The Summer 2015 Anti-Chuff Thread

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pbj:
My family went through similar. It's almost mind boggling what a racket that process can be. And people really think that machine is going to give up the marijuana cash cow?

dkersten:

--- Quote from: Malenko on August 27, 2015, 01:08:37 pm ---so youre going to appeal?

--- End quote ---
Frankly, an appeal would end up costing $10-30k in legal fees. It isn't worth it. For $5-8k I could have hired my lawyer to handle his case and he might have gotten him off, but again, the cost isn't worth the result. The worst part (aside from the drivers license) is he might lose his insurance, and that is already high due to his age and low credit score. But the rest is financial mainly and it will cost less to just eat it than to fight it. They count on this sort of thing.

In fact, when charged with something you know is BS, the best thing to do is to ask for a jury trial. Trials cost the system money, jury trials cost a lot of money, and in the end this isn't about stopping people from breaking laws, it's about money. They bust you for driving 40 in a 35 it's not because it's unsafe, it's because they can get you for a $150 fine. If tickets were about safety or enforcing the laws because it's the right thing to do, they wouldn't cave nearly 100% of the time when you are going to cost them more than they want to fine you for.

And get this: if someone steals from you and you catch them and press charges, when you win the case in court the city, district, state, etc. will levy a fine. Guess who gets paid back first? Until that fine is paid, you don't see a penny of restitution. It isn't about righting a wrong, it's about money.

BadMouth:
I think a lot of it has to do with the metrics bureaucrats want to measure law enforcement performance by.
Base a teacher's performance evaluation on how students do on a test, teachers will focus only on the test.
Judge law enforcement job performance on number of arrests, and more people who weren't bothering anyone will be arrested over trivial stuff.

On top of that, they'll go for the low hanging fruit that doesn't require as much of their time so they can get more arrests.
You can't get any simpler than checking pockets for drugs. Not much to dispute or haggle over in court there.
Harsher sentences are a judges bread and butter for their next election campaign.

Although incarceration rates are at an all time high, arrests for violent crimes that actually require an investigation are way down.
If you're murdered in the United States, there is a 1 in 3 chance nobody will be arrested for it. That is down from 1 in 10.
With all the added technology, you'd think the number of murderers identified and arrested would be going up.

There was an early episode of The Andry Griffith Show where Barney Fife runs around arresting everyone in town for minor infractions to show how good of a deputy he is.
That's pretty much the current state of things in my mind.

This doesn't apply everywhere, just where number of calls and arrests weigh heavily on evaluations.

EDIT: Oh and private companies getting $50k/year per inmate surely doesn't help either. And of course the less you spend (unless it's billable to the state), the higher your profit.

DOUBLE EDIT:

source: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/clearances/clearancetopic_final

dkersten:
Oh, forgot to mention also.. that new Fridge I bought 4 weeks ago already ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- the bed. Fan sounds like a single prop plane taking off and when you open the freezer drawer it's like that commercial where the couple is trying to talk in front of their refrigerator but can't hear each other. And the ice maker is now down to making about 9 cubes per day (12 if I turn on fast ice but then I also get water down the front of the ice bin.)

Good thing I spent $2500 for a brand new product! (and it looks like that 5 year warranty will come in handy too).

harveybirdman:
After getting a $300 utility bill I figured today is the day to fix the leaky bathtub faucet..

1.50 seat and couple .79 washers.

Easy right?

Curb key
Faucet puller
Set of stem wrenches
Seat wrench

That'll be damn near 80 bucks sir.

Meh, cheaper than a plumber.

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