America Is A Country

[Nique]

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic consisting of fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America. The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles.

TEACH BOTH SIDEZ!

[Magus]

In America are many biomes including mountain ranges, deserts, and both coniferous and deciduous forests of a temperate nature.

In America dwell over 300 million members of the species homo sapiens.

In America one can purchase hamburgers at many businesses.

[Flarecobra]

America was first settled 15,000 years ago.

America is the fourth-largest country in the world, behind China, Canada, and Russia.

[Bard The 5th LW]

America has the letter A in its name.

[Loyal]

We have a flag!

[Magus]

This should be a book called

AMERICA FOR ALIENS

A look at Earth's most country-like country.

[Ramary]

I live in America, and I am an expert on this subject.

We have 48 states, and 2 "states".

[Osterbaum]

The country often referred to simply as "America" is infact called "The United States of America", commonly abreviated as "U.S.A.".

[A Zarkin' Frood]

- The official language in America is American.
- America has it's own wikipedia page, although you can only find it under United States of America for some odd reason.
- One of America's Neighbours is Canada.
- America does not like Communism for some reason.

[Jagos]

All questions can be answered "Because 'merica dammit!"

[Sifright]

lies America is a continent

[Loyal]

It's two continents! How'dya like them apples!

[Sifright]

It's two continents! How'dya like them apples!

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/34269050.jpg

The lack of img tag being allowed is horrible.

HELP HELP IM BEING OPPRESSED.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

The lack of whatnow?
http://localhostr.com/file/vh9N5hSTVk4H/1354619497354.gif

[Sifright]

oh my god.

img tag has only been removed for me!?

I really am being oppressed Help!

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Probably an artifact from when you were banned from discussion. Or are you still banned from discussion? I don't even know, I avoid discussion because it's full of terrible shit. Like America*!

*referring of course, to actual feces. A country with a population that high is bound to have a lot of shit all over the place. Mostly sewers probably..

[Flarecobra]

http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=42156

[Sifright]

http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=42156

Clearly this just another form of the oppression the mods force upon us!

[Kim]

WHAT ABOUT OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO HOTLINK IMAGES

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

[Solid Snake]

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

That's a Fifth Amendment Miranda right that only applies after you're a suspect in custody, Karesh.

KNOW YOUR FREAKIN' LAW

[Solid Snake]

More importantly, however, IF YOU ARE A SUSPECT IN POLICE CUSTODY IN AMERICA, AFTER BEING READ YOUR FIFTH AMENDMENT MIRANDA RIGHTS, **ALWAYS** INVOKE THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL, NOT THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT.

I should really create a "Here are all the tips you need to know if you're ever suspected of committing a crime" thread.

[Magus]

lies America is a continent

It's not our fault everyone else didn't want to join in on the fun!

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

More importantly, however, IF YOU ARE A SUSPECT IN POLICE CUSTODY IN AMERICA, AFTER BEING READ YOUR FIFTH AMENDMENT MIRANDA RIGHTS, **ALWAYS** INVOKE THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL, NOT THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT.

I should really create a "Here are all the tips you need to know if you're ever suspected of committing a crime" thread.

IF YOU DO NOT DEMAND A LAWYER AND INVOKE YOUR RIGHTS THE POLICE WILL ABUSE YOU
THEY CAN AND WILL, IF THOROUGHLY CONVINCED OF YOUR GUILT BASED ON NOTHING BUT THEIR OWN INSTINCTS, LOCK YOU IN A ROOM AND INTERROGATE YOU FOR HOURS, LIE TO YOU, TORMENT YOU, SHOUT AT YOU AND GENERALLY ABUSE YOU UNTIL YOU CONFESS.

[synkr0nized]

I should really create a "Here are all the tips you need to know if you're ever suspected of committing a crime" thread.

No, don't. Let them believe they can outwit the police by watching a lot of Law and Order.

Clearly this just another form of the oppression the mods force upon us!

Don't tempt me.

