U.S. Rethinks Giving Excess Military Gear to Police


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Liberty's Edge

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The floor is yours.


LazarX wrote:
It's extremely easy.

Sigh... I think I should get a cup of tea before tackling this.

LazarX wrote:
In fact, all you need do is go to a gun show, buy a gun you claim for yourself, and you can go to a parking lot and give it or sell it privately to whomever you bloody well please.

That is called straw purchasing. It's illegal.

The question is, how are you going to stop someone from selling his property to an interested buyer?

LazarX wrote:
No background check of any kind required.

Depends.

If you go to a gun show and buy a gun from a FFL (Federal Firearms Licensee) you have to pass a background check. If you're buying from a regular person who has set up a booth to sell his handgun collection, no background check required. See above.


Quirel wrote:
LazarX wrote:
It's extremely easy.

Sigh... I think I should get a cup of tea before tackling this.

LazarX wrote:
In fact, all you need do is go to a gun show, buy a gun you claim for yourself, and you can go to a parking lot and give it or sell it privately to whomever you bloody well please.

That is called straw purchasing. It's illegal.

The question is, how are you going to stop someone from selling his property to an interested buyer?

LazarX wrote:
No background check of any kind required.

Depends.

If you go to a gun show and buy a gun from a FFL (Federal Firearms Licensee) you have to pass a background check. If you're buying from a regular person who has set up a booth to sell his handgun collection, no background check required. See above.

It's only a straw purchase if that was the plan all along. How long do I have to hold on to the gun for it to be legal to sell it to someone else?

How? Registration and require background checks. Require private sales to be registered. You know, like we do with cars. If you haven't registered the sale, you still own it and are responsible for it. It's not that hard, in theory. Politically is another matter.


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Kirth Gersen wrote:
I suspect that hd might be able to better address this, though.
houstonderek wrote:
I love watching people who know nothing talking about drug trafficking and drug dealers. ;-)

My invocation worked! I must have successfully added derek summoning IV to my list of spells known.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Quirel wrote:
That is called straw purchasing. It's illegal.

Technically you're absolutely right. However, thanks to the NRA, it's a crime that's virtually unprosecuted, and then only after the weapon has been implicated in a crime.


houstonderek wrote:
I love watching people who know nothing talking about drug trafficking and drug dealers. ;-)

Are you producer, importer or retailer?

It would be great to have the point of view of someone from inside, so tell us...

Liberty's Edge

Angstspawn wrote:
houstonderek wrote:
I love watching people who know nothing talking about drug trafficking and drug dealers. ;-)

Are you producer, importer or retailer?

It would be great to have the point of view of someone from inside, so tell us...

All of the above at various times. :-)

Liberty's Edge

Is there anything far enough in the past or already prosecuted you could discuss to educate those who were pontificating earlier?

Liberty's Edge

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Kirth Gersen wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:
Angst Spawn wrote:
A low level pot dealer doesn't need a gun if caught he risks only to waste between one and three hours in police station and, if really unlucky, to be confronted to a judge telling him not to do it again (even if already caught a dozen time). Police considers he's no one, drug dealers also consider he's no one, so he's risking nothing. Having a gun can only bring him troubles.

Its not the cops he needs to worry about, its some other people like to point a gun at him and take his stuff. He's probably got more cash on him than you'll get from a supermarket and is far less likely to report it to the police.

I'm no expert, but I'd guess that (a) if he's an independent schlub, he's dealing to local college kids and doesn't need to worry too much anyway, and (b) if he's part of a larger network, when someone ripped him off he'd simply make a phone call up the food chain, and the ripoff guy would be 'disappeared'. So, yeah, in either case I wouldn't carry, if I were selling, and if I were running an organization I'd keep the enforcement team as separate people from the sales team.

I suspect that hd might be able to better address this, though.

Yeah, I had a collection guy that didn't have anything else to do with anything. I was involved with the cartels for about seven or eight years before I went to prison, and never felt the need to carry a gun. Never even owned one, and I was moving and selling pretty serious amounts of product.

