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D.C. Police Detonate Man's 'Suspicious' Pressure Cooker
An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday evening in Washington D.C., police officers on routine patrol spotted an unoccupied car parked near the National Mall. They deemed it "suspicious," and took a look inside, where they found a pressure cooker. They also claimed to smell gasoline. The officers called the bomb squad, and at 7:45pm they initiated a controlled detonation of the car's contents. Afterward, a search of the car found no evidence that it contained explosives or any other hazardous materials. The car's owner was located and arrested for driving on a revoked license.
Assuming the cops had good cause to check his license, assuming there is little or no doubt about him driving with an expired license (maybe he foolishly admitted it, or maybe he was caught on camera), and assuming the offense is one that routinely results in arrest (vs. a ticket-and-tow as some jurisdictions do) then it's a good arrest.
Without evidence that a motorist with a revoked license would typically only be ticketed (and towed), or lack of evidence that he was the driver, it's premature to claim that the arrest was done to cover up the other issue. The only legal tie between the two is that the suspicious car - or perhaps the driver's claim that the car was his car - gave the cops probable cause to check his license for validity. Other than that, they are separate and should be treated as such.
Now, does there need to be an independent investigation to determine if these cops used prudent judgment (vs. "looking for trouble" "judgement") - yes. If they were not acting prudently, does the police dept. need to issue an apology and pay damages? Yes.
Memo to self:
If I drive a car without a license and park it, and I see police activity around my car, call a lawyer and have HIM arrange to recover the car.
Memo to self #2:
If my license is revoked, call a cab.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Careful attention to terminology is important. In point of fact, they use an explosive charge of their own, carefully configured and arranged in a manner which they hope will touch off any explosive contained in the pressure cooker. Of course, the police spokesman used outlandish terms in her press release. They "disrupted" the pressure cooker? Jesus - I've never heard a military man use the term "disrupted". It's far more accurate when we say, "We blew it to fuck!"
In point of fact, the cops detonated their own charge, but failed to cause an explosive reaction within the pressure cooker. Maybe they should have used a bigger charge?
Idiots. Everywhere you look these days, idiots. Juvenile minded fools, trying to act like important people.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
They are awesome for cooking potatoes and stews.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
You don't know much about how to cook, then. Do you think that suddenly, what has worked for cooking in 1970s, doesn't anymore?
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Cooking is subject to trends, if you haven't noticed. Clunky 70s housewife equipment is out of fashion, to say the least.
Umm, while you may call it "clunky," pressure cookers are decidedly in fashion as an appropriate tool used for the right purposes. The cool, hip tech-savvy cooks use them along side their sous-vide machines and blowtorches for a number of important kitchen tasks.
Need examples? Nathan Myrhvold's Modernist Cuisine (2011), one of the recent "bibles" of molecular gastronomy, lauds the pressure cooker, in a list of "invaluable modernist tools" called it "a must-have; essential for stocks, tendering tough grains and seeds," and also noted its usefulness for sterilizing in various kitchen tasks. (For some specific home applications, see, for example, here.) Harold Blumenthal at The Fat Duck restaurant found that stocks made with pressure cookers were both faster and better-tasting once they understood the effects of diffusion laws on stock making. And here's a whole blog on Slate about their comeback.
I could go on. Pressure cookers may have been "out" a decade ago, but now they're back "in" again... best time to update your kitchen fashion files.
You lose. DC Code 50-1403.1(a) and (c).
Republicans don't like the fact that Democratic Governor Brown put a tax increase on the ballot in 2012, a majority of voters voted yes (55.4%), and the state budget has a budget surplus this year and next year. That doesn't fit the doom-and-gloom narrative that California is on the verge of an economic collapse.
Pressure cookers neither explode nor burn, unless you pack them with explosives. Gasoline vapor mixed with air, however, explodes. If you want to make a car bomb, you don't need a pressure cooker. Ask Dateline NBC.
Yes, but you can't get driving on a suspended/revoked license citations while the car is parked. There's a difference: expired registration/inspection applies to the car, revoked license applies to the driver. If my license is revoked, it's still legal for me to allow anyone else with a valid license to drive my car, and it is still legal for the car (assuming its registration and inspection remains valid) to be parked on public streets where parking is permitted. (There was a meter in front of the car, so parking was clearly permitted at least some of the time).
You didn't read 50-1403.1(c) (concerning non-residents), obviously.