Tuesday, 30 August, 2011
Mark and Connie Fournier in court: an update
My good friends Mark and Connie Fournier were in court again earlier this month to appeal the latest decision in their John Doe fight with our old friend Richard Warman.
They lost. Mark writes:
Yesterday we received the decision from the Ontario Superior Court denying us leave to appeal the Blishen decision in the John Does case. This means we will be forced to disclose confidential information to Richard Warman and are now on the hook for his expenses. It also means this area of law is still a mess in Canada despite our four year effort to have some common sense rules added to protect Canadians from litigating predators on the internet.The ironic part of this is, online anonymity has actually become stronger in Canada as a direct result of Mark and Connie's legal battles. It's sad news that this protection of online identities has not been applied in their case, and I would urge anyone with a few bucks to spare to send the Fourniers a few dollars for their legal expenses.
Connie adds more in an email sent out on Sunday:
As you may know, we made a motion for leave to appeal a Superior Court ruling requiring us to turn over private information on Free Dominion John Does. We had taken this to Divisional Court last year and they created a new test that was to be applied before courts ruled that private information must be turned over in defamation cases. The short story is that Madam Justice Bishen did not apply the fourth part of the test to our case and ruled for Warman without considering all of our evidence. We were denied our motion for leave to appeal her ruling, so is the end of the road. We must now turn over that information, and pay Richard Warman's costs...which he says are over $14,000.With this, Warman's new copyright suit against us, and John Baglow's defamation suit, we figure the strategy is to keep piling more on us until we break, then turn their sites on the next target.If anyone wants to read the judgment, it is here: http://www.freedominion.com.pa/images/ray_judgment.pdf
More on Mark and Connie's legal troubles here.
An update on Kelly Thomas and the Fullerton Six
Friends For Fullerton's Future has the latest in the Kelly Thomas story.Good work, guys.
Here is an interview with a young man who was at the Transportation Center the night of July 5th, 2011. He was waiting for a bus.
Tuesday links
A few things.
2) The acting head of the ATF has stepped down after coming under fire for his agency's Fast and Furious screw-up.
3) Videotaping police is a constitutional right in the United States. Cool.
5) Jacob Sullum at Reason's Hit & Run on how a government monopoly actually managed to lose money.
Monday, 29 August, 2011
Today's easy listening
I'll have some more substantial posts up tonight, but in the meantime here are the Black Keys with Psychotic Girl.
Monday links
A few things.
1) Steve Chapman in Reason magazine on how unreliable eyewitness testimony is.
2) Careful what you say online.
3) Radley Balko in the Huffington Post on the disgraceful state of "justice" in Mississippi.
4) Junior Kimbrough with Sad Days, Lonely Nights.
5) H/t to Mike Riggs for this David Boaz piece in The Freeman on drug decriminalization.
Update: Also, Terry Glavin in The Propagandist.
Sunday, 28 August, 2011
A study of paramilitary raids in the United States
A few years back, libertarian journalist and writer Radley Balko wrote a paper for the CATO Institute titled "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Raids in America." A commenter on my site recommended the paper to me a while back and I've been meaning to read it for quite some time. So, this afternoon, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll update once I've read the paper, hopefully with some sort of illuminating commentary.
Update III: It took me a few hours to work my way through the paper - with a few distractions thrown in - and I have to say the scale of its comprehensive coverage of SWAT wrong-address raids, botched raids, deaths and injuries during raids which in many cases turn up only small amounts of minor drugs like pot, and the like, is quite impressive. This paper should be read by anyone who is a supporter of the War on Drugs, if only as a way of reminding those supporters of the cost in both money and lives that this war represents.
Update: For those of you who want to read it with me, here's a full-screen Scribd version.
Update II: The whole paper is probably best summed up thusly:
As Eleanor Shockett, a retired Miami-Dade circuit judge, put it to Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo with respect to the Diotaiuto case, “What in the hell were they doing with a SWAT team? To break into someone’s home at six in the morning, possibly awaken someone from a deep sleep, someone who has a concealed weapons per-mit? What did they expect to happen?”
There are multiple reasons why American policing has taken a turn toward increasing para-militarization over the past three-four decades, but if one cause had to be singled out it would be the War on Drugs kicked off by Ronald Reagan in the 80's. Because of the War on Drugs, there was an increased relaxation of the rigid distinction between military and police bodies in the United States, a steady supply of military-class hardware and training given to civilian police forces, and, thanks to funding for the War on Drugs and seizure policies, a direct incentive was given for more and more drug raids to be carried out - and with the explosive growth of paramilitary civilian police forces sitting around waiting for things to do, an increasing need to make SWAT teams look busy.
Balko is careful not to lay the blame for a lot of the botched raids, killings, wrong-address raids, etc. at the feet of the SWAT officers involved. These sorts of things are, to be fair, what they are trained for. Instead, he claims, the blame lies at the feet of law- and policy-makers who have not only contributed to the War on Drugs fervor and its accompanying military jargon, but have in some cases seen the citizens that civilian police forces are sworn to protect, increasingly, as enemies of those very same civilian police forces.
As Eleanor Shockett says above, what else did they expect would happen?
Today's easy listening
For a change, here's Bongzilla with Stonesphere.
In the words of one commenter, "it's like the background music of a bongsession with godzilla."
Sunday links
A few things.
1) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on crime and disaster.
2) Radley Balko at The Agitator on more law enforcers who are ignorant of the law.
3) Chat with a registered sex offender.
4) College sex blows.
Saturday, 27 August, 2011
The latest in policing
A few things that I thought were worth briefly mentioning.
First, Erik Kain at Forbes.com writes about a New Jersey court decision which changes the way that eyewitness testimony will be handled in that state's court system.
Second, Radley Balko at The Agitator runs across what a display of disgusting logic courtesy of a Connecticut undersecretary.
Third, a West Vancouver cop who has pleaded guilty to assault has been allowed to keep his job despite a conditional sentence and six months' probation.
