One of the neat things about being a “law enforcer” is having the power (because you’ve got the gun) to make up laws – and then enforce them.
Here we have a guy walking around in a public area, taking video of things which can be viewed from the public area. There is no law prohibiting either nor requiring permission prior to doing either thing.
A “law enforcer” ought not only to be aware of this but to respect the legally protected right of the guy to walk around in public and film things visible from public areas.
Instead, the AGW makes up a law – “national security stuff.”
“You can’t be taking pictures of critical infrastructure,” the AGW continues – assuming a posture of Authoritah and condescension.
The man asks which law he has run afoul of.
“You can either provide your name or you’re going to jail,” the AGW threatens.
“You’re being detained for taking pictures of an infrastructure,” the AGW eructs.
No statute forbidding this is cited.
“Do you know what Homeland Security is,” the bullet-headed bully asks?
The man asks the bullet-headed bully whether he knows what the Constitution is. And what it says with regard to the 1st Amendment.
“I’ll get a warrant,” says the second AGW. “It’s not hard.”
The bullet-headed bully admits the man filming is standing in public, on a public right of way – and continues to “detain” him with implicit threats of murderous violence.
“You can’t take pictures of the rails,” says the AGW “unless you have permission…”
Which is patently untrue – and so, the “detaining” of the man is illegal.
As are the AGW’s demands for ID – which require the AGW to assert a violation of the law prior to demanding ID.
Instead, the AGW asserts “suspicion” … of nothing in particular.
In other words, give me your ID because I demand it.
Amazing – and depressing. Does it not trouble anyone to see laws being made up – and enforced – without any legal consequences?
What do you suppose would happen if you or I just walked up to someone on the street and began to badger them – while wearing a gun? Used the implied threat of that gun to “detain” the victim?
We’d be arrested – rightly.
And charged with crimes.
Why are AGWs permitted to commit crimes under color of law – and go unpunished?
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These are Utah Transit Authority cops, meaning they have nothing to do all day long, so they’re even more worthless than your typical garden-variety city police.
I’ve seen more than one video like this where they harass people for doing the most mundane of things. Why the Utah legislature ever created this bunch of clowns is beyond me.
Gorsuch: “History shows that governments sometimes seek to regulate our lives finely, acutely, thoroughly, and exhaustively,” he writes. “In our own time and place, criminal laws have grown so exuberantly and come to cover so much previously innocent conduct that almost anyone can be arrested for something. If the state could use these laws not for their intended purposes but to silence those who voice unpopular ideas, little would be left of our First Amendment liberties, and little would separate us from the tyrannies of the past or the malignant fiefdoms of our own age. The freedom to speak without risking arrest is ‘one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation.'”
Hey Tuan,
While it’s heartening to hear Gorsuch channeling Ayn Rand, I suspect he will eventually discover numerous ways to selectively apply this principle. “The freedom to speak without risking arrest is ‘one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation.’”
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy,
That was from a very recent dissent.
Ergo, the words of Mr. Wolf (Pulp Fiction) would be an appropriate caveat, “Let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks quite yet.”
https://youtu.be/8NlrgjgOHrw
Hey Tuan,
Gorsuch inspired by this?
“… There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Reardon, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.” – Ayn Rand
“In our own time and place, criminal laws have grown so exuberantly and come to cover so much previously innocent conduct that almost anyone can be arrested for something. If the state could use these laws not for their intended purposes but to silence those who voice unpopular ideas, little would be left of our First Amendment liberties, and little would separate us from the tyrannies of the past or the malignant fiefdoms of our own age.” – Neil Gorsuch
Cheers,
Jeremy
Because they can and no one will stop them. Soon they won’t be stoppable.
Most just show their government Id (that’s what it’s called today,,, I have fun with it all the time saying I don’t know what government Id is… They get red faced).
From Day Care through college the younger gens have been constantly assaulted with ‘authority’. The Leo’s go to the schools dressed in SWAT gear with guns, (in a gun free zone,,, but they’re trained dontcha know), telling them they must obey the officer and/or any authority. Then they have school lock down exercises that scares the holy hell out of them. The kiddies don’t know it’s a exercise until afterwards. Oh yeah, Eric,,, these are some sick cookies. They get their rocks off intimidating folks, especially the law abiding type. Typical for sociopaths and/or psychopaths which are pretty much all they hire. They serve and protect their masters at city hall or the State or federalies. And they will shoot the citizen betting on which way they might fall. They don’t even pretend to be Peace Officers today. It’s Comply or Die.
Now the bald headed dude is exactly the type of morons they hire…. Looked and Acted like a Mafioso leg breaker. The other was the ‘brains’ of the hit squad. He could actually read although not too well.
Kudo’s for covering this subject Eric. Other alternative media like Zerohedge and Prison Planet used to cover this all the time but it appears they have been cowed,,, scared to death they’ll be banned by somebody so they never cover any of it today. It’s a paradise for the Control Freaks.
My thoughts exactly about the bald dude. He was ITCHING to escalate the violence. You could see it in his beady little pig eyes.
This happens fairly often with people flying small camera drones around interesting sites like dams and bridges. It hasn’t happened to me but I have the Drone Pilot Field Kit (there are others that might not require a registration) on my iPad just in case. It’s a set of documents you can use to “educate” an AGW in a reasonably friendly way. There’s a section about photographer’s right to shoot public spaces.
https://www.dronepilotfieldkit.com
Of course my interest in photographing Uncle’s monuments has waned over the years too.
RK, you won’t have to worry about recording Confederate or Texas heroes much longer.They are steadily being taken away and held for ransom. One such statue recently had a minimum ‘bid’ put on it and the state of Texas is going to “sell” it, no matter it doesn’t own the statue. $450,000 is the starting bid. No word yet of what will happen to it if it never sells.
Even the Texas Lege has enough stupid Dems and RINO’s to not carry a law that would ban these types of things. This just happened last week.