Most violence in the drug game is directly related to prohibition. The guy that got robbed? He was robbed mostly because he can't call the cops. If he is connected to something larger, be it a gang or a cartel, they'll take up the "law enforcement" role and handle the problem.

I think people think violence is a huge problem in the drug game because they do not really understand how HUGE the market is in the country. Violence is a small part of the drug universe, and legalization in Colorado has had a calming effect, at least in the pot game. Also, most drug users are white, aren't poor, and have "safe" connections. Hippies and ravers aren't gun types, and they're responsible for a mostly chill MDMA, pot, LSD, mushroom trade. It's mostly people involved in gangs in poor areas and organized crime types moving cocaine, meth and heroin (it's making a comeback, kids!) that are violent. The cartels and mob for their reasons, and gangs mostly because they're poor, nihilistic, fatalistic, and stuck.

The smarter drug dealers also know that possession of a weapon has serious consequences if they're caught. In the Feds, for instance, you're almost guaranteed five to ten years on top of the underlying drug charge, and all kinds of restrictions on programming and prison security level (possession of a weapon, even if it's in your house and you're busted ten miles away, makes a drug possession charge a "crime of violence). And, most non-violent drug offenders go to low security or minimum security facilities, which are cupcake farms compared to the mediums and the U.S. Penitentiaries (USP). The USPs are where the really wicked and vile Fed inmates go, and it's everything you think about when you think about prison. Lows and camps are more boring and annoying than dangerous.

The same goes for most state joints too. The admins do not mix violent and non-violent offenders if they can help it.

What really got the ball rolling (after L.A. invented S.W.A.T. in the wake of the riots) were the drug wars in Miami. The mentality of law enforcement went from "pot dealers and junk dealers are [hippies/jive moos/whatever]" to be slapped around a bit for selling "crap to kids" to "sub machine gun wielding psychopath who will never go easy". When, in reality, most dealers didn't change. Gang violence? That will exist whether dope is legal or not. That problems is a whole other can of worms where a whole bunch of people need to back away and look at themselves and come correct. On both sides. Drugs are just an easy scapegoat, and the open season on black youth is easier than actually fixing the many, many issues poverty, crappy education, a treadmill "welfare" system that does nothing to elevate anyone, etc, cause for the people living in our worst areas.

But, yeah, most people selling drugs only have to worry about getting busted. Most never get robbed, need a gun, or any of that.


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*notes names and IP addresses*

Carry on. Nothing to see here.


thejeff wrote:
The 8th Dwarf wrote:

Turkey & South Korea are not mature democracies.... They have a thin veneer... underneath is the Military in Turkey and Industry/Military in South Korea.

France - is reaping the fruits of its colonial past.

Yeah, but you could make similar arguments about the US.

"The US is reaping the fruits of slavery."

Sorry, but you can't just make claims like that. And to be honest this has nothing to do with the maturity of the government. It has to do with the way the government normally acts. Neither Turkey or South Korea are totalitarian states, nor are they run by military juntas or regularly have acts of barbarity by the government. I did leave off quite a few countries that do have that sort of a recent past.

Besides this has nothing to do with the causes, you wanted samples of the ways other countries are worse, not reasons why they are. You should see the videos and actions from Ireland, (the police seem to have great restraint, but are quite scary) armored vehicles door to door blocking entire streets, fully armored officers marching in a shield wall, supported by water cannon.


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I do think that the increase in violent responses to protests is the result of the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor (to put it simply), and the growing number of people threatened by poverty, who were formerly (lower) middle class. In some areas, protesters are violently oppressed routinely anyways, mostly in non-democratic countries. But I think we see this rising in (supposedly) democratic countries, which are turning into oligarchies or post-democracies. I don´t see that only in eastern Europe, where democracy was not that stable since 1990 anyways, but also in the seemingly stable western democracies. It seems that the government and the police forces turn towards protecting privileges of the rich instead of protecting the poor and underprivileged from being exploited, in a reversal of what democracies and constitutional governments were meant to achieve. The powerful and privileged don´t need laws to protect them, the poor need them (or at least need them much more). Combine that with the global surveillance of our communication, and you have anything but a law-abiding democracy based on the "universal" human rights.


