How To: Make America strong again

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:06:45 +0000

Perhaps you've seen Rick Perry's homophobic pean to the establishment of religion. It's the most hated video on YouTube right now. Naturally, there are parodies.

First: You don't have to sleep in every Sunday to know there's something wrong with this country.

Next: Finally, someone who will fight for the rights of dinosaurs.

My name is Maggie Koerth-Baker, and I approve the posting of other fabulous Rick Parodies in the comments section. EDIT: Cory already found a great one!

Thanks to Christopher Baker!

Video Links:

Atheist parody

Dinosaur parody

Long Beach Police Chief: we detain photographers, and I don't have any guidelines for that policy, photography is classed with attempts to acquire weaponized smallpox

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:06:33 +0000

The Police Chief of Long Beach has confirmed that his department's policy is to detain photographers who do nothing more than take pictures in public places, and that he neither has, nor plans to implement, any guidelines for these detentions. He classes photography with other "suspicious activity" such as "attempts to acquire illegal or illicit biological agent (anthrax, ricin, Eboli, smallpox, etc.)" and "In possession, or utilizes, explosives (for illegal purposes)."

"If an officer sees someone taking pictures of something like a refinery," says McDonnell, "it is incumbent upon the officer to make contact with the individual." McDonnell went on to say that whether said contact becomes detainment depends on the circumstances the officer encounters.
McDonnell says that while there is no police training specific to determining whether a photographer's subject has "apparent esthetic value," officers make such judgments "based on their overall training and experience" and will generally approach photographers not engaging in "regular tourist behavior."
This policy apparently falls under the rubric of compiling Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) as outlined in the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Order No. 11, a March 2008 statement of the LAPD's "policy … to make every effort to accurately and appropriately gather, record and analyze information, of a criminal or non-criminal nature, that could indicate activity or intentions related to either foreign or domestic terrorism."

Police Chief Confirms Detaining Photographers Within Departmental Policy

(Image: Perfection, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from omaromar's photostream)

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How To: Make America strong again

Long Beach Police Chief: we detain photographers, and I don't have any guidelines for that policy, photography is classed with attempts to acquire weaponized smallpox