Brickbat: Too Soon?

Constantin Opris / Dreamstime.com

After Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law a bill that legalized Sunday liquor sales, liquor-store owner Jim Surdyk emailed customers to say he'd be open on Sunday. OK, the law doesn't take effect until July 2, but Surdyk figured if the legislature and the governor are all in favor of Sunday sales, why wait. An official with the state licensing agency felt differently. He hit Surdyk with several citations that could bring an estimated $3,500 in fines for selling on Sunday.

Comments

[esteve7]

So who the fuck are you to tell me I can't buy a product on Sunday? Why?

Fuck Off, Slaver.

[Detroit Linguist]

In Ontario there were Sunday closure laws for all stores, not just liquor stores. Some time in the early nineties, a few furniture stores did the math and decided that their potential profit was greater than the maximum fine they would receive, so, with great publicity, proceeded to open on Sundays. This went on for a few months, and finally, believe it or not, the provincial legislature gave in and repealed the blue laws. Sometimes just telling the slavers to fuck off works. But you have to have a combination of stupid laws and fed up citizens.
Alas, we're not there yet--witness the latest surge in border guard demands for FB passwords at border crossings, for example:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/20/.....index.html

[some guy]

Such is the way with many laws. It only takes a small vocal minority to get them put into place. Then it takes an overwhelming majority to get them removed. Ain't government grand?

[Jake Stone]

That wording intrigues me: border guard demands for FB passwords

I guess because I figure they can "demand" all they want. They can demand passwords or cell phones or vehicle searches or anything else up and down Broadway in full military regalia all day and all night and it won't get them anything. Except for a "demand" from me that they go fuck themselves as roughly as they do their slaver wives.

[Robert]

You mean, "Suck off flavor."

[Radioactive]

FYTW...thought you knew...

[SomeGuy]

liqueur hours are ridiculous. Can't buy a drink past 7pm, 10pm. or midnight for a 24 hour store...FUCK YOU!

black out days??? Is buying liqueur like using my fucking miles?

[techgump]

Ah, the arbitrary nature of law. The masters have decided now it's okay, but not until July 2. Taste the freedom.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Don Bordeaux at Cafe Hayek had an interesting take on coercive government and police powers. Suppose you have two neighboring counties. One bans fireworks, or Sunday sales, or self-serve fuel, or any other capricious and arbitrary decision; the other doesn't. Odd that crossing some arbitrary line on a map makes such a difference. Then suppose these two counties merge and they choose among the various laws. Odd how one each half of the new county is suddenly different from the day before.

[Radioactive]

even odder is the fact that no one gives a rat shit about county structures anymore anyway...

[JeremyR]

When was a kid in the 70s, I remember stores couldn't open on Sunday and when it finally got repealed, people were sup-er-happy.

Ridiculous that such laws (blue laws) not only existed in the first place, but lasted so long

[Fist of Etiquette]

About 1 p.m. Wilson showed up at Surdyk's, where the parking lot was full of cars, and advised Surdyk to "lock the doors." If he did not comply with the advice, Wilson "was going to write me up," according to Surdyk, who added that he planned on staying open till 6 p.m. By midafternoon, checkout lines stretched to the back of the store.

Said Wilson, "I documented three liquor sales so I could instigate citations." The city allows a fine of $500 for the first violation, and doubles the fines for each added one."

This is total bullshit. This is his business. Let the dude alone. Are they seriously going to blame a guy for trying to get in one final citation before Sunday sales become legit?

[some guy]

Won't someone please think of the state licensing agency employees!

[Dan S.]

The city allows a fine of $500 for the first violation, and doubles the fines for each added one.

If that means what it seems to, it would allow the city to totally bankrupt anyone who made more than a few sales. The fine for each violation is double that of the previous? That means they increase exponentially without limit, like in the story of the inventor of chess and the Shah of Persia. I believe the Supreme Court has ruled that that violates the 8th Amendment, and that there must be some limit, but it can be pretty high. This guy is lucky they only issued three citations.

[SomeGuy]

right to rebel...just saying 😉

[Robert]

So the state made $500 + 2 X $1,000, the store made a lot more than that; everybody's happy.

[DanO.]

No sympathy. If we let Surdyk break the law with impunity, then what moral ground do we have against career criminals like Crooked Hillary and Lyin' Don Trump?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Surdyk at least adds value to the community?

[DanO.]

By claiming an unlawful advantage over his competitors? That's some role model for the community. If his delivery trucks drive 100 miles and hour and run red lights, should the "community" erect a statue honoring his "value"?

