Canadian Government warns its citizens about corrupt american police officers

[Garion_55]

#t=36

[alcina]

1. WTF, USA?!

For those who prefer to read about this, here's the CBC story:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/american-shakedown-police-won-t-charge-you-but-they-ll-grab-your-money-1.2760736

The Travel Advice section at the end is just sad....

(Apologies if this was already posted.)

[Shrike47]

2. As we descend into. 3rd World Country. These highway shakedowns are going on all over.

There was an very interesting article in the New Yorker about this a few months ago. If you are traveling with children and refuse to give up the cash 'voluntarily', they tell you they will jail you and put the children in foster care. It's horrendous abuse.

[uhnope]

3. How dead is irony: Russia pointing its fingers at US and screaming corruption.

Long live Pussy Riot
Putin to the war crimes tribunal

[markpkessinger]

12. This isn't "Russia" saying it -- here is a link from the CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/american-shakedown-police-won-t-charge-you-but-they-ll-grab-your-money-1.2760736

It took me about 20 seconds to type "Canadian government warns travelers about U.S. police" into Google and discover that yes, in fact, this story is real. But I guess some folks find it more comforting to dismiss a particular source rather than to find out for themselves if a story is true or not.

[uhnope]

13. OP is from RT. And BTW the WaPo did a 3-part story on it last wk

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/

[markpkessinger]

14. Right . . .

. . . So you already knew the substance of the report was true, but instead of acknowledging that, you merely tried to discredit the source.

[uhnope]

15. You seem unclear on the concept.

I didn't try to discredit the source; the source lack creditability whatsoever, and anyone citing RT when they could be citing WaPo is suspect.

Propaganda uses aspects of the truth to lead to its lies and distortions or just its omission of context. I am fully aware of this horrendous practice, but I'm not going to let a dictatorship's mouthpiece use it to distract from its own human rights abuses. Would you support the use of some neo-Nazi news service or the North Korean state media as long as "The substance of the report was true"? I hope not.

[markpkessinger]

16. The intent of the OP was to share the substance of the story . . .

. . . But rather than acknowledge a story you already knew to be substantively true, you chose to focus on the credibility of the source. It's one thing to do that if a source's (subjectively determined) level of credibility bears on the underlying truth of the story, and quite another to do it when you know the story to be substantively true, and at the same time fail to acknowledge the truth of the story. And this story hasn't distracted me one bit from Putin's own human rights abuses; but neither will I allow the mere fact that it has been reported by RT (among many other outlets) distract from a report of very real abuses going on right here at home.

[uhnope]

17. you're wrong, of course

anyone (but you) can easily see I readily endorse the truth of the story, but warn against using tainted sources from the enemies of freedom, enemies of human rights. The rampant acceptance among otherwise progressive people to accept RT is an ongoing disaster and I refuse to be silent on it. The OPer should've used the WaPo source, and every decent progressive should reject the use of RT as a source, like they would reject sourcing some neo-Nazi website just because the article itself happened to be true (and even FOX is mostly rejected as a source--but RT isn't? It's nutso). Again, tolerate RT and this mindless form of fake-progressivism at your (our) own peril

[Amonester]

4. So, does it mean "do not travel abroad with paper money" only

plastic?

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Presumably. However depending on where you're going

you may be able to get by with a large bag of carefully selected trade goods.

[daschess1987]

5. I don't trust RT any more than our news

but this report is accurate.

[uhnope]

6. stopped clock syndrome

actually, propaganda syndrome--propaganda always uses some truth to present the bigger package of lies

[markpkessinger]

11. OK, here's a link from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . . .

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/american-shakedown-police-won-t-charge-you-but-they-ll-grab-your-money-1.2760736


Or are they now suspect also?

[daschess1987]

18. It's more credible than our news or RT.

I did say that this report was accurate, so there really wasn't any reason for you to get annoyed (unless you're a big fan of RT).

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Proud to be a Mrkn.

[jtuck004]

9. Lol. They ought to warn about Americans who won't get up off their cable-watching chairs and

change this. Given that there are a LOT more of them the better story is why we live with it in a so-called Democracy.

Because it may be that, deep down inside, too many people like it this way. Which is way scarier for the country than any jack-booted-murdering -thug-so-called-police-officer.

[Thespian2]

10. We do travel in America

I am a permanent resident of Canada and a US citizen; I travel on a US passport. I truly fear my home country and its police forces. I also fear all the guns carried by people in the US. I do not travel with money and work hard to make sure I do not break any traffic laws. Have you tried driving the Garden State Parkway without exceeding the speed limit? 'Tis a nightmare! Fortunately, I do understand how corrupt law enforcement is in the US, so I take extra precautions to be safe. I feel much safer traveling in Mexico, which I do frequently.