Vod, if you know what happened over the last 50 years in Turkey, South Korea and Ireland, then you'll understand you can't compare it with the US. These countries are all democracies now, but the people in charge, the policemen, have a history of their own and you don't just erase it in 20 years or so.

I saw a graphic showing that over the last 10 years law enforcement officers in Germany killed less people than the US LEO did since the beginning of 2014...

Anti-riots police forces are quite scary because their equipment is made for them to endure the rage of rioters. Do you have police units specially dedicated to handle urban riots in the US?


Ireland in particular seems like an unfair comparison, considering their deeply divided political situation, armed resistance since several decades back, several large bombings, and so on. It was interesting to see Northern Ireland when I was there in 1992. The cities were much like cities elsewhere, but the inland and smaller towns showed the conflict clearly, with british soldiers on every main street in booths with automatic rifles, patrols in the countryside by heavily armed soldiers, and so on.


Vod - the Military in Turkey is the only reason the government is secular.

From Wiki -

The Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian of Kemalist ideology, the official state ideology, especially of the secular aspects of Kemalism. The TAF still maintains an important degree of influence over the decision making process regarding issues related to Turkish national security, albeit decreased in the past decades, via the National Security Council.

The military had a record of intervening in politics, removing elected governments four times in the past. Indeed, it assumed power for several periods in the latter half of the 20th century. It executed coups d'état in 1960 (27 May Coup), in 1971 (12 March Coup), and in 1980 (12 September Coup). Most recently, it maneuvered the removal of an Islamic-oriented prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan in 1997 (28 February Process).[44] The military executed the first democratically elected prime minister Adnan Menderes.[45]

On 27 April 2007, in advance of the 4 November 2007 presidential election, and in reaction to the politics of Abdullah Gül, who has a past record of involvement in Islamist political movements and banned Islamist parties such as the Welfare Party, the army issued a statement of its interests. It said that the army is a party to "arguments" regarding secularism; that Islamism ran counter to the secular nature of Turkey, and to the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Army's statement ended with a clear warning that the TAF stood ready to intervene if the secular nature of the Turkish Constitution is compromised, stating that "the Turkish Armed Forces maintain their sound determination to carry out their duties stemming from laws to protect the unchangeable characteristics of the Republic of Turkey. Their loyalty to this determination is absolute."[46]


South Korea

Major General Chun Doo-hwan Coup d'état on December Twelfth 1979.

Roh Tae-woo became president for the 13th presidential term in the first direct presidential election in 16 years. Although Roh was from a military background and one of the leaders of Chun's coup d'etat -1988.

Kim Young-sam was elected president in the 1992. He was the country's first civilian president in 30 years.

South Korean business is dominated by a collection of industrial groups whose corporate organization is unique to Korea. These industrial groups are known as chaebols. Richard M. Steers, Yoo Keun Shin, and Gerardo R. Ungson defined the Korean chaebol as "a financial clique consisting of varied corporate enterprises engaged in diverse businesses and typically owned and controlled by one or two interrelated family groups." Steers, Shin, and Ungson indicated that there are six main characteristics of the chaebol: (1) family control and management, (2) paternalistic leadership, (3) centralized planning and coordination, (4) an entrepreneurial orientation, (5) close business-government relations, and (6) strong school ties in hiring policies.

Currently there are roughly 50 chaebols in Korea of varying strength and size. Over 60 percent of South Korea's gross national product (GNP) comes from the largest five of these: Samsung, Hyundai, the LG Group (formally the Lucky-Goldstar Group), Daewoo, and Sunkyong.

Chaebols consist of numerous companies tied together by internal affiliations, shared boards, and family connections. This federation of interrelated companies is often difficult to understand in the Americas and Europe since no counterparts exist in those regions.


