Please explain, what law do you think the cop was violating?
If he had ORDERED the individual to respond or act, perhaps he would have been over-reaching. Because he only ASKED, there's absolutely no violation. If you give up a right because you were asked to, that's on you. Any time something that sounds like a command from a cop ends with "OK?", it's a request or question, not a command.
So, this cop knew he was under the constraint of the law, and did not actually violate anything.
Because the guy refused to give his name, the cop could have insisted he met the description of a fugitive (no doubt he did, there's tons of fugitives out there of every description) and held him until his identity could be verified...legally.
Get it straight please, no law was broken or even bent that I can see....by either party.

We already live in an illusion of safety. Even if Open-carry was world-wide, people still will (and do) conceal weapons regardless.

I would love to rid the world of firearms entirely, but the fact that it is literally impossible due to the proliferation of unlicensed weapons, (something no law can fix), and that I don't trust any government to protect, and not victimize, me (also why I agree with the pro-gun nuts) is the primary reason I feel that way.

Marching in lock-step to your demise, child. Your comments on this matter read like a dutiful slave to your own oblivion.

One of the things no one has even cared to mention about this event is that the federal government, enforcing a civil affair (non-payment of grazing fees) sent armed swat teams to enforce the matter. The citizens of the United States who chose to show up in support of Bundy (a dumb-ass for the shit he's said of late, that the media has completely used to distract the putties with racism being an opportunistic side-issue in this entire debacle), who did so with guns as well-were within their rights to do so, breaking no laws. For this, they are called all manner of names and labeled as agitants, crazies,etc., by people without a clue as to how they are being ass-fucked.

The media, an arm of the state's machine, focuses upon this and continually pumps their brand of newsspeak, loaded language (like newtboy here repeats and foments to his own audience of parrots), and in doing so guides the story in a direction that further ignores facts while blatantly promoting the further erosion of individual rights under the constitution in favor of bigger, stronger, more restrictive government.

We are going to see more and more of this in the coming decade, as well as more people who favor the cozy protection of government control over individual responsibilities and accountability.

Why didn't Lincoln buy the slaves before the war starts?

In his own words: “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” ~Lincoln
&
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.” ~Lincoln

He went to war to prevent secession, not to free the slaves. He was not looking for peaceful solutions to end slavery. And yes, most taxes the Federal government collected at the time came from the South. Coincidence?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The government can have a deaf ear to any and all petitions.
There are no criminal penalties for choosing to not represent your constituents.

The nuisance created by peaceful public assembly is the power that coerces the government into obeying.

The government has 'reinterpreted' the constitution to belittle the 1st amendment's protection for peaceful assembly, so they can shoo away assemblers with permit requirements and arrests.

Meaning that the government can in perpetuity deny all right to peaceably assemble, by simply issuing no permits, and arresting all that try to peaceably assemble.
In effect, removing the 1st amendment protection in its entirety.

-scheherazade

No, it's okay to say fuck the pigs because it's not just the laws but the assholes who behave this way. There is no law that required them to do what is at best ethically questionable and at worst simply illegal. I could only stomach about a minute of this.

1st amendment says the government shall make no law abridging people's right to peaceably assemble. That's a supreme law, that no lower laws can supersede.

There is no 'lawful' order to make that particular woman leave that particular spot.

Police commands are not obligatory simply because they are given by police.
They could command you to strip naked, bend over and present yourself for an a$$ F'ing.

-scheherazade

1. Read the First Amendment and tell me where it is granting you any right:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The operative phrase is a restriction on the power of Congress, not the endowment of a right upon individuals.

Also, the Declaration of Independence backs me up:

"that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"

As does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,"

These rights are yours simply because you are human, and they are inalienable - you can't give them away even if you want to.

2. You can not bring a lawsuit in US court for a violation of rights based upon legislation unless you have standing. In effect, you must demonstrate that a law has actually caused you harm in some illegitimate, unfair, or unconstitutional manner. One of the easiest ways to gain standing is to violate the law and suffer the consequences of what you perceive to be an unjust law.

3. The Supreme Court has only recognized a right to privacy from government intrusion not from individual or corporate intrusion. Furthermore, there is no assumption to a right to privacy in a public place. The most logical reason for the need to get a permit to film there is that the Park Service recognizes the economic value of licensing something that is in high demand (filming in front of the White House) and could care less about the privacy of individuals (citizens and non-citizens alike).

Now the pathetic thing about this clip is the Lawyer asked to comment on this situation. He cites No Laws, he doesn't seem to even be educated in the Law at all. How hard is it to look up? The guy who made the video didn't have a difficult time.

They relayed NO accurate information to their viewing public, and that Lawyer pretty much proved his complete incompetence. That's really bad man.

I'm not gonna argue whether or not it should be a hate crime, personally I don't much like the idea of hate crimes. But the report is staggeringly bad, you have to admit that.

Up here in Canada our laws on abortion are the dream of everyone pro-choice, at least in theory. That is to say, we have absolutely no laws against abortion in any way, shape or form. In practice, we are starting to hear complaints from women's rights groups. Sex selective abortion is starting to become a concern to them and they aren't quite sure what to do about it.

Call me a right wing fanatic, but I disagree with my country's position on this. The reality is, our laws make abortion at 8 months and 3 weeks completely legal. Our laws also list it as murder to terminate that same infant at that same time should they have been born 2 weeks early and were no longer in the womb at 8 months and 3 weeks.

I guess my point is the insistence from the pro-choice side that this is a simple matter that demands choice be allowed for the good of all is flatly false. I really do believe the debate needs to center on when life begins, and talking around not liking the implications or resulting difficulties is just so much emotional bullying.