Fourth, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association is urging the BC government to conduct an audit of the RCMP's performance in this province before renewing its contract with the police force next year. Sounds reasonable to me.
Fifth, Radley Balko gives us a quick run-down of a very important decision by a Massachusetts First Circuit Panel, which has struck a blow against that state's wiretapping laws ( which are used by police to arrest people for surreptitiously - or even openly - recording their activities ).
Saturday links
A few things.
1) At Reason's Hit & Run, Jacob Sullum writes about the tenuous link between smoking bans and less heart attacks, and Shikha Dalmia writes about Michigan's bizarre approach to medical marijuana.
2) Mark Steyn and Erik Kain with the latest on the war on lemonade ( and green tea ) stands.
3) Another casualty in the war on canines.
Friday, 26 August, 2011
Today's easy listening
Today it's The Cold Stares with Kings.
The Cold Stares "Kings" from Mark Crozier on Vimeo.
This was recorded in Radley Balko's living room - apparently, a Cold Stares tradition.Media alert
Keep an eye on The Propagandist next week - it looks like I'll be making an appearance in its next podcast episode. The topic? You'll see.
An update on the Fullerton Six
A quick update in the Kelly Thomas beating, courtesy of LAist:
The District Attorney is withholding the names of six Fullerton officers being investigated in the fatal beating of Kelly Thomas, citing a significant number of threats to the officers' safety.
A spokesperson for the DA said it will release the officers' names when it decides to seek criminal charges.
The DA released a list of threats to the officers' safety to The Orange County Register, when the paper sought the officers' names through a public records request.
One of those threats listed came from the Friends for Fullerton's Future blog: "Someone should make these officers contact information and addresses public."
Blogger Travis Kiger told the OC Register that wasn't a threat, and said he hasn't seen any specific threats on the Friends for Fullerton's Future blog.
"They release the names of suspected criminals every single day," he told the paper. "I don't understand in this case how it would be any different."
I'm not advocating violence, but do the Fullerton Six really deserve special treatment here? If other criminals - barring minors - can have their names released to the public, so should these assholes.
Friday links
A few things.
1) Ken MacQueen and Patricia Treble write in Macleans on Canada's rising number of useless police.
2) Matt Taibbi on the Leonard Lopate show talking about Wall Street and the SEC's habit of destroying its own evidence.
3) More brutal violence in Mexico.
4) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on Obama's many wars and the latest in the war on lemonade stands green tea stands.
5) Gerry Nicholls in the Toronto Sun with some PR advice for the environmental movement.
Thursday, 25 August, 2011
Tonight's easy listening
Tonight, it's the Nina Simone classic Sinnerman.
Update: Of course, there's a remix.
Update: Also, the original, by Les Baxter.
An update on Mark and Connie Fournier
Mark and Connie Fournier of Free Dominion were in court again today. Here's the text of an email sent out by Connie Fournier last night:
Sorry for sending this at such a late date, but I wanted our friends to know we will be at the court house tomorrow morning at 9:30 for our motion for leave to appeal the Blishen John Doe ruling. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and come if you can!http://www.freedominion.com.pa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=146554I sent this to people in my address book that I thought might be interested. Thanks for all your support!
More on Mark and Connie's legal troubles from my archives.
Tiawanda Moore has been acquitted
Remember the story of Tiawanda Moore? I posted on it yesterday, and the story basically goes like this: Moore and her boyfriend received a visit from Chicago police checking in on a domestic disturbance complaint. One of these police officers allegedly sexually harassed Moore, who then proceeded to try and file a complaint with Chicago PD. Internal affairs officers, ( again, allegedly ) then attempted to dissuade Moore from filing such a complaint, a conversation which Moore decided she would surreptitiously record on her Blackberry - not unreasonable considering her former treatment at the hands of Chicago PD.
This struck me as odd, too. Moore's former occupation has nothing to do with her case - and if it does, it reflects more on the judgment of the officer who tried to harass her, and on the attitudes of those who would try to dismiss her complaints because of her former job than anything else.
When Chicago PD discovered that Moore was recording her conversation with internal affairs officers, she was arrested for illegally recording a conversation, with a police officer to boot, and faced up to 15 years ( on felony charges ) in prison for seemingly doing little more than being a victim of Chicago police treatment.
Erik Kain notes:
So let me get this straight. A woman is allegedly sexually assaulted by a police officer. Worried that the police might be corrupt – can’t imagine why – said woman records her conversation with internal affairs. The state attorney then proceeds with criminal charges because…okay, I can’t continue. My brain hurts. What is wrong with these people?
Indeed. Moore's case finally made it into a court-room, and yesterday she was acquitted on all charges. Good for her. Radley Balko, to whom I owe a h/t for this story, comments:
Of course, this also means that the Moore won’t be the one to challenge the law to have it overturned. Which means that unless someone like Christopher Drew or Michael Allison are convicted, Illinois police will still be able to use the law to intimidate and arrest anyone who attempts to record them.
He's right, of course, but that isn't necessarily Moore's burden to bear. Let's just be happy that she got out of this insane mess.
Balko makes another excellent point:
One other thing. It’s a little odd that most media accounts of this case describe Moore as a “former stripper.” It’s actually the first three words in the Sun Times story. Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s hard to envision the article starting that way if Moore were a former nanny. Or school teacher. Or bus driver. So what’s the point? Even if Moore’s sexual assault allegation was the only newsworthy part of this story, the implication is that her former job is relevant to her allegation. Is the implication that strippers probably act provocatively even when they aren’t working—-indeed, even when they aren’t strippers anymore—and thus should expect unwanted sexual advances from cops? Is it that strippers are inherently untrustworthy? That they’re more likely to make false allegations of sexual assault? (If anything, I would suspect that strippers have built up a fair amount of tolerance for unwanted advances.)But that of course isn’t why this story is in the news. It’s in the news because Moore became frustrated in her attempt to file a complaint, and so recorded what she thought were Chicago police officers’ attempts to rebuff her, and was consequently facing a felony charge and up to 15 years in prison. The validity of the allegation that set all of that into motion isn’t really at issue. (Indeed, the resolution of Moore’s complaint is apparently “sealed.” Which is a problem in and of itself.) So even if you buy into the fairly offensive notion that Moore’s former occupation calls her harassment allegation into doubt, the “former stripper” label is completely irrelevant to whether or not she should have been arrested and charged for recording the cops.