Stebehil wrote:
I do think that the increase in violent responses to protests is the result of the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor (to put it simply), and the growing number of people threatened by poverty, who were formerly (lower) middle class. In some areas, protesters are violently oppressed routinely anyways, mostly in non-democratic countries. But I think we see this rising in (supposedly) democratic countries, which are turning into oligarchies or post-democracies. I don´t see that only in eastern Europe, where democracy was not that stable since 1990 anyways, but also in the seemingly stable western democracies. It seems that the government and the police forces turn towards protecting privileges of the rich instead of protecting the poor and underprivileged from being exploited, in a reversal of what democracies and constitutional governments were meant to achieve. The powerful and privileged don´t need laws to protect them, the poor need them (or at least need them much more). Combine that with the global surveillance of our communication, and you have anything but a law-abiding democracy based on the "universal" human rights.

This is absolutely 100% correct, except that that has been the point of the police force and state all along, though in recent years the neo-fascist and neo-feudal tendencies have escalated the whole thing notably.

I do think that we're in for a rough ride in the decades to come, and that we will see more and more countries go the ukrainian way; either they agree to turn the country into a feudalistic s#&&hole, or there's a us-supported neo-fascist coup installing a puppet regime. All in the name of "freedom".

Either way capitalism gets loads of cheap labor and crushed working class organization, and can hide behind either "nationalism" or neoliberalism's false promises and real threats.

Liberty's Edge

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Angstspawn wrote:

"you'll get 7 years or so"

Once again it's very difficult to explain why criminals are so different on each side of the Atlantic but there's a significant difference.

You answered your own question. In the U.S., high level drug dealers tend to get twenty, thirty, forty year, life. Stuff like that. And, compared to northern European "prisons" (ha), American prisons are brutal.

So, European drug trafficker is looking at cupcake time in a cupcake jail, plenty of furlough time, and not much of it at all, really.

American drug trafficker, if he has a gun, is looking at a LOT of time, possibly life (depending on the drug amount and the total charges) in a s!*+hole with a bunch of idiots trying to stab and/or rape him, crap food, and sadistic imbeciles holding the keys to the cell. Yeah, going to prison in Europe for most crimes is an inconvenience. In the U.S. it can be a nightmare.

Also, as far as I can tell, cops in Europe tend not to be total pricks. Cops here think they're the kings of the street, above the law, that they can talk to anyone any way they like, that people MUST respect their authority and them personally, and they are very quick to implement a beat down if you get even slightly sideways with them. You said your criminals know they won't get shot if they act right. American criminals do not have that luxury. Our cops are quick to pull a trigger, and we know it. They're also more or less immune from any legal consequences, a jury here would almost never convict a cop for an on duty shooting.

Gee, I wonder why criminals in America are different. :-)


Seeing as how american cops can get published saying "if you don't want to be shot, do everything I tell you to whether it's legal or not", yeah, there's quite a bit of difference.

Though while prison conditions in the US are really really horrible, calling european prisons an "inconvenience" is still far of an understatement. I know people with PTSD after months or a year and a half in prison here in Sweden, and my country is known to have better prison conditions than most even by european standards.

Not saying swedish prisons are comparable to the hellhole that is US prisons - here basic human rights are at least somewhat considered - but it's a bit like calling chinese sweatshops "not so bad" because concentration camps are worse.


The worst part of the swedish criminal care system is apparently the jails, with exceedingly long times without trial and rather frequent suicides. It is something the EU has criticized us for repeatedly.

Liberty's Edge

Dude, if someone has PTSD from going to a cupcake Swede prison, they were probably emotionally damaged anyway.


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houstonderek wrote:
Angstspawn wrote:

"you'll get 7 years or so"

Once again it's very difficult to explain why criminals are so different on each side of the Atlantic but there's a significant difference.

You answered your own question. In the U.S., high level drug dealers tend to get twenty, thirty, forty year, life. Stuff like that. And, compared to northern European "prisons" (ha), American prisons are brutal.

So, European drug trafficker is looking at cupcake time in a cupcake jail, plenty of furlough time, and not much of it at all, really.

