Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

from the the-not-so-fun-police dept

This week, in response to our post about Playboy suing BoingBoing for linking to a collection of centerfold pictures, one commenter suggested they should have known they crossed a "proverbial line in the sand" that would draw legal attention, leading an anonymous responder to win first place on the insightful side by pointing out why that, in and of itself, is the problem:

You’ve just described the “chilling effect” you get a silver star. To go for the gold, describe in one paragraph why this is a bad thing.

In second place, we've got a short, sweet and perfect response from Rich Kulawiec to the latest example of a company bricking devices because it doesn't want to support them anymore:

One more time, for the slow learners

If your device depends on someone's cloud service, then it's not YOUR device.

For editor's choice on the insightful side, we've got a pair of responses to bad cops. First, it's freedomfan responding to the deputy who shot a family's terrier and complained about the cost of the bullet:

Two things. First, someone sincerely claiming that he feared for his safety when "attacked" by a twelve-pound rat terrier isn't suited for police work. Full stop. Policing is a job where officers need to respond with restraint to serious threats. Responding with deadly force to a minuscule (in every since) threat like this shows a disqualifying inability to assess threats.

[Some would doubt that the tiny-dog-killing cop was sincere. Perhaps so. There are certainly people with an irrational fear of dogs. But, it's also true that cops are trained to put certain words in a police report when they have discharged a weapon. Either way (irrationally fearful of commonplace things or lying in a police report), they should be fired.]

Second, what attitude did this cop have when he did this? For certain, his attitude was not, "I work for these people and this is their pet." In other words, the "Serve" part of Protect and Serve was missing from his attitude.

This I'm-in-charge attitude is too commonplace at all levels of government, from law enforcement to politicians. They forget our fundamental civics: In America, we elect our servants, not our rulers. The same is true for non-elected public servants; we are paying these people to serve us, not to be our bosses. They think that the badge signifies that they are in charge in any situation and that everyone else is supposed to obey them, making with the yessirs and nosirs. Except in cases where a serious threat exists (which was not the case here), those servants have it reversed. Until people wake up and demand that their servants act the part, the dog-killings, the beatings, the forced cavity searches, the head stompings, etc. will continue.

Next, it's Anonymous Anonymous Coward with a response to the cop who lost immunity after shooting and headstomping an injured suspect:

Cop: I am allowed to do anything I wan't in order to get home for dinner.

District Court: OK

Appeals Court: No your not, and to boot this appeal has to be paid for by the public, maybe or maybe not sorry for that last.

Where in the hell was the District Courts head at? Where in the hell was the cop's head at? Why is this type of behavior continued to be allowed?

The answers come from where the supervisors and managers and therefore the trainers of the cops involved heads are at, as well as the District Court's thinking, as well as the rest of the organizations that comprise 'officialdom' of the police estate.

Their purpose is not to kill and/or stomp the heads of anyone they suspect, but to bring them to the halls of justice where by the US Constitution they are considered innocent until proven guilty. Full stop. Innocent until PROVEN guilty by a court (and usually with a jury of the defendants peers), and a court that does not take the police at their word but requires evidence, that at least in theory, requires more than the officers word.

Over on the funny side, our first place comment comes in response to the accusations against David Boies regarding a spy operation against Weinstein's accusers, which included an investigator under the alias "Diana Filip", with the story prompting Boies to claim "that is not who I am." Roger Strong wasn't really buying it:

Uh huh. And I'm sure that "Diana Filip" will claim "I'm a different person now."

In second place on the funny side, we have a comment from McGyver regarding the DOJ finally dropping its case against the protestor who laughed during Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing:

If laughter is the best medicine, then someone has to control it and overcharge for it... You can't just be laughing out loud for free...?

In this case look at the harm it did to poor Jeff Sessions...

He'll never be the same... I bet he wakes up at night in a cold sweat thinking of that laughter.

