Gangsters in Blue

One of the basic principles governing the use of firearms is this: Never pull a gun unless you are prepared to shoot to kill.

That being the case, one must wonder what was going through the mind of Washington, D.C. Police Detective Baylor when he brandished a gun and threatened to arrest people who had pelted his maroon Hummer with snowballs during a street protest in the imperial Capital City.

“You’re goin’ to jail, and you’re goin’ to jail, and you’re goin’ to jail,” Baylor can be heard yelling in a video clip as he gestures at various protesters. Shortly thereafter another police officer showed up, his un-holstered gun held at his side, in reaction to a 911 call made before Baylor had been identified as a plainclothes detective.

Ironically, the officer had pulled his gun because the call had reported that there was an armed maniac loose among the revelers, which was true — a maniac in the employ of the police. Fortunately, the uniformed officer chose to de-escalate the situation, a choice that is becoming tragically uncommon for police officers.

This was a farce that could easily have turned tragic. It’s worth remembering that a long time ago, a group of imperial policemen angered by taunts and snowballs killed five people in the streets of Boston — and the troops who carried out that massacre represented a government that for all of its plentiful faults was much less corrupt and tyrannical than the one under which we suffer today.

Off-duty cop unwittingly drives into middle of D.C. snowball fight. Snowballs pelt his Hummer. So he does what any reasonable person would do. He draws his gun and starts making threats.

Good on the snowballers for not backing down, and sticking around to tell him what a douche he is.

The D.C. area is supposed to get something called thundersnow today, which sounds pretty spectacular. We’re also looking at up to 20 inches of the white stuff. Fun!

Your snowbound links:

Texas pre-kindergarten program isolates 4-year-old kid because his hair is too long.

Here’s a new regulation I could also support: Consumer labels on products support by tariffs or taxpayer-funded subsidies.

This could well cause me to rethink my support for capitalism.

Cop stalks, pulls over, ejaculates on stripper. Jury acquits.

Not often said: Medicare denies far more claims than private insurers.

Federal judge in Georgia rules that concealed carry amounts to probable cause for criminal activity, allowing police to stop and detain you, even if you’re carrying legally.

British man sentenced to 30 months for defending his home from knife-wielding intruders with a cricket bat. (MORE: Yes, this went above and beyond mere defending his home. He chased them down. Though I have to say, if I were on a jury I’d have a hard time convicting the guy, given that the alleged victims here had just tied up, beaten, and threatened to kill him and his family.)

I have an update over at Hit & Run on the continuing saga of the corrupt Cujdik family of cops, and the Philly brass’s unwillingness to do anything to rein them in.

Former legislator convicted of rape makes preposterous copyright claim on his own name, threatens news organizations who publish it without his permission, causes the entire story to go national, ensuring hundreds more articles mentioning his name and the rape conviction.

Seems plausible.

Second-grader suspended, given psychological counseling over drawing of Christ’s crucifixion.(UPDATE: Per the comments, it’s looking more and more like this story is bogus.)

A call for Obama to allow for a more honest, science-based study of marijuana’s possible medicinal benefits.

Spanish jazz fan calls cops during concert because musicians weren’t jazzy enough.

Cop tases girlfriend three times, twice in the face; will get probation.

Shared by Charles

(Trigger warning.) Women arrested at G20 in Pittsburgh report sexual harassment, threats, photographs, and abuse by police officers.

Why do game wardens appear to be so much more intelligent and caring than police officers? When game wardens become aware that a bear or a large alligator is walking through the middle of a small rural town, they engage in all sorts of careful and artful maneuvering to convince the animal to go back into the woods or swamp, or to get him into the back of a truck so that he can be let loose in the wild. If necessary, they shoot the bears and moose with a tranquilizer dart.

Police, on the other hand, have an entirely different ethic: all force, all the time. Rather than understand, as game wardens do, that the animal is just going about his business as he sees it, or hunting, because that's what animals do, police see all but the most submissive human behavior as a direct threat to their authority, which in most officer's minds seems to be absolute. Even to the extent of attempted murder, or electrocuting and executing human beings on the street, without the benefit of trial, police seem to believe that they can do as they please, with virtually boundless impunity.

In Oakland this week a police officer concluded that the best way to handle a shouting bipolar patient was to throw the patient, and the officer himself, through a plate glass window. Congratulations, officer! You have just proved once again, that those professionals who corral thousand-pound bears and alligators -- at least the ones who get the most publicity -- are considerably more intelligent and reasonable than those who corral surly human beings.

OAKLAND, CA (KGO) -- Another BART police officer is on YouTube and it has triggered more controversy about the BART police force. Once again, use of force is the issue.

A video of the arrest of a BART passenger over the weekend shows the officer and suspect both crash into a plate glass window at the West Oakland station, shattering it on impact.

BART is once again defending itself.

BART is expected to hold a news conference some time Monday evening. The agency is also trying to track down witnesses so they can be interviewed on what happened at the West Oakland station platform that evening.

The officer involved in this case is very new to the BART police force. He just transferred there six months ago from the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department.

Attorney John Burris is calling the officer's arrest of a mentally-ill man "excessive force." He has already got a $50 million wrongful death suit against BART for the New Year's Day shooting death of an unarmed passenger. Now, he plans to sue again for this case.

"You would have thought that this officer would have learned from the Oscar Grant case that you don't immediately rush in," Burris told ABC7. "You try to calm the situation down." http://abclocal.go.com/kgo

Maybe game warden are not aroused by the brown or black color of bears to hate, fear and attempt to murder them.

In this video, two British police officers come up to a young woman who is filming a building and harass her, imply that she is a terrorist, intimidate her, demand to see her footage. The policeman says that he's harassing her for being "cocky" -- punishing her for failing to cringe sufficiently. England's police chiefs have ordered policemen to stop harassing photographers, but this officer called for backup and 7 more officers converged on the photographer. The photographer was brutally detained -- she is covered in bruises -- and fined but she had the presence of mind to return to the scene and interview the witnesses to the assault.

i'm not a terrorist (Thanks, DavidB!)

CALL TO ACTION

Protest Rally: Marcia Powell's death, AZ Department of Corrections

Friday December 18th, 2009
NOON

AZ Department of Corrections
1601 West Jefferson St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007

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