[Solid Snake]

IF YOU DO NOT DEMAND A LAWYER AND INVOKE YOUR RIGHTS THE POLICE WILL ABUSE YOU
THEY CAN AND WILL, IF THOROUGHLY CONVINCED OF YOUR GUILT BASED ON NOTHING BUT THEIR OWN INSTINCTS, LOCK YOU IN A ROOM AND INTERROGATE YOU FOR HOURS, LIE TO YOU, TORMENT YOU, SHOUT AT YOU AND GENERALLY ABUSE YOU UNTIL YOU CONFESS.

Yes you see but there's actually a huge distinction between responding to Miranda recitation by invoking your right to remain silent, and responding by invoking your right to counsel.
And you invoke one of the two. So pick the right one!

EDIT: The cops totes rig the process and have established the whole Law and Order thing with the emphasis on the first part to make it seem like the "RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT" is a big thing ON PURPOSE because, hint hint, that's the one they want you to invoke if you're smart enough not to waive your rights.

[Sifright]

No, don't. Let them believe they can outwit the police by watching a lot of Law and Order.



Don't tempt me.

I didn't vote for you!

[Kim]

Yes you see but there's actually a huge distinction between responding to Miranda recitation by invoking your right to remain silent, and responding by invoking your right to counsel.
And you invoke one of the two. So pick the right one!

EDIT: The cops totes rig the process and have established the whole Law and Order thing with the emphasis on the first part to make it seem like the "RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT" is a big thing ON PURPOSE because, hint hint, that's the one they want you to invoke if you're smart enough not to waive your rights.

Wow. I did not know this.

[Osterbaum]

WHAT ABOUT OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO HOTLINK IMAGES
Those don't apply to us foreigners! We don't have any rights!

[Sifright]

Wow. I did not know this.

christ on a dinosaur, thats even more terrible than I expected.

What snake said, not you not knowing.

[Solid Snake]

Right to Remain Silent: Upon invoking the right to remain silent, police officers must "scrupulously honor" the invocation, but this has legally translated into a requirement only that the police cannot badger the suspect into talking. The police may not continue interrogating the subject but may comment among themselves or details of the case in the subject's presence. The moment the suspect begins talking again, by no longer being silent, so long as the police didn't do anything inherently coercive, the suspect's utterances may be used against him, and the police can re-obtain a Miranda waiver.

Police detectives must wait a "significant period of time" before reinstating questioning with a valid Miranda but that's just a matter of waiting a few hours.

Right to Counsel: Once a suspect invokes his right to counsel, he "lawyers up," which means that ALL interrogation must cease unless initiated by the suspect. The police cannot communicate with the suspect unless the suspect initiates. Even non offense-specific interrogation must stop. The request for counsel expires 14 days after a suspect is released from custody, meaning that a request for counsel forces the police to either A: grant you private, unmonitored access to counsel or B: release you.

Unlike in the average Law and Order episode, most defense lawyers do not allow their suspects to be interrogated by police, even in the attorney's presence. That just makes for good confrontation, because then the investigator and defense attorney can argue. Even still, the worst case scenario for you is that you have your defense attorney present with you during interrogations, which prevents a lot of shady coercive shit from happening. The more common scenario is that your attorney prohibits interrogation until you're formally charged and the trial process begins, which involves all kinds of determinations from 'neutral' magistrates based on the evidence that's presently available.

Waiving Miranda Rights:
Something like more than 80% of criminal suspects do this, even though it's the worst possible thing you could do.

Want to know why this happens? An 'implied' Miranda waiver occurs when suspects keep talking to the police after being informed of their Miranda rights.
...Yup.

That and prosecutors only need to prove a waiver of a suspect's Miranda rights by a preponderance of the evidence standard, which means a finding of a "more than 50% chance" that you're lying and they're telling the truth. You can imagine how this might go down if you have a prior criminal record and the cops who arrested you are upstanding members of society.

TLDR: ALWAYS INVOKE THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL.

EDIT:
You know the lowest trick that Law and Order pulls? They always have the Cop read out the Miranda rights but most often the only one the audience hears is "The right to remain silent."

...So that means a suspect should just...remain silent, right? Like, not talk at all if he wants to invoke the right.
NOPE. You actually have to speak up and invoke the right, then never talk again, or you're fucked. There's no presumption that you intended to invoke the right if you simply remain silent for a long time.

