George Donnelly may be wondering what country he is in right now.
Recently, he and other activists trying to hand out pamphlets published by the Fully Informed Jury Association were confronted by U.S. marshals in Manhattan. Attempting to record the encounter, Donnelly found himself being pushed to the pavement by the marshals. Then arrested. He is accused of “assaulting a federal marshal.” Another FIJA activist on the scene, Julian Heicklin, was also arrested.
In another recent case, documented by Reason magazine’s Radley Balko, a Maryland motorcyclist was arrested for videotaping an encounter during which a state trooper pulled a gun. Andy Gruber thought this out of bounds. So he posted the video, which he had captured with a camera tucked in his helmet, on the Internet. This resulted in a raid and arrest, and the possibility of imprisonment. Maryland police officers claim that it’s “illegal” to record anybody’s voice — ever — in Maryland, a willful misinterpretation of the state’s wiretapping laws.
Miscarriages of justice have often been rectified only when video comes to light exposing falsehoods in the official story. As inconvenient as it is for law enforcers to be held accountable for how they do their jobs, the alternative of letting them make up the rules as they go along and hide or destroy evidence of their conduct is grotesquely unreasonable and dangerous, and should be itself punishable by law.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
8 replies on “Videotape Police Abuse, Go to Jail?”
This is the “press” that they were talking about being free in Consitution, in order to prevent tyranny by the government.
Unless of course the Supreme Court has evolved the reinterpretation of that also.
“If there were no people buying stolen goods, there would be much less thieves praying on the innocent”
But it looks like most people think they can get away with it. Doing the right thing is not in style anymore. Can we help to sue the wrong doers?
Back when i was 14, a man, (mentally disturbed) went to a neighbor’s porch, rang the bell, and said “this si my house, I grew up here”. The woman, frieghtened, called the police, who ( the man was around 70; weighed per 110 pounds) manhandled him and smacked him around. I called the FBI-violating the man’s civil rights (and I am a right wing conservative, always was); police ended up getting suspended, WE had no polcie protection or help if we needed it- the man-he had grown up a block or two away- same design as my long ago neighbor’s home. No camera or photos (my mother was a teacher, my father knew someone somewhere- the reason any checking into it,a t all). Nothing new here. In my view, many police are bullies with a badge
I would like it if The The Fully Informed Jury Association would post all the information that happed to me while I was a juror. Ever wonder what is going on with our courts? How they seem to be able to ignore the Constitution with impunity?
Here’s one answer…
http://www.riseupforamerica.com/constitutionalcourts.html
Here’s why the courts ignore Citizens.…
This has been provided by “Lil Stinker”… Thank you, it explains a lot.
http://www.riseupforamerica.com/constitutionalcourts.html
As long as the cops are kicking the crap out of some vicious hoodlums, I can live with a certain amount of police brutality.
If you mess with big guys with badges, pistols, shotguns, batons, smoke grenades, and Tasers, why shouldn’t you EXPECT a certain amount of crap being kicked out of you? Are you SPECIAL or something? Get outta town.
Cops, wait til they MESS with you! THEN beat the hell out of ’em! If there’s video, be sure to show ALL of it on TV, unlike the Rodney King affair. No, the lame-stream media is no stranger to censoring the news. Most Americans didn’t see “the rest of the story.” Rodney got PAID for getting doped up and driving around like he crazy or somethin’ in the middle of the night. He’s now largely remembered for the rhetorical question, “Why can’t we all just get along?” and going on to beat up all of his subsequent girl friends, but the cops would come… what a bummer… for the cops. Maybe he’s too old to beat up his squeeze these days? Who knows? Maybe one of ’em went from beotch to boss-lady? Sounds like a happy ending to me.
Yeah, I laughed at that part in “RoboCop” when R‑Cop raced past the old black gentleman on the corner who astutely observed, “He gawn kick SOMEBODY A$$!” And no, I didn’t feel sorry for the sexual assailant who took one in the jewels while holding his victim up as a shield. I may be the only one, but I don’t think so.
However, all too often, it is the weaker among us (our treatment of whom determines our basic decency as a society; a fairly good measure I think; Rodney King was not IN this group) who end up on the business end of such excess, eg, pamphleteers and those who record them on video, 70 year old guys with mental conditions?
Yeah, I read about other similar cases along these lines, so I use the plural.
Despite “victim-hood” becoming a growth industry in America, there are some victims who don’t show up in reality shows (although this might be a good idea for a reality show; beats the hell outta what’s out there now, eg, Desperate Babes with Hot Bods… why can’t these broads get laid?), although they do make the news now and again. If you live out in the country, it’s hard to go long without hearing somebody’s problems. Hopefully, it’s not a relative or a friend, so you can blow ’em off if you want to. I’ll help old folks empty a truckload of trash down at the dumpster even if they’re not relatives or friends. But these folks appreciate it and say, “Thank you.” Hold a door for a chick? The guy with her will try to walk out with her (neither of them saying the magic words), so ya have to let the door close on ’em. Get with the program, guys! Hold the door for the chick… not because she’s a lady, but because you’re a gentleman… or might at least entertain this notion. If you can’t even do that, eat glass, punk.
