Some thoughts on civil rights.

January 19th, 2011

We generally do not read the Huffington Post, although we do not react to it in the same way we react to that wretched hive of scum and stupidity known as Salon. However, we wanted to make note of this article, even though it has been thoroughly linked and blogged elsewhere:

…in 1956, after King’s house was bombed, King applied for a concealed carry permit in Alabama. The local police had discretion to determine who was a suitable person to carry firearms. King, a clergyman whose life was threatened daily, surely met the requirements of the law, but he was rejected nevertheless. At the time, the police used any wiggle room in the law to discriminate against African Americans.

We especially wanted to make note of this article in light of another recent event. Supporter and sometime commenter on this blog TJIC had his Massachusetts firearms license suspended over postings on his blog. Yes, you read that correctly: Jay G. has a more detailed account, which also preempts much of the commentary I would otherwise offer on this subject.

TJIC’s commentary may be disagreeable, even reprehensible to some. But if being disagreeable and running contrary to popular opinion was a reason to revoke someone’s civil rights, where would we be today? Jay says it better that we can:

To those of you on the left applauding the actions taken against TJIC: how would you feel if that were a left-wing blogger in Texas getting audited over something unflattering they wrote about GWB three years ago?

Or how does it make you feel to know that Martin Luther King was denied the ability to defend himself and his family, because he was black and unpopular?

The Bill of Rights is a sum-total package; we take all the freedoms enumerated therein or we take none of them. For far too long both the left and the right have views the BoR as a buffet, where some rights are added to the dinner plate with gusto while others are left to languish – or worse, removed entirely from the menu.

Can we get an “Amen!” for Brother Jay?

Posted in Guns, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 19, 2011.

January 19th, 2011

Don Kirshner, music mogul. Lawrence suggested I insert Paul Simon’s parody of Kirshner from SNL here, but sadly I can’t find that online.

R. Sargent Shriver, who was never a sergeant, and was perhaps most famous as a Kennedy in-law.

Posted in Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

TMQ watch: January 18, 2011.

January 18th, 2011

Is it possible to be a football atheist? Plus Easterbrookian ignorance about guns and stealing jokes from FARK. All in this week’s TMQ after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Guns, Media, Music, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | 5 Comments »

Gun crankery.

January 18th, 2011

It is well known that I am an unabashed Smith and Wesson fanboy.

I will not be purchasing one of these, thank you very much.

I already have a S&W that shoots .45 LC, and while I’d like to add a .45 ACP revolver to the collection, it won’t be one that looks like it has been knighted with the ugly stick. I also don’t have a burning desire for a handgun that shoots .410 shells. (The Circuit Judge actually does have a small amount of appeal to me, but there are a lot of long guns higher on the list, like the Ruger Scout Rifle or something in .45-70. I think the reason the Circuit Judge appeals is that it doesn’t look as ugly as I originally expected it to be. Then again, the Uberti revolving rifles are also attractive.)

(Hattip: Tam.)

Posted in Guns | Comments Closed

How appealing.

January 17th, 2011

Since we have, in the past, noted cases where Austin Police Department (and Austin Fire Department) officers have won arbitrator’s rulings over disciplinary actions, simple fairness requires us to note this article in yesterday’s Statesman:

When Austin police officers and firefighters have disputed their punishment and taken their cases to outside arbitration, employees have lost that battle more frequently than not, an American-Statesman review of city records shows.

Certainly not the impression I had. However, if you read down a little more in the article…

Arbitrators have upheld 10 of the 23 police disciplinary cases that officers have appealed since Acevedo came to Austin in July 2007.

So if the arbitrators have upheld 10 of 23, that implies they haven’t upheld the remaining 13, right? So is it fair to say “employees have lost that battle more frequently than not”?

In fairness to the author of the article, he goes on to state:

• Arbitrators have overturned only a single police disciplinary case.

• Arbitrators have agreed that officers erred in five cases but reduced their punishment.

My impression is that he’s grouping those as “wins” for the employees. That accounts for six out of 13. What of the other seven?

• Department officials and officers independently have settled five cases, one is pending, and one officer withdrew his appeal.

I think the author is counting the five settlements as “wins” for the city, where I would count a settlement as a “win” for the employee. Reasonable people can differ on this, and I’m not sure there’s enough evidence in the article to resolve that difference. Let’s be fair and count a settlement as a “tie”. By that count, I make it 11-6-5 (counting the withdrawn appeal as a “win” for the city).

Also interesting:

• However, [Art] Acevedo [chief of police] and [Rhoda Mae] Kerr [fire chief] have lost each time they’ve tried to withhold promotions from those who had otherwise met criteria to move up a rank. Arbitrators found they lacked enough reason.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

Apologies.

January 17th, 2011

We are experiencing some issues both computational (our primary bombe had to visit the repair shop) and personal (a family member’s health issue, which we will not detail here) that are keeping us from running at 100% of our rated capacity.