It does, however, give Chicago PD defenders a reason to trash her in the comments section.
The latest in the war on cameras
A couple of stories I thought were worth highlighting:
- At a town hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep Steve Chabot, the cameras of Democratic attendants were apparently seized temporarily. For other peoples' privacy, of course.
- Meanwhile, the War on Lemonade stands meets the War on Cameras. I'm starting to lose track, here.
Thursday links
A few things.
1) Gerry Nicholls at Huffington Post Canada on bilingualism blues.
2) The five most common political systems.
3) THC vs. cancer.
4) Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone on dirty bank deals.
5) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on updates in the Kelly Thomas case and the new zombiefying drug sweeping across Russia.
6) Radley Balko at The Agitator on the Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood's secret investigation of dodgy forensic specialist Michael West.
7) Rob Arthur at Narco Polo on the history of criminalized Internet poker in the United States.
Wednesday, 24 August, 2011
Tiawanda Moore goes to court
Imagine that you are sexually harassed by a police officer. You go to a police station to file a complaint, get a run-around, and decide to surreptitiously record your conversations with internal affairs investigators on your Blackberry while they try to discourage you from reporting your confrontation with the officer who harassed you.
Then imagine getting arrested for illegally recording a conversation. Then imagine being charged with a felony and facing up to 15 years in prison.
That is about all you need to know about the case of Tiawanda Moore. The police officer who allegedly harassed her is a member of Chicago's finest.
Radley Balko, who, as usual, is all over her case, brings our attention to this update, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune: Moore's case has finally seen a court-room. One step toward her acquittal, one hopes.
Balko adds:
State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez ought to be tossed on her tuckus for bringing this case in the first place. In a city with a long history of police abuse and corruption, where we only recently learned that for two decades people were tortured in police stations while Chicago police supervisors, prosecutors, and politicians looked the other way, it’s an absolute outrage that Alvarez would prosecute a woman for trying to protect herself while trying to file a complaint. And shame on the Illinois legislature for not having the courage to repeal this ugly, blatantly unconstitutional law.
Bonus points for using the word "tuckus."
L.A.'s war on desert rats
The title of this post is ripped directly from this piece, which compliments LA Weekly journalist Mars Melnicoff's in-depth look earlier this year at L.A. county's stealth war against a group of loners and misfits out in the middle of the desert. Yeah. I think it's weird too.
Reason.tv recently picked up the story where Mars Melnicoff left off:
At the risk of provoking a lawsuit, County Supervisor Mike Antonovich sounds like a massive tool.
An update on Kelly Thomas and the Fullerton Six
Remember the assholes who beat this guy to death? Well, turns out that rogue police officers killing homeless people has a negative effect on public opinion. Go figure:
The incident last month has ensnared Fullerton in an ever-widening array of state and federal investigations, resignations and rowdy protests — and things promise to get worse for the city before they get better. The acting police chief last week ordered an internal investigation into an unrelated, but volatile confrontation last year after reviewing cell phone footage that appears to contradict sworn testimony given by police officers in court.Public outcry over the new video prompted the department to acknowledge that officers may have arrested the wrong man. That man, Veth Mam, on Friday filed a federal complaint alleging officers used excessive force and falsified their police reports after arresting him. Mam, 35, was acquitted by a jury earlier this month on charges of assault, battery and resisting arrest, in part because of cell phone video depicting his own arrest.
The two incidents have put Fullerton, an unassuming Orange County city best known as the home of a prominent California State University campus, on the map from Germany to Korea — and unhappy residents and business owners are hunkering down.
Aw. Too bad.
Meanwhile, the erm... "investigation" into Kelly Thomas death continues.
Wednesday links
A few things.
1) Peter Jaworski at Huffington Post Canada on why government art grants make art worse, not better.
2) Tom Sandborn at The Tyee on the disgusting work conditions and lack of pay endured by workers for a company supposedly under the watchful conditions of a government contract.
3) Mike Riggs at Reason's Hit & Run on the massive failure of Florida's attempt to shaft poor people.
4) Some music to kick off your day.
5) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on how immigration can boost the economy.
Tuesday, 23 August, 2011
Tuesday links
A few things.
1) One of the best obits for Jack Layton that I've read yet.
2) A retired Russian police officer has been arrested as a suspect in the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
3) Don't film cops in New Jersey.
4) A. Barton Hinkle at Reason magazine on the militarization of the police. Radley Balko adds a footnote.
5) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on the drug war in Mexico.
6) Nick Gillespie at Reason's Hit & Run on unions and Citizens United.
7) Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone with more on the SEC's policy of destroying its own evidence.
Monday, 22 August, 2011
Today's easy listening
In order to apologize for not posting for days, then posting a whole bunch of things at once, I offer Junior Kimbrough playing Burn in Hell.
That's good blues.
An update on Leigh Stubbs
Radley Balko has done an excellent job of covering the Leigh Stubbs case. He provides an update:
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood’s defense of Stubbs’ prosecution in this video is so vague, it’s pretty much impossible to address. There was no evidence presented at trial other than West’s bite mark and “video enhancement” testimony that Leigh Stubbs assaulted Kim Williams. (Well, other than the weird prosecution theory that homosexuals are especially prone to biting one another.) I’m told that Hood also took a couple questions about the case last week, and referred to Stubbs’ “dope” convictions in the case as the other evidence of her guilt. So maybe that’s what he’s referring to in this video.Problem is, not only does that have nothing to do with the alleged assault, there’s also no evidence Stubbs had much of a role in the theft of dope from Williams’ boyfriend. She passed a drug test shortly after her arrest. And witness accounts from the night in question also indicate that Stubbs was sober. There was evidence that Stubbs knew Vance and Williams had stolen the drugs and were ingesting them. And she obviously didn’t report them. But that isn’t the sort of crime for which one gets a 44-year prison sentence, particularly for a first offense.
