On any other evening, presenting a frightening or threatening visage might be a violation of a general duty not to scare others. But on Halloween at trick-or-treat time, that duty is modified. Our society encourages children to transform themselves into witches, demons, and ghosts, and play a game of threatening neighbors into giving them candy.
— Bouton v. Allstate Ins. Co., 491 So. 2d 56, 59 (La. Ct. App. 1986)
So, if there is, under law (or something) a "general duty not to scare others" (except on All Hallows Eve) can the right-wing phobia-induction propaganda machine therefore be estopped, as the legal eagles put it? (And might there be just a bit of punishment in the deal as well, at least for the worst offenders?)
Wishing all not a "happy," but a truly frightening, horrific Hallowe'en that puts fear (if not an acute myocardial infarction — that's truly frightening, not "scary") in your hearts & poop in the pants of whatever idiotic costume you're sporting.
Big deal across the local Internets yesterday, all copped from the Times:
The ACLU of Southern California sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and several of its deputies Thursday alleging they harassed, detained and improperly searched photographers taking pictures legally in public places.
We're fortunate nothing happened to us on this expedition:
Is this oinker (one of several deputies who inspired the ACLU suit) simply angry because he's on Metro duty rather than busting heads on the street?
Professional photographer Shawn Nee was detained and searched Oct. 31, 2009, for shooting images at the turnstiles of the Los Angeles subway system. Nee was shooting newly installed turnstiles at the Metro Red Line's Hollywood and Western station when a deputy asked why he was taking pictures. Nee told the deputy he was not doing anything, the deputy warned him that photography was prohibited at the station because it is a terrorist target.
"Al Qaeda would love to buy your pictures, so I want to know if you are in cahoots with Al Qaeda to sell these pictures to them for terrorist purposes," Deputy Richard Gylfie then reportedly told him.
The deputy grabbed Nee, pushed him against a wall, searched him and lectured him about terrorism, the lawsuit alleges. He also threatened to forward Nee's name to counterterrorism so it could be added to an FBI "hit list"
The incident was captured on video. According to the suit, the deputy was not disciplined despite a complaint.
Earlier this year, deputies ordered Nee not to photograph on the sidewalk outside the W Hotel at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
There being a Metro sation in front of the W, we note, even if the Times doesn't.
Taking our life into our hands again:
What are you lookin' at?
We were honestly a bit worried about the unattended bag w/ handle in this one, but it didn't explode before we got off:
No sheriff's thug in the world could understand the aesthetic impulse behind this one:
Granted, we're not sure we understand it either. Disadvantage of the digital age: Imagine an ossifer making a photog show all his/her shots &, w/ his/her little piggie mind, figuring something like that could only be for sale to the highest terrorist bidder.
"This" being this. Which didn't provide a link, forcing us to find it ourself.
"This could be the beginning of the end of a lot of businesses down there," Vincent said. "It's basically sending a message that if you smoke, we don't want you coming into Hermosa Beach. It's clear that the City Council has been going after restaurants, bars and taverns for awhile. Through ordinances, they've managed to constrict to a point of killing an industry."
Vincent, whose restaurant has an outdoor patio smokers can use, said he never receives smoking complaints and is still struggling to financially recover from the recent yearlong overhaul of Pier Avenue, tighter parking regulations and two gloomy summers in a row, all of which have hurt businesses, he said.
Vincent added that also he felt it would be unjust to ask military veterans who happen to smoke that they can no longer light up at his businesses.
"I believe in public health, but I also believe in freedom of choice," Vincent said. "With the economy the way it is, patrons are very frugal about how their dollars are being spent.* They will just go somewhere else."
Our curiosity is piqued: When did it become "unjust" to ask veteran baby-killers to obey the same petty fucking rules & regulations to which you goddamn sheep subject yourselves? Do al Qaeda's hookah smokers hate us for our anti-smoking ordinances, rather than our freedoms? Should the slogan have been "No Blood for Tobacco?"*In which case they should fucking quit smoking, n'est-ce pas?
Some guy who just got a new gig at an old rag would like to get some of our glory.
We'll merely note that our first use of "The Militarized Society" & "Police Terror" as labels was 3 May 2007 (an Internet eternity).
It even predates the "war on terror," although that has acted as what the arson squad would call an "accelerant" to the essential dynamic.
Indeed, it goes back to the '70s, when some law or another was passed allowing/forcing the Department of WarDefense to hand over surplus military equipment to local police forces, to fight the "war" on Negroes & Mexicans"drugs."
