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Prof. Gates' Unconstitutional Arrest: There's a First Amendment right to be rude to a cop.
Forbes ^ | July 28, 2009 | Harvey Silverglate

Posted on 07/30/2009 6:36:55 AM PDT by Captain Kirk

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To: SUSSA

“Given his reputation Gates should have known that. He obviously knew better than to step outside when the cop asked him to come outside to talk. It appears he worked himself into a fit and forgot that basic rule.”

Or it was intentional...who knows?


241 posted on 07/30/2009 11:42:57 AM PDT by jessduntno ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." - Ronald Reagan)
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To: milwguy
Do you have a ‘right’ to talk about bombs while standing in line at the airport? Do you have a right to yell and scream at a judge in a courtroom?

You have the right to do those things in your own home. You can also to talk about a bomb on the sidewalk and on a public sidewalk you can tell a judge what kind of slime he is if you don't get too loud and attract a crowd.

242 posted on 07/30/2009 11:44:04 AM PDT by SUSSA
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To: jessduntno

That could be too. The point is you can do and say thigs ina private home that you can’t do out where you disturp others.

You also lose a lot of legal protection when you step outside even if you don’t disturb the peace.


243 posted on 07/30/2009 11:49:48 AM PDT by SUSSA
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To: Eagle Eye
Gates then followed him outside and continued to berate him to the point that it was attracting undue attention from onlookers.

I've seen this happen, and depending on the circumstances, he was bordering on trying to incite a riot.

244 posted on 07/30/2009 1:03:00 PM PDT by Dosa26 (One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them!)
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To: jessduntno

I’d venture that the reason the prosecutor’s office dropped the charges is because they realized the difficulty of showing that there was a danger of imminent violence. I went to court three times representing people with the same charges and when the prosecutors saw that the defendant had an attorney, they just dismissed the case each time.

Just guessing, I’d bet that 90% of the time, the officer is just fed up with the defendant, and vents his frustration by arresting him, even though he knows the charges will probably be dropped later. It’s better than hitting him over the head.


245 posted on 07/30/2009 2:00:46 PM PDT by freethinker_for_freedom
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To: freethinker_for_freedom

“It’s better than hitting him over the head.”

Better, probably, but far less justice involved.

A friend of mine tells me this story (cooraborated by his wife) a while back;

“I was talking to a guy in line at a ball game once who was real loud and saying a bunch of what he thought was really cool shit about one of the black ballplayers and saying things like “the team is getting really DARK, you know what I mean? Night Games will be tough to see the players”...blah, blah, blah...so this guy behind him, a WHITE guy, like us, says to him why don’t you STFU you ignorant (...)....

The big mouth tells him to stick it...and the guy behind him DECKS him...I mean just lays him out...park cop (white guy, too by the way) comes over, asks what happened...I say NOTHING...silent...the guy who laid this idiot out says “he must have slipped” and the loud mouth gets walked away by an attendant, still woozy and bleeding all over himself. No one said a word. Went in and watched the Angels beat the Yankees...”

America. Funny place.


246 posted on 07/30/2009 2:14:48 PM PDT by jessduntno ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." - Ronald Reagan)
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To: ClearCase_guy

“When I lived in Cambridge, there was a shopping mall (a nice one) that I stopped going to because there was a heavy gang presence and there were occasional shootings. It is false to think of Cambridge as some sort of lush gated community for eggheads.”

I’ve only been there as a tourist, and I guess I missed that. But somehow I doubt that there was a dangerous gang presence outside Professor Gates’ house.

I don’t know what Gates was upset about, or if he was just trying to create a scene, but I can certainly imagine situations where I would be moved to yell at a police officer on my property. Suppose one came with a search warrant to take away all of my guns, and the officer proceeded to do so, even after I pointed out to him that he had misread the warrant and gone to the wrong house. I think I would give him a very noisy piece of my mind, and I wouldn’t mind if I disturbed the neighbors. I’d want them to know what was going on.


247 posted on 07/30/2009 2:15:48 PM PDT by freethinker_for_freedom
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To: freethinker_for_freedom

“I’d venture that the reason the prosecutor’s office dropped the charges is because they realized the difficulty of showing that there was a danger of imminent violence.”

The POtuS saying he was a good friend may have had SOMETHING to do with it...I’m just saying...and “Mumbles” Menino saying the cop should lose his job may have had an effect...


248 posted on 07/30/2009 2:18:17 PM PDT by jessduntno ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." - Ronald Reagan)
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To: jessduntno

“The POtuS saying he was a good friend may have had SOMETHING to do with it.”

Ah, yeah, come to think of it...


249 posted on 07/30/2009 3:43:34 PM PDT by freethinker_for_freedom
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To: Captain Kirk
You must pick your fights very carefully. The Racist Obama Buddy Gates is just another Elitist with a chip on his shoulder that thinks the world owes him for his accident of birth.

If I was the cop, I would have told President ObamaBigot to stuff his beer where the sun don't shine.

The cop is just another useful idiot for the Libtards. Of course, being a Union Man from Taxachussets, I'm sure he voted for Obama and Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy anyway.

250 posted on 07/30/2009 4:25:43 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (There is nothing wrong with the Government that 552 bullets couldn't cure...)
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To: Kickass Conservative
The cop is just another useful idiot for the Libtards. Of course, being a Union Man from Taxachussets, I'm sure he voted for Obama and Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy anyway.

The attempt to make Crowley a hero here is quite amazing. Please note that Crowley teaches "sensitivity training." I have yet to meet a "trainer" who is not a leftist, brown noser to authority, or on a personal power trip. I suspect that Crowley is in the latter category and would have arrested ANYONE for disagreeing with him. I'll bet dollars to donuts that Crowley would have also tased and arrested this 72 year old grandmother and would have been universally condemend here for doing so!:

251 posted on 07/31/2009 8:33:55 AM PDT by Captain Kirk
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