'Auslander raus!'

[kurogane]

Kurogane, just go to Europe coming summer for your holidays and enjoy.

Nothing to worry about.

I'm just fucking around man My aunt did say that Copenhagen was like a Turkish bazaar everyhwere in public last summer, but I have a sneaky feeling she would have said that if she saw more than 5 obvious non-Danes the whole trip. And our aunt does live next door to a comically large Turkish family that keeps their goats and chickens in the house, so I am sure her stories influenced things quite a bit. She is a hilarious racist, but that is simply too backwards to deserve to live in Denmark.

[Mike Oxlong]

This PZ Myers blog post reminded me of the discussion of the Dutch case.

Fast losing all confidence in the justice system

My wife and I made the mistake of getting hooked on the Netflix series, Making A Murderer, this weekend. Never watch sausage being made, and never take a look inside what the police do to make a case. It will ruin your trust in the system.

There were a couple of things that just infuriated me.

•There were two clear cases of scientific dishonesty that ought to have simply been thrown out, or never even been presented to the jury.
--->They tested a bullet for blood, and announced that it was from the victim. But the lab tech also disclosed that the negative control was contaminated! My jaw dropped at that. You don’t get to make that claim when your test was invalidated by error.
--->To disprove that the accused’s blood at the crime scene was not planted from a sample in police custody, they declared that the FBI, using a new test, had found no preservatives in the blood, therefore the sample couldn’t have been planted. Again, you can’t do that. What were the limits of detection? The best you can do is say that the test failed, and without a lot of evaluation of the samples and the procedure, you can’t state how likely their answer was.

Outrageous.

•One of the prosecutor’s tools was this horrifically detailed story of the murder, which they claim to have gotten from a confession by the accused’s nephew. But we have the recording of the “confession”, and it’s appalling. The nephew is this lost, confused, slow-witted teenager, and the police lead him through the story. He didn’t provide any of the purported details. They did.

The prosecutors didn’t exhibit a speck of shame at going on and on about knifings and stranglings and shooting and torture, with the only evidence being a fable fed to a not very bright kid. Is that a general character trait of prosecutors? I wouldn’t know.

Just to counterbalance the dismaying unprofessionalism, incompetence, and corruption of the police, though, I have to say I hope that if ever I’m accused of a crime, I want the defense attorneys, Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, on my side. They, at least, seemed to be well aware of the inconsistencies and falsehoods in the prosecution’s case. I don’t know whether the prosecutors weren’t very bright or were just doing their job to paper over the failings of their arguments.

I don’t know whether it’s the charitable assumption to guess that the prosecutors just didn’t care about the truth.

It’s also a shame because the victim was murdered, and my impression is that the Manitowoc police were more interested in pinning the blame on the accused than in actually figuring out what happened.

[Samurai_Jerk]

This PZ Myers blog post reminded me of the discussion of the Dutch case.

Fast losing all confidence in the justice system

My wife and I made the mistake of getting hooked on the Netflix series, Making A Murderer, this weekend. Never watch sausage being made, and never take a look inside what the police do to make a case. It will ruin your trust in the system.

There were a couple of things that just infuriated me.

•There were two clear cases of scientific dishonesty that ought to have simply been thrown out, or never even been presented to the jury.
--->They tested a bullet for blood, and announced that it was from the victim. But the lab tech also disclosed that the negative control was contaminated! My jaw dropped at that. You don’t get to make that claim when your test was invalidated by error.
--->To disprove that the accused’s blood at the crime scene was not planted from a sample in police custody, they declared that the FBI, using a new test, had found no preservatives in the blood, therefore the sample couldn’t have been planted. Again, you can’t do that. What were the limits of detection? The best you can do is say that the test failed, and without a lot of evaluation of the samples and the procedure, you can’t state how likely their answer was.

Outrageous.

•One of the prosecutor’s tools was this horrifically detailed story of the murder, which they claim to have gotten from a confession by the accused’s nephew. But we have the recording of the “confession”, and it’s appalling. The nephew is this lost, confused, slow-witted teenager, and the police lead him through the story. He didn’t provide any of the purported details. They did.

The prosecutors didn’t exhibit a speck of shame at going on and on about knifings and stranglings and shooting and torture, with the only evidence being a fable fed to a not very bright kid. Is that a general character trait of prosecutors? I wouldn’t know.

Just to counterbalance the dismaying unprofessionalism, incompetence, and corruption of the police, though, I have to say I hope that if ever I’m accused of a crime, I want the defense attorneys, Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, on my side. They, at least, seemed to be well aware of the inconsistencies and falsehoods in the prosecution’s case. I don’t know whether the prosecutors weren’t very bright or were just doing their job to paper over the failings of their arguments.

