TheAgitator.com
Morning Links
Monday, February 22nd, 2010- Via the comments, a sheriff says of a dog shooting: “I want to stress that this dog was inside of a fenced-in yard when it was shot and killed. Anyone who would do something like this is cruel, cold-hearted and a coward to boot.” Wish police officials were as blunt when cops fire at leashed or fenced-in dogs.
- Tobias Funke would be proud.
- The Washington Post profiles libertarian Tom Palmer, who’s suing for the right to open carry in Washington, D.C. Palmer says a gun saved his life in the early 1980s when he was able to fend off a couple of homophobes intent on killing him.
- There’s a headline writer at Stars and Stripes with a bawdy sense of humor.
- The ever-reaching scope of the Plain View Doctrine.
- DEA raids another medical marijuana dispensary.
- …which of course would mean it isn’t all that bad at all.
- The first and only skateboard park in East Africa.
That Simple Justice article is truly scary.
No more need for for warrants, because police may be in danger.
Example: Lets bust a CI on 2400 block of street X then search all homes on block for police protection, and while we’re at it look into boxes, safes, and any other closed container, because when we opened said container it’s contents were in plain view.
As for the plain view doctrine, isn’t it amazing how many fumble-fingered criminals there are?
I know the mere thought of an inquiring cop makes me want to turn my pockets inside out, clear all the dust balls from under car seats, dump the contents of my backpack and pop open my glove compartment so all is plainly in sight.
When are police going to called out on their repeated lies?
I refer you to the third picture down on the left. “Bob the Bonger / Yes we can!”. I think the middle text might say, “Can we smoke it?”
“Gay Guardsman Still Drills With Unit”
I LOL’d until it hurt. This is totally FARK-able.
First link is broken (“sheriff says”).
From the Washington Post article, quoting D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles: “This is a unique jurisdiction, and it requires a unique sensitivity to balance safety and the Second Amendment right to, quote, bear arms,” he says. “That’s because it’s the nation’s capital. . . . So the idea that an individual should be able to carry arms on the street — indeed, concealed on the street — is very scary.”
Translation: Because this is the seat of government, it’s especially important that we protect our leaders, who are working hard every day to subvert the principles on which that government was founded, so we must be pioneers in subverting those principles.
Remember the other day when we were kicking around the “…governments should fear their people” quote? Apparently those who govern us DO fear us, but it’s just because they’re cowards.
Regarding the proposed K2 bans in KS and MO I thought you might like an article in KC’s alt-weekly Pitch. The story talks about the KS legislature’s rush to ban K2, announcing the bill on a Thursday and voting for it on the following Monday. The only people with time to come up with arguments for/against were police. The author writes “Based on the heavy law-enforcement presence, it looks as if today is about cops writing a law they want to enforce.”
When I first heard of the proposed ban, which was incidentally, the same day that the FDA raided a couple shops in Lawrence known to sell K2, I wrote to my state rep. (Mike Slattery) asking for his rationale behind voting for the ban. He wrote back:
It looks to me like this whole K2 fearmongering is brought upon us by the police. No real, proven, consequences of using K2 are worthy of a ban, but the police don’t like dealing with K2 users so it must be banned.
Speaking of funny headlines, can’t believe you missed this one:
http://gothamist.com/2010/02/21/alleged_subway_sodomy_victim_fears.php
If they’re going to search everywhere that might conceal someone or something that risks “officer safety”, I suggest they search everything within a thousands yards of Ted Gundy.
The 84 year old Gundy, who was an Army sniper at the Battle of the Bulge, was given a tour of the U.S. Army sniper school at Fort Benning, and given the chance to fire three shots from a modern sniper rifle. One thousand yards: three shots, three hits, all in a 5 inch circle.
Dave W,
Would have been funnier if the jury had hung instead of finding the officers not guilty on all counts.
At first I thought the Tom Palmer was my old boss Tom Palmer and I got all excited thinking “Go Tom!!”. But it’s not. I can’t picture my Tom Palmer being a gun guy anyways, but it would be cool if he was.
Never nude strip club bill passes Missouri Senate
So much for being the “Show Me” state.