American drug trafficker, if he has a gun, is looking at a LOT of time, possibly life (depending on the drug amount and the total charges) in a s@&!hole with a bunch of idiots trying to stab and/or rape him, crap food, and sadistic imbeciles holding the keys to the cell. Yeah, going to prison in Europe for most crimes is an inconvenience. In the U.S. it can be a nightmare.

Also, as far as I can tell, cops in Europe tend not to be total pricks. Cops here think they're the kings of the street, above the law, that they can talk to anyone any way they like, that people MUST respect their authority and them personally, and they are very quick to implement a beat down if you get even slightly sideways with them. You said your criminals know they won't get shot if they act right. American criminals do not have that luxury. Our cops are quick to pull a trigger, and we know it. They're also more or less immune from any legal consequences, a jury here would almost never convict a cop for an on duty shooting.

Gee, I wonder why criminals in America are different. :-)

Obviously we need to crack down harder and give the police more authority to deal with these more dangerous criminals.


houstonderek wrote:
Dude, if someone has PTSD from going to a cupcake Swede prison, they were probably emotionally damaged anyway.

Why would that even be relevant? It's not like there aren't correlations between class, lawbreaking and mental unhealth to begin with. Not everyone is some hardened macho criminal. Even if you have issues with mental health you don't get PTSD from an "inconvenience".

Just because you live in a completely s**$ty country doesn't mean other things are "cupcakes".

Sissyl wrote:
The worst part of the swedish criminal care system is apparently the jails, with exceedingly long times without trial and rather frequent suicides. It is something the EU has criticized us for repeatedly.

Yes, this is true. Not only that, but it's also common with various forms of degrading psychological torture, especially against LGBTQ people, women, and those jailed in left-wing political actions.

And of course, much like in the US the cops can do nearly whatever they want without getting arrested for it. It's not as bad as in the US, but the problems exist here too. Heck, even the police chief who was tried and found guilty of multiple cases of aggravated rape, rape, assault, and pimping was only in for _four years_.


houstonderek wrote:
Angstspawn wrote:

"you'll get 7 years or so"

Once again it's very difficult to explain why criminals are so different on each side of the Atlantic but there's a significant difference.

You answered your own question. In the U.S., high level drug dealers tend to get twenty, thirty, forty year, life. Stuff like that. And, compared to northern European "prisons" (ha), American prisons are brutal.

So, European drug trafficker is looking at cupcake time in a cupcake jail, plenty of furlough time, and not much of it at all, really.

American drug trafficker, if he has a gun, is looking at a LOT of time, possibly life (depending on the drug amount and the total charges) in a s&@%hole with a bunch of idiots trying to stab and/or rape him, crap food, and sadistic imbeciles holding the keys to the cell. Yeah, going to prison in Europe for most crimes is an inconvenience. In the U.S. it can be a nightmare.

Also, as far as I can tell, cops in Europe tend not to be total pricks. Cops here think they're the kings of the street, above the law, that they can talk to anyone any way they like, that people MUST respect their authority and them personally, and they are very quick to implement a beat down if you get even slightly sideways with them. You said your criminals know they won't get shot if they act right. American criminals do nweot have that luxury. Our cops are quick to pull a trigger, and we know it. They're also more or less immune from any legal consequences, a jury here would almost never convict a cop for an on duty shooting.

Gee, I wonder why criminals in America are different. :-)

well said.


houstonderek wrote:
Dude, if someone has PTSD from going to a cupcake Swede prison, they were probably emotionally damaged anyway.

European prisons are very "swingy" with things getting worse the closer you get to Russia. Or so I have heard.


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houstonderek wrote:

So, European drug trafficker is looking at cupcake time in a cupcake jail, plenty of furlough time, and not much of it at all, really.

[...]
Gee, I wonder why criminals in America are different. :-)

I don't know if European prisons are "cupcake", I never went to any of them but it seems to me Europeans criminals still prefer to be free...

What I see is that European system is just working better. Why so much arrogance? Simply because while a killer is executed or sentenced to life in prison in the US, the American society is still producing more murderers than European society.

