Mortaine’s Blog

[This will only make sense if you watch The Simpsons.]

When watching the news, any time a story comes on that is pure fluffy drivel, in which you can see it as being followed by the falsely-sincere line “Bart’s People,” you must say “Bart’s People” (with same cadence and insincerity as from the Simpsons episode) and then drink.

Lisa Simpson, reporting.

Oh, should that read “more on”? You decide: On not being able to get a complaint form from police stations in Florida.

Edit to add: Please note the number of times the cops demand ID from the questioners. The “papers please” decision has given the cops another tool in an arsenal of intimidation tactics.

Police arrest cell phone photographer.

My opinion, based solely on interpretation of *this* article:

.01) The article demonstrates bias. This is in part because their own reporters are part of the story, having gone down to investigate and having been lied to by someone. I am, frankly, impressed that they actually pushed enough to get any kind of answer out of the parties involved. I suspect the first response from the PD was “no comment,” and other news organizations (CNN, FOX) would have been content with that.

1) This is a blatant violation of civil liberties. It is completely within any citizen’s rights to photograph or film a peace officer in the line of his duty, provided doing so does not break security clearances. Doubly so if they are doing so in a public space and have no expectation of privacy.

2) Someone is lying– either the police did not threaten, then later emotionally manipulate Cruz, or they did and then lied to the press about it. “You’re just lucky the supervisor isn’t here” is the kind of thing you say when you realize you’ve fucked up and have to let someone go, but don’t want them to sue your ass later. Cops do not release suspects simply because there isn’t a supervisor available. That would be absurd. If that were true, then who booked the drug dealers they were supposedly arresting? In their statement to the press, they don’t offer a different story, like “he was playing point guard against a drug dealer.” Instead, they say they took him into custody, but offer no reasonable explanation for having done so. My guess is that the cops were engaged in an abuse of their power, and wanted to threaten the only documentary witness into silence.

3) ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have the phone number of the local ACLU in your cell phone whenever and wherever you travel. Hell, even if you despise the ACLU, at least they’ll help get you in touch with some other lawyer that you don’t hate who can help you figure out if Philidelphia might have recently changed the Constitution while we weren’t looking.

It will be interestedin to see what was on that cell phone. I wonder if the cops got their hands on the picture, and if the family managed to shoot a few scenes during the arrest.