...This also means that the cops can continue to ask you interrogative questions while you're silent and wait to break you down. YAY!!!!

EDIT 2:

But you should never invoke the right to remain silent anyway.
ALWAYS INVOKE THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL.

EDIT 3:
Here, repeat after me. "I am invoking my right to counsel."
And if the officer tries anything shady like pretending he has no clue what 'invoking' or 'counsel' means, shout "I WANT AN ATTORNEY."
AND wait until after the officer recites Miranda to shout it, but if you're outside or in public, SHOUT IT. SHOUT IT LOUD. You want witnesses to hear it. Especially acquaintances who your attorney would track down with no vested interest in your freedom. Best case scenario would be, for example, that waitress whose name you remembered who served you at the restaurant you were arrested in.
...But after you've invoked it, shut up and don't talk again until you're alone with that attorney you invoked.

EDIT 4: Should I do this for more subjects sometime? There's really a lot worth knowing.

~*The more you know*~

[Locke cole]

Good to know.

Dunno if I'm ever gonna use it, but it's very good to know.

[phil_]

Can I still post this gif of the landlady?

http://i.imgur.com/6DdSL9O.gif

[CABAL49]

Everyone I have known personally who has died, has died in America. Coincidence?

[Loyal]

It's a warning, you Tory. You're next.

[Japan]

Strangely enough, many people think America and Africa are countries, but for very different reasons.

[Osterbaum]

Fact: America isn't Africa.

[Japan]

Fact: America isn't Africa.

Double Fact: African America isn't a place.

[Magus]

Yeah, the interpretation of Miranda rights has moved entirely out of the sphere of their spirit and have turned into weird legal loopholes revolving around their letter, i.e. the suspect has the right to an attorney but unless they expressly ask for one verbally they may be interrogated for 18 hours straight with no bathroom breaks and the cop sure isn't going to remind you what he told you 18 hours ago and wouldn't you like to just sign this confession already and move on with your life?

Anyway, I personally always interpreted the right to remain silent to mean they cannot coerce you into saying anything, not necessarily that by saying you want a lawyer you are giving up your right to silence (since presumably they cannot beat on you with hammers to make you say anything, you could just sit there). I don't know that it is necessarily that people talk to police in ignorance that what they say can be used in court, it is that they don't realize that police are now using the legal loophole that you have to expressly and verbally ask for a lawyer before they will give you one, and so they fruitlessly sit for 18 hours being badgered by the cops wondering why there is no lawyer present even 18 hours after they told you you had the right to one.

Snake you are doing a public service, continue proclaiming this from the metaphorical rooftops of the internet.

[Solid Snake]

Yeah it's pretty screwy.
"You have a right to a lawyer."
(But we're not going to tell you that you have to tell us that you actually want one.)


Anyway, I personally always interpreted the right to remain silent to mean they cannot coerce you into saying anything, not necessarily that by saying you want a lawyer you are giving up your right to silence (since presumably they cannot beat on you with hammers to make you say anything, you could just sit there).

The police aren't allowed to coerce you to say anything, and that would be against the Constitution even if Miranda rights didn't exist. (The Due Process Clause offers some basic protections there regarding the voluntariness of confessions.) The problem really is 'coercion' has been extended well beyond pragmatic limits.

When you say you want a lawyer, actually, you aren't giving up your right to silence. In fact, the point I made above is that invoking the Right to Counsel actually essentially invokes both rights...it's actually a better protection of your right to silence than the Right to Remain Silent offers, which is...well, welcome to the convoluted bullshit that is the law.

The Right to Remain Silent, when invoked (meaning you have to say the words) is basically a several-hour reprieve on police interrogation. The Right to Counsel shuts down the interrogation. It's not quite a permanent fix, but regardless of your guilt or innocence your attorney will be able to intervene to protect you from coercive police bullshittery designed to force a confession out of you.

So yeah, always invoke the Right to Counsel. It's always your best option.

EDIT: The way this double-speak legalese actually is rationalized is that you technically have the "right to remain silent" when you're being silent, but if you haven't expressed verbally that you want to be silent, any spontaneous utterance or confession the cops can muster out of you is clearly a sign that you never wanted to be silent to begin with, and therefore you always wanted to waive your right from the start, because you never said you didn't want to waive it.

