Monday, March 14th, 2011
- ACLU alleges mass civil rights abuses in Puerto Rico.
- More fun in Maricopa County: Woman suing for $2.5 million after being exonerated of daycare murder. Our old friend Andrew Thomas pushed for a conviction and death sentence despite a lack of medical evidence. The grand jury twice refused to indict. Which means his case had to be really damned weak. Thomas is still facing an ethics complaint that could strip him of his Arizona law license.
- Let’s ride motorcycles.
- This is a really interesting project. The idea is to see what specific sexual content causes the MPAA to issue an R or NC-17 rating.
- Witnesses say a Houston cop—and police union office holder—tossed a tear gas canister into a tent full of people attending a barbecue cook-off because someone in the tent was critical of the military. He has been suspended—with pay, of course—pending an investigation.
- ….but it’s pronounced “steeeeen”.
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TheAgitator.com
ACLU story . . . all the things cited in the ACLU letter, except the ABA decertification, have happened right here in mainland U.S.A. The bullet points in the ACLU letter reminded me of:
*That CNN video of the woman lawyer protester several years ago who got shot in the face, through her sign, with a rubber bullet by riot police, despite the fact that she posed no threat and was retreating in step with their advance;
*The University of Maryland student who was beaten for nothing after some sports game a year or two ago and the cell phone video of the beating that showed the student did nothing wrong.
*The S.F. BART shooting a few years ago where a cop shot an unarmed man lying on the ground after breaking up a fight on the train station platform.
*The fabrication of drug-related charges and arrest of dozens of innocent people (more?, can’t remember) from a housing project in Texas probably ten or fifteen years ago, based on snitch testimony from a single confidential informant (who was wrong). Incident was highlighted on PBS Frontline episode, “The Plea,” about plea bargains in the U.S. criminal legal system.
. . .
Regarding the officer lobbing the tear gas canister into the “un-American,” “pinko” tent next door, I was looking for mention of how much alcohol he had to drink. Sadly, there was no mention of it. I do appreciate mention of the fact that the tear gas was not department issue and that no one has any idea, yet, as to where he got it.
This guy ought to be in prison.
“This is a really interesting project. The idea is to see what specific sexual content causes the MPAA to issue an R or NC-17 rating…”
I believe if it’s NC-17 you can’t even advertise it on TV.
Whoever imagined that in Land of the Free full frontal nudity would get
you censored. No wonder there’s this onslaught of all these kooky celebrity-voiced furry animal/alien movies. Everyone’s afraid to make movies with adult themes.
This Film is Not Yet Rated, a film where the guy goes undercover and tracks down the booby police:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/
I loved the “Let’s ride motorcycles!” one.
Buy don’t let Citibank see it, they’ll make it look like they were able to do it because of their damn ‘citibank reward’ points or some shit.
I loved the motorcycle video, too. You never see motorcycles parked in front of therapists’ offices, motorcycles are fairly immune to red light/speeding cameras, you don’t have to wear seat belts on motorcycles (and don’t have to wear helmets in some states), and motorcyclists always seem to be celebrating their ‘freedom’.
very cool.
I think anybody named Frankenstein who goes into a medical field gets points for sheer guts. If he’s successful enough to be named to an important post, he’s probably very, very good. Good enough to attract and keep patients despite the name.
Absent something substantial to the contrary; more power to him!
Reading all these stories (there are many) where a cop does something which indicates no thought, no compassion, no common sense, no concern for outcomes, causes me to want ever tighter controls over them; a certain percentage are thugs without any brains whatsoever. Many have thugish tendencies, and most lack post secondary education except for cop school. Studies show that the better educated cops use force more rarely than uneducated. I suspect the teargas lobber is one of the uneducated ones.
Agreed.
Unfortunately, his worst sentence is likely to be ‘paid vacation’.
RE: Andrew Thomas.
Unfortunately, lack of a law license does not mean he can’t run for other public office.
+1 for This Film Is Not Yet Rated
I especially enjoyed the bit about Team America.
“He was relieved of duty with pay, with the department saying he is accused of criminal wrongdoing.”
WTF?? with pay and “criminal wrongdoing” WTF is that? What happened “aggravated battery” or some such REAL fucking crime?
What happened “aggravated battery” or some such REAL fucking crime?
If his skin were darker they could charge him with terrorism.
Yeah because everyone knows you can buy chemical munitions at your local mom n pop. Rollseyes…
[...] Link via The Agitator [...]
Re the Maricopa County case: “They didn’t want the truth,” she said of her accusers. “They wanted a win.”
If more people would understand this without having to be put through the wringer themselves there might be some chance of forcing change, but unfortunately that’s not the case. The sheeple want prosecutors to be “tough on crime”, defined by a high conviction rate, so that’s what morally retarded prosecutors give them. :-(
Freaking tear gas? If this incident does not necessitate a prison sentence then I don’t know what will. He probably thought it was a frat party or something. Tear gas smoke out followed by streaking around the quad! Truly rediculous.
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/03/etsy-users-irked-after-buyers-purchases-exposed-to-the-world.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
On the list of unexpectedly juxtaposed words, surely “artisan dildos” is right at the top. I wonder what rating that would get?
#7 Primus: “Many have thugish tendencies, and most lack post secondary education except for cop school. Studies show that the better educated cops use force more rarely than uneducated. I suspect the teargas lobber is one of the uneducated ones.”
The tear gas lobber may well be uneducated. He certainly lacks common sense and respect for differing ideas. But a significant percentage of the officers where I live have at least a two year degree. Bachelor’s degrees are becoming common enough that I, as a police intern, was told to acquire additional training to make myself a better candidate.
I agree, in theory that police recruits should be required to have, at minimum, an associate’s degree before being hired. In most jurisdictions, you have to be at least twenty-one to be a police officer anyway, so that shouldn’t be a big deal. However, more education is only one part of the puzzle here. Most police don’t come in prepared to engage in corruption or thuggery. They learn that after being hired. The police need to be monitored more closely to avoid these problems. An “early warning” system must be used to stop problems before they snowball. And it goes without saying that these officers are being brought into a troubled system, so the best officers succeed in spite of the system. Take drug and vice enforcement out of the police job description and things will improve drastically.