Gangsters in Blue

Sage Wisdom. Daily Brickbats (2011-06-17):

A Broward County, Florida, sheriff's deputy spotted Robin Brown when she was bird watching one day. He thought that the sage she had with her was marijuana, and a field test seemed to confirm that. He didn't arrest her then, but confiscated the sage and sent it to the crime...

Want to guess how much compensation she might be able to get from police and state prosecutors to make up for the harassment, arrest, abduction, sexual assault, torture, and confinement that they inflicted on her, a completely innocent bird-watcher, based on nothing more than belligerent ignorance, a fraudulent "field kit," and pure, callous negligence?

Ha, ha, it's a trick question. Even if she does win her lawsuit (which will be hard; the system overwhelmingly favors immunity for government violence), the police and prosecutors will never pay anything for the damages she's awarded. Government police and state prosecutors never pay for what they do to innocent people; you pay for their crimes instead, when they send the tax bill on to you.

• So Long. Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-05-03). "I'm particularly excited about my final project here, a themed issue Jacob Sullum and I put together and co-edited. The July issue of Reason will take an in-depth look at the criminal justice system and the ramifications of America's massive prison population. Look for it in your mailbox or on newsstands at the beginning of next month." - Radley Balko (Linked Tuesday 2011-05-03.)

• When Police Interrogate Children. Wendy McElroy, The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty (2011-03-28). On its surface, a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court may seem to be legally trivial; it’s about a juvenile who stole from neighborhood houses. But J.D.B. v. North Carolina could redefine both the law’s “reasonable person” standard and what it means to be in custody. The case is... (Linked Saturday 2011-04-23.)

• Knowing the Real Enemy. Kevin Carson, Center for a Stateless Society (2011-04-23). In an article in Tikkun last year, Rabbi Michael Lerner argued that “[f]rom the standpoint of the large corporate interests, nothing could be better than to de-fund government or dramatically downsize it, because then it can’t constrain their economic power.”  (“After the Health Care Legislation,” April 5, 2010). And now... (Linked Saturday 2011-04-23.)

• Georgia to Execute Troy Davis, Despite Gaping Holes In State’s Case. Francis L. Holland, Gangsters in Blue (2011-04-22). Troy Davis is about to be executed -- even though he may be innocent. Tell Georgia to spare Troy Davis' life. This is an emergency announcement from Color of Change: Dear Atty,In 1991, Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a white police officer. Though there's major evidence that Davis didn't... (Linked Sunday 2011-04-24.)

• Derek Colling – Most Dangerous Cop in America. Ademo Freeman, Gangsters in Blue (2011-04-23). Derek Colling might be the most dangerous (active) cop in the united states. In less than 5 years as a police office Colling has killed two, including one 15 year old boy, and was just caught on film beating a man for filming him – great write up and back... (Linked Sunday 2011-04-24.)

• well, gene, i do refer to everyone from james madison to benito. Captain Capitulation, eye of the storm (2011-04-24). well, gene, i do refer to everyone from james madison to benito mussolini as a 'statist,' and to myself as an 'anti-statist.' this does not of course entail that madison and mussolini agree on everything, but it does pick out the fact that they agree on one big thing. (of course... (Linked Sunday 2011-04-24.)

• Help Christie Books publish Antonio Téllez Solà's "Facerías" Shawn P. Wilbur, Two-Gun Mutualism & the Golden Rule (2011-04-24). Passing along a note from the Kate Sharpley Library: "Christie Books is planning to publish Facerías: Urban Guerrilla Warfare (1939-1957) by Antonio Tellez Sola and translated by Paul Sharkey, but needs your help. Please check out the link and consider donating to the publication fund through the chipin link on... (Linked Sunday 2011-04-24.)

• Bakunin on Proudhon and Marx. Shawn P. Wilbur, Two-Gun Mutualism & the Golden Rule (2011-04-24). James Guillaume, in the "Biographical Notice" in his French edition of Bakunin's Works, includes part of an 1870 manuscript written by Bakunin on the subject of Proudhon and Marx:Proudhon, despite all his efforts to shake off the traditions of classical idealism, nonetheless remained all his life an incorrigible idealist, inspired,... (Linked Sunday 2011-04-24.)

• Changing Incentives Creates Security Risks. schneier, Schneier on Security (2011-04-14). One of the things I am writing about in my new book is how security equilibriums change. They often change because of technology, but they sometimes change because of incentives. An interesting example of this is the recent scandal in the Washington, DC, public school system over teachers changing their... (Linked Monday 2011-04-25.)

• In Other Words, Just About Everyone. Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-04-20). CNN recently obtained a list of the "behavioral indicators" that could subject you to an enhanced security screeing by TSA. Included on the list: Passengers who display arrogance and verbally express contempt for security procedures. Because terrorists are known for drawing attention to themselves by irritating security screeners? Seems doubtful.... (Linked Monday 2011-04-25.)

