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California Governor Vetoes Ban On Warrantless Phone Searches
kodiaktau writes "In probably the most important decision Gov. Brown of California will make this year, he has vetoed the bill that would require officers to get a search warrant before searching cellular phones of arrested citizens. This further enables the police to carry out warrantless searches of private property extending into contacts, email, photos, banking activity, GPS, and other functions that are controlled by modern phones. 'He cites a recent California Supreme Court decision upholding the warrantless searches of people incident to an arrest. In his brief message (PDF), he also doesn’t say whether it’s a good idea or not. Instead, he says the state Supreme Court’s decision is good enough, a decision the U.S. Supreme Court let stand last week.'"
Every other day we are seeing another example of how the ones who were supposed to exercise power on behalf of the people have become enemies of the people.
Some people utter empty stuff like "vote em' out" and whatnot - but, if it has been possible, we wouldnt have been in this situation have we ? whomever you vote, result is the same. the machine has been usurped by those who serve the few. laws work differently for the rich and the poor.
can you say with a rational mind that, things like occupy movement are unnecessary in such a world ?
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Its becoming a race to the bottom, with all three branches of government at both the federal and state level pushing each other to invade privacy and erode rights further and further. Putting either a Democrat or Republican in office doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. What exactly does that leave? Who do we replace them with (when voting them out is even an option). Several members of the Supreme Court have indicated they sit on the bench to further corporate interests at the expense of individual rights. What recourse do we have?
If they want to be this way, vote 'em out. Bastards.
All well and good in theory, but in practice it only helps if the alternative isn't even worse. And in the contemporary US, the alternative to a lousy Democrat is usually a much lousier Republican.
(Yes, I know about third party candidates. Unfortunately, our elections are set up in such a way that the only real effect third party candidates can have is to siphon support away from the mainstream candidate they most resemble... which means that voting third party makes it less likely that the third party's policy goals will be realized. Sad, but true.)
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Don't confuse Democrats with Liberals or Republicans with Conservatives. Neither are either.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
See, the thing is, California in its present state is more or less ungovernable. I and others who voted for Jerry Brown did so, at least to some extent, because as a former governor he was uniquely situated to be honest about this, and was prepared to work within the limitations of his office. Becoming governor was hardly going to be a feather in his cap when he'd already served two terms. He's also campaigned both for the Senate and the Presidency in the past; both campaigns failed. His last executive position was as Mayor of Oakland, where opinion about him was pretty mixed. So in a way, he has more to prove than any other candidate if he still harbors further political ambitions. People know him too well. I believe he's content to be what he is: a career California politician who just wants to make a difference. I, for one, certainly don't envy him the position of governor.
Would I vote for him again? That depends on many things. Remember, last time he ran against Meg Whitman.
Breakfast served all day!
I think you only have open carry activists to blame for the ban on carrying unloaded handguns.
So you're saying, we can have all the liberty we want, so long as we don't use it? Blame the victim much?
They are clearly outside of the mainstream, but they went out of their way to force themselves on the mainstream.
Oh, they "forced themselves on the mainstream" -- so did they strap a piece on you and make you walk around with it? Or do you mean a minority made themselves highly visible to promote awareness?
I have an idea, why don't we just ban being gay, and blame it on those Gay Pride Parade people -- they're clearly outside the mainstream (what, something like 10%?), they went out of their way to "force themselves on" (i.e. "make themselves visible to", not "forcibly rape" -- isn't it confusing when we redefine phrases?) the mainstream, and if they'd stayed in the damn closet where they belong, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Seems like you'd agree?
Is the ban a good thing? I'm not sure, but I know that I will feel safer if the guy next to me doesn't have a handgun on his hip.
Maybe he will feel safer if he does have one -- that's no more a justification for permitting it (if it would otherwise be banned) than your feeling is to forbid it (if it would otherwise be permitted). Kudos for at least realizing that doesn't constitute a reason to declare tha ban a good thing, but in that case I'm not sure why you mention it...
Best yet: How about we as a people take a stand against unreasonable search and seizure like our founding fathers intended with that little thing called the fourth amendment?
/rant
Am I the only one who is indignant that we're already trying to come up with ways to circumvent this rather than to fix it properly? Let's stop trying to use band-aids to patch up these "little inconveniences" to the Bill of Rights.
Damn, call me an idealist but I'm getting sick of this. And not that I'm a gun nut - but isn't Gov. Brown the same guy who just said that it's illegal to publicly display a firearm in his state? Who the hell does this guy think he is? Why are you standing for this, Cali?
Do you really need your whole life on your phone? Isn't a contact list and a calendar/alarm (as well as the ability to talk/text) more than enough?
No, I don't need to. But I want to, and it's supposed to be a free country.
I am trolling