I don’t know whether it’s the charitable assumption to guess that the prosecutors just didn’t care about the truth.

It’s also a shame because the victim was murdered, and my impression is that the Manitowoc police were more interested in pinning the blame on the accused than in actually figuring out what happened.

This discussion reminded me of "Making a Murderer." I watched it last week and I definitely recommend it. The filmmakers' biases were obvious so after watching it I read some more info about the case which makes me not as sure about whether or not Avery is innocent but either way the DA and especially the cops pulled some unbelievably shady shit that should make anyone doubt the fairness of the trial. And calling his teenage nephew slow is an understatement. That kid was borderline retarded, had no idea what was going on, and was so obviously fucked over by the system.

You should at least watch for the white trash Wisconsin accents. I've always thought people were exaggerating but some of the Avery family didn't even sound like native speakers of English.

EDIT: Just remembered the first episode is available on Youtube for free and it's not region blocked.

[kurogane]

I haven't watched it, but just from looking at pictures of Avery and reading Auto Salvage I knew we were dealing with extra digits and webbed feet, not that that should entail a prison sentence unless he indulges his extra Y chromosome. OTOH, he is banged up here, and that is a pretty cool looking building, with 3 meals a day and clothing provided
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waupun_Co ... nstitution




PS I have been getting really freaked out lately at the speech patterns of trashy Americans on Youtube. We are actually getting an incipient HG Wells situation. It's not so much accent or degenerate grammar as the degraded pronunciation and lack of vocabulary: they sound like they've been doing shots of mercury or glue. A simple "Out of curiosity, what is your native language?" or "What language are they speaking there?" gets hilarious results, and not nearly enough of them are insulted or outraged at the suggestion. Indeed, even the Flobadob speaking blacks seem more articulate or at least aware. Freaky stuff down thatta way.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Here we go ...

Anti-Muslim Protest in Cologne Turns Violent as Germans Condemn Racist Rhetoric

Cologne, Germany, was again the site of violent clashes Saturday, when authorities resorted to water cannons as a means of dispersing anti-Islam protesters, who reportedly fought back with firecrackers and bottles.

Coordinated by members of the xenophobic Pegida movement — Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West — Saturday's demonstration of 1,700 people took place at Cologne's main train station; according to Deutsche Welle, "half of those attending the Pegida rally were football hooligans and right-wing extremists." Hundreds of police were dispatched to maintain order as some 1,300 counter-protesters converged on the anti-Muslim rally, where Chancellor Angela Merkel came under fire for her open-door policy on Middle Eastern refugees seeking asylum in Germany.

"Merkel has become a danger to our country," a Pegida protester reportedly told the demonstrators. "Merkel must go!"

The Dresden-based Pegida movement opposes the spread of Islam within Europe; it claims to stand against "hatemongers, regardless of which religion they belong to" and "radicalism, whether religiously or politically motivated." Yet, Merkel herself has condemned the group's racist ideology, saying they have "coldness, prejudice and hatred in their hearts." Pegida has loudly decried the influx of asylum seekers into Germany, and the attacks that swept Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations have only added fuel to the fire.

[kurogane]

Those guys sound scary to me, but at the very least that shitsow and all this ruckus over the NYE sexual assaults might help drive the discussion and discourse back from the edge of Charity/NGO driven hysterical sympathy and into the realm of the possible and the practical, like renting Turkey and Jordan and making some decent camps for them to stay in until they can go home, and leaving Europe to those who belong there: Europeans and First World tourists.

[Coligny]

It's ok, not like if Mein Kampf was a best seller again...

[Wage Slave]

Those guys sound scary to me, but at the very least that shitsow and all this ruckus over the NYE sexual assaults might help drive the discussion and discourse back from the edge of Charity/NGO driven hysterical sympathy and into the realm of the possible and the practical, like renting Turkey and Jordan and making some decent camps for them to stay in until they can go home, and leaving Europe to those who belong there: Europeans and First World tourists.

Yep. I hated admitting it but Cameron got this one pretty much right at the time. Spend money on temporary camps, send money to maintain them but only offer residence to the most vulnerable. Small children who have lost their parents etc. And they travel normally and safely without the good offices of criminal gangs.

As for murder trials - Well yes, there are no doubt miscarriages from time to time and that should be borne in mind. However, I fail to see how a bad trial in one place invalidates a trial in another. And the facts are completely different.

It does cast doubt on the wisdom of having the death penalty though.

[wagyl]

Those guys sound scary to me, but at the very least that shitsow and all this ruckus over the NYE sexual assaults might help drive the discussion and discourse back from the edge of Charity/NGO driven hysterical sympathy and into the realm of the possible and the practical, like renting Turkey and Jordan and making some decent camps for them to stay in until they can go home, and leaving Europe to those who belong there: Europeans and First World tourists.

