Category: Rights, Justice, & Judgement

“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control – Salon.com

SWAT teams raiding poker games and trying to stop underage drinking? Overwhelming paramilitary force is on the rise

the Fairfax County Police Department issued a press release warning residents not to participate in office betting pools tied to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The title: “Illegal Gambling Not Worth the Risk.”

Source: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control – Salon.com

Excerpted from “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces” by Radley Balko

The Most Ridiculous Law of 2013 (So Far): It Is Now a Crime to Unlock Your Smartphone – The Atlantic

starting this weekend it is illegal to unlock new phones to make them available on other carriers

It’s embarrassing and unacceptable that we are at the mercy of prosecutorial and judicial discretion** to avoid the implementation of draconian laws that could implicate average Americans in a crime subject to up to a $500,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

Ubiquitous, seldom-prosecuted crimes invite arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.

Source: The Most Ridiculous Law of 2013 (So Far): It Is Now a Crime to Unlock Your Smartphone – The Atlantic

Noam Chomsky: Obama’s Attack on Civil Liberties Has Gone Way Beyond Imagination | Alternet

Under Obama’s administration, if you meet with someone in a terrorist group and advise them to turn to nonviolent means, then that’s material assistance to terrorism.

Source: Noam Chomsky: Obama’s Attack on Civil Liberties Has Gone Way Beyond Imagination | Alternet

 

It’s interesting to see the way in which due process is being reinterpreted by Obama’s Justice Department in regards to the drone killings. Attorney General Eric Holder was asked why the administration was killing people without due process. Well, there was due process, he said, because they discuss it within the executive branch. King John in the 13th century would have loved that.

In two years, we’re going to get to the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, and it’ll be a funeral. Not just this, but every other aspect. Take rendition, for example. One of the provisions of Magna Carta is that you can’t send someone across the seas for punishment. Much of the world participates in rendition now.

— Noam Chomsky

Thank Goodness Kids Do Belong to Their Parents – The Atlantic

The notion that children belong to the whole community, propounded by Melissa Harris-Perry, would be terrible for most of them.

An article including an example of what happens when employees of the State disagree with how you have chosen (legally within the bounds of established local and federal law) to raise your child.

Source: Thank Goodness Kids Do Belong to Their Parents – The Atlantic

 

I’d generally fall on the side of the debate which is more surprised and upset that a neighbor’s first reaction is to call the police (rather than, you know, saying “hi” to the kid themselves or something similarly friendly-yet-concerned) and that the powers of the State (the police, CPS, etc.) are primarily concerned with scaring the family into behaving how the State wants them to act, rather than supporting a family’s choices in raising their kids (e.g. the police officer could have introduced himself to the child – Emily – and offered to help her get home or otherwise in the future, rather than detaining her and her father).