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CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

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Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#261

Why are the us cops such raging douche nozzles? After every interaction I've had with a cop in the us, I left hoping they get shot soon. I've never seen cops in other countries be like this.

Come on Adam, can you please not post like this here? It's obviously against https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14184277 and marked it off-topic.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#262
post #260
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. But just because education is the best defense doesn't mean it should be the only defense. Guns are literally the very last resort to prevent tyranny after all other safeguards have failed.

They come with a ton of downsides... I'm European, I don't think that the benefits outweigh the downsides. If my country is at the point where there's enough popular support for a tyrannical government to take root, things are already lost. In 1989 in Romania not even our generals had the guts to shoot our own citizens, despite being drilled for it during 40 years of very oppressive Communist dictatorships. Why? Beca…

Guns come with downsides, true. But so do a lot of freedoms. Alcohol? Do the benefits of alcohol outweigh the downsides? I would argue alcohol has an even worse impact on society than guns. Of course you'll say "yes, but regulating alcohol is impossible, at least regulating guns is feasible". Yet, we can sleep at night knowing our favorite vice kills tens of thousands every year in the US alone (not to mention the mental health issues and child abuse that stems from it...).

Education is effective. If education is an effective tool to combat alcohol abuse, it can be an effective tool to combat gun abuse as well.

Europe should want guns even more than America. It wasn't that long ago that Germany was blitzkrieging across borders and the citizens were defenseless. It would have never worked in America because as soon as the Germans drove over the border, millions of American civilians (not soldiers) would be pulling out their family rifles and gunning down the German soldiers from every side.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And why shouldn't they? This is a leading question, which is to say it's not a question that can be answered in a rational way. If one desires removal of choice in the conversation, they may answer it irrationally. > Look at the case of the murder of Laquan McDonald in Chicago. The use of a separate case of an individual having choice removed, or individuals in a group removing choice for an individual, applied to…

If these people didn't antagonize and harass the police, they'd rarely obtain any interesting footage. That says a lot. These people have an agenda. They need to show the police in the worst light possible, and they don't have time to sit around waiting for news to happen. They have to make the news.

It was not Chris antagonizing the police. The police observed the filming, pre-identified Chris and Ian Freeman as being press, and then preceded to interact once they identified an act which could be used as an excuse to interfere with recording. At one point they are told they have to cross at a crosswalk. This is not a legal order. It was at most a request and it also contravenes the law in New Hampshire. One is free to cross the street outside of a crosswalk provided it is safe to do and one looks both ways. Another officer then makes up yet another excuse which makes no sense threating to summons Chris for a motor vehicle violation. There were no motor vehicles nearby. Do you know why he was arrested for disorderly conduct rather than crossing the street illegally or a motor vehicle violation? It was because there was no law being broken and the disorderly conduct charge is a seemingly all encompassing law routinely used to target protesters, activists, and the media. The reality is though Chris was not violating the disorderly conduct law as it is written either.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The news article was wrong, it wasn't a machine gun. It was a semi-automatic rifle, hardly different than the rifle that Anders Breivik used to kill scores of people in Norway. An example of actual machine guns used would be the rifles used by French citizens to kill over a hundred people in the Bataclan theater (AKMs). They also used hand grenades and high explosive (TATP) suicide belts. In the Charlie Hebdo attacks…

If you search for Ben Ledford's arrest record in Sacramento County's inmate records database ( http://www.sacsheriff.com/inmate_information/SearchNames.asp... ), one of the items he is charged under indeed is PC 32625(A) -- possession of a machine gun. So, not sure if the news article is necessarily wrong. Clearly there is some prosecutor out there who believes that what Ben Ledford possessed qualified as the definit…

Huh I stand corrected. I've seen ATF agents[1], FBI agents [2], as well as US district attorneys[3] incorrectly refer to semi-automatic AR-15s as "assault rifles" (which in actual fact are subclasses of machineguns), but since they charged him with that I assume it really must be a machinegun then.

But now I'm really curious to know more specific details about this firearm. Particularly if it was a legally transferable machinegun (legal federally, obviously not in California), or if it was an illegally modified semi-automatic (probably most likely) or a black market gun.

