You're adorable now shut it.

i just thought it was adorable how they didn't realize america really has turned into a police state

if police state just means that law enforcement runs the show and gets to abuse people and courts almost never protect the rights of accused people, then I think America has always been a police state.

i was also thinking about unwarrented wiretapping and surveillance and all the wonderful things that have happened since 9/11

yeah that's what I think of more when I think police state. I think cops act like shitty dickwads in any kind of society, free or otherwise

i think the shock of our european friends in this thread demonstrates otherwise

we live in the country with the highest rate of incarceration per capita.

think about that.

surely cops are huge dickheads in europe as well? Maybe not, but it just seems like the kind of job that attracts a certain kind of pathology, like running for political office. maybe there are just less cops there so they are forced to actually combat real crime instead of bullying teenagers and ruining people's lives over weed? I have no idea. europeans, tell us about the police in your countries

i think the reason the people who are most capable of doing the job correctly rarely go into it is because of the assholes they have to work with.

like, they realize that in principle that police officers are necessary for a stable society. but they know who the cops are systemically beholden to: the rich and powerful. if you espouse any sort of views that encourage sympathy towards the poor, homeless, or the mentally ill, you WILL be a desk jockey for the rest of your career, save for the very rare exception.

just like that time where the dude didn't tell jackie treehorn what he wanted to hear and he got drugged and later was accused to distrupting the peace in jackie's quiet beach community. then the malibu chief of police, being the fascist that he is, brutalized him with a coffee mug and made the dude listen to the eagles.

it was the cab driver

wait what

A decent number of the judges around there are retired cops.

that seemed hard to believe but then i read this http://paindependent.com/2013/07/in-...cosmetologist/

but i dunno how many total judges are in these counties but

yeah w/e

lol my grandfather always tells this story that sometime in the 70s he was driving through this hick town in west virginia and got pulled over for speeding and the cop gave him a huge ticket. so he decides fuck it I am a fucking obnoxious dick with nothing better to do, I am going to drive back to WV and fight the ticket. So his court date arrives, he drives all the way back to this bumfuck town, and the judge is the cop who pulled him over

well that explains it

yeah that's definitely not something to aspire to, as a person who has to listen to those creeps complain on the phone

i always thought having a law degree was requisite for becoming a judge.

the more you know

only god can judge

yeah I thought so too

hey guys i'd like to point out that retired cops could have law degrees they got because they advanced in rank and had the money for it

i mean a cop studying law at night is a crime drama trope at this point

calling bullshit on this story

....still calling bullshit on that story

well i'm glad you're sure enough of yourself to call bullshit on a story from a decade before you were born

I don't know if it actually happened or not, I was not alive. I don't find it particularly unbelievable. I think if you do, you might be underestimating how backwards west virginia is

having the only other witness to the incident be the judge. not to mention all of the other coincidences that would need to occur. it's complete nonsense.

if you guys think that actually happened then more power to you

I don't know if it actually happened, but I'm not sure why you think it is so outlandish

because it is outrageously outlandish