Supreme Court Firms Up State Immunity From Wrongful Conviction Lawsuits. Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-04-25):

By a ideologically right-left, 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today (PDF) that a wrongly convicted Louisiana man—who at one point was just weeks away from execution—isn't permitted to sue the DA's office that for 14 years sat on the evidence proving his innocence. Jacob Sullum wrote about Connick...

We need government courts instead of private protection and arbitration because private protection associations would be accountable to the rich and powerful instead of being accountable to the people.

When Police Interrogate Children. The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty (2011-04-23):

On its surface, a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court may seem to be legally trivial; it’s about a juvenile who stole from neighborhood houses. But J.D.B. v. North Carolina could redefine both the law’s “reasonable person” standard and what it means to be in custody. The case is...

My view is that if you are not free to leave, then you are in custody. Are students free to leave school? If not, they are always in custody. Let alone when there's an armed police officer in the room.

You might think that this standard would make it hard for police to interrogate children. Well, yes. Then police would interrogate fewer children. Or else they could try to get legislators to get rid of compulsory attendance laws. I'm OK with that. But perhaps I am not a Reasonable Person.

Houston Police Chief: Citizen Recordings of Violent, Thuggish Police Officers May Lead to Violent, Thuggish Behavior Against Police Officers. Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-28):

From the Houston Chronicle: Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland went on the defensive Thursday during a meeting with local journalists, saying officers have made recent traffic stops in which residents leave their vehicles to take pictures or shoot video — encounters he says could endanger officers and that have increased...

It must be so hard, being a police officer, having to deal with people getting in the way of your right to beat the living hell out of people in the privacy of a public street.

Not How You Boil a Frog. Daily Brickbats (2011-02-09):

The Pinal County, Arizona, sheriff's office fired Deputy Raul Alvarado for torturing a frog by Tasering it. The county's merit commission has ordered the department to rehire him.

• Why All Police Are Bad — for Society. Ademo Freeman, Cop Block (2010-12-30). I’m often questioned about my stance on police which is fine — anyone who knows me is aware that I don’t mind sharing my thoughts. Oftentimes during the conversation I’m accused of being a “cop hater” or told that not all cops are bad. I understand the reasoning most people... (Linked Friday 2011-01-14.)

• From the Downsize DC Foundation: The Dictator Fallacy. DownsizeDC.org (2011-01-13). The Downsize DC Foundation's website, www.DownsizeDCFoundation.org, continues to grow. Today, we bring you one of those articles, from the Our Lexicon category . . .  "The Dictator Fallacy" by Jim Babka fal·la·cy  -  * a misleading or unsound argument.  * Logic. any of various types of erroneous reasoning that render... (Linked Saturday 2011-01-15.)

• Nothing Natural about It. Sheldon Richman, Free Association (2011-01-15). The sharp historical division between labor and capital ownership is not a natural emergent feature of the market economy but largely the conscious result of government privilege.Atom (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• Two Little Pigs: How Some Cops Get Jail While Others Go Free. Modesto Anarcho (2011-01-16). It's not that police "protect their own," exactly. It's that police protect their power. Rape your step daughter or get plastered and drive your car off the road, and you're well behind the blue wall. Do something that disrupts command and control within a prison, and the long knives come out. (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• Kiva Lending Team: Anarchists for Empowerment. tolstoyscat, things along the way (2011-01-11). Join here: Anarchists for EmpowermentKiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.Anarchists for Empowerment: We loan... (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• Mistakes Were Made. Guns Were Pointed. A Family Was Terrorized. Pets Were Threatened. Radley Balko, Gangsters in Blue (2011-01-16). The DEA has apologized for the wrong door raid in the Hudson Valley that I blogged about last week. Sort of. John P. Gilbride, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, issued a statement Friday clearing Spring Valley resident David McKay and his family of anything to do... (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• Why read about it when you can play? Shelley, MyTech (2011-01-16). Earlier today I got into a friendly discussion and debate on Twitter about a new web site called W3Fools. The site bills itself as a "W3Schools intervention", and the purpose is to wake developers up to the fact that W3School tutorials can, and do, have errors. The problem with a... (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• The state begins in robbery; some patterns of robb... Gary Chartier, Comments on Free Association: Take It to the Limit (2011-01-08). The state begins in robbery; some patterns of robbery are doubtless spontaneously ordered, but surely others are planned by groups of robbers.Once the state has been established and mechanisms for obtaining power have been regularized, it will surely be unsurprising if people who do obtain power are people who like... (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• The Semicolon Wars » American Scientist. www.americanscientist.org (2011-01-16). I mock the pettiness of these squabbles—and I believe some of them deserve mocking—and yet I don't want to give the impression that only cosmetic issues are in dispute, or that programming languages are really all alike under the skin. On the contrary, what's most fascinating about programming languages is... (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• Let a million bookmarks bloom. l.m.orchard, 0xDECAFBAD (2010-12-19). TL;DR: Don’t depend on Delicious; host your own, pay for it elsewhere, or hope for the best. Use real-time feeds to stitch the bookmarking diaspora back together into topical aggregate indexes. In the last entry, I wrote about why my use of Delicious has dropped over time, and what I’ve... (Linked Sunday 2011-01-16.)

