Brickbat: You Seem'd of Late to Make the Law a Tyrant

TerminallyChill

Police in Brentwood, England, warned the owner of an art gallery he was breaking the law by displaying a painting that had a swear word. John Brandler says officers told him someone had complained about the painting, which is a spoof of a Penguin Classics Shakespeare book.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Brickbats from England? Talk about low hanging fruit.

[mr lizard]

A 0600 first from Fist I see. So you like to warmup before the AM links?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I waited three minutes but no one was commenting.

[UnCivilServant]

Talk about low hanging fruit.

I don’t see how it’s relevent, but, okay…

The drawf apricot tree was engineered so that the produce could be harvested without the use of ladders or lifting equipment by a colony of achrondroplasiacs who could not lift their arms above their low shoulders. Unfortunately, the change to the genome soured the fruit and made it unpalatable. Combined with pressure from anti-GMO activists, the cultivars were destroyed…

/bald-faced lie.

[LynchPin1477]

It’s strawberry season soon. A bit too low, if you ask me.

[LynchPin1477]

It’s strawberry season soon. A bit too low, if you ask me.

[LynchPin1477]

It’s strawberry season soon. A bit too low, if you ask me.

[LynchPin1477]

It’s strawberry season soon. A bit too low, if you ask me.

[Marshall Gill]

A quadruple post? That has to be some kind of record.

[UnCivilServant]

Someone check to see if the squirrels are having a seizure.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I’m not really sure how that happened. But I view your statement as a challenge.

[LynchPin1477]

I do know it happened. My browser was slow to refresh so I could click submit several times.

The first time I did it because I didn’t realize the browser was being slow.

The second time I did it because no one could stop me.

[freespeechbutt]

Unfortunately, not even yourself.

[Bean Counter]

ESPECIALLY himself.

[JeremyR]

Eh, apparently it was in the window of his store, so it was facing the street.

I’m pretty sure even in the US, you can’t display the F word like that in display windows like that…

[UnCivilServant]

I’m also pretty sure that restrictions on the books in the states are unconsitutional and can be knocked down by someone bloody-minded enough to pay more for a lawyer than the cost of the associated fines.

[ubik]

Wrong, it’s constitutionally protected.

[Agammamon]

I’m pretty sure even in the US you can.

I’m pretty sure even in the US, you can walk down a crowded street saying ‘fuck, fuck, fuck’ over and over and it would be perfectly legal.

[UnCivilServant]

You might, however, be clobbered by cops because someone reported a crazy person.

[straffinrun]

“But officer, I was just saying, ‘uckf, uckf, uckf'”.

[np]

You can say it and distribute books, but the city has the right, which it often exercises, to force businesses to comply with whatever it wants regarding storefront, signs, and anything regarding publicly visible displays.

[UnCivilServant]

The city does not have that right. They have asserted that authority, and gone unchallenged because it costs less to comply than to get the ordinance struck down in court.

[np]

https://reason.com/archives/201…..-it-anyway

Since the 1950s, the United States Supreme Court has unfortunately held that basic constitutional liberties should yield to the government’s self-proclaimed interest in tailoring local aesthetics. Writing for a unanimous Court in 1954, Justin William O. Douglas upheld Congress’ decision to eliminate a supposedly blighted African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C.

There are several other reported cases like that. One did involve either a middle finger or “fuck” if I recall that Reason covered (but I haven’t found it yet)

[UnCivilServant]

But, of course, SCOTUS is always right, *cough*Wickard*cough*Kelo*cough*, must be something in the air here.

After the 14th amendment, the bill of rights definitively applied to the states, so the lines that start with “Congress shall make no law…” apply equally to the localities.

[np]

Oh I agree. Just pointing out in reality the BoR isn’t as ironclad as we think it ought to be

[UnCivilServant]

Although I cede that I was inaccurate in saying they went unchallenged.

[np]

local law can set whatever standards it wants for public indecency (aside from federal and state obscenity law)

[np]

While I still can’t find the one I saw on Reason, I did find this:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cursi…..d=16653252
Middleborough, Mass managed to ban saying fuck in public! What’s worse is that it was actually a criminal offense up until 2012, when the council changed it to a non-criminal offense, punishable by fines and considered more enforceable.

[invisible furry hand]

Well the Sex Pistols won the case over Never Mind the Bollocks, so he shouldn’t give up hope

[ubik]

It’s all over in the UK. I’m a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Scotland and back in my old stomping ground for a few days. The SNP are about to assume their vice-like authoritarian grip on the country of my birth and begin spending their way to national bankruptcy.

[UnCivilServant]

Is it wrong for me to hope they get their independance and find out why Venezuela has a toilet paper shortage?

[ubik]

That’s definitely one possible cure to what is about to descend on Scotland. Been listening to the the political pitches…the prevailing lietmotif is the politics of envy.

[Gordilocks]

Isn’t it interesting how so many ‘independence’ movements never seem to go all the way, and champion full independence for individuals.

I was speaking with a Scot I work with here in Oz, and we remarked on how so much of the nationalist movement was tied up with full-on socialism. It’s no surprise they don’t ever win a referendum, when their leadership only put forth a different variant of what’s going on in London.

My mother is from Airdrie, and that part of me that identifies with ‘Scotland’ would be very sad to see wankers like the SNP engage in tired old forced collectivism, at the expense of liberty, of course.

[ubik]

I fear my fellow Scots are about to get what they wish for. Robbie Burns is about to start spinning in his grave.

[UnCivilServant]

Quick-fit him with magnets and wrap the tomb in coils of wire, we might be able to offset some of the green power intiatives with the output.

[invisible furry hand]

I have put forward the view before that Scottish independence could actually force them onto the straight and narrow, fiscally speaking. It’s hard for a Scottish Government to ensure there’s a deep-fried Mars bar in every pot when the English aren’t paying for it.

[Gordilocks]

Independence could do that; socialists in charge will just mean plenty of family visits from the home country of the international Scottish diaspora.

[ubik]

Exactly, Scots and Scottish politicians have up till now been insulated from the full consequences of their political philosophy.

[LynchPin1477]

I have put forward the view before that Scottish independence could actually force them onto the straight and narrow, fiscally speaking.

Would that it were so, but other independent socialist** countries seem to completely self destruct before learning their lesson.

**Don’t actually know much about Scottish politics or how socialist they are.

[ubik]

The SNP is hard core authoritarian left.

[straffinrun]

This guy really has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I hope alls well the ends well.

[Charles Easterly]

Mr. Brandler is a man of infinite jest, and most excellent fancy.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

What. The. Heck. Is. Going. On. In. England?

Jesus Lord me they’ve lost their balls and minds.

[straffinrun]

Heavy flow day, Rufus? That’s a lot of period.

[UnCivilServant]

Maybe they’re full stops and he’s just congested.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Homage to DB.

[UnCivilServant]

If.that.were.true.you’d.have.no.spaces.

[Gordilocks]

Paging Invisible Furry Hand –

Are you politically homeless now?

Australian Sex Party deregistered by electoral commission due to lack of ‘members’.

http://m.smh.com.au/federal-po…..gvyrz.html

[invisible furry hand]

They’re going to challenge the decision. It’ll never stand up in court.

Some of their policies make my decoder ring shine, but if I were to vote for anyone it would be David Leyonhjelm