What we need is for the Republicans to set up a task force to understand this laugher crisis and how it is unsettling our wise and benevolent leaders...

They should first ask Hollywood or Disney to write the laws on this so we care be sure it's fair and doesn't disrupt their profit margins...

Then they should go after all unlicensed comics and and funny people that instigate wonton merriment and destructive humor.

We'll then need a well funded Bureau of Laughter, Humor and Levity to be immediately set up to control this problem. Think of the children.

For editor's choice on the insightful side, we start out with an anonymous response to Taylor Swift's legal threats against a blogger:

Trying to silence a critic is one thing...

But demanding that she invents a time machine to retract her statements? That's going a bit too far, methinks.

And finally, we return to the story about the DOJ dropping its "laughter" case, where Capt ICE Enforcer was surprised by a key realization:

My child was right.

Wow, I guess there is a thing called the Fun Police...

That's all for this week, folks!

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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2017 @ 12:46pm

    Wow, I guess there is a thing called the Fun Police...

    Actually, that tends to be most of them. Except when they're the ones having the fun, that is. And you don't want to be on the receiving end of that.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2017 @ 12:59pm

    Who is Newt?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    JEDIDIAH, 12 Nov 2017 @ 1:20pm

    Pet "Consumers" Again.

    No one should have to tolerate being attacked by someone else's pet. Ever. Regardless of who they are. Full stop.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2017 @ 1:33pm

      Re: Pet "Consumers" Again.

      Explain how that cop managed to shoot a miniature dog in the head, if it was either rushing at him, or biting him.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2017 @ 3:26pm

        Re: Re: Pet "Consumers" Again.

        It was biting his ankle when the cop tried to shoot himself in the foot and missed.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Atkray (profile), 13 Nov 2017 @ 4:01pm

          Re: Re: Re: Pet "Consumers" Again.

          You know that was the thing that was puzzeling me, howis that the cop hit a dog that size with only one shot.

          I'm glad you explained how that happened.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      That One Guy (profile), 12 Nov 2017 @ 9:19pm

      Fear the Mighty 'Shin-killa!', slayer of ankles and threat to the world at large

      I'll take a tiny dog trying to bite at my ankles, even one that actually is biting at my ankles, over someone who thinks it's acceptable to kill someone's pet just because it might, in some alternate universe, pose a threat to someone.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Michael, 13 Nov 2017 @ 5:49am

      Re: Pet "Consumers" Again.

      I completely agree.

      However, not shooting the dog is not tolerating being attacked. People are expected to maintain some kind of restraint. Police should be held to a higher standard, but I think it would be good to at least hold them to the same standard as everyone else.

      Had this been a regular citizen with a proper pistol permit:
      1) the pet owner would have been able to sue them personally (not necessarily win, but certainly sue)
      2) the police would have likely charged them with an illegal discharge of a firearm (depending on where they were), disturbing the peace, and possibly cruelty to animals
      3) the ASPCA would be throwing a fit over the cruelty

      Not tolerating the "attack" would have involved issuing a citation for a violation of a leash law and possibly personally suing them for related medical bills. Shooting the dog shows either a lack of restraint or a disturbing desire to kill something. Either is pretty bad.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Spaceman Spiff (profile), 12 Nov 2017 @ 2:49pm

    Rat terriors

    Well, these are the only dogs who ever bit me. If I had a gun, I would have shot them also! They are mean, nasty, and should be in a cage! I've worked with wolves, Labradors, Rotweilers, German Shepherds, and many other dogs. Never a problem. Just these little crazy critters have bit me!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2017 @ 2:35pm

    Where are the most flagged comments of the week?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    terry_allen (profile), 14 Nov 2017 @ 5:54am

    follow-up to freedomfan's excellent comment

    "In other words, the "Serve" part of Protect and Serve was missing from his attitude."

    Not to mention the "other people" implied by the "Protect" part of Protect and Serve.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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