Texas (pop. 25 millions) has capital punishment and around 1,200 murders in 2010; France (pop. 65 millions) with no capital punishment and longest possible prison sentence of 30 years had around 660 murders in 2012.
Now, the question is: is it possible to execute a criminal more than once or to revive people to be sentenced longer than lifetime? If not, maybe Texas should think about "cupcake jails" as it could drop the number of murders under 300...

In Europe whatever your crime you can keep hope of a better future, you still have a chance to come out and to find a sense for your life.

Why criminals in America are different?
Maybe European justice keeps criminals alive but kills criminal intent while the US justice kills criminals but keeps criminal intent alive.


The biggest reason, I think, for the differences in crime rates between europe and the US is that in Europe we generally have much better social safety nets and much smaller economic inequality. Both because there's less need for economic crimes and because people get treatment for say mental unhealth do a larger degree. Also, larger economic inequality* leads to increased alienation and isolation which also increases crime rate.

(*note that this is a question of economic inequality, not economic standard)

A very easy way to see that this is the case is because of this:

Freehold DM wrote:
houstonderek wrote:
Dude, if someone has PTSD from going to a cupcake Swede prison, they were probably emotionally damaged anyway.
European prisons are very "swingy" with things getting worse the closer you get to Russia. Or so I have heard.

While this is true to some degree, it isn't just "the closer you get to russia". My country is very close to russia (I think at the shortest distance it's about two hours drive through Finland) yet we are hailed as one of the best examples, and we also for a long time had amongst the lowest criminal relapse rates.

Basically, the scandinavian countries are the least bad, down towards germany are also kinda okay, but the mediterrainian area have gotten really bad, and the UK is pretty bad too. I don't know that much about the situation in france, but from what little I've heard it's far worse than Sweden.


The problem of criminal relapse rates is that it depends on the crime. Are you speaking about theft, rapes, drugs or murder?

It seems the murder rate is 30% higher in France than in Sweden and the number of prisoners 50% higher, all proportionately for sure. It's not such a big difference as France is 6,5 times more populated than Sweden with an additional 80 millions tourists every year.
Still the murder rate is almost 4 times lower than what it is in the US.


Europe is not a monolithic entity and while some Western European countries have reasonably humane systems - would you choose a Russian, Ukrainian or an Albainian prison over an American one.


The 8th Dwarf wrote:
Europe is not a monolithic entity and while some Western European countries have reasonably humane systems - would you choose a Russian, Ukrainian or an Albainian prison over an American one.

Do I get to pick what State in America?

Liberty's Edge

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Fergie,

If you're planning on committing a crime, pick an Arizona area that isn't Mariposa County. Tent City sucks, but the Arizona State prisons are fairly laid back. New Mexico isn't that bad, either.

If you're a non-violent drug offender, Texas isn't that bad. If you're a violent offender or a child molester, the prisons you're sent to are pretty scary.

Avoid breaking the law in California. Their prisons make Texas look enlightened.

Ditto Florida. Ugh.

Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, also bad places to go to prison.

But, if you're serious about a life of crime, go to Canada if you're broke, Mexico if you have money. Canadian jails and prisons are more "Northern European" style in set up and philosophy, and Mexican jails are FUN if you have bribe money (I know the last one from experience).

:-)


houstonderek wrote:
Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, also bad places to go to prison.

"Attica! Attica!"

Spoiler:
Also, I started junior high school within a couple miles of Bedford Hills Correctional Center -- only state max prison for women, and the largest women's prison in NY. That was quite a bit before Amy Fisher and Pamela Smart were there, though, so no brushes with those pop-culture celebrities!

EDIT: If Citizen Anklebiter is reading this, the women involved in the 1981 Brinks robbery-turned-bloodbath committed by the May 19 Communist Organization (Black Liberation Army/Weather Underground joint venture) were held there at the time.


A Former Marine Explains All the Weapons of War Being Used by Police in Ferguson:

http://www.thenation.com/article/181315/catalog-ferguson-police-weaponry

If even veteran soldiers think that it is over the top...