Cops behaving badly: a round-up
A few stories.
1) A Chicago family has been awarded over three hundred thousand dollars after police officers shot their dog while executing a routine search warrant.
2) Chicago police were apparently on a roll, because a group of officers were caught on camera beating up a pair of brothers. The teenagers were latino, which shouldn't matter but totally does.
3) A Cedar Rapids, Iowa SWAT team, after executing a raid looking for drugs, find none on the premises. This doesn't stop them from issuing a citation for keeping a "disorderly house."
4) A New Orleans police officer apparently wrote 200 phantom seat-belt citations in order to collect extra pay. It should be remembered that New Orleans has probably one of the shittiest police forces in the United States.
Another Cory Maye update
Readers will probably be familiar with the case of Cory Maye. If you're not, become familiar with it.
At any rate, Georgia State University's College of Law has an article up explaining the role of one of its own in Cory Maye's eventual release from prison:
Among the crowd of friends and family celebrating Maye's release was Georgia State University law professorJessica Gabel, who played a large role in getting Maye off of death row and out of prison. Gabel was part of a pro bono legal team from Washington, D.C.-based firm Covington & Burling that joined Maye's defense counsel in 2006."When I read the transcript [of the trial] it just reminded me of everything I went to law school to do," says Gabel of the first time she heard Maye's story. "There was this grave injustice, and I couldn't not be a part of [the case]."
Monday links
A few things.
1) Rob Breakenridge and Ezra Levant on nanny state excesses.
2) Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune on the failure of sex offender registries.
3) Smoke pot, lose your kid.
4) The war on lemonade stands heated up last weekend.
5) Matt Taibbi with more on the SEC's policy of destroying its own evidence.
6) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on the urgent need for criminal justice reform.
7) Peter Welch at Still Drinking has written a series chronicling his literal months-long descent into insanity 11 years ago. It's arresting reading - start here, then work your way from there.
8) Corporations really do rule the world. Hunh.
9) A modified form of ecstasy is being used to kill blood cancer cells in a test tube.
Thursday, 18 August, 2011
Thursday links
A few things.
1) Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone on the SEC's weird policy of destroying its own evidence against the people it's supposed to be investigating.
2) Mike Riggs at Reason's Hit & Run on why the Merida initiative will never die.
3) Nathan Jones at InSight on why the United States doesn't have massive drug cartels...yet.
5) A glimpse into the life of a competitive lock-picker.
6) The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has been forced to reconsider allowing one of its hearings to be televised. H/t to Blazing Cat Fur.
7) The BC Supreme Court has struck down a challenge of Canada's assisted suicide laws by one group, but another group's challenge is still going forward.
9) Jake Skakun writes in The Tyee on the regulatory hurdles that one would have to jump through in order to... horror of horrors... sell local wines at a local food shop.
10) Posting racy photos on the Internet is protected speech in the United States. I'm lovin' it.
11) Radley Balko at The Agitator on John Bradley, DNA, and Rick Perry.
12) David C. at Greater Greater Washington on the difficulties he and his wife ran into trying to get the cops to pay for damage they caused while executing a mistaken search warrant on their home.
A competition for the most bizarre, twisted story of the day
Two entrees in today's competition.On the one hand you have this story, which is pretty horrible.
On the other hand you have this story, which is downright horrifying.
You decide. I don't even know what to say, in either case.
Wednesday, 17 August, 2011
Wednesday links
A few things.
1) Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, is funding a project to create independent, floating libertarian countries out in open waters.
2) Ezra Levant v. Rob Nicholson.
3) Turns out that Mr. Fuddlesticks was, in fact, the creation of two Renton City police officers.
4) Radley Balko comments on the ATF's promotion of three of its supervisors responsible for Operation Fast and Furious.
5) Arrested at gunpoint for riding his bike on the sidewalk with no reflectors. H/t Balko.
6) Penn Jillette writes at CNN.com on the roots of his libertarianism. Erik Kain at Forbes.com has more.
7) Rob Breakenridge writes about Canada's energy drink hysteria.
8) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on how sending more people to prison doesn't make people safer.
9) Radley Balko at the Huffington Post and Erik Kain at Forbes.com on the latest in the Jose Guerena case.
Tuesday, 16 August, 2011
Tuesday links
A few things.
1) Turns out all those videos of cats on the Internet are part of some huge money-making conspiracy.
2) Mario Bros. The Indie film.
3) Three of the ATF supervisors who over-saw their agency's Operation Fast and Furious f*ck-up have been promoted. Mind-boggling.
4) Ezra Levant talks with the Canadian Constitution Foundation's Chris Shafer on Bill C-51.
5) This'll teach you to record the police beating people up.
6) The Propagandist podcast number seven.
7) Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone on how Barack Obama has failed on the financial reform debate.
8) Jonathon Narvey at The Propagandist on the latest act of barbarism in Saudi Arabia.
9) The War on Drugs is actually a War on People.
10) Erik Kain at The Atlantic on five great fantasy books/series to read while you're wating for George R.R. Martin to pump out another book.
11) Mike Riggs at Reason's Hit & Run on state governments trying to pump as much revenue out of tobacco sales as possible.
12) Erik Kain at Forbes.com on the cash-for-kids judge in Pennsylvania.
Monday, 15 August, 2011
The death of Kelly Thomas at the hands of Fullerton Police
I write a lot about police on this blog, and it's not because I think that most police are bad people. It's because a lot of police work with people who are bad people and yet, somehow, nothing gets done about this situation. There seems to be a permeated institutional tolerance for brutal, thuggish behavior in just enough police departments to allow folks like me, who don't like brutal, thuggish behavior, to begin to feel a general distrust of police. Again, this isn't the fault of most police, although, on the other hand, they work in a job that seems to churn out a disproportionate amount of psychotic individuals.
