybe they meant “median income”?

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    16. #16 |  tarran | 

      The Stupid Drug War story link:
      http://www.slate.com/id/2236302/

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    17. #17 |  Fluffy | 

      You know what is missing from the Fairfax story?

      Any indication whether or not the victim ACTUALLY STOLE THE DAMN FLOWERS.

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    18. #18 |  Tim C | 

      Huffing dusters etc – once again, no real need to point this out here I’m sure, but if kids that want to get high could just…GET HIGH, do think they’d be bothering with dusters, spray paint, etc?

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    19. #19 |  Buck B. | 

      Markets for everything.

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    20. #20 |  Andrew | 

      I was out at Walmart this summer in California buying some booze and coincidentally buying some air duster because I was about to open my laptop up and clean out the innards. I looked all around the electronics and finally found the dusters locked up with the 100-200$ hard drives and LCDs. “This is weird, I thought.” As I stand there holding a case of beer, asking to get a duster, the associate tells me I can’t buy air duster after 10pm because I could be giving it to children. I looked at her, at my beer and replied “Are you serious?” “Yes, it’s a problem around here,” she replied. /sigh

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    21. #21 |  Frank Hummel | 

      “…and police again declined to say why the officer fired on the man”

      I guess the Fairfax, VA police spokesman didn’t attend the training where they taught that cops only shoot because “they fear for their life”.

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    22. #22 |  Tyson | 

      Tyler Durden didn’t kill anyone. How dare you spoil his good name. ;-)

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    23. #23 |  Carlyle Moulton | 

      Radley.

      Your link to the “stupid drug story of the week” goes back to your home page.

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    24. #24 |  B | 

      Re: inhalants…most of the upticks in inhalant use since the 1950’s have followed the periodic moral panics in the media. Good job Today Show!

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    25. #25 |  Oatwhore | 

      So inhalants are the “it” drug, huh? And all the cool kids are doing it. If you huff air duster then you’re cool, right, NBC?

      Sounds just like DARE.

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