[Memory Hole]

Dude, you should rethink it. You're overstating the harm to his competition and understating the value of showing utter contempt for contemptible laws.

[Memory Hole]

*Understating

[Memory Hole]

I just woke up.

[crufus]

What's with the pop-up videos on Reason.com? There's no reason to intentionally make your site suck.

[DanO.]

I don't see any, but I have a browser and plugins that thwart those things. There's no reason to be a victim.

[Mickey Rat]

That does not excuse Reason for allowing such evil loose on their property.

[DanO.]

It's their property. And they have bills to pay, which is especially problematic since 35 dedicated chatters took their comments away, depriving Reason of at least $1.37 a month in clicks.

[some guy]

Use an ad blocker plugin. Mine blocks about 1 ad per second on this site. Only the "You may like" in-line ads and Reason's own ads make it through.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Every once in a while I stumble upon reason.com with Internet Explorer and am reminded again why the aforementioned ad blockers and social networking widget removers are essential here. I would like to support the site through their advertisers but holy fucking shit this thing is unusable without something blocking that nonsense.

[Longtobefree]

ad blocker has currently suppressed 60 ads, now 64, it was 44 when I started typing this post. and 72 as I leave

[DanO.]

Speaking of men who believe they are above the law:

Trump's talk ? 'Muslim ban,' 'Islam hates us' ? comes back to bite him in court again

Going into the latest court battle over President Trump's revised travel ban, government lawyers were well aware that the administration's incendiary ? many say bigoted? rhetoric about Muslims would be a liability.

Before the initial executive order was even issued, opponents had pulled together a list of public statements by Trump and his surrogates calling for a "Muslim ban" and blaming Islam for the nation's problems.

In his blistering opinion Wednesday freezing Trump's the new travel ban, U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson said statements by Trump and his senior advisers were precisely what called its legality into question.

"A reasonable, objective observer ? enlightened by the specific historical context, contemporaneous public statements, and specific sequence of events leading to its issuance ? would conclude that the Executive Order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion," Watson said.

Pants-shitting bigots hardest hit.
https://tinyurl.com/h6qezff

[Longtobefree]

When it gets to the supreme court, all those campaign comments will be ignored, as were the campaign promises of Obama "the penalty is not a tax". That is the legal precedent that must be followed.
These judges are ignoring precedent on political grounds alone, and are subject to impeachment.

[DanO.]

You forgot to mention Crooked Hillary in your defense of xenophobia. Liked the "impeachment" bit though. Tells us you're a serious guy.

[Jgalt1975]

The statement "the penalty is not a tax" isn't a manifestation of intent to discriminate against a recognized suspect class, but nice try.

[Mickey Rat]

There is the inconvenient fact that soneone who is looking to perform terror attacks on American citizens and residents is more than likely an adherent of a particular religion, acting on a political platform heavily influenced by certain sects of that religion.

[DanO.]

"More likely" is not a legal or ethical principle. It is, however, a white nationalist rhetorical strategy.

[Radioactive]

So more or less likely that someone is going to ass fuck you with a tuba is no reason to wear cast iron underpants?

[Mickey Rat]

It is a fact, and ignoring what people werre interested in harming our people was what led to ridiculous actions like TSA pulling little old ladies in wheelchairs for enhanced screening because to do otherwise would be "unfair". Any policy that targets the source of terrorism against our people in a practical manner is going to affect adherents to Islam more than anyone else, because the terrorists are going to ve a.ong their number.

To expect it not to is stupid and irrational.

[Longtobefree]

May we raise the question of why the government official was working on Sunday?

[pan fried wylie]

and what's the deal with park rangers in the park after dark, havin a lark?

[Radioactive]

is this snark?

[Jerryskids]

Among those less pleased was Minneapolis licensing manager Grant Wilson, who phoned Surdyk before noon Sunday to advise him to lock up the store or be in violation of state law.

The first thing to check would be this guy's authority to issue citations and the procedures manual for how it's done. If he's got such a hard-on for authoritah that he's working on Sunday, he's taking this shit personal and when an official starts acting in a personal capacity they tend to screw up the procedure enough to let the fish wriggle off the hook.

[Bubba Jones]

Usually it is the merchants who push for these laws. It allows them to take Sunday off without losing customers to competitors.

[Jake Stone]

I remember years ago skiing at Taos Valley. We stopped in at the grocery store for some provisions and I was shocked when I turned down a particular aisle and there was a full liquor store right there in the grocery.

Where I grew up, you'd never see anything like that....

Apropos of nothing. Good morning!