SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Manny Fernandez writes in the NYT that the scores of military and police-style vans, trucks and cars offered for sale on Craigslist and eBay have raised concerns for some law enforcement officials particularly after the Dallas attack on a police headquarters but officials say the vehicles appear to be legal for the most part, so there is little they can do. Jeff Funicello, for example, is selling his black 1975 GMC armored truck on Craigslist. The body is armored, and the windows are bulletproof. It has sliding portholes to point rifles from and a sprinkler system inside. Long ago, it transported money, and it was once the target of a shootout in the 1980s.
Of course, people have been driving reinforced cars long before the Dallas attack on a police headquarters. But the celebrities and executives who install bulletproof windows and other types of armor on their vehicles often do not want it noticed. Celebrity clients generally demand that the exteriors of their luxury armored vehicles look normal so they blend in. However those who buy and sell armored vans want people to look. And the popularity of apocalyptic movies and television shows has put a new twist and added a macabre cachet to such vehicles "This is America," says Funicello. "I should be able to have a howitzer or a bazooka if I want one. If I wanted to buy a fire truck, I could."
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday June 20 2015, @05:46PM
That is among my life's greatest regrets. I could have put them all in prison but at the time all I wanted was to be left alone.
If you don't know how one female cop can totally intimidate three big burly men who aren't cops then you don't know much about who the police actually do their jobs. "Games People Play" by Psychiatrist Eric Berne has a lucid explanation.
It's actually quite uncommon for law enforcement officers to be truly nasty people. They only act that way to obtain cooperation from suspects. I know from my own experience that I can defend myself from violent attackers by adopting that very same attitude.
The cops got off me when she shouted at them.
Chris Brennan called the police after they sat on me. I don't have a clue what law he thought I had broken; that many was profoundly delusional.
The California Institute of Technology is very disturbed place. I once happened to mention to an off-duty EMT that I was a Physics student their. "CALTECH HAS SUCH SPECTACULAR SUICIDES!" he shouted with great joy.
My friend Misha Mahowald made plain to the entire world's scientific community that she would win the Nobel someday then went on to hurl herself in front of a train at the age of thirty-three.
"The Caltech Community" as it calls itself is a cult. It's not a whole lot different from Scientology, the Moonies, the Kool-Ade drinkers from Jonestown Guyana or the Heaven's Gate UFO cult that all committed suicide in San Diego in 1997.
It was specifically because of Heaven's Gate that I decided to go public about my mental illness in 1997, after having survived a similar cult experience at Caltech.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by CirclesInSand on Sunday June 21 2015, @05:50AM
That is among my life's greatest regrets. I could have put them all in prison but at the time all I wanted was to be left alone.
Well that may be something that you shouldn't regret. It wouldn't have been "MichaelDavidCrawford vs [3 security guards]", the trial would have been "State of California vs [3 security guards]". It was the police officer's job to see that they were arrested and charged (the only legitimate job that the police have), and this police officer didn't do it. It wasn't your failing, it was hers.
And it is very suspicious that she didn't. Perhaps you asked her not to? Or more likely the blue line extended to the little league cops and she didn't want to cause trouble for another uniform.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday June 21 2015, @11:05AM
I am an eyewitness to an incident of domestic violence in Portland. I called 911 then backed up the victims story. The police found the perpetrator but would not arrest him as the victim could not be convinced to press charge. She was concerned he would seek revenge.
Even had the lady cop been able to arrest them without my pressing charges it was clear to everyone that I just wanted to be left alone.
Sometime soon I will mail each of the board of trustees to request an apology. I'm quite good at Seoul; google cal tech suicide. Imagine the hilarity that would ensue were I to contact every high school physics teacher on the planet.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]