Negrotown

I tend to like "humor" where after a while you are thinking, "Wait.  Is this even funny?  Or is it offensive?  And am I the one being made fun of?"  Like, this, for example.

Because frankly I deserve to be made fun of.

Anyway, courtesy of Jackie Blue, Key and Peele in "Negrotown."

 

Interesting Split

There has been developing an interesting split in the reactions to Ferguson and the Staten Island chokehold.

The left is outraged that the state is not doing exactly what the left expects from an idealized, unicorn state.  In fact, the state is actually made up of actual human-style people, and people are flawed.  The left wants to rely on abstract systems, and then be perpetually astonished when things go really wrong.  It's not bad people that are the problem.  The THING, the thing itself is the abuse, folks.

The right is just denying that there is a problem, the system is working, the jury has spoken, etc.  The only problem is the protests, who are law-breakers.  No surprise there.

The libertarian splinter accepts parts of the both arguments.  The system is in fact working exactly as designed, so the right is correct.  But this is a really bad outcome, and so the left is correct.

The answer is that we need much less of the system.  Of course police officers are going to use excessive force, of course police officers are going to have and act on racial and class-based preferences.  And then the system, in the courts, the prosecutor's office, and the grand jury, is going to protect itself.  That's the system, unless you believe in unicorns.

The solution?  Fewer laws.  We have criminalized so many behaviors (in the Staten Island case, selling packs of cigaretttes!) that we have given the police enormous pressure to perform, and gigantic latitude to act on prejudice, bigotry, and simple anger.

As long as the left (with the active complicity of the non-libertarian right) continues to criminalize being black, it's not surprising that the police will continue to treat black people as criminals.

White people are largely unaffected, because the system is designed to protect white people.  #crimingwhilewhite shows the truth:  rich white people can break the law, but they won't get charged.

This kind of race-based law enforcement is given the stink-eye by our friends on the left, but they can't seem to draw the obvious inference:  the answer is not better police.  The answer is fewer laws.  Decriminalize normal nonviolent daily activity, and the police will have a lot fewer excuses to harass people they don't like and who can't fight back.

Legal Horror Stories

Here's two recent ones that really amazed and disgusted me

1. Meth charge dropped after only spaghetti sauce found on spoon

Here's the public defender describing the case: “From what I understand, she was a passenger in a car and had a spoon on her, near her, and I guess the officer, for whatever reason, thought there was some residue,”

I'd give you the cops' version but, "Attempts to obtain the original arrest report from the Gainesville Police were unsuccessful"

Now sure this seems pretty funny, but the woman was in jail for a MONTH AND A HALF! For no other reason that the cop thought she was a meth-head.


2. Before the Law: A boy was accused of taking a backpack. The courts took the next three years of his life.

This kid was accused of stealing someone's backpack. couldn't make bail, wouldn't plead out. 3 YEARS LATER, the charges were dismissed!

3 YEARS, people.

Funny, But a Bit Edgy

One of the great things about Chris Rock is that you can't quite be sure if he's laughing at you, or with you.

Especially smug white people (and that's me, I recognize).  What's really going on here?

NSFW.  Funny, but NSFW.

Civil Asset Forfeiture: A Reenactment

Since the Left Doesn't Like Violence, Why Do They Want More?

It does seem paradoxical.  Our leftist brothers and sisters decry violence, and then say we need a larger state.  But the state IS violence.  That's really all the state can do.

And the state attracts those people for whom committing violence causes the least distress. It may be that they feel they are "just following orders," or that they are serving the public, of course.

But the state also attracts the fringe that just likes to commit violence because it's fun.

This is pretty rough.

Some comments.

My question:  If you really think "this shit's gotta stop," why are you constantly pressing for a larger and more powerful state?  If you want to stop, then stop it.

Deerfield Swat

As far as I can tell, everyone in Deerfield Beach, FL is from NY or Canada.  Of course you only HEAR the New Yorkers, because they are so loud, and distinctively incapable of speaking grammatical English.

Still, the point is that there is not really much danger here.  It is about as whitebread a place as there can be (some of the whitebread is unleavened, but still, this is not a dangerous place).

So...why in the world do they have this thing?

The answer, of course, is because they can-can-can.  I like the "Tonka" truck sticker on the hood.

Then, check out this "pursuit" vehicle.

Note the "confiscated" sticker.  They are actually proud that they stole it.  Impressive!  Photo credits:  The LMM.

The Drug "War": SO Proud of America

How bored does a cop have to be to spend hours entrapping an autistic, developmentally challenged, kid into buying weed?  Twice?

That cop could have been out doing warrantless searches in poor neighborhoods, or pulling guys over for "driving while [insert non-white skin color here]." 

You know, REAL police work.

US Priority Number 1: Hassle Young Adults For Something Legal in Civilized Countries

So, a young woman buys some ice cream and some flavored sparkling water. Outside the store, two guys try to hassle her.  She takes off in her car.

Turns out they were cops, or at least they were Alcohol Bev Control wanna-be cops.  Of course, she had no way of knowing that, since their car was not marked, they were in street clothes, and they did not identify themselves.  The story is here.  Maybe it's not the cops' fault; there are too many laws.

Problem:  it IS the cops' fault.  They are using money from forfeitures and seizures to buy SWAT equipment, and this new command post.  Remember, these are NOT REAL COPS, not even the ones buying SWAT equipment.  They are just the guys who are still trying to enforce the 18th Amendment.  Does anyone think this is actually worth all the money we spend on it?  (You gotta like the part where it says "no taxpayer money, all from seizures."  Nice.  Police are self-financing now, from assets they steal from people who may, or may not have committed a crime.  Interesting reading:  Those right-wing nuts at ACLU have some good documentation.)

All you lefties, why don't you mention Europe now?  You love Germany and France, etc for all those policies you admire.  What about their drinking age?  Europeans think we are a crazy, repressive, prudish society. And they are right.

Nod to Radley Balko...and thanks to Tommy the Infuriated Brit.

Like Shoveling Snow in a Blizzard

Like shovelling snow in a blizzard... Korea's neo-Comstockery.

Wow.  I'm pretty sure I've seen the porn video the guy is referring to.  That's not snow, buddy.  And that's no blizzard.  Ewwww....

Nod to Angry Alex.

collateral damage

So a disgruntled ex-employee waylays his former boss, puts 5 in his head and takes off. He's followed by two cops. The killer turns on the cops with gun drawn and the cops kill him.

Good work, right?

Well, what if I told you that 9 people were wounded in the second shooting, all of them by shots fired from the police, who squeezed off 16 shots in around 8 seconds?

????????

Should we be congratulating them or castigating them? My view is in the labels, tell me yours in the comments.

The dignity of work

Oklahoma authorities have arrested Darlene Mayes, alleging that she is the criminal mastermind behind an organization that supplies almost half of the marijuana in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas & Missouri.

Now maybe 40% of the grass in those 4 states isn't very much (Mrs. Angus and I live out here and it's more meth and oxy country than anything else), because all the cops seized was 4 pounds of weed and $276,000 in cash which Ms. Mayes refereed to (probably correctly) as her retirement fund.

Behold the biggest druglord in Oklahoma:

The question foremost in my mind? Is there a prison anywhere that can hold her?

I think I'm in trouble

Here's an unbelievable story from San Francisco. A husband goes missing, the wife never reports it to the cops, then in February, the husband's body turns up buried underneath a new barbeque the wife built in the backyard (Jimmy Hoffa style). Today, it is announced that no charges will be filed against the wife!

I am now viewing Mrs. Angus's proposal for us to rebuild and extend our backyard deck in a whole new light.