You put enough war propaganda into the heads of young men, hand them weapons, and give them a license to use them, and they are not going to see fellow citizens through the visors on their helmets. They are going to see enemies. Wars have enemies.
Additionally, many American police forces actively recruit former military personnel. And now we have a new load of nervous-as-hell killers straight outta the urban environments of Iraq & Afghanistan, where anybody & everybody were their enemies. Our very own Los Angeles Police Dep't. prefers to hire veterans. Shoot to kill & let gawd sort 'em out.
Realized that we're almost (Important qualifier!) looking forward to The Ellen DeGeneres Show.* (Because neither Geronimo, starring Chuck Connors, nor Judge Judy, nor Anderson, are cutting it. Maybe TV Patrol or El Gordo y La Flaca would do, but our Tagalog & Spanish, respectively, are pretty rusty.)*Not that there's anything wrong w/ Ellen. Sure, she's no Jerry Springer, but you really can't hold that against anyone.
Here Be Monsters indeed. ("Zombies" as well.) Hear the horrifying (What? She likes horror movies.) Vacuum Slayer at (24:20). Hear Another Kiwi at (40:35) report from the bottom (more or less) third (of the planet; no reflection on his economic status, if any). Also us (again) because we have little to no "life" & are here only to fill space, whether typing or literally babbling on the Internet, or just sucking up oxygen.
You can also see us being insulted in the chat room, of which we were not aware as it happened; we are dedicated to our performance & will not divide our attention.
We call on all of the un- & self-employed to call next wk. & for once make Dusty fill the entire two hrs. Use the Gmail 'phone thingie if you're cheap & want to sound like it. (We are & do!)
Wanna-be Hell's Angel Jay Leno opens the hole above that huge mutant chin of his:
Moments before two Love Ride participants were killed Sunday in a freeway traffic collision, the event’s grand marshal, “The Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, told a crowd of bikers that he wanted to see “somebody go down.”
“Every year, [the organizer] says ‘Drive safe,’” Leno told the crowd in kicking off the 28th annual Love Ride in Glendale. “I’m gonna say, ‘Don’t drive safe.’ I wanna see somebody go down. So it’ll be fun. I want it to be in front or behind me and see a whole row of bikes go down. Get drunk, fall off the road. We’ve all become too damn polite … we haven’t had one incident.”
About an hour later, Romarino Zeri, 51, of Los Angeles and Julie Cameron, 38, of Venice were killed when their motorcycle collided with a big rig on the Golden State (5) Freeway in Pacoima, officials said.
A Hells Angels motorcyclist who was killed in a collision with an East Bay Paratransit driver Saturday in San Leandro was identified Monday as 51-year-old George Lopez Jr. of Stockton.
The paratransit driver, 31-year-old Eddie Hall of Oakland, was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and murder after the collision on eastbound Interstate Highway 580 in San Leandro about 4 p.m.
You scooter trash aren't such hot shit on your two-wheel pee-pee substitutes, are you?
Andrew Sullivan mounts his high-horse of outrage because Scientology is alleged to have picked on his little buddies Matt & Trey of the inane "everybody-does-it (except libertarians)" South Park:
While we have nothing but contempt for Scientology & the cretinous morons who are suckered by it, at least the Hubbardites haven't (yet) been discovered stealing children from their political opponents & selling them to the wealthier & more righteous.
Indeed, we don't believe a peep has been heard on the Spanish Church & its vile activities from Mr. Sullivan, judging from a scroll across the lumps The Dish has deposited in our reader since the story broke. Hypocrisy, thy name is Andrew. Or he may just like Holy Mother Church so much because it's run by emotionally-crippled gay men. Birds of a feather & all.Let gawd do the rest. The rational among us have been waiting since October 4004 B.C.E., when gawd created the earth. Should be sometime in this millennium 'though, sez Andy.
Is the best way to convert an office bldg. to condos to slap on glass panels & a few lines of paint while renting space on the ground floor in back to a Staples?
The "in the back" concept is not as relevant here as in other urban hellholes: In car-driven Los Angeles everyonemost consuming sheep drive through an alley to the back (PARKING IN REAR!) & enter through what would be the back door/delivery entrance in less parking space-challenged cities. This is extra-amusing to pedestrian us, as we get the impression that many store owners go for months w/o realizing how grubby the "fronts" of their retail establishments are.
The Militant Angeleno, who is mean to us (but, we'll admit, cleverly) in his bog-roll has lovely images (i.e., better than ours) of downtown bldgs., sun & fog.
Of course, we consider it flagrant cheating to be awake before noon, even if it is an exhibition, not a competition.