Kirth Gersen wrote:
houstonderek wrote:
Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, also bad places to go to prison.

"Attica! Attica!"

** spoiler omitted **

Huh. I didn't realize they moved Pam Smart out of state.


Don Juan de Doodlebug wrote:
Huh. I didn't realize they moved Pam Smart out of state.
Wikipedia wrote:
Smart is incarcerated at the maximum-security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, Westchester County, New York, where she is serving a life sentence. Smart was transferred there from the New Hampshire State Prison for Women in Goffstown, New Hampshire in 1993 after state officials stated that New Hampshire did not have a secure enough facility to house her, the higher security necessary due to the high-profile nature of her case


The Free NH Goblin Resistance Compound is not terribly far from the Goffstown Women's Prison. I had been in the habit of saying "Hi, Pam!" when driving by. What a disappointment.


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Don Juan de Doodlebug wrote:
Kirth Gersen wrote:
houstonderek wrote:
Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, also bad places to go to prison.

"Attica! Attica!"

** spoiler omitted **

Huh. I didn't realize they moved Pam Smart out of state.

Feeling better about those love letters not being answered now? :)


houstonderek wrote:

Fergie,

If you're planning on committing a crime,...

Who snitched? It is ok though, I'm not planning on getting caught!

My only experience with jail is in NYC. During the RNC they put us in Pier 57 - a filthy bus depot with chainlink cages topped with razorwire. Then Central Booking, or "The Tombs". The tombs were depressing and the food was really bad, but I did not spend enough time there or mix with the regulars enough to get a real idea about the place.


BigNorseWolf wrote:
Don Juan de Doodlebug wrote:
Kirth Gersen wrote:
houstonderek wrote:
Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, also bad places to go to prison.

"Attica! Attica!"

** spoiler omitted **

Huh. I didn't realize they moved Pam Smart out of state.
Feeling better about those love letters not being answered now? :)

[Cries]


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Remember though if you are going to commit crimes in the US, be sure to do it in the name of Something Liberation Front. It doesn't really matter what the Something is, but that way after you get out of prison, all the Universities will be fighting over hiring you.


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Oh Vod you do make me laugh....

Not with you though.


The 8th Dwarf wrote:

Oh Vod you do make me laugh....

Not with you though.

You laugh, but it is true. William Charles "Bill" Ayers (born December 26, 1944)[1] is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the counterculture movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s radical activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction. In 1969 he co-founded the Weather Underground, a self-described communist revolutionary group[2] that conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings (including police stations, the U.S. Capitol Building, and the Pentagon) during the 1960s and 1970s in response to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

He is a retired professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, formerly holding the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar.

And.

On April 28, 1975, the remaining members of the SLA robbed the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California, and in doing so killed Myrna Opsahl, a bank customer. Hearst claimed to have been sitting in the getaway car.[17]

Much later, Patty Hearst, after being granted immunity from prosecution for this crime, claimed that Emily Harris, Kathleen Soliah (later aka Sara Jane Olson), Michael Bortin, and James Kilgore actually committed the robbery, while she and Wendy Yoshimura were getaway drivers and William Harris and Steven Soliah acted as lookouts. Hearst also claimed that Opsahl was killed by Emily Harris, but that she was not a witness.

On November 8, 2002, James Kilgore, who had been a fugitive since 1975, was arrested in South Africa and extradited to the United States to face federal explosives and passport fraud charges. Prosecutors alleged that a pipe bomb had been found in Kilgore's apartment in 1975 and that he had obtained a passport under a false name. He pleaded guilty to the charges in 2003. On April 26, 2004, Kilgore was sentenced to 54 months in prison for the explosives and passport fraud charges. He was the last remaining SLA member to face federal prosecution. (Note that he should be charged with murder for the death of Myrna Opsahl.)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a faculty member, James Kilgore, who is a former member of a notorious terrorist group, the Symbionese Liberation Army. (He's been let go now, after a lot complaints both pro and con.)

So yeah commit crimes, including murder and attempted murder in the name of Blah Liberation Organization or as a terrorist organization and get a University job.


