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Like all the murderers

Someone loves this guy: https://www.thelocal.de/201505...

rapists

I sure as fuck hope someone loves these two guys, because they need something: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/...

robbers

If only someone had loved this woman who so clearly deserved to be in jail: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/tre...

violent criminals

It feels very likely that this chap's family loves him: https://www.foxnews.com/us/con...

criminals don't do those sorts of things, do they

Yes. Most criminals are productive members of society. Shit, you're a criminal too - good luck getting through the week without breaking the law.

so they can be looked after like little babies

Yeah, American prisons are all about loving care, afternoon naps and breast feeding.

make our neighbourhoods shitholes

The people living in a neighbourhood make it good or bad. You live in yours; guess who makes it a shithole.

This woman's father got killed by cops on the north georgia border over new years eve. Looks like the result of a divorce/custody dispute.

I'm very sorry to read that. Whoever makes SWAT calls should get a jail sentence.

This woman's father got killed by cops on the north georgia border over new years eve. Looks like the result of a divorce/custody dispute.

Here's an example: In Georgia, fired Dekalb County School System Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson did all her business via text messages:

WSB-TV: Lawsuit raises concerns about DeKalb Schools corruption (Dec. 4, 2012)/

According to the article, the school district was willing to give 12 people their jobs back if the attorney withdrew an open records request for a copy of Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson's text messages.

Going only on what shows up in the news, a SWAT raid can end in the deaths of innocents and/or significant injuries.

From this year: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news...

"On Friday, Fort, a Wisconsin state senator, a Phonesavanh's family spokesperson and the child's attorney provided an update on the boy's legal fight and condition.
"His face still bares from scars that are going to take a number of reconstructive surgeries," said family spokesman Marcus Coleman.
"We have been informed by the family that every single night, every single night, this child wakes up screaming and holding his face," said Coleman."

All because some hyped up macho SWAT team wanted to bust some low level dealer.

Only if you're in Law Enforcement, in which case the de-facto law seems to be: Do whatever you want, but be sure to have at least a flimsy excuse ready if you get caught. Otherwise we may have to sentence you to a few months paid vacation to think about what you've done.

An unrelated but vivid example of exactly the point you make:
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news...

In short, cop lets his K9 partner slowly roast to death in his car while he takes a little vacation. Oh wait, I mean "the dog somehow let herself into the SUV while he was away for the weekend." Totally not his fault, not even a stern finger-waggling was given.

I feel like I should be outraged at this wiretapping article, but I find I'm merely unsurprised.

Chamblee Middle School (http://www.chambleems.dekalb.k12.ga.us/) is part of the Dekalb County (Georgia) School System. DCSS is the most fucked-up school district in the USA. The former Superintendent was arrested for theft by taking, the replacement Superintendent abandoned her job and the current Superintendent is a political hack who lacks the qualifications required to hold a teacher's license. The former COO was just found guilty of racketeering. The DCSS school board was removed by the state Governor and the school system is currently on "Accredited Probation", the only school system in the country with that status.

Some recent news coverage of Dekalb County School System:

Court upholds law used to suspend DeKalb school board members: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/court-upholds-law-used-to-suspend-dekalb-school-bo/nb4Cx/

Ex-DeKalb school official found guilty of racketeering: http://www.11alive.com/news/article/313666/40/Verdict-reached-in-DeKalb-corruption-trial

DeKalb teacher accused of beating special needs elementary student with stick: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-teacher-accused-beating-special-needs-eleme/nb26M/

School superintendent negotiates settlement in expensive legal battle: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/school-superintendent-negotiates-settlement-in-exp/nb89X/

DeKalb Schools placed on probation: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-schools-placed-probation/nTYSp/

DeKalb’s graduation rate under the new state formula: 58.65% (Meaning that 42% of Dekalb Students DO NOT GRADUATE!) http://dekalbschoolwatch.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/dekalbs-graduation-rate-under-the-new-state-formula-58-65/

Chamblee Middle School (http://www.chambleems.dekalb.k12.ga.us/) is part of the Dekalb County (Georgia) School System. DCSS is the most fucked-up school district in the USA. The former Superintendent was arrested for theft by taking, the replacement Superintendent abandoned her job and the current Superintendent is a political hack who lacks the qualifications required to hold a teacher's license. The former COO was just found guilty of racketeering. The DCSS school board was removed by the state Governor and the school system is currently on "Accredited Probation", the only school system in the country with that status.

