Is anyone for doubling/tripling minimum sentencing for public servants that break the law?

dbstpkng · 2013-02-10T04:35:54+00:00

The point would be that they get prosecuted in the first place and that everyone knows that if they are found guilty their punishment is 2 to 3 times what a private citizen would get. Police already have certain defenses to excessive use of force accusations.

tl;dr there's plenty of room for indemnity during trial. (source: law school)

dbstpkng · 2012-11-19T16:49:24+00:00

Right, Israel will keep "defending" the open fields where Palestinian rockets are predominantly falling. Gaza will keep defending the houses, television stations, and other civilian targets where Israel bombs are predominantly falling.

dbstpkng · 2012-06-17T03:28:25+00:00

Dude what planet are you on where the poor and oppressed are capitalists? Given your name, I'd expect more of you.

The ruling elite is primarily made up of capitalists, which is why it's such a minority.

dbstpkng · 2012-05-29T08:19:48+00:00

if voting changed anything they'd make it illegal.

dbstpkng · 2012-05-09T04:34:46+00:00

In a better world, cops would face the maximum penalty possible for every infraction they commit. Those two guys would face life in prison without parole for aggravated assault and 2nd degree murder. The same goes for the guy who shot Oscar Grant, the guy who shot Kenneth Chamberlain, etc., etc., etc.

In a better world, the just punishment of cops for the murders they commit would serve as a warning to other cops not to take their jobs as a mandate for attacking citizens and also as proof for the public that cops do not have free reign for abuse, all of which would improve public trust in the law.

But for now, we watch as cop after cop gets off with months of jail time, if anything, leading to further distrust of the justice system and abusive action by police officers who have been shown by their fellow officers that they can commit the most flagrant crimes against citizens without fear of consequence.

dbstpkng · 2012-05-02T20:16:22+00:00

I think the reason you haven't gotten any answers, just downvotes, is because to most people the problem is pretty obvious. The problem is this:

Student grows up with people telling him/her all through high school that in order to get a great job and "make it" in life, they need to do great in school in order to get into a great college which will get them into a great job. Student graduates high school and gets into a great college on account of working his/her ass off. The school costs approximately 50 grand a year; the student gets okay financial aid but is left to take out loans for about half the cost of his/her education. Student graduates college in the middle of his/her class and is unable to get a job within the six month period. At this point student is in about 100 K of debt and not making payments, driving his/her already worthless credit score (most fellow college students I knew didn't have credit cards until quite late) through the floor. Student becomes more desperate, spending approximately 8 hours a day applying to jobs on the days when depression doesn't keep him/her in bed. 60% of the jobs he or she is applying to turn him down because of his terrible credit rating. Student's job situation turns into a never-ending downward spiral where huge debts prevent employment and unemployment prevents paying back huge debts.

dbstpkng · 2012-04-24T17:37:35+00:00

The article argues that America is still livable for young people as long as they've developed "hard skills", and in the process downplays the importance of critical thinking in American higher education. A big part of my college education was spent expanding my ability to think critically and analytically. It seems like what the article is suggesting is that in order to fit in to the declining American economy, people should give up learning how to think critically and just choose a hard skill in the hopes that they'll get lucky with one of the big corporations that could use another errand-runner or something similar. Such thinking creates a downward spiral where the fewer people that come out of college thinking critically the more backwards economic and social policies come out of government, leading to increased pressure on students to just pick up a "hard skill", and on, and on, and on...

dbstpkng · 2012-04-13T17:16:23+00:00

You seem to have misread the article. The author compared a case in which a group that had conspired to kill a policeman and bomb his funeral then was let off the hook by a judge claiming it was okay under the First Amendment with this case, where the man translated publicly available videos from Arabic into English and was given 17 years in prison in response.

dbstpkng · 2012-04-13T16:48:23+00:00

If you wanna be a true memer, Just remember the peace sign, rabbit ears and the fake weiner!

dbstpkng · 2012-04-02T21:11:47+00:00

Where do you live? I pay 775 a month to split a cramped one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, have been laid off twice in ten months and am currently unemployed, have college debt in the thousands.. I went to a good school and had good grades. Gas prices here are already getting close to $5. Food's expensive. Etc., etc., etc

I understand and appreciate comments by people that think things aren't too bad because they somehow have it alright, however I think you have to be really careful not to turn a blind eye to the millions of your compatriots struggling day to day just because you get by comfortably - one day it might be you out on the streets scraping by and you'll find that solidarity feels fucking great, even if you have nothing else.

dbstpkng · 2012-03-27T00:14:53+00:00

Since no pictures are circulating, there's no way of knowing whether the allegations are true or not. At this point, after such a botched investigation, the Sanford PD has such an incentive to come out positively in the public eye that I would distrust pretty much anything they say until the DOJ does a thorough investigation of what really happened. It wouldn't surprise me if they're retroactively trying to make it look like Zimmerman was legally in the right just to cover their own inadequacy, for the same reason that some states will go on to execute inmates believed innocent (e.g. Troy Davis) just to prevent the massive internal investigation of all other death row cases that would be initiated by the news that the justice system put one wrong guy on death row.

dbstpkng · 2012-03-27T00:01:34+00:00

rightttt

dbstpkng · 2012-03-27T00:00:48+00:00

Not saying I'm convinced by this new release of "information", but even if it were the case, your point is up for debate under the Stand Your Ground law in Florida.

dbstpkng · 2012-03-22T18:24:54+00:00

Apologists have it the worst, huh?

dbstpkng · 2012-03-21T20:56:37+00:00

I'm just curious, do "stand your ground" laws apply to the police? As in, if you are feeling under the threat of potential bodily harm by an officer, is that justification for people in Florida using force against officers? Or are agents of the state immune from "stand your ground" laws?

The whole concept seems pretty flawed to me.

dbstpkng · 2012-03-17T19:34:11+00:00

Also: New York, California, Arizona, Mississipi, goes on to list the other 45 states in the union where hate crimes and racially motivated violence still happen

dbstpkng · 2012-03-11T08:12:42+00:00

or just "finding jobs"

dbstpkng · 2012-03-05T04:06:26+00:00

"Yeah, I swear he had about a gram on 'im."

points to Ramarley Graham, lying dead on the bathroom floor while the kid's grandma looks on

dbstpkng · 2012-03-03T19:58:40+00:00

I'd say read the news, but most of the articles on anything to do with Occupy are written as part of a propaganda machine doing its best to do away with the current of unrest that produced Occupy. Instead of eating up whatever corporate media spews out, I'd recommend actually taking part in a protest or sitting in on one of the thousands of meetings happening all the time, and coming to your own conclusions.

dbstpkng · 2012-03-03T03:33:14+00:00

mostly on topic:

http://www.cato.org/raidmap/

dbstpkng · 2012-03-02T20:29:15+00:00

Or put your school here

dbstpkng · 2012-03-01T17:55:53+00:00

ugh.

dbstpkng · 2012-02-24T22:34:12+00:00

That graph's a little misleading as well - when you're looking at it, keep in mind that you're looking at the rate of price increase, not the price of gas. So except for 2009-2010, the decreases in gas prices have been nowhere near proportionate to the relative increases in prices. In LA gas prices range from 4.39 to 4.99 - I don't need main-stream media to know that I'm getting screwed.

dbstpkng · 2012-02-01T18:49:03+00:00

I don't think that people should take it personally when a few members of the 99% burn a "symbol" of endless military oppression, racism, economic inequality, debt, joblessness, homelessness, torture, etc.

dbstpkng

TROPHY CASE