After hours upon hours of twiddling one's thumbs, it's remarkably easy for the cops to manufacture ways to ensure the confession and a valid waiver. Some are legal. Some would actually be illegal if anyone found out it, but you're in the precinct, and no one's going to believe your word over the cops unless you have a healthy bundle of evidence independent from your word.

[stefan]

I always was amused at how much the fourth amendment gets shit on in practice.

"Officer, you have no warrant, so no, you cannot rip my car apart and throw the bits all over the highway."

"Well see, son, Rusty the K-9 here just sat down and leaned against my leg, so that's enough for me to believe there's probable cause involved. Bend and spread, boy!"

[Solid Snake]

I always was amused at how much the fourth amendment gets shit on in practice.

"Officer, you have no warrant, so no, you cannot rip my car apart and throw the bits all over the highway."

"Well see, son, Rusty the K-9 here just sat down and leaned against my leg, so that's enough for me to believe there's probable cause involved. Bend and spread, boy!"

Oh God I could type another Wall or two about what you need to know about the Fourth Amendment

[Loyal]

I'd read it.

[Aldurin]

America is American.

[Lumenskir]

I'd read it.
I'll save Snake the time. (http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/study/outlines/html/crimpro/index_Full.asp) It's got less excessive bolding and whatnot, but it also has everything you'd get anyways.

[Flarecobra]

New York City is America's most populated city, with over 19 million people.

[Sifright]

Fact: America has the largest number of pug faced dogs in the world.
Fact: over 40 percent of American politicians are in fact lizard men. The other 60 percent are killer robots from another dimension

[Osterbaum]

America is un-American.

[phil_]

Fact: America has the largest number of pug faced dogs in the world. <-citation needed
Fact: over 40 percent of American politicians are in fact lizard men. The other 60 percent are killer robots from another dimension.

[Solid Snake]

It's got less excessive bolding and whatnot, but it also has everything you'd get anyways.

Without excessive bold, it's sorely lacking in respectable content.

In other news, proof that America has NO CONCEPTUALIZATION of the definition of the legal term "self-defense:" Holy shit there's so much wrong here I don't even know what to say. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/doj-drones-paper_n_2619582.html)

Couldn't we have had a candidate for President with a slightly less certifiably insane perspective on foreign policy?

[Sifright]

Without excessive bold, it's sorely lacking in respectable content.

In other news, proof that America has NO CONCEPTUALIZATION of the definition of the legal term "self-defense:" Holy shit there's so much wrong here I don't even know what to say. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/doj-drones-paper_n_2619582.html)

Couldn't we have had a candidate for President with a slightly less certifiably insane perspective on foreign policy?

Fact: over 40 percent of American politicians are in fact lizard men. The other 60 percent are killer robots from another dimension


????

[Japan]

I too am confused, this was clearly explained earlier in this thread vis a vis cold blooded lizardmen with no souls are ruling the USA with scaly, iron fists.

Of course I can understand how you might be slightly confused, as Sifright seems to have presented this demographic in a manner which would suggest plurality of constituents. In reality he merely meant that all members of the American ruling caste are 60% extra-dimensional cyborg killing machine with the other 40% being made up of reptilian genetic material.

I hope that clears things up.

[Magus]

I for one welcome our soulless robot overlords, and support their shadow war against the nefarious lizard men with all my heart.

[phil_]

I for one welcome our soulless robot overlords, and support their shadow war against the nefarious lizard men with all my heart.This is bigoted against lizard men.

Also, where are those sources for that pug thing, Sifright? I googled for, like, twenty minutes and didn't find any support for your claim?

[Magus]

This is bigoted against lizard men.

Also, where are those sources for that pug thing, Sifright? I googled for, like, twenty minutes and didn't find any support for your claim?

In America if you can't disprove something it is true.

Sometimes even when you can disprove it.

[Sifright]

This is bigoted against lizard men.

Also, where are those sources for that pug thing, Sifright? I googled for, like, twenty minutes and didn't find any support for your claim?

Fact: over 80 percent of americans are incapable of using google, the other twenty percent haven't tried to.