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POPSPot Legalization Gains Momentum In California More: But some legal scholars and policy analysts say the government will not be able to require California to help in enforcing the federal marijuana ban if the state legalizes the drug. Without assistance from the state's legions of narcotics officers, they say, federal agents could do little to curb marijuana in California. "Even though that federal ban is still in place and the federal government can enforce it, it doesn't mean the states have to follow suit," said Robert Mikos, a Vanderbilt University law professor who recently published a paper about the issue. Nothing can stop federal anti-drug agents from making marijuana arrests, even if Californians legalize pot, he said. However, the U.S. government cannot pass a law requiring local and state police, sheriff's departments or state narcotics enforcers to help. That is significant, because nearly all arrests for marijuana crimes are made at the state level. (Emph. mine)
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POPSReminder: Roman Polanski Raped a Child "I understand the victim's feelings on this. And I sympathize, I do. But for good or ill, the justice system doesn't work on behalf of victims; it works on behalf of justice"... The point is not to keep 76-year-old Polanski off the streets or help his victim feel safe. The point is that drugging and raping a child, then leaving the country before you can be sentenced for it, is behavior our society should not -- and at least in theory, does not -- tolerate, no matter how famous, wealthy or well-connected you are, no matter how old you were when you finally got caught, no matter what your victim says about it now, no matter how mature she looked at 13, no matter how pushy her mother was, and no matter how many really swell movies you've made... Polanski raped a child. And rushing past that point to focus on the reasons why we should forgive him, pity him, respect him, admire him, support him, whatever, is absolutely twisted.
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POPSHow Weed Won The West - Trailer #1 In Oaktown, we voted to increase our own taxes on Marijuana . Because, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization."
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POPSSmart Remarks: "We welcome our new police overlords" It is not illegal to yell abuse at a cop in MA. Officer Crowley abused his authority as a uniformed police officer to punish someone who was insufficiently deferential to him. Crowley set Gates up for a disorderly conduct charge by leading him out into public (you can't arrest someone for DC in their own home). Even so, Gates committed no crime. MA state law is clear on that fact. This is why the charges were dropped, not to defuse things. They would have stood by their man if he was on solid ground. A man in his own home has rights. Right wingers: if a cop comes to your home and demands to see identification when you've done nothing wrong, is he allowed to drag you off to jail in handcuffs if you get all up in his grill about it? Where's the OUTRAGE about a "police state" y'all are so famous for?
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POPSGate's Arrest: Obama got it right the first time This was never about race. It's about a cop abusing his authority to hassle a man in his own home who had done NOTHING ILLEGAL, NOT EVEN BY YELLING ABUSE AT THE OFFICER. The officer had to set Gates up by luring him into public for a "DC" arrest. The officer could have issued a ticket. I'll even stipulate I don't think he's a racist. But he trumped up a bullshit "DC" charge because a citizen was insufficiently respectful. That's abuse of police authority. I respect the fact a lot of people find Gates' actions and accusations reprehensible. But the bottom line is that @ no point in the exchange did he commit ANY CRIME AT ALL. His arrest was pure retribution by a cop with a wounded ego. And false arrest, by some standards. As part of the public served & protected by the police (and glad of it), I don't think abuse of authority is a thing to take lightly.
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POPSAnalysis: How the cop set up Henry Louis Gates for arrest If, after Gates identified himself IN HIS OWN HOUSE, the officer had provided his own name and badge number when requested, none of this would have happened. Instead, Officer Crowley told Gates he has to come outside to get it. Why not hand over a business card right there? Officer Crowley lured Gates out of his own house, onto the public street, where he could find an excuse to arrest Gates. Because inside his own home, you can't arrest a man for yelling at you and calling you a racist. AND the charges were dropped against Gates.
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POPSHarvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrested for "breaking into" his own home More: S. Allen Counter, a Harvard Medical School professor…has faced a similar situation himself. The well-known neuroscience professor, who is also black, was stopped by two Harvard police officers in 2004 after being mistaken for a robbery suspect as he crossed Harvard Yard. They threatened to arrest him when he could not produce identification.… “This is very disturbing that this could happen to anyone, and not just to a person of such distinction,” Counter said. “He was just shocked that this had happened, at 12:44 in the afternoon, in broad daylight.It brings up the question of whether black males are being targeted by Cambridge police for harassment.”
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POPSAt least 100 people tortured TO DEATH by American forces Since WWII enemies on the battlefield have surrendered to American troops because they believed they would be treated humanely and not abused by the Americans in uniform. This was true as recently as Iraq 1.0. We used to be the good guys. Now? We're a nation of laws. We can't just sweep dozens of murders due to White House-approve torture and have any sort of moral legitimacy internationally beyond that of an armed thug. I think this country is better than that.