Kelly Thomas was a 37-year-old schizophrenic homeless man living in Fullerton, which is in the northern part of Orange County, California. On July 5th, according to the LA Times and the O.C. Register, Fullerton police responded to a report of someone breaking into cars near the Fullerton bus depot. When they arrived at the scene they confronted Thomas - who, according to his father, a retired O.C. police officer himself, was probably off his meds - and attempted to search him. He resisted, and as a result of his resisting this search he ended up in critical condition for "head and neck injuries" at the UC Irvine Medical Centre. He died five days later. Six officers in all were involved in the incident.
Every so often there will be a story with such shocking behavior that one can't help but wonder at the kind of organization that would allow for it to happen on its watch. I like to highlight these stories every so often, when I can. The actions of Ohio police officer Daniel Harless, for instance. Or those of City of Victoria bylaw officer Andrew Dolan. Or the actions of police surrounding the beating of Darrin T. Ring in Tennessee.
In that vein, the beating death by Fullerton, California police officers of Kelly Thomas offers up another compelling case of police brutality.
Before shot of Kelly Thomas:
Kelly Thomas was a 37-year-old schizophrenic homeless man living in Fullerton, which is in the northern part of Orange County, California. On July 5th, according to the LA Times and the O.C. Register, Fullerton police responded to a report of someone breaking into cars near the Fullerton bus depot. When they arrived at the scene they confronted Thomas - who, according to his father, a retired O.C. police officer himself, was probably off his meds - and attempted to search him. He resisted, and as a result of his resisting this search he ended up in critical condition for "head and neck injuries" at the UC Irvine Medical Centre. He died five days later. Six officers in all were involved in the incident.After Shot:
According to the Register:
After seeing his son's injuries and talking with witnesses, Thomas said his son "was brutally beaten to death.""When I first walked into the hospital, I looked at what his mother described as my son ... I didn't recognize him," Thomas said. "This is cold-blooded, aggravated murder."
Witnesses told Thomas that his son was sitting on a bench when first approached by police, Thomas said.
Witnesses added that officers hit him on the back of a leg with a baton and Tasered him, he said.
Thomas tried to run away but only made it a few feet before being caught by two officers and "then that is when it all happened," said Ron Thomas, based on what he was told by witnesses.
Witnesses told Thomas his son wasn't moving but was still hit with the butt ends of flashlights and Tasered, he said.
Mike Riggs at Reason's Hit & Run and Erik Kain at Forbes.com have both followed the developments in this story pretty closely.
The FBI has announced that it will look into the incident. Another investigation has been launched by a California district attorney. City officials apparently attempted to pay off Thomas' parents with a $900,000 compensation for the death of their son - the reason the compensation wasn't more was because, in the city officials' words, Kelly Thomas was "no rocket scientist." To the best of my knowledge, this compensation was, rightly, rejected.
Politics, as usual, have gotten involved, and along with protests, more eyewitness testimony has surfaced with rather chilling results:
"They caught him, pound his face, pound his face against the curb ... and they beat him up," said one passenger. "They beat him up, and then all the cops came and they hogtied him, and he was like 'Please God! Please Dad!"
As for the police officers who were involved in the incident, one of them was initially placed on administrative leave, while the other five were assigned away from front-line patrol. This later changed, though, when police chief Michael Sellers put the other five on leave as well. Michael Sellers himself has taken a 30-day medical leave amidst calls for his resignation - interestingly enough, he can't be fired if he's on medical leave, but at any rate he is not expected by Fullerton's mayor to return. Police morale has apparently been affected.
One of the cops involved, Jay Cincinelli, a former LAPD officer, allegedly bragged about the beating afterward. The attorney for the Fullerton Six, perhaps in a bid to make himself into a total dick, has argued that the whole thing is over-blown. In one final bid for scandal, according to Fullerton's new acting police chief, the cops involved in Kelly Thomas' beating were allowed to see a video of the incident before writing up their reports on it.
At the centre of this whole issue has been one blog, Friends For Fullerton's Future, which is perhaps one of the lessons that can be taken away from this whole incident.
Another lesson, which comes back to my opening paragraphs, is nicely illustrated by Erik Kain:
I was thinking a lot about the Kelly Thomas beating over the weekend – a story which only gets worse and worse the more we find out about it. One thought that kept coming back to me was this: who benefits from ending police abuse? Who benefits the most from filming of cops? Who takes away the most from increased police transparency?The answer is simple: honest cops. Honest cops who have nothing to hide benefit the most from police transparency and an end to police abuse. Honest police work is hard – much harder than the overt displays of power and aggression that we see in these horrific tales of police brutality, no-knock raids, and shows of strength.
All six police officers involved in Kelly Thomas' beating should lose their jobs, and should have to fight to keep any benefits that they might wish to enjoy in their early retirement. They should become lepers in the police enforcement community. The police chief who over-saw a police force which, apparently, contained a sizable number of violent individuals, should lose any chance to coming back to his job - and he should have to fight for his benefits too.
I shouldn't be calling for these things. Fullerton police officers should be calling for these things. Every single Fullerton police officer who now has to operate under the stigma of Kelly Thomas' death should be outraged at those who, operating under the same authority, chose to abuse it. The worst enemy of a good police officer is a bad police officer, because in the end we choose to remember the worst that the authorities can do. And rightly so.
Monday links
A few things.
2) There is no heroin in motor oil, as it turns out.
3) Mark Steyn on the mainstream views of Paul Krugman.
4) Radley Balko at The Agitator on the Texas Court of Appeals' approach to losing evidence.
5) Alex Stein at The Propagandist on the difference between riots in the UK and riots in Israel.
6) A Pennsylvania judge has been convicted of a 28-year sentence for rigging juvie trials in exchange for money from his friends at detention centres. What a piece of shit.
My latest for The Propagandist
Here's my latest for The Propagandist on Mark Steyn's new book: Mark Steyn's New Book. After America. Get Ready for Armageddon.
