Did You See This?

Can you answer a simple question?

fozzy — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:20:09 GMT

The "Am I being detained" video is all too illustrative of a problem that most courts refuse to see ---- that police/authorities are often far from cooperative when a person tries to invoke their rights, or even clarify their status. This guy is lucky, he was allowed to go.

The agent was probably trained to never admit that a person is "detained". Then, no matter how coercive, a stop-and-search will be argued to be a "consensual encounter." Similarly, police are often trained to never write in their reports precisely when someone is placed "under arrest". Rather, at the very end of the report, it will say something like "subject, under arrest, transported to jail." That is because officers often "arrest" prior to having legal justification. So long as they don't call it arrest, however, a prosecutor can argue that it was something else - like a "consensual encounter." (a police officer's opinion about when a person is under arrest is not definitive, but it is a factor weighed by the courts).

In this case, the officer simply ignored and/or refused to answer two simple questions: "Am I being detained?" and the related "Am I free to go?" Of course, as long as the subject of the stop doesn't get a clear answer, driving off risks charges and even violent apprehension. I'm surprised they weren't giving the vehicle a drug dog sniff while he was arguing.

For some discussion and more videos, see:

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?InfoNo=031391

Jeans video

airbear — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:46:22 GMT

This video shows why Barack Obama will be elected President and lead a new era in American politics.

Off-topic? Not at all. Watch and think.

Ben Stein Video

justaskme — Sat, 03 May 2008 08:12:07 GMT

When will the media honor really honoring free speech, stop twisting the words of the honorable and exalting the dishonorable? We don't need you to tell Americans how to think according to your slanted views. So you don't believe in Creationists, that's fine. I don't believe we crawled out of slime millions of years ago, and so does Ben Stein. You got a problem with that?

Obama, Yes We can

jimd — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:33:17 GMT

Ok, enough with this parody crap- why is no one at Slate talking about the new Obama video? You know, the one that's going totally viral? Hellloooo? Slate? Check your inboxes, you must have relatives under 40.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

DYST forum is marooned, hence no posts

some rain — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:37:47 GMT

There are no posts in the "Did You See This?" section of the Fray because when you click on "Discuss" from the DYST page, you are taken to the "SlateV: News & Politics" section. Which is lame.

Fix this??

I only got here by going back to the main Fray page and using the nav menu.