Friday Roundup: Criminal Justice Crimes, Gun Control in its Full Glory, Another Isolated Incident & More
- One of the two best legal blogs out there, Grits for Breakfast, talks today about creeping overcriminalization, the decline of mens rea, and the unbalanced push for more security at the cost of liberty. My own contribution to this discussion comes in the February issue of D Magazine, which will hit the stands in late January, and it looks at the growth of the nanny state in Dallas.
- Ron Kirk’s appointment is a good sign Dear Leader is not a total moonbat on international trade, but there’s a lot of territory between here and the final judgment. The real test will be whether his boss tries to force other countries to abide by ridiculous American labor and environmental laws.
- Another question via Grits: “The single best solution would be to mandate an “open file” policy in every Texas jurisdiction (right now it’s done at the discretion of the local DAs and county attorneys) so that defense counsel could have access to the same police reports, witness statements, and other documents the prosecutors get to see. That system works wonderfully in Tarrant County, where these files are kept online and defense counsel can access files on their cases via a password that lets them see everything in there.” The question is, why isn’t that SOP?
- Here’s why gun control won’t work – “His weapon was recovered at the scene and later determined to be stolen during a separate offense in Terrell, according to police…” — and why it’s never smart to go out socially naked. (Nice shooting, btw.)
- A 12-year-old in Galveston is the latest “isolated incident” of police misconduct, getting roughed up for her troubles by plainclothes officers and arrested at her school despite police errors every step of the way. (Via Radley.)
- Driver with a baseball bat attacks someone who cut her off on I-30. Is she a woman? Why, yes she is.
Wednesday Roundup: What Interest Rates Mean to You; What’s Not to Tax?; COP DWIs & More
- I’m working closely right now with an acclaimed mortgage broker on a project, and without boring you with the details — early 2009 will be the prime time to re-fi your mortgage. Mortgage brokers and lenders are gearing up behind the scenes to get ready for the influx of businesses. An early sign, you ask? Well, glad you did.
- “I’ll tax the street; I’ll tax your seat; (if you get too cold, cold) - I’ll tax the heat; (if you take a walk, walk) - I’ll tax your feet.” More here.
- This is not reassuring given the usual outcome of this much evidence in a DWI case. Not the least reason being a drunken on-the-road fight with a girlfriend so bad he was swerving.
- Dallas is all-guns to make a doomed convention center hotel work at the cost of $550 million to taxpayers who may not even want it, yet they’re doing all the can to sabotage what will be one of the biggest economic drivers South Dallas has ever seen in its future. Keep this in mind.
- A Fort Worth woman did what too many in the DFW need to do — lost 110 pounds — and won a prize to boot. Bonus insider knowledge: did you know The Biggest Loser is one on DPD Chief David Kunkle’s guilty pleasures?
Thursday Roundup: Fishy Searches in Addison, Fishy Hotel Claims, Fishy Bailouts & More
- When a cop from another city questions another police department’s search procedures, you know something is wrong.
- “Mr. Jones said that bookings at the center are up 20 percent to 25 percent over last year on word of progress on the hotel.” I’m sorry, I don’t believe there’s any evidence of causation at all, and Philip Jones has shown that he is not factually neutral when it comes to pushing the city into this $550 million (and growing) boondoggle.
- North Texas cities are lining up at the trough. Their list of items they want the rest of America to pay for is — frankly disgraceful: skate parks, tennis centers, unmanned drones (for God’s sake), and the biggest joke of all, hundreds of millions for the city-owned taxpayer hotel, which is such a great investment it already needs a bailout.
- “I’m a simple country boy from Nebraska, and all I want from politicians is to educate my grandchildren and give me highways I can drive on,” said Larry Ihfe, who smoked at the Dallasite bar in East Dallas while watching the council session on television. “I have to have a four-wheel-drive truck to drive the streets in Dallas, and the City Council is more concerned about me smoking in a bar.” I have nothing to add. Except a disgusted head shake.
Wednesday Roundup: Smoking Ban, He’s Got Crabs & More
Dallas takes another step down the yellow brick road of paternalism. I’ll have more on this nanny state mentality in the February issue of D Magazine.
“The man told officers that he accidentally drove over his uncle during a fight, police said.”
McKinney man’s crabs cost him $1,910. Seriously? A fine for transporting crabs?
So was this one-day kidnapping just another inept failed crime by some incompetent criminals, or a portent of things to come with Mexican kidnapping customs working their way north of the border?
Monday Roundup: Busting Drug Cops, It’s Not News It’s AP, Death Penalty Conundrum, Dallas GOP & More
- This may be the coolest thing this week — a show that puts drug cops under the spotlight, and it’s done with at least as much fairness as all the breathless, mouth-breathing reality cop shows like “DEA” and “Cops.” It’s called “Kop Busters,” and they stage houses to be raided by cops that use phony information to get illegal search warrants. Here’s a rundown on what Kop Busters does, and here’s raw footage of the raid where they punked Odessa narcotics officers. (Via Robert Guest via the Agitator via nevergetbusted.com.)
- This is one of those stories that belong in the “people actually meet online and date” file. Why should this be surprising in the least? What are modern video games except interactive entertainment?
- Every time I think I’ve finally overcome my last vestiges of support of the death penalty– and it’s been a hard decision to settle on — along comes a guy who deserves it so much it throws a wrench into the works. Anyone else have this problem?
- That’s it. I’m converting my daughter to Amish. Amishism. Whatever. Before she’s 16. And I’m giving her male classmates walking tours of my home armory. And the swampland where I can dump bodies.
- And this is just downright embarrassing. Let’s hope Jeb’s outlook prevails.