Sunday, 14 August, 2011
Review: "Monster For President," a children's book with delightfully adult themes
Monster For President, written by Hal Pollock and illustrated by Anthony J. Parisi ( and also available as an app ), is a children's book that takes your average presidential race in the United States, places it smack-dab in the middle of a land populated entirely by monsters, and adds in a healthy dose of cynicism. A hallmark of good children's story-writing is something that both children and adults can get something out of. And without going through the story blow-for-blow, I have to say that Monster For President carries off this multi-generational appeal quite well. From rather obvious digs at past presidential candidates ( more generally speaking than specific parodies ), to an important plot device centered around a very, erm...adult activity, I have a feeling that this book could be read by wildly different age groups, with both of them coming away having read a very different book. The rhyming style of the writing itself does tend to hit the occasional snag, but I think that can be over-looked considering the general brilliance of the over-all story.
As for the cynicism dripping from this bit of parody, well, it's never too early to inoculate a child against the rampant stupidity of your average election campaign.
Monster For President. Check it out.
Sunday links
A few things.
1) Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair on the Greek financial disaster - and the strange role of a few obscure monks in Greece's financial woes.
2) Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing notes the rather odd, disorganized approach that Long Beach police take toward public photographers.
3) Don't get on the bad side of Copenhagen media outlets.
4) The strange case of photographer Bill Rolland.
5) Radley Balko speaks to The Alyona Show about Rick Perry and the death penalty.
6) Shikha Dalmia at Reason's Hit & Run on US immigration policy and the GOP's response to same.
Saturday, 13 August, 2011
A happy ending for Mr. Fuddlesticks
Remember this stupid thing?
Ken at Popehat gives a debriefing.
Well, first it got stupider, which is actually quite impressive. Then it went away, kind of:
"The information that we were getting from the search warrants made us think it's much better to focus on an internal investigation," said city of Renton spokeswoman Preeti Shridhar.
Police believe the cartoonist, who goes by the online name of "Mrfuddlesticks," is a current police officer.
An update on Andrew Dolan
Another quick little nugget of information on Andrew Dolan, which, like before, comes courtesy of my comments section
one Lindon Collard, like it says above. Blogger profile here. Youtube profile with videos here. Google Buzz here. I believe all of these blogs are also his. More - rather wild - details, apparently, about Collard's run-ins with the City of Victoria and Andrew Dolan here and here respectively. Make of it all what you will.
Hello Walker, Lindon Collard artist musician and blogger. Just like the wonderful Dolan Family on The Advent Church newsletter. Mr. Dolan's dedication to improving life for all of us brought him to my home out at Otter Point with an RCMP escort, we had been late last winter at our rental properties shoveling snow last winter. I thought, this creep has been here before. I recognized the odious comportment of a civil servant who has been trainned as a Correctional Officer and whose jailhouse bedside manner inspires terror in those whose private property he invades. He had been here before and he was here now from Victoria. I said "he was dancing around like he wanted to get into a fight". He, I believe, advanced towards me on my property out here at Otter Point with another Officer and with clubs drawn many years ago. He is a former Prison Guard and has engaged in documented assults, how many other times has he pursued the same pattern of behaviour?I have not verified any of this, so file it all under "alleged" for now. The comment comes from
I rarely go onto other peoples property, I write and create videos at my own privatley owned property and several times over the last 30 years the CRD Bylaw Enforcement or Victoria Bylaw Enforcement have been motivated through an orchestrated plan consisting of numerous phone calls about alleged infractions for which there is no evidence. The Bylaw Officers become angry and agitated and bring Police with them to ones home and the more evidence that you supply to successfully rebut the false accusations the madder the Bylaw Officers and the Police get. Everytime this situation occurs it is the object of the Officers to lay serious criminal charges or levy large fines or demolish or seize property. If someone starts a fight by making phone calls to Bylaw Enforcement, either out here at Otter Point or in Victoria there will be a massive Police and Bylaw presence generated and other Police Departments as far away as Vancouver will be contacted. I do not live in the rental accomadations which I pay Twenty thousand dollars per year to the City of Victoria as Property Taxes and they have repeatedly sent Police and Bylaw Officers out here to my property. I have been arrested and dragged off my property out here at Otter Point twice and charged two other times as a result of the little game the Bylaw Officers and Police play over the phone calls of crackpots and agitators. Andrew Dolan is not simply a lone dangerous individual he is an archtypical example of the character the mindset and the mode of operation of a totally unperfessional emotional and reactive group of hooligans who are encouraged by bosses such as Don Brown and Miles Drew.
one Lindon Collard, like it says above. Blogger profile here. Youtube profile with videos here. Google Buzz here. I believe all of these blogs are also his. More - rather wild - details, apparently, about Collard's run-ins with the City of Victoria and Andrew Dolan here and here respectively. Make of it all what you will.
Your irony of the day
Macleans' Martin Patriquin makes a very excellent point about Sun News vis a vis that whole Nycole Turmel situation:He's right, but note our - unintentional, no doubt - irony of the day, here. Patriquin complains that Sun TV is picking on the CBC, while at the same time the line from Sun TV's corner is that the CBC is picking on folks like them. Everybody's picking on everybody, apparently.
Just over a week ago, the Sun News people grabbed hold of the story about interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel having been a member of the Bloc Québécois… and, well, hasn’t really let go since. Just yesterday the network fronted a story touting Turmel’s membership in the BQ as well as the “radically separatist”Québec Solidaire. ‘Byline‘ host (and, in the spirit of SNN’s trademark hyperbole, the network’s in-house right-wing commie-baiter) Brian Lilley took to his blog to decry Turmel’s separatist past and supposed radically communist leanings. “Quebec Solidiare is no mild-mannered left-wing political party or your grandfather’s labour movement political action group, they are full on commies,” Brian wrote.Brian has every right in the world to denounce radical left-wing fringe elements, real or imagined, in Canadian society. However, he might have taken a look in his backyard before getting all frothy. Had he done so, he’d note that QMI, Sun’s own press agency, which provides much of the content to the Sun chain of papers, regularly publishes the bon mots of one Jacques Lanctôt. Why, just today Lanctôt wrote a breezy 700 words about the delights—”justice, peace, health care and culture for all”—of Castro’s Cuba.You be the judge as to whether Lanctôt qualifies as ‘radical’, based on his past: he was one of the driving forces behind the Front de libération de Québec (FLQ) and founder of the FLQ’s ‘Liberation cell’ that was responsible for the kidnapping of British trade secretary James Cross in 1970. He served three years in jail as a result, and went into exile for eight years after his release. Now he writes for the same outfit as Brian Lilley, who for some reason has made no mention of this flagrant infiltration of a known communist, separatist radical into one of the largest media companies in the country.
