Open Thread for Monday, February 29, 2016

Screengrab from The State's video of Kelvin Washington leaving the jail without answering reporters' questions.

Screengrab from The State’s video of Kelvin Washington leaving the jail without answering reporters’ questions.

A few topics that may be of interest:

  1. President Obama Presents Medal Of Honor To Navy SEAL Hero — Just to lead off with something positive, a news item in which the word “honor” can be used without irony.
  2. Iranian Moderates Make Big Gains In Parliamentary Elections — Whatever is in the water over there, we could use some of that in this country.
  3. Clarence Thomas asks first questions in 10 years — That’s a pretty long silence.
  4. Kelvin Washington charged with felony DUI — Yep, that Kelvin Washington, the Richland County councilman.

16 thoughts on “Open Thread for Monday, February 29, 2016”

    1. Bryan Caskey

      I think it’s an interesting legal question. Both sides have some good points. For the government’s side, I like this point from U.S. vs. New York Telephone Co.:

      “The conviction that private citizens have a duty to provide assistance to law enforcement officials when it is required is by no means foreign to our traditions, as the Company apparently believes. See Babington v. Yellow Taxi Corp., 250 N.Y. 14, 17, 164 N.E. 726, 727 (1928) (Cardozo, C.J.) (“Still, as in the days of Edward I, the citizenry may be called upon to enforce the justice of the state, not faintly and with lagging steps, but honestly and bravely and with whatever implements and facilities are convenient and at hand”).”

      But I think I like the rebuttal from the dissent better:

      “Concededly, citizen cooperation is always a desired element in any government investigation, and lack of cooperation may thwart such an investigation, even though it is legitimate and judicially sanctioned. [Footnote 2/21] But unless the Court is of the opinion that the District Court’s interest in its jurisdiction was coextensive with the Government’s interest in a successful investigation, there is simply no basis for concluding that the inability of the Government to achieve the purposes for which it obtained the pen register order in any way detracted from or threatened the District Court’s jurisdiction. Plainly, the District Court’s jurisdiction does not ride on the Government’s shoulders until successful completion of an electronic surveillance.

      If the All Writs Act confers authority to order persons to aid the Government in the performance of its duties, and is no longer to be confined to orders which must be entered to enable the court to carry out its functions, it provides a sweeping grant of authority entirely without precedent in our Nation’s history. Of course, there is precedent for such authority in the common law — the writ of assistance. The use of that writ by the judges appointed by King George III was one British practice that the Revolution was specifically intended to terminate.”

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        Since I don’t understand either quote, I’ll go with the first one. I endorse it wholeheartedly, “not faintly and with lagging steps…,” because the second one has no good bits such as that…

  4. Bryan Caskey

    I tweeted about the Medal of Honor recipient. He’s a legit bad-ass. I like the part in the official report where he’s keeping a bad guy at bay with one hand, while adjusting his night vision goggles with the other.

    Dude was literally fighting the bad guy with one hand. A well-deserved award.

    Hooyah!

  5. Bryan Caskey

    Is Kelvin Washington going to just…keep serving on council?

    It’s like bizzaro Office Space where instead of Peter’s “I’m just not gonna go anymore” mantra, Mr. Washington is going with “I”m just gonna keep showing up no matter what.”

    We live in a time when people feel no guilt. Guilt used to be a bigger deal, I think. Nowadays, not so much.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Hey, did you see that his mother-in-law was featured in The Washington Post portrayed as the prototypical black Hillary supporter?

      By the way, a footnote.

      Doug or somebody challenged me the other day with having never even considered an endorsement of Libertarian candidate. I think I mentioned that I HAD, but didn’t get into details.

      The Libertarian in question was a young woman (name long forgotten) who was running against Bernice. Our point wasn’t that we thought the young woman was particularly qualified — she was pretty clueless, if I recall — but as a protest against the inevitable, automatic re-election of Ms. Scott. Basically, we were saying, we have such a problem with this incumbent that we’ll endorse this totally unqualified Libertarian rather than her.

      And it wasn’t just about her, either. We were favoring dumping ALL of the incumbents on Richland County Council that year (Doug would have loved that) because they were just so dysfunctional.

      Needless to say, she survived the horror of our disapproval…

    2. Doug Ross

      Oh, Bryan, guilt still is very important. Don’t you feel it every day when you look in the mirror? How dare you be you with all your privilege!

    4. Assistant

      He’s a man of his convictions, the more the merrier… As long as the bail money holds out.

      2. Bryan Caskey

        ^^^^^ Convictions! Okay, that’s funny, I don’t care who you are. I think we have a threadwinner.

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