Capital punishment DOES work: execute a murderer, a *really guilty* rapist or pedophile (not a “morning after” rapist when the femme sobers up; after six or seven victims, if you get caught, you ought’a burn… although rope would be much more cost efficient and doesn’t require 15 minutes of torture like “Ol’ Sparky”; even these guys deserve to die with more dignity than their victims), and society is SAFE from that individual. Hate Speech? I don’t hate ’em: I just want ’em dead so they can’t mess with me or mine. Is that too much to ask? I’m sorry, but I don’t really have time to hate all the vicious thugs and deviants out there. It would require getting to know them better, ya know, and all that… while I have SO many better things to do. Perhaps home dental treatment using battery-powered tools… sharpening a butcher knife and performing surgery on my hand.…
Of course, vicious hoodlums put up a much better fight than the weak. But somebody’s gotta deal with these miscreants, so I can let some stuff slide. Just so it doesn’t slide down to the level of beating up old folks, children, and like that. And some of you guys can lighten up with those Tasers, bro. (Unless it’s a “peaceful” activist disrupting a conservative speaker. No, you’re not “speaking truth to power,” you’re creating a public nuisance. You have the right to your opinion; I have the right to ignore it. I don’t *think* you have the right to FORCE your opinion ‘pon me. You can stop reading right now, for that matter. Others have the right to ignore me, too. I can live with that. The prostate… now THAT’S a different story! If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of my prostate problem.)
And for gawd’s sake, don’t beat up illegals. Just relocate them to the other side of our border. And enforce the damn’ thing!
(“Plug the damn’ hole!” Uh-oh, ObamaCop is gawn kick SOMEBODY A$$! Was it Spike Lee who’s disappointed that Obama won’t open up a can o’ Supah-fly on that bad ol’ BP, duh evil mo-fo’s? Bill “I Used to Be Funny; Really! I Did!” Maher is so pathetic compared to Spike Lee. Like Goldman Sachs, Big Oil gave Obama nearly a million in campaign contributions, $900k+. When money talks, Obama listens… and the taxpayers bring up the rear.. and take it in roughly the same place! Meanwhile, the usual suspects will get the usual strong statements of disapproval, maybe a huge fine — that is virtually meaningless in the context of multi-national companies; perhaps 5 minutes or an hour, if that, of the yearly gross? no, that’s NOT a BFD! — then the game starts all over again; Gentlemen… Open your checkbooks! And they’re off! Or “loose,” as the case may be. How low can you go? When some illiterate calls you a “looser.” Some people are beyond even the help of spell check. The real idiots get stuck on “alot”… then finally figure out the solution: add it to the spell check dictionary. Ah, that’ll work!)
Meanwhile, back at the border (or as Johnny Carson would say, “HO! kay…”):
The Constitution requires this enforcement of our borders (Article 4, Section 4): “The United States shall… protect [“them”: “every State in this Union”] from Invasion.” “Invasion” is like people illegally crossing our borders by the millions… then demanding payment for doing so! And the question IS (ho-kay, it’s Jeopardy now): “How can you say, ‘Screw you’ and ‘Help me’ at the same time?” Or kidnapping you, if you live in Phoenix, AZ, runner-up for the world championship in Kidnapping, while Mexico City pulled out yet another win for the title. I don’t know who’s in charge down there, but maybe the head honcho can come up HERE and tell us how to run things. Wouldn’t that be a good idea? Nah… they’re worse than WE are! (Imagine: Blame America Second; what a concept!)
I don’t believe most Americans really want to be Mexico’s retirement plan. We can’t afford our OWN elderly! (Uh, late-breaking news: they pushed up Social Security’s insolvency from 2017 to 2010. Not quite the same thing as going to the moon in THAT decade, huh?)
Gosh, the left tries so hard to distinguish between “illegal” and “criminal.” If they hadn’t committed a crime in coming here in an unlawful fashion, why would we call them “illegals”?
Or “undocumented migrants.” (Just another way of saying “illegals.”)
That is SO “sanitation engineer.”
Legal immigrants? No problemo. De nada.
Oh, and a shout-out to Wall Street! Rot in hell, you greedpigs! Stop manipulating the market by shorting silver (among other devious deeds… and yes, JP Morgan Chase, we know what you’re up to… or down to, as the case may be: HUGE short position in silver), so investors can turn a decent profit… in a few years… maybe. (Hey, if you’re essentially selling silver, you WOULD want a nice return, huh? Remember: you’re getting paid in monopoly money! Hmm… silver or monopoly money? Gimme a hint!)
Hold on to any pre-65 silver coins you may have. You wouldn’t want to be flaunting an oz of gold post-apocalypse, but an OLD dime? .071 oz of silver. Maybe an old dime will buy you the ingredients of a PB&J sandwich in the mid- to long-term. As others have noted, bullets look to be a great investment. Wait until people start running out of their supplies… and the price of that box of .357 shells or shotgun shells triples… and you’re still trading it for monopoly money. Unless you’re dealing with someone who has a whole bunch of pre-’65 dimes. Maybe a Lady Liberty Walking silver dollar? (’64 or before; ’65 doesn’t jive!)
Then it might be literally true to tell some hoodlum, “You’re not worth the bullet.” So… ya just have to stab the SOB. Better: a machete and a scissor-sharpener (As Advertised on TV). Forget sharpening lawnmower blades or axes (won’t do ‘er, no matter what they say on TV), but a butcher/pocket knife or a machete? You can get an edge you could shave with! Run the thumb ACROSS the blade, not DOWN it. (See “hand surgery,” above)
If there’s anyone I haven’t offended, just leave a message.
God bless. (Even the illegals. The vicious hoodlums? Come to Jesus. Yes, YOU got to walk that lonesome valley… all by yourself. Indeed.)
What?
Barracks Obama: “I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they, potentially, have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick.”
humble vox: ”Plug the damn’ hole!” Uh-oh, ObamaCop is gawn kick SOMEBODY A$$! Was it Spike Lee who’s disappointed that Obama won’t open up a can o’ Supah-fly on that bad ol’ BP, duh evil mo-fo’s?
Okay, so now duh prez just needs to talk to the right local color (as opposed to industry experts) to identify the person (somebody) attached to the focus of Obama’s foot (gawn kick SOMEBODY A$$).
Further questions? (There will be a small charge for subsequent questions.)
;>)