Federal SWAT Raid Over . . . Orchids

The Agitator ^ | October 5, 2009

[ellery]

IMO, the Agitator has been one of the best lately at reporting on federal government overreach and SWAT team abuse. I believe it’s run by one of the guys at Reason.

[ellery]

I absolutely agree. I never get called, though.

I worked with a complete slacker who used to get called for jury duty all the time—she told me that she had a friend in whatever office it was that oversees jury selection, and that all she had to do was call and she could get on the list. I have no idea whether that’s true, of course...

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Why do they have to destroy things to search? That’s just maliciousness.

Because it's FUN to break things that you don't have to pay for.

Are you going to get in the face of some thug in a black mask who is armed to the proverbial teeth and has a "kill you and get out of jail free" card he can't have any fun breaking things?

Yeah, not a healthy thing to do if you know what I mean.

[mamelukesabre]

To prevent the serfs from poaching the king’s deer.

[Pontiac]

The story is legit.

The Overcriminalization of Conduct: Consequences for One American Family

[Politicalmom]

I didn’t say that the homeowners could or would interfere. That kind of unprofessional behavior should NOT be tolerated. And, yes, I know that none of them will pay for
their misconduct.

[UnwashedPeasant]

"Why do they have to destroy things to search? That’s just maliciousness."

Because they are evil. Most law enforcement officers see themselves as a separate ruling class, and they see the non-cops as being there for sport.

[justa-hairyape]

Now if I understand this correctly, in order to ship orchids from another country, one has to file paperwork equivalent to unbelievable amounts of red tape with restrictions, but yet they were able to do so without filing for this unbelievable amount of restrictions and red tape, because they didn't know about them?

All it takes is for the exporter to make one mistake on his export paperwork and then you the importer are liable. No mistake of your own. Still liable for thousands and jail time. That is why I do not import or export. Letting a bunch of government knuckle draggers getting involved with business can only lead to trouble.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Thank goodness that this was just a story.

There are similar speculations on how a small amount of plutonium, a few pounds, dispersed appropriately (not involved in any nuclear reaction) would suffice to kill all humans on earth from radiation induced cancer. The devil, as always, is in the details. The dispersion would have to be uniform and micro-fine into every person’s lungs, not affected by weather, not wasted or diluted in any manner. Any plutonium that escapes into the environment from things like nuclear reactors or bombs would not come anywhere close to fulfilling those conditions.

[Sender]

You should see the recent National Geographic article on ‘sexy’ deceptive orchids. Or your husband should. There are orchids out there that mimic female bees, others that mimic rotting flesh, some that just plant a big pollen sac on ya and send ya on yer way. Sneaky things, orchids.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Haste might be one reason. They can’t miss their next scheduled raid ya know.

My own experience with looking through stuff is that if you keep it orderly instead of tossing you are much less likely to miss something you wanted to find.

[Palin Republic]

July 17, 2006

Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America

by Radley Balko

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476

Americans have long maintained that a man's home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they're sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This is one of the hassles I discovered in miniature when I wanted to order a microphone part from a British dealer. The dealer was adamant that he would not fill out any customs form on his end. I knew of no way I could file the paperwork on the order’s behalf from my end. They said that items sent this way “usually” reach their destination (gee, thanks).

Sometimes what happens in such a situation is that customs will catch it and will contact the recipient to file papers along with the appropriate duty to be paid, then the item can be claimed. But there is no guarantee that the Fedguv will play this nice.

[Politicalmom]

I should know better than to pose rhetorical questions around here. You’re right, of course.

[vamoose]

When these fish & wildlife agents go home after a long day of ransacking a house looking for illegal orchids how do they answer their spouse when asked, “what did you do today?” Or maybe they just grunt and say, “I love the smell of orchids in the morning.”

[Oztrich Boy]

"Hand over your lupins"

[tubebender]

Texas of all places?

[SouthTexas]

And Spring no less too. Wife had family there years ago.

This just ain’t right.

[the_daug]

Maybe bureaucrats don’t give correct information.

[jocon307]

Yes, that’s whom I was thinking of!