@Rufus so, freedom, to you, is synonymous with pervasive violence? Is that what you were told as a small child?

Hey, if only government just protected our lives and property, I'd be very happy about it. You do realize that's roughly why libertarians often talk about a limited government, right?

Too bad it isn't limited at all, far from it. It uses violence a lot more than it should, in ways you don't know about or haven't carefully considered. Probably both. Hell, it even scared you into fearing freedom.

@petpeeved so you're saying government price fixing by bureaucrats is the solution, because they're better judges of "real world supply and demand" than the collective judgements of millions of people trading vigorously every day? Wow, if only it was you running the centrally planned economy of Soviet Russia, I bet we could have stopped its apparently avoidable collapse.

You think the health and healthcare industry is "unfettered capitalism"? That's so delusional I don't know where to start. It's one of the most regulated industries in America. That's government intervention for you. Why do you think there's so much disgusting lobbying for special interests? Because government is everywhere, you can't move an inch without greasing the hand of a dirty bureaucrat.

Get government out of healthcare, and there will be no laws to protect the crooked big businesses. Let the industry compete with higher quality and lower prices, like any business tends to do in less regulated environments.

So you assume that all cops are corrupt and incompetent based almost entirely on anecdotal evidence. That's reasonable.

Laws only have meaning when they are actually enforced. If cops were not around, there would effectively be no law and nothing to deter people from doing whatever they want, regardless of the impact their actions have on others. There are certainly bad cops out there but the majority of cops do their jobs responsibly. Like them or not, society is better with cops around.

Being rude and belligerent to someone just because they're a cop is stupid. You shouldn't be rude and belligerent to anyone just because of their occupation. It accomplishes nothing aside from stroking your ego by "standing up to the man."

The perpetrator of this crime stole his weapons from his mother’s house after murdering her. He tried to buy a rifle days before, but was turned down.

No law could have stopped that short of disarming all law-abiding Americans. And that would just mean more death and carnage – and the end of liberty for all.

The massacre at Sandy Hook could have been minimized, if not averted completely, if just one teacher or administrator at the school was armed.

This doesn't make any sense to me at all.

If you have two monkeys standing next to two monkeys, you have four monkeys. In 5 seconds, unless another monkey walks up or one of them has a baby, you still have 4 monkeys.

There's no "laws of mathematics" here, it's just counting. Unless someone changes the what the words mean, you still count the same amount of monkeys. Or, perhaps, some external agent fundamentally alters the situation by adding hidden monkeys, or making invisible monkeys, or creating parallel universe monkeys that you can't count - but even in those situations, you're still just counting monkeys and missing some.

2+2 is still 4. That's a certainty. You can argue whether or not it means anything, has any value, or whether or not those monkeys are even real. But none of that matters. There's still 4 monkeys that I can see. Of that, I can be certain.

You don't need to justify "universal laws" without a lawgiver. They don't care whether you justify them or not. They don't care if you attribute them to Jesus, Odin or Zeus. They just are what they are. That's kind of the point. That wavelength is gonna be that wavelength, because it is. Just as 4 monkeys will continue to be 4 monkeys, until the situation changes.

Eric3579 somehow got the lyrics:

When I was in the 3rd grade
I thought that I was gay
Cause I could draw, my uncle was
And I kept my room straight
I told my mom, tears rushing down my face
She's like, "Ben you've loved girls since before pre-K"
Trippin', yeah, I guess she had a point, didn't she
A bunch of stereotypes all in my head
I remember doing the math like
"Yeah, I'm good a little league"
A pre-conceived idea of what it all meant
For those who like the same sex had the characteristics
The right-wing conservatives think its a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made, rewiring of a pre-disposition
Playing God
Ahh nah, here we go
America the brave
Still fears what we don't know
And God loves all His childrenIs somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written
3,500 hundred years ago
I don't know

[Hook: Mary Lambert]
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
My love, my love, my love
She keeps me warm [x4]

[Verse 2: Macklemore]
If I was gay
I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the YouTube comments lately
"Man that's gay"
Gets dropped on the daily
We've become so numb to what we're sayin'
Our culture founded from oppression
Yeah, we don't have acceptance for 'em
Call each other faggots
Behind the keys of a message board
A word routed in hate
Yet our genre still ignores it
Gay is synonymous with the lesser
It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion
Gender to skin color
Complexion of your pigment
The same fight that lead people to walk-outs and sit-ins
Human rights for everybody
There is no difference
Live on! And be yourself!
When I was in church
They taught me something else
If you preach hate at the service
Those words aren't anointed
And that Holy Water
That you soak in
Is then poisoned
When everyone else
Is more comfortable
Remaining voiceless
Rather than fighting for humans
That have had their rights stolen
I might not be the same
But that's not important
No freedom 'til we're equal
Damn right I support it
[Trombone]
I don't know

[Hook: Mary Lambert]

[Verse 3: Macklemore]
We press play
Don't press pause
Progress, march on!
With a veil over our eyes
We turn our back on the cause
'Till the day
That my uncles can united by law
Kids are walkin' around the hallway
Plagued by pain in their heart
A world so hateful
Someone would rather die
Than be who they are
And a certificate on paper
Isn't gonna solve it all
But it's a damn good place to start
No law's gonna change us
We have to change us
Whatever god you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up

[Hook: Mary Lambert]

[Outro: Mary Lambert]
Love is patient, love is kind
Love is patient (not cryin' on Sundays)
Love is kind (not crying on Sundays)