The Criminalization of . . . Acting Like a Dick
Connecticut police say they arrested a man at a management company after he mentioned the shooting rampage across the state that killed nine people and said he understood the killer's mindset.
Fifty-eight-year-old Francis Laskowski of Derby was charged with breach of peace Wednesday after making the comments while working at Fusco Management Co. in New Haven.
Nine people died in the shootings Tuesday at Hartford Distributors in Manchester, including gunman Omar Thornton. Thornton told police in a 911 call that he wanted to avenge racial discrimination, allegations that company officials denied.
Laskowski told The Associated Press on Friday that his comments were blown out of proportion. He says his arrest was "ridiculous" and he didn't make any threats.
Laskowski posted bail and is due in New Haven Superior Court on Tuesday.
And from Chicago:
The manager of a North Chicago sandwich shop learned in a Lake County courtroom this week that the difference between a joke in poor taste and an inflammatory remark is 75 bucks.
Arjunsinh Sindha, 64, doesn't agree with the judge who hit him with a $75 fine after finding him guilty of disorderly conduct for asking a Pakistani-born customer if he was a terrorist.
"I don't think it was a fair deal," said Sindha, who manages the Subway sandwich shop at 2302 Green Bay Road in North Chicago. "We all talk when something happens. We just kid around."
I guess "I'm calling the cops" is the new "Hey, why don't you shut up, asshole?"
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The Criminalization of . . . Acting Like a Dick
Being a dick ain’t so bad. We’re dicks! We’re reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong Il is an asshole. Pussies don’t like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn’t appropriate – and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves… because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don’t know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don’t let us fuck this asshole, we’re going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!
Wow, I think you’ve been waiting a long time for the right time to use that.
breach of peace
disorderly conduct
“It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself–anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face…; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime…”
I guess “I’m calling the cops” is the new “Hey, why don’t you shut up, asshole?”
And the cops are only too willing to oblige, because it’s additional power-tripping for them to enjoy.
Don’t forget about the revenues. Those bails and fines pay the bills.
Khan reported Sindha’s comment to North Chicago officials, who ticketed Sindha under a city disorderly conduct ordinance.
Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
You know, I wish I was a member of a/the victim class. You would all be in jail right now.
CT, IL… weak.
I think it’s safe to say someone should shoot all the cops in CT and someone should institute a genocide for Illinois.
*waits for cops*
*hides dog*
The Criminalization of . . . Acting Like a Dick
H&R is doomed.
Is it just me or does every other H&R article now contain a “goddamn”, a “dick”, or an “asshole”. Not complaining, I am greatly enjoying the saucy language.
I hadn’t noticed.
supra sneakers, supra sneakers
cheap supra shoes, cheap supra shoes
Cops will have to start arresting themselves, it appears.
Pretty sure the market would have punished that sandwich shop owner far more than $75 for that remark. Insulting your customers is not good business, obviously.
The CT story is pretty vague regarding the circumstances and intended audience of the comment. But it is hard to see how that can be considered a criminal act.
And the Chicago story contains this little morsel at the end:
Maybe he should sue.
I’ve said it before: Better one hundred innocents be arrested than one guilty go free.
And a muslim resorts to (proxy) violence to deal with an insult… how original.
Like Bush handled Saddam insulting his dad?
I presume you mean “insulted” the way Sarah Jane Moore and Squeaky Fromme “insulted” Jerry Ford?
Christ, you are a fucking idiot. Insulted?
I hear there are a few other brutal dictators that could handle some apologia written for them. Are you up to it? You certainly seem qualified.
As demonstrated in the Ground Zero mosque thread earlier this week, there are extremely well educated people who frequent this very site who sometimes can’t seem to tell the difference between saying something someone is doing is asinine and saying that the government should do something to stop it.
It seems to have become the default interpretation somehow–if you say you’re against it, then you must want the government to stop it.
I’m not sure how this default assumption came about, but I suspect it has something to do with every jackhole politician in this country offering a solution to everything anybody happens to be talking about at the moment–but that’s just a working theory.
People are just emulating what they watch on the television news or something–but no, that doesn’t mean I want the government to do anything about it!
Not sure if you are referring to me, but if you are, I fully understood that you didn’t support using government to stop the mosque (there were several on the thread who did, though). You are free to opine that building a place to practice one’s religion in the face of bigoted opposition is asinine, and I am free to retort that your opinion is asinine (which it is).
In other words, just because you don’t support government action doesn’t render your opinion immune to criticism.
“I’m not sure how this default assumption came about, but I suspect it has something to do with every jackhole politician in this country offering a solution to everything anybody happens to be talking about at the moment–but that’s just a working theory.”
Thats a good place to start.
I serious hope that these two fellows pursue civil charges against the cops, that judge and everyone else who was involved.
Make these busybody shitheads pay!!!
I guess “I’m calling the cops” is the new “Hey, why don’t you shut up, asshole?”
Don’t even ask what happened to “Tough shit, it’s a free country.”
Re: Connecticut Fran: A dick? yes.
Few facts in the article, but if truly all he said was that he could “understand” the other jackhole shooter, not that he was contemplating some act himself – that Connecticut Fran falls in the 99.999% of “not really acts of threat – learn discernment, folks”.
A threat? Uh….no.
And then compounding it by pulling in the po po – nice job, guys. You’re bigger dicks than Fran is.
“Breach of the peace” is such bullshit. I still have trouble understanding how such a vague statute can be constitutional.
It’s one thing if you’re standing out in the middle of the street on a quiet suburban upper middle-class neighborhood at 2:00 a.m., screaming and yelling and having a knockdown fist fight. That’s clearly a “breach of the peace” and “disorderly conduct.”
But standing around the lunch break room and saying, “ya know, I can kinda understand that guy’s motivation and why he would flip out and kill a bunch of people”? Breach of the peace? Gimme a freakin’ break. Of course, we don’t know all the facts, i.e., what were the circumstances under which this guy said it, and how did he say it, but still – based on the scarce facts reported, it doesn’t sound very “breachy” of the peace to me.
But standing around the lunch break room and saying, “ya know, I can kinda understand that guy’s motivation and why he would flip out and kill a bunch of people”? Breach of the peace?
Sure. All people have a fundamental human right to keep their panties unbunched. If you say something that causes someone’s panties to bunch up, then you have violated their rights, and committed a crime.
The stupid speak of the past, the wise of the present, and fools of the future.