Yes, You Have the Right to Record the Police: Analysis

On May 8, Maria Melendez, Melendez’s daughter, Melissa Quair, and Quair’s boyfriend reportedly witnessed about a half-dozen Kern County, Calif., highway patrol officers beating and kicking 33-year old David Silva in front of Kern Medical Center. Silva, the father of four young children, died early on the morning of May 8, presumably from the injuries he sustained from the incident.

Melendez recorded the entire episode on her phone, as did her daughter’s boyfriend. But before she could send the videos to news media outlets, she later told reporters, detectives from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, acting without a warrant, confiscated their cellphones. According to Quair, detectives arrived at her house at 3:00 am and demanded that Quair and her boyfriend turn over their cellphones. Quair’s boyfriend reportedly turned over his phone to authorities without asking them to produce a search warrant because “he had to be at work at 8 am and didn’t want to be late,” according to the Bakersfield Calfornian. Melendez said sheriff’s detectives confiscated her phone later that same day.

While some facts surrounding the case remain unknown, it appears that the witnesses who recorded the Silva incident acted lawfully, and—absent a valid warrant—the law enforcement officials had no right to seize their property. And on May 14, the FBI launched an investigation amid questions over whether officials tampered with the cellphone videos confiscated from the witnesses.

#meanwhile

My head isn’t extraordinarily large but I do like my hats to be roomy lest I get the headaches.

#random #fashion

The Fascinating Story of Why U.S. Parks Are Full of Squirrels

In most American cities, it’s hard to walk through a park without spotting a gray squirrel. Those bushy-tailed little buggers are everywhere, chomping on nuts and climbing up trees—but not thanks to nature. No sir. They’re there because we put them there to entertain us—among other things.

#Squirrels are a favorite mine. There were a few that we’d feed by hand until the weather turned so cold that I didn’t wanna go outside unless I was going to the car. :P

No matter what bullshit manifests in my head, a meeting always make it insignificant. And these pretzel m&m’s don’t hurt either.

#lettherebehope

In other news, I think I made myself sick by drinking a glass and a half of eggnog.

3° here in Chicago with rounded ice-cycles on the shrubery. There are colder parts of the world but this is the one I live in. :-)

#photos #weather

Behold — an early present for you fine folks.

#christmas #animatedGIFs

Does the Bible Say What Phil Robertson Thinks It Says About Homosexuality?

In the relevant passage, Robertson has just waxed philosophical about America’s moral decline, saying: “Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong. Sin becomes fine.” When asked to define sin, he replies:

Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.

Part of the offense here is in his apparent comparison of homosexuality to a bunch of bad things: bestiality, adultery, greed, slander, and so on. And it’s probably little comfort to the offended to point out that listing things together doesn’t necessarily mean declaring them the same. If your shopping list contains cheese and eggs, that doesn’t mean you think cheese is just like eggs. They are both foods, however, and Robertson (and the Bible) places homosexuality along with bestiality and adultery in the same category of sinful and morally wrong.

I snipped what I thought was the most hideous anti-gay part. I’m not defending his beliefs by any means but he’s simply regurgitating, southern style, all the nonsense the Bible puts out there. Fun loving Christians do this all the time.

Maybe this is headline news because he’s a celebrity. Maybe A&E has a zero tolerance policy of their stars in 3rd party interviews. Maybe A&E should’ve known this was coming. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. I’ve never watched the show but have heard that sermons and prayers abound during every episode. It was only a matter of time before somebody probed him about controversial issues.

Searching the news for Phil and there’s story after story on his anti-gay views and the rallies people are having with and against. Hell, even Charlie Sheen weighed in.

But I liked The Atlantic’s piece the best.

The Real Duck Dynasty Scandal: Phil Robertson’s Comments on Race

But Robertson’s comments aren’t all that shocking. A broad swath of Americans—about 45 percent, according to Pew Research—agree with Robertson that homosexual behavior is “sin,” though they might not have expressed their beliefs in such a brash way. This is especially true of religious Americans, including a large number of Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, and Muslims.

[…]

What is shocking are Robertson’s comments about race in the same interview. Buried under the firestorm of media and public outrage over Robertson’s comments on sexuality is his stunning insinuation that blacks were quite happy in the Jim Crow South.

#LGBT #religion

2012 and 2013 were hard years for me and with the latter winding down, I’ve been doing my best to put my melancholy on hold. The emotional shards of glass still find their way to the surface but I just let them bleed out and continue on.

I’m suspicious of 2014 but do know that it will be nothing like the previous two. My tolerance has been broke and I will invoke change if “matters” don’t evolve for the better.

2009 thru 2011 took their alcoholic tolls on me…

…and those around me but I feel steady ground under me boots and a strong wind in me sails. Fuck all that, pirates suck in reality but you get my point.

I don’t know what I was going for with this. Maybe just looking for personal closure.

#confessional

I’m dreaming of a gray #Christmas.
#arts