• Q: Why Has the ACLU Been Silent About TSA Abuses? A: Because You Haven't Been Listening. Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2010-12-13). In May, Matt Welch noted a storm of criticism from the right toward the ACLU for not defending some kids who were sent home from school for wearing shirts depicting the American flag to a Cinco de Mayo celebration. The problem was that the ACLU had intervened on the kids'... (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• We Can Beat You, But Not Pay You. Modesto Anarcho (2010-12-13). The State is not welfare. It is not social service. The State is violence. (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• notjessewalker: Why can't Americans just set aside mindless partisanship and embrace mindless bipartisanship? #nolabels. Twitter / notjessewalker (2010-12-13). notjessewalker: Why can't Americans just set aside mindless partisanship and embrace mindless bipartisanship? #nolabels (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• The mirage of revealed preferences. Stephen Smith, Market Urbanism (2010-11-24). I often hear from libertarian-inclined defenders of the suburban status quo that the fact that American is so overwhelmingly suburban is proof that it’s what Americans want. Economists call this “revealed preference,” but it could also be understood as voting with your feet and wallet. People have made the decision... (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• i can't do physics, because i can't do the math. but let me say. Captain Capitulation, eye of the storm (2010-12-13). i can't do physics, because i can't do the math. but let me say in defense of my turf that i don't think we should let physicists loose in the realms of metaphysics and epistemology. hawking, as the tls review puts it, thinks the reverse: philosophy is 'dead' because it's not... (Linked Tuesday 2010-12-14.)

• behind the curtain. flip flopping joy (2010-12-15). The State is male in the political sense. So is the Department of State. (Linked Wednesday 2010-12-15.)

• notjessewalker: Mixed metaphor alert: "The bottom line is that it is a fast moving train and that has become clear" http://bit.ly/dOogX4. Twitter / notjessewalker (2010-12-14). notjessewalker: Mixed metaphor alert: "The bottom line is that it is a fast moving train and that has become clear" http://bit.ly/dOogX4 (Linked Wednesday 2010-12-15.)

• Q: Why Has the ACLU Been Silent About TSA Abuses? A: Because You Haven't Been Listening. Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2010-12-13). In May, Matt Welch noted a storm of criticism from the right toward the ACLU for not defending some kids who were sent home from school for wearing shirts depicting the American flag to a Cinco de Mayo celebration. The problem was that the ACLU had intervened on the kids'... (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• We Can Beat You, But Not Pay You. Modesto Anarcho (2010-12-13). The State is not welfare. It is not social service. The State is violence. (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• notjessewalker: Why can't Americans just set aside mindless partisanship and embrace mindless bipartisanship? #nolabels. Twitter / notjessewalker (2010-12-13). notjessewalker: Why can't Americans just set aside mindless partisanship and embrace mindless bipartisanship? #nolabels (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• The mirage of revealed preferences. Stephen Smith, Market Urbanism (2010-11-24). I often hear from libertarian-inclined defenders of the suburban status quo that the fact that American is so overwhelmingly suburban is proof that it’s what Americans want. Economists call this “revealed preference,” but it could also be understood as voting with your feet and wallet. People have made the decision... (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• i can't do physics, because i can't do the math. but let me say. Captain Capitulation, eye of the storm (2010-12-13). i can't do physics, because i can't do the math. but let me say in defense of my turf that i don't think we should let physicists loose in the realms of metaphysics and epistemology. hawking, as the tls review puts it, thinks the reverse: philosophy is 'dead' because it's not... (Linked Tuesday 2010-12-14.)

• behind the curtain. flip flopping joy (2010-12-15). The State is male in the political sense. So is the Department of State. (Linked Wednesday 2010-12-15.)

• notjessewalker: Mixed metaphor alert: "The bottom line is that it is a fast moving train and that has become clear" http://bit.ly/dOogX4. Twitter / notjessewalker (2010-12-14). notjessewalker: Mixed metaphor alert: "The bottom line is that it is a fast moving train and that has become clear" http://bit.ly/dOogX4 (Linked Wednesday 2010-12-15.)