This is all well and good, but then Patriquin made me grin a little:
What if the CBC had published the columns of a known communist, separatist radical? You think we’d be hearing the same silence?
Jon Stewart, of course, might help to shine some light on the situation.
Saturday links
A few things.
1) Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair on Germany's role in the European financial meltdown.
2) Sarah Palin vs. an Ayn Rand zombie. The best thing you'll read all day. H/t to Blazing Cat Fur.
3) Gang of Four playing I Found That Essence Rare, for your listening pleasure. H/t to Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing.
4) The DEA allegedly let several tons of cocaine walk across the Mexican border courtesy of the Sinoloa cartel in exchange for information from one of its top lieutenants about rival cartels. H/t Balko.
5) A Mississippi judge has been suspended for misconduct. Must be something in the water down there. Another h/t to Balko.
6) Mexican poet Javier Sicilia with another impassioned plea to end the war on drugs.
7) Let's have less of this sort of thing.
8) Let's have more of this sort of thing.
9) Mark Steyn in the OC Register on the collapse of a once-great society. Fun stuff.
10) Buzzfeed provides us with the 30 best portraits of Ron Swanson, for your viewing pleasure. I'm partial to this one myself. H/t to Erik Kain at Forbes.com.
Friday, 12 August, 2011
An update on Andrew Dolan
Readers might recall my coverage of Andrew Dolan, the bylaw officer for the City of Victoria who allegedly straddled a homeless man and punched him repeatedly in the back of the head in October of 2010. Dolan was charged with assault in April of 2011. His first day in court was this June.
I have not confirmed that this person is indeed this homeless man's sister, but right now I have no reason to doubt that she is. For the record, here is her Blogger profile. Her blog, YakkityYak, has no posts to date.
Well, in the comments to one of my posts on Dolan, someone claiming to be the sister of the homeless man allegedly beaten by Dolan has the following to say:
This person you are all talking about is my brother and I know for a fact that he NOT violent. He was watching carts for someone else who went to the clinic. He told the officers this but they still wanted to rumage through his things, My brother felt this was invasion of privacy and said you cant do that. He took one step forward and the officers jumped him and started beating him,he did not try and fight back just called out for help. Now I know being homeless is not the perfect life but there is still no need for violent behaviours, when a person is just protecting there belongings. Just because a person has a badge does not give them a right to use brutal force on anyone. THIS HAPPENS WAY TO MUCH.some cop/bylaw officer is always getting in trouble for excessive force on homeless people.
Radley Balko on Leigh Stubbs
I thought this article by Radley Balko for the Huffington Post was worth a more in-depth mention than a link in one of my round-ups. Here's the article:
Stubbs' story begins in March 2000, just after she successfully completed treatment at a rehab center in Columbus, Miss. Stubbs checked out with Tammy Vance, a friend she met in rehab, and Kim Williams, the woman Vance and Stubbs would later be accused of assaulting.After checking out, the three women drove to the home of Dickie Ervin, whom Williams had been dating. Vance and Stubbs then left Ervin's house. They were joined later by Williams, who had stolen some of Ervin's Oxycontin. Vance and Williams began drinking and taking the Oxycontin, while Stubbs drove and remained sober. The three eventually ended up at a Comfort Inn in Brookhaven, Miss. By that time, Vance and Williams had passed out. Stubbs checked the three of them in to the hotel. According to the clerk's testimony, Stubbs didn't appear drunk or high, only tired.
By Stubbs' account, she then helped the other two women into the room, and the three went to sleep. The next day, Stubbs and Vance went to get some food, leaving Williams in the room, still sleeping. Later the same afternoon, Stubbs and Vance noticed that Williams still hadn't woken up, and was having trouble breathing. They called an ambulance, and Williams was admitted and treated for a drug overdose. She fell into a coma. At the hospital, doctors found a number of injuries on Williams, including swollen breasts, a swollen and bruised vagina, and marks across her buttocks. The attending physician believed the injuries appeared to be two to four days old. A rape kit was inconclusive. Another doctor later also found an injury to Williams' head. A few days later, the office of then-District Attorney Dunn Lampton called in Michael West to examine Williams' injuries. (Williams, who has since recovered, says she doesn't remember who attacked her.)
Lampton chose to bring in Michael West as a witness even though West's credibility problems were already well-known. West had previously claimed to be able to trace the bite marks in the bread of a half-eaten bologna sandwich to the prosecution's chief suspect; he had compared his own genius to the musical genius of Itzhak Perlman; and he once testified in court that his own error rate was merely "something less than my savior, Jesus Christ." West had been exposed in articles in both the American Bar Association Law Journal and the National Law Review, and he was suspended and later resigned from the American Board of Forensic Odontologists. But Lampton ignored West's history and called in his expertise in yet another criminal case.
In a routine he had by then repeated dozens of times with law enforcement officials across Mississippi and Louisiana, West claimed to find human bite marks on Williams that other doctors had overlooked. He then ordered dental impressions taken from Stubbs, Vance and two other suspects. But by the time the plaster impressions arrived, Williams' alleged wounds had faded. So West performed his analysis based on photographs he had taken of his findings days earlier. He would later testify that it was a "probability" that a bite mark he claimed to have found on William's thigh was made by Stubbs. (In a rare display of humility, West did concede that he wasn't "100 percent" certain of the match -- only that it was likely.)
Radley Balko has more on this story at The Agitator. Meanwhile, a funny footnote courtesy of Mississippi's Attorney General.
