New at Reason

Jacob Sullum looks back at the year when the buck stopped... well, nowhere. It didn't stop anywhere.

Comments

prolefeed | January 2, 2008, 7:32am | #

If I'm forced by peer pressure and advertising to crush and snort Oxycontin while chugging hard alcohol and chowing down on KFC in the presence of a hungry Bengel tiger -- well, dammit, someone needs to protect me from the consequences. Those bastards deserve to be sued for not anticipating that I would fall victim to their insidious enticements.

SugarFree | January 2, 2008, 7:51am | #

DO NOT OPERATE HAIR DRYER IN SHOWER

People should do expend a lot of ingenuity figuring out novel ways to be extremely stupid.

From The Keystrokes of John Q. Public | January 2, 2008, 8:03am | #

If I had known that KFC uses an unnatural frying oil, and that the food was so high in trans fat, I would have reconsidered my choices," Hoyte said.


*Wonders if he said it with a straight face*

Haha- Ya because I just saw that the other day in Men's Health. Make sure your deep fried fatty foods are fried in all natural oil! That's Health Conscience.

prolefeed | January 2, 2008, 8:08am | #

OT -- why hasn't Reason picked up on this story about men being charged with indecent exposure after being enticed to do so by topless undercover female cops ? It's been picked up ABC, Drudge, and now Lew Rockwell.

Windtell | January 2, 2008, 8:36am | #

I heard about that horrible case with the topless cop a few days ago.

That reporter that you linked to seems to be crazy though, his ranting would make most trolls jealous.

And that was a pretty short article Jacob. If you want to convince me that we're under attack you're gonna have to come up with more examples than that.

James Ard | January 2, 2008, 9:15am | #

I hope someone gets a video of those tits and posts it on youtube. Eventually, one would think, the cops would stop volunteering for that post.

LarryA | January 2, 2008, 10:10am | #

I hope someone gets a video of those tits and posts it on youtube. Eventually, one would think, the cops would stop volunteering for that post.

Given the number of boobs on the Internet, I wouldn't bet on it.

I'd ask what right cops had to disobey the law to enforce it, but that issue has left the building.

J sub D | January 2, 2008, 10:40am | #

I'd ask what right cops had to disobey the law to enforce it, but that issue has left the building.

Of course we can't expect those noble public servants, our heroic law enforcement agents to obey the law. Entrapment? They've been doing similar criminal behavior with decoy prostitutes for ages. It is good to know that assault, robbery, murder and burglary are all under control in Columbus, though. Sounds like budget cutting time to me.

crimethink | January 2, 2008, 10:56am | #

And the headline of the SFGate article quoting the expert saying the tiger must have been provoked?

Big-cat experts say a determined tiger could get over 12 1/2-foot wall

And Morris wept.

crimethink | January 2, 2008, 11:01am | #

J sub D,

Entrapment, at the very least, requires that the govt agent cause a person to commit a crime when that person originally had no intent to do so. Simply providing the means or the opportunity to commit a crime doesn't constitute entrapment in any reasonable legal interpretation.

Pepe | January 2, 2008, 11:19am | #

A half-naked chick flirted with the guy and ASKED him to show her his junk. He wasn't just going around the park flashing people. That seems like a little more than "simply providing the means or the opportunity to commit a crime...". If she had just been laying there topless and he came up and dropped his drawers without any encouragement it would be different.

There aren't too many heterosexual men who would say no to a request from a good-looking, topless woman.

R C Dean | January 2, 2008, 11:26am | #

Entrapment, at the very least, requires that the govt agent cause a person to commit a crime when that person originally had no intent to do so. Simply providing the means or the opportunity to commit a crime doesn't constitute entrapment in any reasonable legal interpretation.

Of course, determining whether or not someone "originally had no intent to do so" requires a fair bit of mind-reading. In the absence of a history of the illegal behavior, I don't know how you can call most stings anything other than entrapment.

Example: You've got some guy with no known history of using prostitutes. Some girl walks up to him, and makes him an offer. He says, hey, why not? Now, where exactly do you get any basis for saying he had an intention to commit a crime before some skank walks up to him and offers to blow him for $20?

Remember, we need enough evidence to conclude that there is no reasonable doubt about his pre-existing intent.

crimethink | January 2, 2008, 11:47am | #

There aren't too many heterosexual men who would say no to a request from a good-looking, topless woman.

I would!

Well, unless it were a request for information about Catholic teachings. But, that happens far less frequently.

David | January 2, 2008, 11:48am | #

There aren't too many heterosexual men who would say no to a request from a good-looking, topless woman.

For more evidence of this, a person needs only to travel to the nearest strip club and watch the patrons for about ten minutes. Maybe less.

Paul | January 2, 2008, 12:04pm | #

Great article, Jacob. Except one thing, it's not Center for Science in the Public Interest. It's:

Center for "Science" in the "Public Interest". Just thought I'd point that out.

Paul | January 2, 2008, 12:05pm | #

this story about men being charged with indecent exposure after being enticed to do so by topless undercover female cops

Wouldn't that be a uniform violation?

Paul | January 2, 2008, 12:08pm | #

Entrapment? They've been doing similar criminal behavior with decoy prostitutes for ages.

Supposedly, though, to avoid entrapment, the female cop isn't supposed to solicit sex. She's supposed to stand there and wait for the john to offer money for sex without any coercion. Taking your blouse off and asking men to expose themselves is, in my opinion, entrapment. The men should all be glad she didn't ask them to marry her. You wanna talk about entrapment...

Kolohe | January 2, 2008, 2:30pm | #

From the headline, I thought this was going to be an article about the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar over the last year.

M | January 2, 2008, 3:54pm | #

crimethink | January 2, 2008, 11:47am | #
There aren't too many heterosexual men who would say no to a request from a good-looking, topless woman.

I would!

Well, unless it were a request for information about Catholic teachings. But, that happens far less frequently.

Josh | January 3, 2008, 7:17pm | #

I love how the damn police waste city resources with nonsense like this; meanwhile, sexual predators are allowed to roam free.

This has to beg the question of whether Barney Fife gets his jollies of in the cruiser while he watches his female partner dressed in provocative clothing.