- My colleague Sam Merten does a bangup job profiling Jonathan Neerman’s vision for the future of the Dallas County Republican Party. Neerman hits a bulls-eye with this: “We spend too much time worrying about shit that doesn’t matter.” (*cough* gay marriage, border fence, school prayer, online gambling, Internet porn, gay adoption, the War on Drugs *cough*)
Thursday Roundup: Inland Port, Leppert Silences the Masses, Selling Fear & More
- Jim Schutze gets what I’ve been saying about this inland port “master plan” scam. Good stuff, especially on how the Perot’s interests are involved. Except as my friend Michael Davis points out — he goes overboard in making point about South Dallas. I’ve been guilty of that, too; Michael’s point being that South Dallas is no more a homogeneous block than any other part of Dallas.
- Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert seems to have forgotten that he works for the people of Dallas, and not the other way around.
- You’re the ex-FBI agent who helped fumble the OKC bombing investigation a decade ago, and now you’re in the security business for yourself. How do you drum up business? Why, spread a little fear around and watch the media lap it up.
- Want to see a prime example of just blatant propaganda?
- And speaking of — you know the recent judge’s ruling that red-light cameras in Texas are illegal? (Woo hoo!) Buried at the end of this story, you have the claim that, “Even if the judge is right, it doesn’t affect any of the past notices that have been issued. If you get [a citation] before the court takes any action, you need to pay it.” This is absolutely false. You do not need to pay a red-light camera fine. It does not affect your driving record, your driver’s license, and it cannot be used against your credit rating. There is absolutely no consequence for refusing to pay one of these illegally levied fines. Tear it up the ticket and throw it away. Show some backbone and assert your rights.
Wednesday Roundup: Gay Old Time, Mass Transit Hysteria & More
- My friend Jacob Sullum — honestly, I have no idea where this guy finds the time to write so much — explains so even the thickest brow social conservative can understand why the gays should be free to marry and adopt, and why it’s none of government’s business in the first place. Meanwhile, the lower primate wing of the GOP will likely take this poll on (most) black people’s attitudes about gays to mount another dead-end offensive. Meanwhile, a few Republicans are starting to get it.
- The best hope from this story? The “new plan is too ambitious and, perhaps worse, too complicated to pass the Legislature.” Which is nice. Because as hard as it may be for the backers of mass transit schemes to believe, we might need those hundreds of millions a year more than they do. If your idea is so great, you pay for it. Don’t force the rest of us to.
- The actual content of the story here contradicts the headline. And this one, too. The lazy headline writer trifecta is in play. Submit your find.
Monday Roundup: Dallas County on Univac? “One Million Dollars!” & More
- Help me count all the things wrong with this story where Dallas County government wants to start deleting emails after 90 days. 1) They want to delete emails, which are government records. 2) They store email records on “tape.” What is this, 1962? 3) They claim storing emails is expensive. 4) Government expects us to keep, at our expense, certain records, but they can’t be arsed to do the same. 5) Tapes??? Really? WTF? 6) ????
- On the same weekend I decided to hang on to my recently delivered Plano local phone book because I’m sick of remote online city guides that pretend to be local, my attorney is giving up on phone book advertising. I’m not a huge fan of phone books, but I’m seeing a value in local ones. Maybe I’m just burned out on surfing, maybe it’s just the logic behind Wick Allison’s theory of local print newspapers that rubbed off on me. Your thoughts.
No one would argue the American health care industry doesn’t need some improvement. Especially less government interference, mandates and collusion with the insurance industry. But given it’s literally a $2 trillion industry, this headline — “Experts: U.S. health care system wastes millions“ – well, what’s the problem?
Friday Roundup: Beggars Want to Be Choosers, DISD Funding & A Friday Feelgood
- So if you’re getting affordable housing subsidized by taxpayers, who are you to complain about where it is? What, exactly, is wrong with locating all the housing for low income people in one general area? Why should you get to demand subsidized housing in a nicer neighborhood that someone else worked hard to move to? Look, it’s not a politically correct fact, but the reality is low income neighborhoods have higher crime rates. That’s not to say low income earners are more criminally motivated — it’s just there are more criminally motivated people in the low income demographic. So centralizing low income housing seems smart on two levels. “The group has argued that most of the local apartment complexes financed with housing tax credits are in urban areas with high concentrations of poverty, crime and blight.” Chicken or the egg?
- DPD gets new uniforms with embroidered badges and plastic buttons. Good in terms of dry cleaning cost savings, but the worry is with the number of cases of people impersonating police to stage robberies, home invasions, and roadside rapes — will this complicate things?
- Given its well-documented troubles, why is DISD helping fund million-dollar parks?
- Dear Leader apparently has a litmus test for appointees that baffles even his supporters, and is a window into his soul on the issue of Second Amendment rights.
- Why am I a shameless cheerleader for free enterprise and big business? That’s why.
Thursday Roundup: Green Fearmongers, MADD’s Jihad & More
- I wrote a column a few months back in the Dallas Morning News on how pols and special interests use fear to push their agendas. Odd culprit of the day: environmentalists who want water companies to stop using chlorine gas to purify drinking water. “Millions of people remain unnecessarily vulnerable to toxic terrorism,” said Reece Rushing, the center’s director of regulatory and information policy.
- My friend and fellow Dallas writer Jacob Sullum discusses some of the ominous tendencies of the president-elect’s pick for attorney general. Meet the new boss…
- The Texas Lege is just months away, and the crusaders at MADD are gearing up. They want sobriety check points and mandatory ignition interlocks for anyone convicted of a DWI. What’s the problem with that? Cue my attorney Robert Guest, who has the lowdown.
- Here’s your peak into the world of the full-time, employed journalist.