Civil liberties – Page 2

Can’t limit the right of flabby middle aged men to play Rambo

Published on January 4, 2013Leave a comment

Sadly, No is frustrated about the ongoing failure to curb gun violence:

And on that note, what the fuck is up with that goddamn impulse. Every fucking time thereâ€™s one of these shootings, we inevitably circle around to only talking about how to make life more miserable, regulated, and abusive for the victims. How there need to be armed security guards, locked and barred doors, mandatory metal detectors, armed teachers, 12-year-olds hiding in sniper nestsâ€¦ All the things that donâ€™t actually make the kids safer, but do disproportionately get used to punish non-conformity.

All because it is simply inconceivable that we could in any slight, minor, infinitesimal way inconvenience the people who ACTUALLY COMMIT THESE MURDERS.

Then and now

Published on July 25, 2012Leave a comment

Then:

A lawful Salvation Army march attracted disorderly opposition and was therefore the occasion of a breach of the peace.
Held: It could not be found a case of unlawful assembly against the leaders of the Salvation Army. Accepting that a person is liable for the natural consequences of what he does, the court nevertheless held that the natural consequences of the lawful activity of the Salvation Army did not include the unlawful activities of others, even if the accused knew that others would react unlawfully.

Now:

In what appeared to be pre-emptive strikes against anything considered to have the potential to be “trouble”, around 100 people were arrested in advance of the Royal Wedding held on 29th April 2011.

At para. 152 the judgment states – “…. we find nothing in the various strands of the claimants’ case, whether taken individually or cumulatively, to make good the contention that the policing of the Royal Wedding involved an unlawful policy or practice, with an impermissibly low threshold of tolerance for public protest.”

Also:

It was around then that the graffiti artists realised what point the police were trying to make with them. Having been arrested, they were questioned about what they considered petty matters â€“ accusations of criminal damage in the â€™90s, questions about websites and magazines that they were involved in. After being briefly questioned about these seemingly irrelevant matters, they were told that they were to be bailed until November on the condition that they did not use any form of railway in London (overground, tube or tram), carry spray paint (or other graffiti tools, presumably) at any time, or travel within a mile of any Olympic area. That includes the Olympic Park, the ExCel center and other Earls Court locations, Greenwich park, Hampton Court Palace, Hyde Park, Lordâ€™s Cricket Ground, North Greenwich Arena, The Mall, The Royal Artillery Barracks, Wembley Arena, Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon and a host of out-of-London locations.

Enjoy the games.

The worst thing is, it’s not even very surprising anymore

Published on June 5, 2012Leave a comment

Well, here’s a surprise: long term unemployed people were used as slave labour during the diamond jubilee celebrations:

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government’s Work Programme.

A glitzy pageant to Britain’s first family of parasites to distract the middle classes from what’s happening to their country, staffed by slave labour: as good as symbol of modern Britain as any.

(Via.)

We’ve always expanded rights

Published on May 8, 2012Leave a comment

Reverend Dr. William J. Barber tells how it is about the North Carolinian vote on Amendment One, that would limit marriage by law to that between one man and one woman.

Missing the forest for the trees

Published on May 1, 2012Leave a comment

Zunguzungu links to a hard luck story in the Marie Claire about an “accidental sex offender”. A nineteen year old boy who had sex with his 15 year old girlfriend, whose mother shopped him to the cops to “teach him a lesson”, which landed him on the Texas sex offenders register where he still is, fifteen years later, even though he’s now married to the same women and they have children together. It’s a tragic illustration of how sex offender registration laws can ruin the lives of people who were never supposed to end up on them, but whom political considerations keep on these registers — no politician up for re-election wants to be accused of being soft on rapists or pedophiles…

It’s a good argument against such registers: sex offender registration is for life, regardless of the severity of your crime and you can never get off it, except in very special circumstances. In effect sexual offenders are considered so dangerous that they have to be punished for life with all kinds of restrictions even when clearly they are not, something most other criminals do not have to deal with: a murderer can be rehabilitiated, a rapist cannot. Which is why sexual offender registers are quite likely doing more harm than good and should be abolished. You would think that the people in this case, being victims of this policy themselves, would understand. You’d be wrong:

Today, Nikki, 30, and Frank, 34, both say they unequivocally support laws that put sexual predators behind bars and protect children from attacks. “The registry isn’t a bad thing,” says Nikki. “It’s a good thing. It’s just that Frank shouldn’t be on it.”

Picard Riker double facepalm