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POPSDebate over "Socialized Police" heats up Many progressives claim that quite apart from arguments over costs there is a moral argument for providing universal police protection. "Police protection should be a right of all citizens, not a commodity that is bought and sold," insists Hugh Topian, of the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Stuff in Washington, D.C. Topian points out that America's system of tax breaks for companies that buy health insurance for their employees is heavily skewed toward the rich and powerful. A corporate executive with a "gold-plated" personal security plan might be given 24-hour police protection by a dozen mercenaries, while workers whose employers do not provide crime insurance are frequently mugged or killed while for-profit police officers are standing nearby.
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POPSPolice brutality & Videogames: A.P.B. A.P.B. stands for "All Points Bulletin". I hear there's a new hack available that if you hit the right combination of buttons and joystick moves, the choking moves to waterboarding during the confess-o-meter segment.. The suspect then confesses to all the other 9 A.P.B's crimes, including ones committed while they were in custody. *HANDSMACK* Bad monkey! ;-)
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POPSCop kicks suspect in the head AFTER HE SURRENDERS In most American jurisdictions, kicking someone to the head is on the order of assault with a deadly weapon. Because a shoe-covered foot can crack a human skull easier than most people think. The guy had surrendered and was lying face-down, spread-eagled. And the officer runs up and kicks him in the head. Cenk questions as to whether or not the punishment should be as severe as losing his job. Looked to me like ADW. Lose his job? That cop belongs behind bars. Whatever that guy did before we saw him swerving his car and running from the cops did, and I'm including violent crimes with this... Whatever that guy did, as a cop you just CAN NOT run up on a guy and boot him to the head after he's surrendered like that, not when you've got a gun drawn on him.
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POPSGun Control w/out Gun Laws: Govt Procurement MOTE: Nongun manufacturers across the nation routinely control how their product is distributed and impose contractual obligations on wholesalers and retailers. Gun companies should have to use a similar approach. They should sell their product through only authorized dealers. And the authorized dealers should have to keep track of how many times they got "trace" inquiries from law enforcement—that is, how many guns they sold were later used by criminals. Dealers that sold a disproportionate number of "crime guns" would have to fix the problem, something that might be as easy as retraining staff to react to "straw" purchasers who were trying to evade existing laws. Data showing that a high percentage of guns used in crime come from a small subset of dealers suggest that closing these few retailers could have a dramatic impact on access to illegal guns.
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POPSEver notice that Bin Laden's FBI wanted poster makes no mention of 9/11? More: Who is it that is controlling the media message, and how is it that the U.S. media has indicted Usama Bin Laden for the events of September 11, 2001, but the U.S. government has not? How is it that the FBI has no “hard evidence” connecting Usama Bin Laden to the events of September 11, 2001, while the U.S. media has played the Bin Laden - 9/11 connection story for five years now as if it has conclusive evidence that Bin Laden is responsible for the collapse of the twin towers, the Pentagon attack, and the demise of United Flight 93? No hard evidence connecting Usama Bin Laden to 9/11… Think about it.
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POPSDrug Decriminalization in Portugal
The political consensus in favor of decriminalization is unsurprising in light of the relevant empirical data. Those data indicate that decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent criminalization regimes. Although postdecriminalization usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug-related pathologies — such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage — have decreased dramatically. Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens — enhancements made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization... The data show that, judged by virtually every metric, the Portuguese decriminalization framework has been a resounding success. Within this succ
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POPSIt's the pot economy, stupid It’s time to end the unjust charade of marijuana prohibition, tax this flourishing multi-billion dollar market, and redirect criminal justice resources to matters of real public safety.Assemblyman Ammiano has done an enormous service by breaking the silence on this common-sense solution.
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POPSLouis Theroux: Law & Disorder in Philadelphia "The new documentary is certainly his riskiest assignment yet. The BBC’s safety guidelines meant he had to wear a bulletproof vest so thick he was unable to do up his seatbelt. "But you can’t blame the production team for being cautious when you consider that there are an estimated 400 homicides a year in Philadelphia, more than 10,000 aggravated assaults and almost 40,000 thefts. "On the other hand, you might say Theroux’s style is sometimes dangerous, because it could easily backfire. In an innocent-seeming, almost boyish way he asks the blunt questions that other journalists might want to ask but don’t have the nerve.
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POPSGeorgia Woman Faces Eviction Because of Decades-Old Sex Act Funny, isn’t it, how we can have an administration that destroys our economic infrastructure and violates the Constitution and escapes punishment and accountability; yet, a woman who had oral sex with her boyfriend stands to lose everything because of a few moments of mutually consensual pleasure.
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POPSGuide To Smoking Pot Around The World Note: Scandinavian countries take a hard line on the herb and it is not recommended to get caught toking there. Plus, it's hella cold a lot of the time and you freeze your ass off.
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POPSLavena Johnson: murdered by her fellow soldiers, covered up by the army The take home lesson is that people will pay more attention to the cover-up of the killing of a white, male football star by his fellow soldiers more than they will a black, female soldier who gets raped, killed, and mutilaed by her fellow soldiers. This is is bad shit. We're talking <i>Titus Andronicus</i> bad. And the Army calls it a suicide. America, FUCK YEAH!
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