Allen Aldenberg’s Addled Acumen

A recruitment pitch made earlier this week by the Manchester Police Outfit touted qualified immunity as a job perk. Qualified immunity being the legalese that says that some people (those with badges) are not to be held accountable for their actions unless their counterparts in legaland deem it so.

Unsurprisingly this post received a lot of attention. And, in keeping with police protocols to limit transparency, it was quickly deleted.

In a follow-up, the the top-dog of the Manchester Police outfit Allen Aldenberg voiced platitudes: “This post was not the place to mention qualified immunity.” Why not? Is it that Aldenberg is against qualified immunity, as asked by commenter Justin O’Donnell?

I don’t think so. Nowhere has Aldenberg questioned the “qualified immunity” guise. So again, if qualified immunity is indeed claimed, why does Aldenberg say that it should not be mentioned in a job pitch?

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LENCO Proves Why IP Is Harmful

Can an individual claim an exclusive monopoly to a word, phrase or idea, which then denotes the right to seek damages from those who happen to utter sounds in a particular order?

What about a corporation? Can an entity that comes into existence when a group of people put some words on paper all of a sudden have rights? How can a legal fiction be wronged? How exactly would something that exists only on paper be made whole?

Actual picture from LENCO's site

Individuals employed at LENCO, the MA-based manufacturer of the BEARCAT – an $300,000, 8-ton armored vehicle being peddled to police departments in large and small towns alike thanks to Dept. of Homeland Security grants and mindless scare tactic rhetoric – a few weeks ago pulled their promo video of the vehicle after pushback from many Keene, NH, population 23,000, who were rightly concerned about their local police acquiring such hardware. (watch video in full below)

The video in question shows the BEARCAT engaged in SWAT/paramalitary exercises set to AC/DC. Badass, right?! The video is the epitome of the post-9/11 world according to those in government* who grow their claimed authority thanks to real or claimed emergencies. (more…)