Yes, I am not happy with the verdict. The most incredible part of the case is that they replaced Juror No. 6 with a juror who was described as a “Traffic enforcement officer.” If I understand correctly they put a cop on the jury. More specifically, the prosecutor allowed a cop to get on the jury. Not nearly enough attention had been paid to that aspect.
I am also of the opinion that they destroyed video of the subduing of Mineo, but there is no way to prove that.
The Simple Justice quote specifically says that the home to be searched is the ‘arrestee’s home.’ Still scary though.
#2 Let’s Be Free
Libertarians and the ACLU have been doing it for quite some time. The important question is “When are police going to called out by judges and politicians on their repeated lies?”
The answer to that is unforseeable to me.
Regarding “plain view,” the Fourth Amendment has always been a turkey of a “constitutional right.” It’s purely procedural, and, even with the exclusionary rule (now hopelessly watered down), it adds precious little to the total sum of our civil liberty.
I would gladly trade it for a substantive protection — ANY substantive protection — against the police power on “morality” crimes.
If America had “the right kind of government,” the only reason police would be searching houses would be to find dead bodies, kidnapping victims, and bags of cash that stolen out of armored cars. Your weed, your gun, and your porn would not be factored into reasons to search your home, business, hotel room or automobile. Under those circumstances, the urgency of a search-warrant requirement would be slim.
As it is, the 4th Amendment mainly serves as a weak source of procedural leverage against the “war on drugs” and other police-power morality crusades.
@Danny
When applied correctly, I think the 4th Amendment is essentially substantive. I do agree, though, that it’s largely misused by the police. If enforced correctly, it makes a good deal of sense and is very effective. I hesitate to use the it’s-better-than-nothing defense of the 4th Amendment because I believe that breeds complacency, it definitely does have positives–and lots of them–when applied correctly. Along the lines of @Sub J D, I think it’s about judges properly applying the law. That will likely provide a challenge.
Ever notice how it’s always a “less government, no regulation” Republican that proposes laws to regulate sexual conduct and titty bars?
Regarding the DEA – I live in Culver City. This is the third time this place has been raided, and I’m pretty sure the first was mentioned in the Agitator when it occurred last year (I believe a dog was shot, but even though I live here I wasn’t able to find out what really happened).
More info about the latest raid(s) is here [LA Times] -
L.A. steps up crackdown on pot shops
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ydy33lb
K2 costs $40 to $50 for two to three grams, “about the same” as marijuana?
Am I the only one here old enough to remember when you could get an ounce for ten bucks?
The military.com site has the Gay Guardsman headline in its yucks-inducing form.
Alas, when one gets all the way to Stars and stripes, we find:
Openly gay guardsman participating in drills with unit
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=67995
Did Stars and Stripes backpedal, or was the real humorist found at military.com?
Anthony, no! But that $10 /oz weed was Mexican “dirt weed” brown sativa, full of water leaves, stems, and seeds. That which is available now (especially that which is grown here in the good old uS0fA, and that which is coming down from BC) is tasty, skunky, green bud, usually indica or an indica/sativa cross, no seeds and only some stems, well worth $50 /oz; it is overpriced at $40 / per eighth oz, but that price is due to the “illegality” of the herb — the risk of arrest, conviction, and prison that growers and sellers face. As Cheech and Chong say “Get it legal!”
Re: Radley’s article on puppycide by cop
I read all the comments, too. All communities need to start requiring their law enforcement agencies to get training in reading animal body language, and demand that people and pets never be killed (by any leo, in any circumstances, using any means, hand/club/gun/taser/trank/car/etc.) except as a very last resort, and they better damn well have unimpeachable proof that it was indeed a last resort before claiming that it was a legitimate killing when they come before a citizen review board with teeth.
Anthony Knox, I’ll confess to remembering when a “lid” was 10 bucks. And they were measured by fingers. A “four-finger” or “three-finger lid.” And we rolled them up and stuck them in our socks at the ankle, cause they were too big to carry in your pocket.
The ever-reaching scope of the Plain View Doctrine.
I drink your milkshake!
Am I the only one here old enough to remember when you could get an ounce for ten bucks
The price inflates or deflates in direct proportion to how aggressively it is criminalized.