Some recent news coverage of Dekalb County School System:

Court upholds law used to suspend DeKalb school board members: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/court-upholds-law-used-to-suspend-dekalb-school-bo/nb4Cx/

Ex-DeKalb school official found guilty of racketeering: http://www.11alive.com/news/article/313666/40/Verdict-reached-in-DeKalb-corruption-trial

DeKalb teacher accused of beating special needs elementary student with stick: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-teacher-accused-beating-special-needs-eleme/nb26M/

School superintendent negotiates settlement in expensive legal battle: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/school-superintendent-negotiates-settlement-in-exp/nb89X/

DeKalb Schools placed on probation: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-schools-placed-probation/nTYSp/

DeKalb’s graduation rate under the new state formula: 58.65% (Meaning that 42% of Dekalb Students DO NOT GRADUATE!) http://dekalbschoolwatch.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/dekalbs-graduation-rate-under-the-new-state-formula-58-65/

Police officers themselves rarely receive personal bonuses based upon tickets, but police departments absolutely obtain revenue from tickets. This, of course, leads to wonderfully corrupt practices like instituting ticket quotas and larger fines/stricter enforcement to control their revenue.

However, not all departments fall to abuse, and the quotas (when they exist) are never made public intentionally, so this issue usually flies under the radar.

We have failed at our responsibility to safely possess firearms. We do not deserve them now.

Sorry son, you first.

Can you please tell me how much you will suffer?

Ohh, I don't know.. maybe because in New York I couldn't have my Springfield XDM? Looks like even though she tagged this guy with five rounds of .38 out of a revolver that she'd have been toast had there been accomplices. You might bleat 'anecdote', I will say 'do your own research; home invasions are getting nastier and are a trend'.

The protection of yourself and your family is your responsibility. Nobody else's.

The cops are not your friend. They are not there to protect you; they are there to clean up the mess. And yes, I'll use the cliche: the police are there in minutes when seconds count. In addition, I don't understand law enforcement needs full-auto variants of the AR-15 since many cops can't shoot worth a shit anyway, let alone handle full auto (which is largely used for suppressive fire in war). We used to out-shoot them all the time when I was in the military, and I laugh at them now at our local range. A couple of departments mandate a couple of hundred rounds a practice per year; the average in my crew is about 1000-2000 a month, minimum (some of these guys who have money are running through 6k a month).. of 'real' calibers (not counting .22 LR) and we're 'casual' handgunners.

As for shotguns (because you just know somebody's going to go there..).. let me see you clear corners with a shotgun like I can my semi-auto pistol. Just let me see a shotgun muzzle coming around a corner.. and if you do the 'come around then bring it up' trick you're already in my tritium 3-dot sights. Mozambique Drill in effect.

Bottom line is: whatever the average flatfoot has access to as a duty weapon, I should have access to. The criminals have access to EVERYTHING. My weapons are secure, but if you manage to break into my house while I'm not there and use a plasma cutter to open my gun safe, then the problem is you, not me.

Please note: I'm all for background checks, closing the gunshow loophole, and deveoping a mechanism that keeps the crazies away from firepower, as well as enchancing penalties for people who do not keep their weapons secured.

I don't know where you live in Texas, but wherever it is (unless it's Austin) just stay in the closet about your views on weaponry. It will save you serious emotional distress. I've lived in Texas and Arizona, and we'd have openly mocked you. Maybe even made fun of you. ;)

And yesterday, the news reported a woman who, along with her two children, was hiding in the attic because a guy broke in with a crowbar. When he began to enter the attic, she shot him. It's very likely that if she had any weapon other than a gun, she would not have been able to stop him.

Of course, a gun being used properly isn't sensationalist for you.
Source: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/woman-hiding-kids-shoots-intruder/nTm7s/

It's pretty funny you should ask about risk in the face of the example of underground weapons manufacture in occupied Europe. Those people were summarily executed by the Gestapo or similar agencies. Doesn't get riskier than that, and it still happened.

And as for armed women, the numbers are not ultimately important, the principle of access is. You don't count freedom on your fingers. Which one of these examples would you say to their face 'I would rather you were disarmed to salve my own sensibilities even if it meant you would have been raped and/or killed'?

Here you go then, fired for having a few drinks, and one expletive on a private facebook page.

One thing that's made my point rather nicely is how many of the responses put their own bias on my words and responded to things I did not say, or at the very least, did not intend to. Nope, I just reread my own post. I asked questions. Should we do this sort of thing? Nowhere in there did I dictate to you what you may or may not do.

I am not arguing that you should be prohibited from downloading it. Quite the opposite, what I advocate is people preserving what is important to them, personally. If for you, that happens to be all of Geocities...I want to say "that's fine with me", but to be perfectly honest, I don't think I have a role in that decision, nor should you care if it's fine with me.

