Things we'd be talking about if the forum wasn't deadFollow

Adolescence is a mental health issue.

Depends on how you define "protections". I'd say the fact that when cases like this happen, they nearly always result in dismissal or not guilty results shows that he law itself protects such behavior, even if our process for indictment does not.



I don't know. Not many. And fewer still result in actual indictments. And when they do (or some DA somewhere presses forward with charges), there's an almost universal call for the charges to be dropped on the grounds that doing otherwise will seriously damage free speech and the freedom of the press.



Yeah. Pretty much never. Because... wait for it.. our society generally affords people engaged in such investigative activities greater latitude in such things, and our law enforcement tends to follow that example.



I can't. But this is like proving a negative. I can't point to all of the times that a journalist may have used a fake ID to gain access to someone in Texas for the purpose of an investigation and no one even considered filing charges because there would be no record of a grand jury even looking into the issue. Where are the documents of all the cases a DA chose not to pursue? We don't hear about them on the news do we? But you're demanding that because I can't produce a list of cases that never existed, that this means that it's not unusual for this one to exist? Um... That makes zero sense.

It makes far more sense to point to the fact that we've never heard of this law being used in this manner to suggest that it's unusual for it to be so in this case. Surely, if any journalist had ever been charged with a felony under this specific statute in the past, we'd have heard of it right? A google search should return something other than only this one case, right? Because, if there's one thing the media tends to make sure to report, early and often, if's a journalist being charged for doing journalism.

The absence of such a thing happening prior to this can only mean one of two things:

1. In the entire history of this law existing in Texas, no member of law enforcement has ever been aware of any journalist using a false ID in the course of an investigation.

2. This particular investigation was singled out for some reason.


My money's on the second choice. PP is a powerful organization with tons of supporters in high places in government. It seems pretty likely that in response to PP suffering from a covert investigation like this one, at least some of those supporters will do whatever they can, and find any means or loophole in the law, to punish those responsible.



What? I said it doesn't happen all the time (or even ever). Which is why it happening in this case looks suspiciously like cherry picking a broadly written statue and applying it only when it serves the interests of PP and those who support/protect it. This is 100% about making the next person who considers engaging in a sting operation against a liberal institution think twice about it by finding any means at all to attack this group. Remember when the left gleefully went after the folks who were releasing videos about the goings on in ACORN? Same thing. Remember all those conservative organizations magically having their tax status delayed by the IRS? Same thing.

The left has shown a remarkable willingness to use (abuse) whatever political or social power they have to attack anyone who dares to challenge them. I have no doubt at all that this is just another case of the same.

Sure, but if the only person in town who's ever been charged with felony reckless driving instead of regular speeding for doing this is the guy who happened to release an embarrassing video of the chief of police's best friend a week earlier, one might suspect that there was a bit of abuse of power going on, right?



Except, under the statute in question, the reason why plays directly into whether the act is a felony or a misdemeanor. If the reason why is to commit fraud, or identity theft, or to evade law enforcement, then it's a felony. If the reason why is to catch someone admitting to wrongdoing on video, it should not be. Except in this one case. Which, as with the example above, just happened to be when someone used a fake ID during an investigation of a group that just happens to have very powerful political friends and allies.

Coincidence? I think not.

Or that other people aren't breaking the law in this manner. If someone gets arrested for beating people to death with dead goats, I don't assume that since I've never heard of this sort of arrest before it's because the police are turning a blind eye to dead-goat beatings and this time is a massive conspiracy.

Pretty unlikely. More likely they aren't being charged for it, because law enforcement tends to understand that throwing the book at those who investigate and reveal wrongdoing by others is counter productive and will usually result in public outcry against them.




Sure. Because that's a rare thing for someone to do. The use of false ID by journalists during the course of investigation, while not an everyday occurrence, is certainly something that happens often enough that we're all aware of the practice.

It's just hard to look at this and not see that the law is being applied in an uneven and very politically oriented way. I can't imagine that if the target of the investigation had been a company suspected of dumping chemicals illegally, or a church suspected of covering up molestation by its clergy, or a business discriminating against women or people of color, that this sort of charge would have been leveled against the investigators, regardless of whether the evidence produced resulted in legal action against those investigated. And frankly, I can't imagine that you would be supporting the application of such charges if they did occur in any of those cases.

Irony aside, it would be much more objective for you to present actual cases for comparison rather than just wailing about liberal conspiracies and hit jobs. Just sayin' is all.

I was gonna say...

The energy release of that collision is staggering. It emitted 50x more power than ever star in the universe combined, over the impact window.

That article sucked incredible amounts of ****. Search GW150914 if you want better ones.

Peak power was 3.6*10^49 watts. All in all the collision turned about three solar masses into energy.

Interestingly, these were both fairly small black holes, under a hundred solar masses. There are black holes over a billion solar masses; imagine the kind of energy they'd release if two of them combined.

Also, that's nothing compared to when I banged yer mum etc etc.

Edited, Feb 13th 2016 10:12am by Kavekkk

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-found-dead-in-texas/

Speaking of mom banging, New Zealand.

Cliven Bundy indicted on sixteen felony charges related to his armed standoff against state and federal agents including weapons charges, obstruction of justice and attempting to extort the US government. Apologists to argue that journalists threaten BLM agents all the time with AR-15s and no one bothers them for it.