Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

salon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 428 posts

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#281

Post by VladRussian2 »

ajtaylor wrote: post #266
Ovid wrote: post #23

Is this really the America that America wants? The article mentions one case where a judge refused to issue a search warrant for a narcotics investigation and instead the police brought representatives from the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and raided the place with a swat team to conduct an alcohol inspection. What did they find? Two sample bottles of beer that weren't labeled as samples and a bo…

It's not the America I grew up in, nor the one I want to live in. So I left and have no plans to go back anytime soon. The land of the free isn't so free anymore, which makes me incredibly sad. And my parents live in VA!

well, the America has definitely changed during last decade+. Yet, still it is somewhat surprising that there is a place you found you think is more free.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#282

Post by threeseed »

sneak wrote: post #241
ryanSrich wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cops have no legal obligation to protect you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

No, but they do have a legal obligation to not shoot me for no reason, or to not lie on the stand under oath, et c.

So does everyone.

But guess what cops are human too ergo they will on occasion make mistakes, lie, steal, cheat etc.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#283

Post by ori_b »

threeseed wrote: post #282
sneak wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but they do have a legal obligation to not shoot me for no reason, or to not lie on the stand under oath, et c.

So does everyone. But guess what cops are human too ergo they will on occasion make mistakes, lie, steal, cheat etc.

And when they lie, steal, and cheat, they should be punished. In fact, they should be punished much more harshly than the general public, because it is their duty to prevent lying, stealing, and cheating. They should be held to a higher standard.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#284

Post by etherael »

solistice wrote: post #131
etherael wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This argument is spectacularly stupid because based on the rise of exactly these kinds of incidents, you could justify the production and distribution of automated turrets to negate the use of current SWAT tactics. You can't just stop at the perceived consequences of your supposed equilibrium point, you have to follow it all the way to the logical conclusion. If this keeps up and/or accelerates, it's only a matter of…

They are allready out there. http://projectsentrygun.rudolphlabs.com/ http://realsentrygun.com/ http://paintballsentry.com/Videos.htm also, with OpenCV, cheap hobby servos, webcams and 35$ Raspis, and 40$ AKs, the parts are pretty easy to come by.

Well, fuck.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#286

Post by shef_hauwanga »

ori_b wrote: post #283
threeseed wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does everyone. But guess what cops are human too ergo they will on occasion make mistakes, lie, steal, cheat etc.

And when they lie, steal, and cheat, they should be punished. In fact, they should be punished much more harshly than the general public, because it is their duty to prevent lying, stealing, and cheating. They should be held to a higher standard.

This cannot be stressed enough. Anyone who enforces a rule through violence but is not subject to that rule is nothing more than a thug.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#287

Post by Spooky23 »

End of the day, swat teams exist because the guys on the department like cool toys, and the Feds pay for them via grant programs.

My local police department has a "command center" rv and telescopic lookout post that the Feds paid like $3M for. The machine guns are usually bought with seized drug money, and tactical training paid for try the Feds. Most cities don't need paramilitary squads, so they end up using them for stupid stuff because they get to have fun, or they get extra overtime for a detail.

Fire departments are similar. A local volunteer fire department near me got a $1M state grant for some insane fire truck with all sorts of gizmos and an aerial platform that can reach 5 stories up -- in a town with no buildings higher than 2 stories and about 70 total calls per year. (I think they had to call in another department for a fire because the thing is so big that it cannot make it down roads) Total waste of taxpayer resources, but at least the firemen won't kill you!

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#288

Post by AnthonyMouse »

coldtea wrote: post #179
tolmasky wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is precisely it: its not economically beneficial to be involved in politics, unless you basically make it your absolute sole concern. That is to say, there are clear benefits to becoming a politician, or a lobbyist, or interest group. However, just becoming "informed" generally has a lot of negatives (depression), with no real positives (as you said, its not like you can do much about it other than complain). So…

> This is precisely it: its not economically beneficial to be involved in politics That was the case at other times and places too. And their solution to that, was to shame citizens that only cared for what's economically beneficial. The solution is to make active participation in politics (= active citizenship) a virtue that people want to be identified with in the same way being "in fashion", "in shape" or "rich" i…

A huge, enormous part of this is having a vigilant press. It's impossible for everyone to individually do investigative reporting on every relevant issue. You may be able to shame people into reading good investigative reporting but first somebody has to write it. That is really where we've failed today: People get their news from outlets that run stories about Obama's birth certificate and what color Phil Zimmerman's lawyer's tie is and what a shame it is that the cops have dirty shotguns (never mind that the dirt is the blood of innocent civilians' innocent puppies) so now we had better give them a trillion more dollars for additional military surplus equipment or the terrorists will win.

Job One should really be to solve the problem that the most popular news network is also the most factually inaccurate.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#289

Post by AnthonyMouse »

>Since Seattle, this had become the template. At the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, police conducted peremptory raids on the homes of protesters before the convention had even started. Police broke into the homes of people known to be activist rabble-rousers before they had any evidence of any actual crime. Journalists who inquired about the legitimacy of the raids and arrests made during the convention were also arrested. In all, 672 people were put in handcuffs.

And people question why the government collecting intelligence on innocent civilians is a problem.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#290

Post by triplesec »

phaus wrote: post #269
sneak wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's shit like this that flies in the face of all those "but most cops are not bad guys" arguments. If an organization fights to protect bad guys, I don't care how much good they do: they are complicit in furthering criminal behavior. And they're in a position of trust, at that! It's an open secret that cops lie to protect other cops. Why do we allow this? Any other person in a special position of trust and responsib…

>Any other person in a special position of trust and responsibility that contravenes their duty gets _extra_punishment. I completely agree, whenever politicians, CEOs of megacorporations, field-grade military officers and senior noncommissioned officers, local government officials, district attorneys, and intelligence agents break the law, the punishment is ALWAYS extremely severe isn't it? I mean, it must really suc…

don't forget bankers, whose punishment is a multi-Billion dollar gift from the treasury
Post reply on HN