Friday links
A few things.
1) Michael Lewis in the March edition of Vanity Fair on the Irish banking crisis.
2) Radley Balko at The Agitator on Texas governor Rick Perry's casual, almost delusional dismissal of concerns about his state's method of sentencing people to death row.
3) Reason TV on the beating death of Michael Patrick Lass while under the custody of Orange County deputies in 2007.
4) For those of you who are interested in police misconduct in general, check out this site. H/t to The grey Lady.
5) Mark Steyn with Neil Cavuto on the American economic downgrade.
6) Nina Simone playing "Mississippi goddamn," for your listening pleasure. H/t to Balko.
7) Establish a video record of police beating someone during a traffic stop, face charges of illegal wiretapping.
Wednesday, 10 August, 2011
Wednesday links
Extra-long edition today.
2) In over-regulation news, the chain-link fences you can't get rid of, and how a man had to spend three days in jail because he couldn't pay a fishing fine.
3) In thuggish police news, the case of the Baltimore camera-phone seizure, and the taser death of a Cincinnati high school graduate.
4) Jacob Sullum at Reason on Chinese baby-snatchers and Rick Perry's unique approach to the tenth amendment.
5) Erik Kain reviews George R.R. Martin's new book at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen.
6) The Hyacinth Girl digs Mark Steyn's new book.
7) Speaking of, Mark Steyn with your questions of the day. Bonus: among many other appearances as part of his book tour, Mark Steyn on Varney & Co. and Hannity, and in conversation with Ed Driscoll.
8) Matt Welch on how the American people are so goddamned stupid ( only not really ).
9) Ronald Bailey with one of the more hilarious things you'll see today about that whole debt-ceiling thing.
10) Gary Johnson is cool.
11) Radley Balko on the return of a shitty Mississippi prosecutor.
Monday, 8 August, 2011
On eminent domain
Andrew Phillips writes:
Not the first time it has been done. But it's always poor people, regardless of their color, who are hurt when this happens. Cities use eminent domain to take homes in poorer neighborhoods and then create upscale housing, one of many reasons for expropriation without proper compensation. Of course the people living there could afford to live there but after the "upgrade" they can't so they become displaced persons. In America. In Canada
Two other ways to make housing less affordable for those on the lower end of the scale are two sleazy little ideas called "smart growth" and "open space" that drive up the cost of housing. A builder will buy for example 50 acres of land which would allow for 200 1/4 lot homes. However zoning laws (open space / smart growth) prevent him - in many cases - from doing what he wants with his land.
I believe it is in his book The Housing Boom and Bust where Thomas Sowell points out that in Orange County, Virginia a builder is allowed to put 1 home up on 50 acres of land. One home! So he has to charge and arm and a leg to make his profit. But 200 homes on the same acreage would allow him to build more modest affordable homes and create jobs at the same time.
This is used by other social engineers calling the homes "McMansions" citing rampant consumerism as a problem. When those large homes are a result of over regulation and interference with property rights of the housing industry. People should understand that property rights benefit even those who own no property. The builder building 200 homes can build homes people can afford because his property rights would allow him to do so. Don't forget the job creation as well.
Then there are the environmentalists who demand an environmental assessment about just about everything and that drives the costs up as well. People who worry more about a bug then their fellow citizens have me constantly wondering about their priorities. Any costs incurred in delays through environmental assessments are passed on to either the future owners or renters.
When it's all done and people have been thrown out of their homes (displaced) or denied the ability, by high costs, to even buy a home what happens? Why other social engineers start calling for subsidized housing which brings higher taxation. This the result of having had a hand in either destroying affordable housing or preventing it from being built in the first place.
Sunday, 7 August, 2011
More on Washington State's case against Mr. Fuddlesticks
Jacob Sullum at Reason's Hit & Run on this stupid case:
In a follow-up to yesterday's KIRO-TV story about the Renton, Washington, police department's pursuit of the online parodist known as "Mr. Fuddlesticks," Renton Patch reports that Deputy Chief Charles Marsalisi "was recently demoted to sergeant over his role in or knowledge of" Mr. Fuddlesticks' Xtranormal cartoons mocking the department and alluding to recent internal affairs investigations. Meanwhile, according to documents (PDF) obtained by the Patch, Deputy Chief Tim Troxel merely lost a day's pay for asking an on-duty officer to stake out the home of a girlfriend he suspected of cheating on him. That contrast gives you a sense of the professional milieu that gave rise to the cartoons.The Patch says one set of cartoons, uploaded in January, triggered the internal investigation that led to Marsalisi's demotion, which presumably was the inspiration for the "Locker Room Parody" cartoon I quoted yesterday, in which the cop character wonders "why an anonymous video with no identifying information that ties it to the department or city is being taken more seriously than officers having sex on duty, arguing with outside agencies while in a drunken stupor off duty, sleeping while on duty, throwing someone off a bridge, and having inappropriate relationships with coworkers and committing adultery." The police did not claim that the first set of cartoons constituted a crime. But in their July 28 application for a search warrant demanding information about Mr. Fuddlesticks from Google, they say a second set, uploaded in April, amounts to "cyberstalking" because the cartoons include "embarrassing and emotionally tormenting comments about past sexual relationships or dating relationships" involving three city employees. That definition of cyberstalking is broad enough to encompass, say, criticism of Deputy Chief Troxel for using official police resources to spy on his girlfriend (who was also a city employee).
Washington state's definition of the crime is indeed broad, so broad that it is hard to reconcile with the First Amendment. The part on which the Renton investigation hinges makes it a gross misdemeanor to transmit "an electronic communication" with "intent to harass, intimidate, torment, or embarrass any other person" when the communication includes "any lewd, lascivious, indecent, or obscene words, images, or language, or suggesting the commission of any lewd or lascivious act." KIRO has added to its collection of Mr. Fuddlesticks cartoons since yesterday, so you can judge for yourself whether any of the six available here qualify as a crime under this definition. If they do, it's the law that needs to go, not the cartoons.
More from Sullum here.
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