I don't think the first counts as politics, and even if it does

it pisses me off so bad I can't pass on it:
Last Thursday, one of our reporters, Kate Harrison, was following volunteers cleaning up debris in the heavily damaged Apison area when she was confronted by three veteran, high-ranking public officials who ordered her to stop taking photographs. The officials — Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond, Chattanooga Police Chief Bobby Dodd and Hamilton County’s director of emergency services, Don Allen — clearly should have known that Harrison’s work was constitutionally protected. That they could occupy such high positions and not know, or care about, or respect the nation’s First Amendment rights boggles the mind.

Harrison also was commanded by emergency services spokeswoman Amy Maxwell not to publish any of the photographs she had taken, and later was threatened with arrest. (We published one of Harrison’s photos.)
...
In a similar incident on the same day, another member of our news staff — photographer Allison Carter — was threatened with arrest by a Catoosa County deputy sheriff if she did not cease photographing tornado damage at a Food Lion shopping center, and if she did not delete the pictures she had taken from her camera.
Now, the only really proper response would be "Fuck you; you want the lawsuit, arrest me." Put more politely, "I will not, and if you arrest me I'll see your names plastered in public for it at every possible occasion. THEN I'll sue you on top of that."


The other thing I wanted to say something about before I collapse is this piece from Tam on the "...we HAVE to..." idea:
Few years back I told someone that the idea of flat legalizing drugs is something I have strong sympathy for IF there were a couple of provisos, one of them being
If you screw yourself up on your favorite drug/s and can't take care of yourself, that's too bad but you do not get any help from the state; some church or private charity or your family wants to help you, that's wonderful but the public purse(i.e. Other Peoples' Money) will not be picked to take care of you.

Moskos seems to be one of those "I want people helped, but not by me giving my own money/time; I want the government to take over and spend OPM to do it. Because if you don't want to help like I FEEEEEL you should the government can take your money by force and use it" clowns.


One last thing, in the 'What the BLEEP?' category:
As the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives continues investigating the explosion at Aberdeen Proving Ground last Saturday that killed contractor Dr. Nanaj Bhamare, a friend of the worker has told Patch that Bhamare's body will be flown back to India for burial.
Ok so far, though I wonder why Aberdeen couldn't call on the EffingBI or Army EOD to take care of the investigation; then you get to this:
“They also requested our assistance due to the complexity of the explosives, fire scene,” Weber said of APG. “In addition to the explosion, then subsequent fire, the scene contained chem, bio-hazards as well as bloodborne pathogens, which ATF has better capabilities to handle.”
A: What the HELL was the guy working on/with?
B: when the hell did BATFE become expert on chemical and biological hazards?