You remember that Alabama state senator that wanted to ban gay characters from fiction?
Oliver Willis has news of a distubing, if not completely unexpected, development. Along with phone numbers!
December 12, 2004
Allen pt. Deux
Snitch DVD
I like DVDs. It seems criminals like DVDs too - just not the same sort I watch:
Just before 2 a.m. on Jan. 15, four men cloaked in ski masks and dark clothing kick in the front door of an apartment in Hampden.
Two point revolvers at an 11-year-old boy who had been asleep on a sofa in the living room. The others burst into a bedroom and take aim at the boy’s mother, who sleeps near her toddler.
“Jesse better not testify in court,” they say to the woman. “Or we’re going to kill you and your sister.” They rip one phone out of the wall, snatch up a portable phone and leave.
The woman’s fiance, Anthony Black - aka Jesse - would take the witness stand that spring in the trial of two former associates in a violent East Baltimore drug ring. His statements to police laid the groundwork, prosecutors say, to send those two and nine others to prison.
On the streets of Baltimore, Anthony Black is a rat. A snitch.
nd what happened to his family early that January morning is the kind of drug-culture self-policing that a recent series of locally produced, documentary-style DVDs, including one called Stop Snitching, seems to advocate.
The latest methods include the Baltimore DVD series and international Web sites, such as www.whosarat.com, devoted to disclosing the identity of “snitches.” Judges say they sometimes confiscate cell phones to keep courtroom observers from instantly sending text-messages that relay a witness’ testimony to people on the streets.
“Think how bold criminals must be to make a DVD,” says Baltimore Circuit Judge John M. Glynn. “It shows that threatening snitches has become mainstream - so much so that they make a DVD joking about it.”
The entire article is online at The Baltimore Sun, but free registration is required. It’s worth the time to read this disturbing article.
Jervis S. Finney is quoted as calling these hoodlums “domestic terrorists.” Do I agree with him? Generally I think many folks are too quick to use the term ‘domestic terrorism’ as it applies to muggings, or road rage, even armed robberies, rape or murder. There seems to be a political or social agenda which needs to be at the heart of the matter for it, in my mind, to be a ‘terrorist’ incident.
These asshats are using violence, intimidation, and murder to attempt to sway our judicial system. And I agree one hundred percent with Finney - they are indeed domestic terrorists.
Foreigners! Ahhh!
According to my SiteCounter-thingy, I had a visitor from New Zealand, and another from Central Europe! How cool is that? Even if the visitor from NZ is a Persian.
I’m going to post later on the Mulungeons. Right now, I’m off to work. (Joy.)