How many people do you think were killed by the illegal arm deals that Fox correspondent Oliver North setup?


Durngrun Stonebreaker wrote:
How many people do you think were killed by the illegal arm deals that Fox correspondent Oliver North setup?

Lots probably, how many tax payer funded Universities have hired to teach students? How many police officers did he try to kill? How long did he run from law?

I would object to Ollie North being hired too.


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By which you actually mean, be in an organization that commits crimes, but either don't actually commit them yourself or at least don't get charged and convicted for committing them, or for only minor crimes, and it's still possible to get a University job, assuming you also have the credentials.

It's not exactly a career path I'd suggest.


Vod Canockers wrote:
The 8th Dwarf wrote:

Oh Vod you do make me laugh....

Not with you though.

You laugh, but it is true. William Charles "Bill" Ayers (born December 26, 1944)[1] is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the counterculture movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s radical activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction. In 1969 he co-founded the Weather Underground, a self-described communist revolutionary group[2] that conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings (including police stations, the U.S. Capitol Building, and the Pentagon) during the 1960s and 1970s in response to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

He is a retired professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, formerly holding the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar.

I don't think Bill Ayers ever went to prison. I may be wrong, but IIRC, like most members of the Weather Underground, charges were dismissed against him after the FBI admitted to breaking the law so many times in chasing him.


Vod Canockers wrote:
Durngrun Stonebreaker wrote:
How many people do you think were killed by the illegal arm deals that Fox correspondent Oliver North setup?
Lots probably, how many tax payer funded Universities have hired to teach students? How many police officers did he try to kill?

On June 9, 1970, a bomb made with ten sticks of dynamite exploded in the New York City Police Headquarters. The explosion was preceded by a warning about six minutes prior to the detonation and subsequently by a WUO claim of responsibility.[84]

Linky

So I'm thinking he wasn't actually trying to kill anyone.

Liberty's Edge

houstonderek wrote:

Fergie,

If you're planning on committing a crime, pick an Arizona area that isn't Mariposa County. Tent City sucks, but the Arizona State prisons are fairly laid back. New Mexico isn't that bad, either.

If you're a non-violent drug offender, Texas isn't that bad. If you're a violent offender or a child molester, the prisons you're sent to are pretty scary.

Avoid breaking the law in California. Their prisons make Texas look enlightened.

Ditto Florida. Ugh.

Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, also bad places to go to prison.

But, if you're serious about a life of crime, go to Canada if you're broke, Mexico if you have money. Canadian jails and prisons are more "Northern European" style in set up and philosophy, and Mexican jails are FUN if you have bribe money (I know the last one from experience).

:-)

Anything about Connecticut?


BigNorseWolf wrote:
Vod Canockers wrote:
Durngrun Stonebreaker wrote:
How many people do you think were killed by the illegal arm deals that Fox correspondent Oliver North setup?
Lots probably, how many tax payer funded Universities have hired to teach students? How many police officers did he try to kill?

On June 9, 1970, a bomb made with ten sticks of dynamite exploded in the New York City Police Headquarters. The explosion was preceded by a warning about six minutes prior to the detonation and subsequently by a WUO claim of responsibility.[84]

Linky

So I'm thinking he wasn't actually trying to kill anyone.

Of course their plan to bomb an NCO dance at Ft. Dix only failed because members blew themselves up making the bombs.

And of course there is the 28 police injured in riots in Chicago, the attempted assassination of a NY State Supreme Court Justice, and the others injured by the WUO bombs.

No he wasn't convicted, though his wife was. He has admitted to the setting of bombs and the other illegal activities.

But still my point was to commit crimes in the name of a movement, so Universities will hire you later.


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Vod Canockers wrote:
But still my point was to commit crimes in the name of a movement, so Universities will hire you later.

I still think you've got causation and correlation screwed up here.

Universities may hire you despite past criminal movement activity. You have not demonstrated that "committing crimes in the name of a movement" is actually a useful way to get universities to hire you.

Especially since one of your two examples was dismissed because of it.

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