Fiona Apple -- The Idler Wheel

[HotHamWater]

Fucking Texas.

A very similar situation happened to me, except that I got away somehow. Fucking Texas is right.

What a fucking joke!

Is it legal to possess hash everywhere but Texas?

Everyone knows it's illegal. I don't understand all the outrage whenever someone gets caught.

[faxman75]

This is the city of Sierra Blanca's claim to fame. Same city where they busted Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg. They like the publicity it brings and the revenue of course.

[Mugwog]

Is it legal to possess hash everywhere but Texas?

Everyone knows it's illegal. I don't understand all the outrage whenever someone gets caught.

Actually Fiona has her medical card bro

[OnlyNonStranger]

They definitely accept medical cards in Texas.

[bmack86]

Is it legal to possess hash everywhere but Texas?

Everyone knows it's illegal. I don't understand all the outrage whenever someone gets caught.

Yeah, but being put in jail for possession is a different matter. That's just ridiculous.

[Miroir Noir]

Yeah, the fuck is going on here? How is this not a book and release offense, or even a citation to appear?

[Mr. Fuzz]

It should really just be a citation.

[faxman75]

Yeah, the fuck is going on here? How is this not a book and release offense, or even a citation to appear?

Every state is different. Governor Rick Perry actually made it so it can be a citation and release offense in the State of Texas. However, they can make the booking process fairly long. Also, who says she is doing any jail time or not being released today?

Again, this is how the city in question gets publicity, they get a rock star and call the press then they will milk it for all it's worth. She is actually lucky she didn't get busted for the same exact thing a few nights ago in Arizona. Not just because we have a publicity happy Sheriff but in Arizona posesssion of ANY amount of weed is an automatic Class 6 felony. Most of those get drug diversion on first offense but that doesn't change the fact that in general the charge is felonious here in Arizona. Medical marijuana is legal here but states do not accept out of state medical cards.

[faxman75]

There is also a distinction in Texas. Pot is a misdemeanor and hash is a felony. So the hash got a her a night in jail.

Apple spent Wednesday night in the county jail and was released Thursday on a $10,000 bond. Hudspeth County sheriff's office spokesman Rusty Flemming says Apple "had a little tiny amount of pot and hash." Marijuana possession in small amounts is a misdemeanor, while hashish in any quantity is a felony in Texas.

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...ion/70000804/1

She just announced on facebook that tonights Austin show has in fact been postponed.

[Mr. Fuzz]

You can't get busted if you smoke it al.

[xanman86]

I gotta light one up and give this album a chance tonight -_-

[Mr. Fuzz]

[TomAz]

Can one of you legal lawyer people explain to me how what happened to her is not an illegal search?

According to the sheriff's office, Apple's tour bus came through a border-patrol checkpoint Wednesday night at 8 p.m. CT. During a routine citizenship check, a border-patrol canine detected the presence of controlled substances and the dog found hashish and marijuana in a blue backpack.

So basically what we have here is a free American citizen stopped without probably cause ("routine citizenship check"), subjected to a canine search, and arrested based on the results of that search. I mean I thought this was EXACTLY AND PRECISELY THE KIND OF THING the 4th Amendment was supposed to protect us from?

[bmack86]

The fourth amendment has an exception for "routine border searches" which do not have to actually occur at the border, but within a reasonable nexus.

Which I think is bullshit, but this does fall into a court-recognized exception due to the heightened safety concerns at borders.

[faxman75]

One of the stories I read said she was stopped at an "interior check point".
Because i'm tired. Here is what wiki says about them.

The United States Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents may stop a vehicle at fixed checkpoints for brief questioning of its occupants even if there is no reason to believe that the particular vehicle contains illegal aliens.[4] The Court further held that Border Patrol agents "have wide discretion" to refer motorists selectively to a secondary inspection area for additional brief questioning.

I'm assuming during this stop and questioning they became suspicious of narcotics but we don't know why. Maybe a smell coming from the bus? Maybe the agent simply asked permissoin the bus driver didn't know his rights? No idea we can only speculate.

The Supreme Court is mostly responsible for our constitutional rights being weakened.

A bit on K-9's.


In 2005's Illinois vs. Caballes, the high court ruled 5-3 (a seriously ill Chief Justice William Rehnquist took no part in the case) it was constitutional to make a vehicle search when a drug-sniffing dog alerts officers to contraband during a routine traffic stop.

Justice John Paul Stevens, in the majority opinion, said the ruling "is entirely consistent with our recent decision that the use of a thermal-imaging device to detect the growth of marijuana in a home constituted an unlawful search. ... Critical to that decision was the fact that the device was capable of detecting lawful activity -- in that case, intimate details in a home, such as 'at what hour each night the lady of the house takes her daily sauna and bath.' .... The legitimate expectation that information about perfectly lawful activity will remain private is categorically distinguishable from respondent's hopes or expectations concerning the non-detection of contraband in the trunk of his car. A dog sniff conducted during a concededly lawful traffic stop that reveals no information other than the location of a substance that no individual has any right to possess does not violate the Fourth Amendment."