Blogging will be catch as catch can for a bit.

Posted in Admin | Comments Closed

“Rodeo clown transvestite”?

January 16th, 2011

Well, it is that season, or will be soon:

A man dressed as a clown threatened to burn down a liquor store in downtown Austin on Friday, according to an arrest affidavit.

It just gets stranger from there. I am amused by the detail that he was also carrying a Mexican flag.

Posted in Clippings, Law | 1 Comment »

Told you so.

January 14th, 2011

We previously blogged about the local store clerk who was charged with murder after shooting at a fleeing thief who’d stolen a 12-pack. The thief was found dead in an abandoned car a few hours later, and the clerk apparently tried to cover his tracks after the shooting.

The clerk was just convicted of murder and evidence tampering.

We repeat what we said at the time, “If you had a good reason for shooting, the evidence is only going to help you. Altering or destroying evidence only makes you look bad.” And it will probably get you convicted.

Edited to add: The jury that was deadlocked for several days does not appear to have had much trouble returning a sentence; eight years probation.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Law | 2 Comments »

I’m on a horse.

January 13th, 2011

Following up on yesterday’s story, the Statesman has an interview with the (allegedly) drunk horse rider on 6th Street.

Olivo said he plans to reunite with his animals today — they’ve remained at an animal hospital in Elgin since police impounded them.

He said he also plans to soon ride them through downtown again, which is not against any city ordinance.

“I’m just not going to drink a drop of liquor,” Olivo said.

The guy on the mule was apparently not available for comment. And for the record, the Statesman is reporting that the DWI charges against both men have been dropped, but the police are planning to charge them with public intoxication.

Posted in Clippings, Horses | Comments Closed

Baby, if you ever wondered…

January 13th, 2011

…what Robert “Ratso” Rizzo, former city administrator for the city of Bell, now under indictment, was doing, the answer is:

He’s working as a parking lot attendant at the “International Surfing Museum” in Huntington Beach.

I think I speak for many of my readers when I say: there’s an “International Surfing Museum”?

Edited to add 1/14: Well, that was quick. Rizzo is no longer working at the International Surfing Museum.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Book geekery.

January 12th, 2011

By way of TJIC, I found this nifty little query page that lists the NYT bestsellers for your birth week (both fiction and non-fiction).

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I’ve only read one book on the list for my birth week. On the one hand, NYT bestseller lists seem to be dominated by a fair amount of transient crud; on the other hand, I’ve actually read more of the books on TJIC’s list (three total) than my own. (Believe it or not, I’ve read Boss. Within the past couple of years, even. And the closest I’ve ever been to Chicago is changing planes in the airport.)

I am halfway tempted to start a project of blogging my way through the books for my birth week, just for grins.

Posted in Books | Comments Closed

From the APD blotter.

January 12th, 2011

This happened Friday night, but we’re only just now hearing about it:

Police arrested two men on Sixth Street for DWI. One was riding a horse; the other one was riding a mule.

(Statesman link includes dashcam video.)

It appears that the DWI charge against the horse rider have been dropped, but police are going forward with the DWI charge against the guy on the mule. In addition,

police plan to charge both men with another crime now: public intoxication, an offense for which they face up to a $500 fine.

(The horse and mule are apparently being held at an animal hospital in Elgin; ownership of the two animals has not been established.)

Posted in Clippings, Horses, Law, Stupid | 1 Comment »

Nihilists!

January 12th, 2011

From the NYT:

The police said they were reviewing the details of their calls to the home of Jared L. Loughner, who was described by a friend as having embraced nihilism.

Posted in Clippings, Movies | 2 Comments »

And while I’m on the legal beat…

January 11th, 2011

Alex Tabarrok, one of the Marginal Revolution bloggers, has an interesting article in the latest Wilson Quarterly about the economics of bounty hunting.

In Philadelphia, where commercial bail has been regulated out of existence, The Philadelphia Inquirer recently found that “fugitives jump bail . . . with virtual impunity.” At the end of 2009, the City of Brotherly Love had more than 47,000 unserved arrest warrants. About the only time the city’s bail jumpers are recaptured is when they are arrested for some other crime. One would expect that a criminal on the lam would be careful not to get caught speeding, but foresight is rarely a prominent characteristic of bail jumpers. Routine stops ensnare more than a few of them. When the jails are crowded, however, even serial bail jumpers are often released.

Edited to add: Just for grins, I thought I’d throw in a couple of links to Paladin Press books on bounty hunting, such as “Rex Venator”‘s Modern Bounty Hunting: A Real-Life Guide for the Bail Fugitive Recovery Agent. Holy cow! You can get Paladin Press books on your Kindle now? Man, this is a great country.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Kindleing, Law | 2 Comments »

Poor Laura Hall…

January 11th, 2011

…turned down for parole in her latest bid.

(Previously.)

Posted in Clippings, Law, Schadenfreude | Comments Closed

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