I think that the rush to preserve *everything* now that we have the technological means to do so is misguided. It's comical that you think I'd be afraid of freedom. Quite the opposite. If I can be blunt, I'd like to preserve our collective ability to fuck up without ruining our lives. Many years ago I read an essay by a guy who said the best thing you can do after you graduate high school is move away. The author was the mayor of his town, and talked about his accomplishments in life. He went on to say none of that would have happened if he stayed at home, because he wouldn't have been able to escape his misspent youth. He'd always have been the screw up. The kid who did doughnuts in his car on the high school football field the night before graduation. The kid who narrowly escaped jail. I wonder if kids today still have that option. Can we still move away, or does our digital past, once written, never change? If it was up to me, I'd say we all get to be real human beings who screw up now and again. Sure, we bear the cost of those screw ups, but only the reasonable cost. For example:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/21586641/detail.html

Is this reasonable? It's not, is it? Had she been pictured doing something criminal, I'd certainly say it's fair to punish her, but this is where things get weirdly grey. We're leaving digital trails everywhere of doing things that we think are moral and legal (and let's assume they are, like a 24 year old drinking a beer), but someone, amusingly enough the kind of someone you describe me being, now and again will hang you for it. Seriously. I drink beer. There are pictures of me drinking beer. Should I have to "take responsibility" for it, and who gets to decide what that means? You? What if I was a drunken college frat boy, but did no harm short of making a fool of myself. What consequence should I bear, and for how long? If you background check me as a prospective hire and find pictures of me passed out on the porch and I just graduated, sure, it's reasonable to make inferences from that. What if it's a few years later? 10? What if I'm a successful mid-career professional you're interviewing and you find those pictures. Do I still need to "take responsibility" for them, or do you think I may have outgrown that irresponsible period in my (fictional) life?

Without that information we have no idea if this is a far greater risk or a far lesser risk.

Evidently this happens at gasoline stations as well: ...Police have identified a man killed by an underground explosion at a gas station in Stone Mountain...

Not a stretch, no, but an abuse of power.

It's not a stretch that someone in the law enforcement would randomly want to run a background check on Barak Obama, but don't try it.

Keeping in mind that Apple doesn't make the batteries, they have to have some degree of trust in their suppliers. I doubt anyone can picture Apple stupid enough to bait PR nightmares and lawsuits when their image is very important to their business model. Apple's typical reaction is the industry best-case product-problem-coverup-job - do everything reasonable to stick a lollypop in the mouth of anyone that screams, and quietly correct the problem so it doesn't happen again. They're unlikely to admit fault, that would just fan the flames. (pun?)

Batteries lately though do seem to be a serious problem all around for everyone. DSLAM phone boxes blowing up down the street, laptops and ipods catching fire, liio batteries puffing up like balloons. Inadequate testing if you ask me. New technology trying to get rushed into a highly competitive new market, skip the tests it's good enough, just ship it. Then stuff blows up catches fire, or generally misbehaves. But right now rechargeable batteries are making a shambles out of Moore's Law.

This isn't really news any more than the 5 o-clock rush hour. Blame Apple, blame Sony, whatever, it's going to happen. It's not anywhere outside the bell curve yet.

Of all the people I know that play (or used to play) paintball, not one of them even owned guns.

Goddamned, I'm sick of people parading around their lack of experience with guns as if it were a fucking virtue. The second amendment was written specifically to have an armed populace so the government wouldn't get oppressive. Now it's chic to never have touched a gun, good job, the government fucking loves you and can send in the swat teams without any worry.

What if this guy didn't have a gun?
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19365762/detail.html

I don't care if they never handled guns, but the way some people go around telling others they never had a gun as if they never "sullied" themselves with one. Yes good citizen, good job.

This move by Germany is stupid beyond all belief. They don't have real freedom of speech, they are locking down on guns, etc. The whole reason oppressive regimes rise up isn't because the people have too many freedoms but because of these ever more powerful and centralized states and the worship of the idea of the all-knowing state. Just look at the number of police they have, insane beyond all reason and armed with light tanks, armored personnell carriers, etc.

They should take some instructions from Switzerland, where the populace is well-armed (and trained).

They've caught fire here on Earth. I expect the effect of such a fire in space would range anywhere from serious to catastrophic.

"Is it just me, or is there something a bit weird about naming a product for reading books with a word which means "to set on fire"? Now, maybe as a name for an Apple product..."

Fixed that for you.

iKindle. Burn different.

Judge away

The problem is that when this hits big in the media it is going to be a larger embarrassment than if the police department just told the people the truth or lied and said it was official business.

No kidding! Watch WSB-TV (Atlanta) video with an interview of the the Sipples, picture of the cop, etc.

The original story is reported in full here:
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/10935892/detail.html

Also, it appears that the officer dropped the charges, although I've had no luck bringing up the link to the followup article.

those chocolate eastern eggs with toys inside

Sadly, my favorite variety of those has been banned in the U.S. for quite some time.

Some of our young geniuses couldn't figure out which part was for eating and which part was for playing. (Or more likely, parents were giving them to kids who were too young to not put every loose item they find in their mouths.)

This is not a new phenomena, I don't think. I can remember many times growing up near Atlanta when there'd be awful weather coming and all the TV reporters were telling us to hide in the basement, only to find that the line of storms divided and went around town.

It's been my observation that no significant weather happens in Midtown, and little happens anywhere in the metro area. Except smog