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/...#ixzz273FR6JT5

[TomAz]

The fourth amendment has an exception for "routine border searches" which do not have to actually occur at the border, but within a reasonable nexus.

Which I think is bullshit, but this does fall into a court-recognized exception due to the heightened safety concerns at borders.

So if you're close to the border you can be stopped and searched for things that HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH BORDER SECURITY.

Jesus fucking christ nazi pig state. Next time some hatwearing redneck fucktard tries to tell or sing to me that "At least I know I'm free" I'm gonna shove an abe lincoln sized stovepipe up his filthy inbred cornhole. Not a stovepipe hat, an actual stovepipe.

[faxman75]

So if you're close to the border you can be stopped and searched for things that HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH BORDER SECURITY.

Jesus fucking christ nazi pig state. Next time some hatwearing redneck fucktard tries to tell or sing to me that "At least I know I'm free" I'm gonna shove an abe lincoln sized stovepipe up his filthy inbred cornhole. Not a stovepipe hat, an actual stovepipe.

I agree with this 100%. Also according to the law I think close is within 75 miles!

[Mr. Dylanja]

Arizona has a similar check point east of Yuma, where Lil Wayne got busted. The New Times did a cover story on it a few years ago where a grandmother and her two friends were arrested for two roaches found in the ashtray of her car, which they had accidentally left there after their week long vacation in Coronado. They were also caught by a canine unit. I remember the article saying that the dogs were there to detect explosives, but consequently the drug related arrests increased by close to 400%.

[TomAz]

Because Yuma is under constant danger of terrorists threatening to blow it up.

Where the fuck is the ACLU? this is just as outrageous as "stop and frisk" IMO.

[nathanfairchild]

I agree with this 100%. Also according to the law I think close is within 75 miles!

based on where they were stopped they were like 5 - 10 miles from the border.

[Miroir Noir]

I have issues with expansionary use of checkpoints, but I really don't see much a problem with the language Faxy bolded above, especially in light of the diminished privacy expectations associated with motor vehicles. It's actually a pretty interesting area of Fourth Amendment law, and one that doesn't neatly break down on traditional liberal v. conservative, civil liberties v. prosecution lines. There's a canine sniff case as it relates to homes coming up in the next SCOTUS term.

[Mr. Dylanja]

Because Yuma is under constant danger of terrorists threatening to blow it up.

Where the fuck is the ACLU? this is just as outrageous as "stop and frisk" IMO.

Here's the article if you're interested.

[TomAz]

I have issues with expansionary use of checkpoints, but I really don't see much a problem with the language Faxy bolded above, especially in light of the diminished privacy expectations associated with motor vehicles. It's actually a pretty interesting area of Fourth Amendment law, and one that doesn't neatly break down on traditional liberal v. conservative, civil liberties v. prosecution lines. There's a canine sniff case as it relates to homes coming up in the next SCOTUS term.

Diminished privacy expectations in motor vehicles, diminished freedom from random searches near borders, in schools, in black neighborhoods in NY and Philly... this is not the America that I was raised to believe in.

[Miroir Noir]

Motor vehicles have had diminished privacy expectations since 1925. Cops can search based on sufficient probable cause, without a warrant.

[Miroir Noir]

For whatever it's worth, with the exception of the Establishment Clause, there is perhaps no other part of the Constitution that the Supreme Court has rendered more confusing and incoherent than the Fourth Amendment. It is also the area of the Constitution where my own views tend to be less liberal than any other.

[HowToDisappear]

There are at least six Border Patrol checkpoints in San Diego County, exclusive of the three actual border crossings. If we take the freeway (instead of the backroads) out to our favorite county desert campground, we could conceivably be stopped twice, without being anywhere near the border. At first they were casual about it, and it was strange being stopped, but it didn't seem all that intrusive. When the day came that they came to our windows demanding to know where we were going, wearing flak jackets and carrying assault rifles, we were like WTF? And on later trips, when they starting demanding to know our citizenship, and the citizenship of our children, that's when we were like what the hell country are we living in? It's ridiculous, and I'm sick of it. And yes, god help you if you've got any contraband and they have dogs; they will nail you to the wall.

[algunz]

Shit, this is just making me paranoid. I need to take a closer look at my car. I'm sure there's stuff in there that I don't even remember.

[zircona1]

[amyzzz]

Don't use stinky drugs!

[amyzzz]

Keep raw hamburger in your car when you're near the border!