[1]: http://ktla.com/2015/12/02/mas-shooting-suspects-had-assault...

[2]: http://documents.latimes.com/lax-shooting-cell-phone-search-...

[3]: https://www.scribd.com/document/293561681/Enrique-Marquez-ch...

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why shouldn't they? Police departments and city officials across the US routinely lie, obsfucate and remove any sense of accountability for police officers who commit crimes or make mistakes. Look at the case of the murder of Laquan McDonald in Chicago. The lying and stonewalling is a common occurrence. It's not just a few bad apples, it's a bad system that promotes escalation and grants power without accountabil…

> And why shouldn't they? This is a leading question, which is to say it's not a question that can be answered in a rational way. If one desires removal of choice in the conversation, they may answer it irrationally. > Look at the case of the murder of Laquan McDonald in Chicago. The use of a separate case of an individual having choice removed, or individuals in a group removing choice for an individual, applied to…

Great post. If only such logical formalities were applied to law enforcement and the courts, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Cops routinely exceed their authority and misrepresent the law. I can only provide you hundreds of examples and case studies to substantiate that this group of people routinely act irrationally. Or as I would say, illegally.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the "fool" is obviously in the wrong, it's in the officers' best interests not to escalate the situation, or let their egos get involved, and subsequently shoot themselves in the foot. Much better to deal with it as calmly and professionally as possible. The worst thing you can do around a heckler is react. ;)

Go watch the first couple videos in the YouTube playlist in this blog post. The cop is calm and professional, despite the antagonizing behavior of the "CopChasers".

[deleted]

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It improves policing because now police know that they will always be watched. And any excessive force or mistake that they engage in will be trending on YouTube in under an hour. So you better be damn careful.

> And any excessive force or mistake that they engage in will be trending on YouTube in under an hour. So you better be damn careful. And what's the best outcome, huh? They get out on temporary administrative leave? Ha. Go ahead and record the police. They don't care. We on HN don't care. And you won't care after a week.

So people should just do nothing in the face of police brutality and misconduct? Bringing awareness to issues like this takes time. United's problems have spearheaded a ton of attention to the US airline problem because people recorded incidents. We could finally see much needed airline reform like removing the foreign investment restrictions on airlines and more antitrust activity.

Anything worth fixing or building takes a tremendous amount of focus and time. This comment makes me sad, as it mirrors general millennial sentiments on civic engagement.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#268
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In real life, there is only "do not shoot the firearm" and "shoot the firearm with the intent to kill". There is no practical aiming to disable or similar with a lethal firearm. There's no difference between the two, and no distinction to be drawn.

Not at all. In civilized countries, police are specifically trained to stop, not to kill. Sometimes one may imply the other, but not necessarily.

I'm 100% certain that you're absolutely right. Yet, I'm not aware of any way to use a lethal firearm in a capacity to stop in a way that is in some important and practical manner distinct from stopping a person lethally. I'm sure this is just a failure on my part to comprehend your point. Can you clarify, to help me with my personal failures? Perhaps you could detail what you mean about how police are trained in civilized countries?

Perhaps what you meant to communicate is that weapons other than inherently lethal firearms should be deployed?

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you search for Ben Ledford's arrest record in Sacramento County's inmate records database ( http://www.sacsheriff.com/inmate_information/SearchNames.asp... ), one of the items he is charged under indeed is PC 32625(A) -- possession of a machine gun. So, not sure if the news article is necessarily wrong. Clearly there is some prosecutor out there who believes that what Ben Ledford possessed qualified as the definit…

Huh I stand corrected. I've seen ATF agents[1], FBI agents [2], as well as US district attorneys[3] incorrectly refer to semi-automatic AR-15s as "assault rifles" (which in actual fact are subclasses of machineguns), but since they charged him with that I assume it really must be a machinegun then. But now I'm really curious to know more specific details about this firearm. Particularly if it was a legally transferab…

It was actually a Glock hooked up to one of these http://www.sidehustlenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/o...

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is following police unsafe for everyone involved?

Honest question: Are you serious? I can think of a number if situations in a number of jobs I have had were people following me around could have been dangerous (farm hand, concrete work etc).

I didn't ask how following around a concrete worker could be dangerous.
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