Posts Tagged ‘civil liberties’
Our Morning Roundup: ‘If You’re on the Wrong Side of the Badge, Your Rights Don’t Matter’
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to a close-to-the-heart edition of Freedom Friday. Arlington's Pete Eyre, former leader of Bureaucrash, was arrested in Mississippi on Wednesday, along with Jason Talley and Adam Mueller, after two cops decided that filming a traffic stop was illegal. The Agitator's Radley Balko has more: "Passenger Adam Mueller attempted to videotape the traffic stop, and was arrested for doing so. It isn’t clear what happened next, but Talley and Eyre were also eventually arrested, Eyre for possession of a beer in a dry county, and Talley for disorderly conduct, disobeying, and resisting arrest." Eyre and Talley have been driving all over the country as part of their Motorhome Diaries project. The two men also know just about everyone there is to know when it comes to civil rights violations. As Eyre personally introduced me to libertarianism four years ago, I wish him and the rest of his crew luck in getting the fuck out of Mississippi.
Hate crimes and student media, after the jump.
Inauguration Watch: Protect Your Civil Rights
While the Obama Inauguration promises to be filled with hope, optimism, and Pepsi, there is still a chance that you could be messed with by the gazillion cops filling up the protected security zone. You could get patted down for no reason, arrested on some dumb charge (failure to obey, loitering, whatever).
Anyone remember Pershing Park? Lanier had her hands in that fiasco which resulted in hundreds of people being rounded up, arrested and hogtied. It also resulted in a lot of lawsuits that cost the city tons of dough. And proved to be a huge blemish on the career of then-Chief Charles H. Ramsey.
I can't imagine anyone getting hogtied by some thumper cops. But just in case, you should know who to call if you feel your rights are being violated. You should call on the Partnership for Civil Justice. The organization's team of lawyers did brilliant, tough work on the Pershing Park cases and have taken strong positions regarding the inauguration and making sure it is as civilian friendly as possible.
