XPost: nyc.politics, alt.drugs.pot, alt.drugs.psychedelics   
   XPost: rec.drugs.cannabis   
   From: liberty@once.net   
      
   "fanghorn"  wrote in message   
   news:Xns9BF8AF4FA44F2fanghorn@127.0.0.1...   
   > "Freedom Fighter"  wrote in   
   > news:u2KIl.162544$4m1.160004@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:   
   >   
   >> ENTRAPMENT in New York City?   
   >>   
   >> Their flyer reads:   
   >> "BLUE JERRY JAM every Monday night at KARMA -   
   >> 51 First Avenue & 4th Street (East Village), 9 PM 'till after midnight.   
   >> No Cover   
   >> Hookahs & Drink Specials   
   >> Smoking Permitted   
   >> Greatful Dead Music and More  . . .   
   >>   
   >> The implication is clearly that at this club called Karma, one can do as   
   >> was done   
   >> at long-gone Manhattan clubs that catered to Grateful Dead fans - smoke   
   >> cannabis.   
   >>   
   >> A friend of mine went to check the place out on a Friday night. What he   
   >> observed   
   >> indicates the place may be a police sting operation designed to entrap   
   >> harmless pot smokers.   
   >>   
   >> Upon entry he was asked for ID, despite being in his 60s and clearly not   
   >> a minor. He produced   
   >> his drivers license. The bar code on the back of the license was   
   >> immediately scanned with a   
   >> hand-held laser device, thus recording details of his identity and   
   >> whatever other information is   
   >> encoded on the license. According to a friend employed by lawyers as a   
   >> paralegal, such scanners   
   >> are only legal for use by the police, as when you are stopped for a   
   >> possible traffic violation.   
   >>   
   >> A colored armband was put on his arm, impossible to remove without a   
   >> knife or scissors.   
   >> He entered to find a club with a bar and with hookahs on the tables,   
   >> none in use at the time. Some   
   >> back rooms appeared private enough to enable clandestine pot smoking,   
   >> and the flyer had stated   
   >> "smoking permitted," which in itself may be illegal in a New York City   
   >> bar under the existing   
   >> no-smoking regulations.   
   >>   
   >> There were people around the bar, but no music or other activity, so he   
   >> didn't stay long. He did see   
   >> a few people he believes were undercover police however - stocky,   
   >> short-haired men wearing suits   
   >> that looked him over suspiciously - quite untypical of the clientele one   
   >> would expect there.   
   >>   
   >> Wouldn't police time be better spent busting all the white-collar   
   >> criminals on Wall Street?   
      
   > Truly amazing story. You have quite a distance to go to become a free   
   > society again I'd say. Let us know what the local papers say about it in   
   > the next week as then it's sure to be shut down because they got what they   
   > wanted.   
      
   Yes, America under fascist right-wing rule is far from the example of   
   freedom it was intended to be. We can only hope that president Obama will   
   reverse this dangerous situation.   
   Police state excesses like this in NYC began under mayor Giuliani, a vicious   
   potential Hitler if ever there was one in American politics. The present   
   mayor Bloomberg is not as mean-spirited, but is an arrogant elitist   
   billionaire with total disregard for the democratic process. Under   
   Bloomberg, the police state continues.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)