Subscribe to OK Politechs
|
By Charles M. Phipps on August 12th, 2017 
A question from David Van Risseghem on his Facebook page got me thinking. He asked, “Hey? Is the impending special session being called to help folks quit smoking? Or just to get more money?”
Very quick background for those who don’t know – During the last Oklahoma legislative session a bill was passed enacting a $1.50 per pack ‘cessation fee.’ Senate Bill 845, the Smoking Cessation and Prevention Act of 2017, was designed to bring in about $215 million into the state coffers. Earlier this week the state Supreme Court ruled the bill violates the Oklahoma Constitution for various reasons that are completely correct but not relevant to the discussion here.
Now the question is what to do about the $215 million in taxes (note – taxes, not ‘fees’) that the stat will not be receiving, but was included by the legislature in the 2017-2018 budget appropriations. Conventional wisdom seems to be that the governor will call for a special […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on April 9th, 2017 
If you think being allowed to marry a computer sounds ridiculous, so did same-sex marriage in the past. I never would have thought in my younger days that two men or two women would be legally allowed to get married. And not only that, failing to participate in the festivities could find you in legal hot water, sued out of business and up to your eyeballs in debt if you’re a florist or cake maker and opt to not put your stamp of approval on such an event.
We live in strange times. And it seems the times are on the cusp of getting even stranger.
A man named Chris Sevier is suing the state of Utah for the right to marry his laptop. The Utah Attorney General’s Office tried to have the lawsuit dismissed for a number of reasons, the main one being that a laptop cannot consent to marriage. But, a federal judge declined to dismiss the […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on January 24th, 2017 
As part of his immigration plan, President Trump pledged during his campaign to block federal funding to sanctuary cities within the first one hundred days of his administration. “Block funding for sanctuary cities. We block the funding. No more funding. Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars,” Trump said last August. States could lose funding as well as counties and cities. Some could face huge penalties for noncompliance. New York City stands to lose $1.8 billion in federal dollars.
I sincerely hope he keeps this pledge.
Sanctuary cities, if you don’t know, have laws or unwritten policies in place to limit how much local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials when dealing with illegal immigrants. Illegals who have been arrested for crimes in sanctuary cities are typically allowed to serve their city jail time and are then released instead of being turned over to the feds for deportation. Some cities will turn over […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on November 6th, 2016 
On Thursday this week, the White House issued a press release saying that President Obama granted commutation to 72 federal inmates, a follow-up to the 98 commutations he granted last week. For his presidency, this is a total of 955 individuals, including 324 life sentences.
Part of the press release takes a shot at mandatory minimum sentences and calls for Congress to enact “broader reforms needed to ensure our federal sentencing system operates more fairly and effectively in the service of public safety.”
Hogwash.
Obama has now commuted the sentence for more federal prisoners than all other presidents since World War II combined. Reportedly, all of the prisoners were convicted of nonviolent drug offenses but some also were convicted for nonviolent weapons offenses.
White House counsel Neil Eggleston said in the press release, “The President is committed to reinvigorating the clemency authority, demonstrating that our nation is a nation of second chances, where mistakes from the past will not deprive […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on October 27th, 2016 
Here is a summary of the State Questions on the Oklahoma ballot and my brief take on each.
BALLOT TITLE FOR STATE QUESTION NO. 776
This measure adds a new section to the Oklahoma Constitution, Section 9A of Article 2. The new Section deals with the death penalty. The Section establishes State constitutional mandates relating to the death penalty and methods of execution. Under these constitutional requirements:
The Legislature is expressly empowered to designate any method of execution not prohibited by the United States Constitution. Death sentences shall not be reduced because a method of execution is ruled to be invalid. When an execution method is declared invalid, the death penalty imposed shall remain in force until it can be carried out using any valid execution method, and The imposition of a death penalty under Oklahoma law —as distinguished from a method of execution—shall not be deemed to be or constitute the infliction of cruel or unusual punishment […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on May 19th, 2016 
For more than a year I have been reading about civil asset forfeiture and the need for reform. Stories of law enforcement seizing assets, usually cash, from innocent people on the side of the road have become rampant as the media, many politicians, watchdog groups and the public make the case for reform. I have written about civil asset forfeiture before, here and here, and the time has come for me to write about it again.
As a quick refresher for those unfamiliar with civil asset forfeiture, here’s how it works. Civil asset forfeiture laws allow law enforcement to take your property without ever charging you with a crime by claiming the property seized is connected to criminal activity. The most typical application of the law is to seize cash from someone during a traffic stop. An officer who has pulled you over for a suspected traffic violation has the authority to make the decision all on his own that […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on April 5th, 2016 
Technology has always been ahead of the law, or so the adage goes. Smartphones, internet-enabled vehicles & wristwatches, health monitors, home video cameras, and other devices have all been part of the discussion around privacy and technology. It’s nearly impossible to write privacy laws to cover devices and capabilities that have yet to be invented, so often times there is new technology on the market while the law tries to catch up. Some believe that to be the case with drones. I do not concur.
The use of drones has been increasing exponentially over the last few years with drones being available for private use, businesses, news reporting, and law enforcement, to name a few. Drones are so prevalent that anyone can purchase one on Amazon for fifty bucks, and that includes the attachable 2MP HD Wifi camera. At that price, having a personal drone may become as common as having a cell phone.
But not everyone is fond of […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on March 30th, 2016 
Todd Starnes of Fox News has reported on a water tower in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma that has roused the ire of atheists in another state. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based atheist organization, routinely inserts itself into matters in other parts of the country in an effort to get anything it deems to be tied to religion removed from public property. The new water tower in Broken Arrow is the latest target of their indignation.
Fox News – The city council in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was in a bit of a pickle.
The city was in the middle of a growth spurt and needed high ground to build a one-million gallon water tower.
But the property they needed was owned by the First Baptist Church. So they made a deal with Pastor Nick Garland and the congregation.
“We donated the land and the easements for the tower,” Pastor Garland told me. “In kind, they said they would paint our […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on February 8th, 2016 
After being mercilessly hounded by coworkers I finally gave in and marathoned Making a Murderer on Netflix. Coworkers gave me a brief synopsis of the events it covered and assured me of the outrage I would feel as I watched police misconduct send two men to prison for a murder they didn’t commit.
If you’re not familiar with the series, here is a very short summary of what it is about. Over ten, hour-long episodes the documentary covers Steven Avery’s wrongful conviction for rape in 1985 which sent him to prison, his exoneration by DNA after eighteen years, his lawsuit against the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department, the disappearance of Teresa Halbach in 2005, Avery’s arrest and conviction for Halbach’s murder, and the conviction of Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, for his role in Halbach’s murder.
Having finished all the episodes, I have to say to coworkers and all the Steven Avery fans out there, he and Dassey are both guilty as […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on February 5th, 2016 
I find myself in the very unusual position of agreeing with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. If you’re a reader of my blog or know anything about my politics you’ll understand what a rare moment this is.
The issue is civil asset forfeiture. State Senator Kyle Loveless has introduced a package of bills to reform civil asset forfeiture laws and he has managed to rankle some law enforcement agencies with his proposals.
What exactly is civil asset forfeiture? If you haven’t read about it, it’s a legal process by which law enforcement officers can seize assets from people suspected of involvement with criminal activity without necessarily charging said person with a crime or even proving that a crime has occurred. Countless people have had large amounts of cash seized from them during traffic stops. Other items seized have included cars, mobile homes, jewelry, computers, and even homes. In one instance I read about, a town’s police department was […] → Keep reading
|
|
