Good post until you got to here. We all bear personal responsibility for our actions. That a cop takes money to do a job doesn't exempt him from personal responsibility for their actions. The law is clearly dog ****. Enforcing this dog **** with physical force for a paycheck makes you dog **** too. Nobody forced them to take a job that includes a engaging in a bunch of immoral activities, whether or not they also engage in some useful activities.

Nascent i don't think you quite get it, why oh why are u allowing a guy to make money off of a home poker game in which u claim are friends, OMG u let this happen charging friends to sit in another friends house & charge them for this, just because you'se play cards-to me that is the definition of s.c.u.m. GET IT YET.
And as to who is the victim, how do u know there isin't 1 off said friends who's wife is at home with children crying because off lack of amenities etc. & maybe worse.
But ofcourse u do not know this, charging friends to play poker in the home in 1 of the wealthiest countries in the world is beyond sick. I'd say the chief got this 1 right

You finally said something that we agree with!

You made a good decision because:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-IEsz0lQnA

I guess you're just going to spout the same crap and ignore everyone's logic. Classic troll. Lock it up.

If the police truly cared about the guy with the wife at home with children crying because they 'lack amenities' (as you say- wtf does that even mean anyway, lol!), they would be raiding every convenience store in the land, as they all sell scratch tickets with a rake of 50+%.
They would also be raiding the lottery commissions headquarters.

As to '1 of the wealthiest countries in the world' that is true only for the evil rich and powerful. The evil corruption is so corrupt. Its due to profligacy at the top.

Logic-

I do not think it means what you think it means.

That's a certainty.

That's what we're saying.

Holy Gawd, you need to get out of the States and visit a few other countries. Find out what a real oppressive police state is like.

Who is the victim when a police officer stops someone from speeding, running a red light, jay walking, etc (assuming there weren't any injuries or wrecks)? Because the police officers should be out catching murderers or robbers? Well, imo, if they don't stop people from doing those things at some point it would get worse and worse then there would be more wrecks or injuries from people breaking those laws.

I guess if the police were stealing at least they were nice enough to give receipts. I mean I see your concern with them taking all the money as someone could have just cashed their check and had no intention to use their whole check to gamble with. However, and as unfortunate as it may be, I wonder how honest all the players would be if the police said "we have to take all the money you were planning on gambling with until this gets settled in court. Please keep any of the money you weren't planning on gambling with". Now I'm sure the people in your poker game would have all been 100% honest. But this guy might have been less than honest.

nascent, just curious do you think that the casinos are getting a fair shake by other raked games not having to pay for a gambling license? I don't know what the costs are involved to apply, receive, or maintain those licenses but something tells me it's not penny ante stuff.

But if this was all a ruse to see how long you could string us along you've done a much better job than I could have done.

disclaimer - I probably look at things like the letter of the law incorrectly. I am 44 and had many of years to get over looking at the law as how I would want it vs as it's written.

Law Enforcement can and does police its own, at least at the federal level:

http://www.justice.gov/sites/default...t_unsealed.pdf

(A bizarre case of overwhelmingly poor judgment and execution ...)

People are still trying to have a rational discussion with OP? Usually I'm one of the last to give up, but even I can see it's a hopeless cause.

It's too bad, because I think there are a few troubling things about what happened, if all occurred as OP laid it out. But OP's ridiculous stance on other things have kept the focus on him. Perhaps that's what he wants, IDK.

Yeah.. Like Canada.

With it's medicinal marijuana, and it's gay marriage, free health care, and online poker..

yeah, USA is the best

Gambling licenses are all politics. The license fees are a drop in the bucket compared to what they bring in. It's not that people don't get gambling licenses because because they're expensive. They don't get them because you need political connections to get them.

1. Couple things. You can't compare raiding a home game on PRIVATE property to issuing a speeding ticket, cuz unfortunately the state owns/operates the roads, so they make the rules. Also, you are clearly threatening other peoples safety on the road if you are bombing through red lights, speeding, etc. Not a good argument as to why people shouldn't be allowed to play games in their own homes.

2. Giving someone a receipt after you take their money somehow makes it justified?

3. Not trying to start a politard debate here, but gambling licenses are a great example of crony capitalism. In a lot of places only a few licenses are given out at hefty prices, and their revenues are taxed heavily. Ever wonder why some of us get raked $6-7+ a hand? Of course if you're a casino you want any and all competition shutdown to maintain market share, and the best part of a government license is they get to use taxpayer money to enforce their monopoly. If someone wants to offer a raked game on their property they ought to have every right to.

Why are people ITT defending the police?

Let's be real here. There are "real crimes" and "fake crimes" and someone having a home game with a rake and someone smoking weed and someone drinking a beer at age 19 are all examples of fake crimes that eventually if we have some sense we'll change the law.

Police are incentivized to focus on the "fake crime" like a bunch of overweight poker players in a home game because there is a lot more money it in it for them and a lot less risk than busting bank robbers and gang bangers.

Society is not made better when police focus on poker players or guys smoking weed. Sorry - no one is going to convince me otherwise.

C'mon Sarge, lock this mess up, it's hurting my eyes.

I don't think people are necessarily defending the police. They're a bunch of aholes who are abusing their power.

What people are saying is that they didn't technically do anything wrong from a legal standpoint. They're within their powers to bust poker games. They're within their power to confiscate money at a poker game. They didn't do anything illegal.

They're just power tripping sh*theads who are trying to line their own wallets instead of focusing on crimes with actual victims.

Why would you care if other people want to have a discussion?

I heard the cops never showed their robbing license. It sure must be nice to have one.

9.5 years and 15,000 posts and it's the first time I ever said 'lock it up.' That's what I think of your 'discussion.'

Is it illegal to tip the guy who runs your NCAA pool 10% of your winnings? How is this different from giving the host of the poker game a tip or "rake" from each pot?

Wow, you must be really smart to write 15,000 thousand posts. You must be really tolerant as well, as you have tolerated all the other threads without complaint.