Yep. I hated admitting it but Cameron got this one pretty much right at the time. Spend money on temporary camps, send money to maintain them but only offer residence to the most vulnerable. Small children who have lost their parents etc. And they travel normally and safely without the good offices of criminal gangs.

That sounds too much like the Pacific Solution, conceived in error, allowed to be born in error, and growing through its tormentuous teens in error at this moment.

[kurogane]

Which part did you hate, the part about putting up camps and them in them or having to grit your teeth and admit that Little Lord Porkapig got it right? I get absolutely raked for even suggesting camps back in Canada, even though I don't much oppose the massive intake currently underway, though I insist it should be vulnerables only, like you say, and don't even blink at the idea of separating able bodied men from their families and social networks. Canada can absorb 3 times the 25,000 projected in a heartbeat; Europe has never struck me as a true immigrant society, and I think it's wrong headed to bash people that argue that. This isn't a summer camp exchange programme, and the numbers alone call for ad hoc and not always particularly attractive compromise. Plus, and I would never be stupid enough to say this in polite company, you can't put a bunch of battle hardened, shell shocked, born and bred misogynists in a candy store like Northern Europe and expect everything to be hunky dory. I would be willing to suggest that most Middle Eastern asylum seekers think they have landed in a Bacchanalian sex circus, what with all the flesh and faces on display, even though the vast majority are simply too decent and self-disciplined to actually do anything nasty.

Nice point about the risks posed by capital punishment, too. I used to oppose it because it's barbaric, but the threat of a false conviction is a far more cogent idea, in MYHOMO.

Wagyl,
I don't see it as quite the same, mostly because of the proximity of the camps to their point of origin, but it is hardly an ideal solution. What it is, though, is a good way to spearate the deserving wheat from the whining chaff. The whiney entitlement of far too many of the throngs demanding entry into Europe all summer shows this is as much about economic opportunity and handout shopping as it is about actual UNESCO treaty level eligibility and obligation. There is no treaty obligation to provide a better life; it's supposed to be about safe haven and protection. That is where the cat ladies and the pity junkies get it wrong and muddle the discussion. In MYHOMO, natch.

[Wage Slave]

Which part did you hate, the part about putting up camps and them in them or having to grit your teeth and admit that Little Lord Porkapig got it right?

Having to grant that Little Lord Porkapig was right and his critics at home and abroad wrong was the bit I hated. I think you are probably right about Europe and mass immigration and it doesn't help anyone to try and deny it.

[kurogane]

That I can totally dig. I loathe that man, though I share his love of pork in a strictly non-sexual way. As a curmudgeonly lefty I am all for Progress and Openness and whatever other inspiring retchworthy slogans we throw out there, but insisting that square pegs fit into round holes is more than simply anti-liberal, it's politically stupid, and it plays to the righties ability to manipulate base emotions for political gain, which is a bad thing. No amount of heartful pizza mind can make that not so. I am kind of looking forward to seeing how the Canadian influx works out. I have objections to the Care Bear parts of the policy, especially able bodied males being allowed in, but we could absorb 10 times that number and they would just end up Canadian, and we voted en masse for PM Care Bear and his YOLO Pants Sisterhood so it seems peevish to complain that he's doing what he promised he would. I do hope we get some wheat along with the wounded wreckage, but their children or children's children will work out fine, just as I and others did. After 10 years of Darth Darkness and his Angry White Men ruining things it's actually quite touching to watch Canada be Canadian again.

EDIT

OOOK!!!!!!!!!!! It looks like the Tat for Tit stuff has begun:

Pakistanis, Syrian attacked in Cologne amid tension over New Year’s assault

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e28104808/

Things are starting to get a lot stinkier than the city name would suggest. That is all most unseemly.

[kagemusha]

Swedish police were criticised on Monday after admitting they failed to release information about alleged sexual assaults against women by young immigrants at a Stockholm summer music festival over the past two years.

http://www.afp.com/en/news/swedish-police-withheld-reports-sexual-assaults-music-fest

Let the sunshine in...

[wagyl]

EDIT: Just remembered the first episode is available on Youtube for free and it's not region blocked.

Fuck you again Jerk! Fuck you! You've got me hooked onto a story and I don't have access to the follow up!

While I was watching that, I thought "they are using all their material in the first episode, what will they have to say next time?" and then, Wham!!!!


I was just having a conversation with a friend back home about how crap free-to-air TV is even outside of Japan, with reality TV crud, and she said that it is really now a Golden Age of Television, except nowadays you have to pay for it. This is a prime (although not Amazon Prime) example.