Brickbat: Checkmate
For more than 30 years, people have gathered on Market Street in San Francisco for pickup chess games. But police have started cracking down on the games, confiscating boards and other equipment and running off the players. Cops admit the players aren't a problem. Rather, they say, that by running off the chess players they are trying to get rid of illegal gambling and drug use in the area.
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To be fair, playing chess badly does get you killed
Who knew chess was a gateway game?
Chess leads to trouble. If you don't have a clue, you'll be sorry. But hey, that's life.
boooooo
I admit I took a risk when I tried to connect four board games into a pun.
If you never try, you'll never find a better mousetrap.
You have the monopoly on bad puns.
boooooo
Oh, quit acting like an old maid.
It was in the cards.
I can't wait for the Hollywood comeback kid story about the retired chess player getting lured back in for one last bout in the underground circuit for a big score that will allow him to pay his sick kid's medical bills...
The Big Rook?
Knightfall?
Gimme the check, mate
It has a scene near the climax where the bad guy who the protagonist thought was just a low level pawn in the whole scheme is revealed to be the mastermind of it. A "promotion," if you will.
Police Searching for Bobby Fischer
That script has a weak opening.
Trouble, my friends--
Right here in Golden City!
With a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "C"
And that stands for Chess
or Cops.
Unlicensed street chess games: the ultimate broken-window signnof a deteriorating community on the edge of chaos.
Heroes!
Cops just making sure they get home at night.
Well, exclusively going after nonviolent noncriminals does have that as a benefit.
Close, db. Going after non-violent non-criminals is what they're doing.
And, yeah, its pretty darn safe.
They should want more chess playing, as it's apparently fly paper for gamblers and druggies. Get them all to gather in one place and arrest the lot. Much easier than investigating violent crimes, those ones have victims to whom you have to explain why you haven't made any progress.
As though they'd ever bother. When I was the victim of a violent crime, the cops lost interest as soon as they realized that they couldn't pin anything on me.
No kidding. In a lot of big cities, the cops have an explicit policy of not responding to "minor" property crimes, and aren't exactly going to break a sweat going after your stolen car, either.
Officials clearly don't like any game that mocks their system of governance.
Also, Mongo only pawn in game of life.
I saw Ute Lemper on Monday night. She's OK, but she's no Lily von Schtupp
Who comes up with all that stuff.
http://www.Got-Privacy.com
Government must step in and do something, even if that something is done to people known to be innocent. Can any of you prove that chess games will never ever lead to anything bad, ever? If only one crime is prevented, it will all have been worth it.
Cops steal property for non-crimes, and no one is surprised.
The land of the free to ask permission and take orders.
I read the comments in the link. Here's the thing. I may be committing a logical fallacy here but I really think those people can go fuck themselves. SF is an uber-liberal town that votes for and accepts the sort of mentality that leads to crappy crackdowns on chess players. Isn't this the place, I mean, that votes Nancy Pelosi in?
I know I shouldn't, but I have somewhat the same reaction whenever I read about NYC, SF, DC, or Chicago.
If you voluntarily checked yourself into a progressive concentration camp, don't expect my sympathy.
That's why I live in rural New Hampshire, where I can here the soft sounds of distant gunfire on a Saturday afternoon.
We'll be neighbors someday.
they say, that by running off the chess players they are trying to get rid of illegal gambling and drug use in the area.
Wouldn't it make more sense to just run off *everybody*?
Look on the bright side- no dogs were shot.
I don't understand how they can even do that. If the chess players weren't committing any crimes, then how can they confiscate their property? And why does the article not address that at all?
Cops can do whatever they want. Who's going to stop them? The cops?
Easy, Nick. One cop grabs the property while his buddies stand around with their hands on their guns. Voila, property seized, no crime (well, other than those just committed by the cops) necessary.
Huh, perhaps that cop was right. The streets of America are like Afghanistan.
Trouble. With a capital T, that rhymes with C and that stands for... cops.