austin …I meant like the FBI not a political organization like the ACLU or someone named “rob4.lewis” at a college or a group called “the future of children” @ a college.
and more specifically and importantly a break down of the number of black juveniles imprisoned for stealing political signs versus non black juveniles. ( perhaps romani is correct and her statement is sadly true …I shall await that statistic)
Do we really need an analysis? Has no one else ever seen reports justice is meted out differently for different sorts?
And this is OT.
Ye gads!
Yep…some legislators and their supporters/hangers on would definitely be the types to cheer on an initiative to mandate death sentences for kids who don’t eat their vegetables…
If the signs were in a public right of way, then someone went to the trouble and cost of getting a permit to put the signs there. By taking the signs, Stothart harmed them. If the fine is $250 no matter how many signs she took, why stop at one? Why not take all the signs in the entire township?
If she wanted to put up signs, she could have taken out a permit to put up her own signs.
Obviously if towns and cities and states have gone to the trouble of passing laws about stealing the signs, it is a problem and not a little prank.
This http://www.cbs46.com/story/35482482/homeowner-thieves-stole-jon-ossoff-campaign-signs-from-yard is not about the HS student, but they have so far successfully kept his stunt out of the paper. It’s gone around Facebook though, including the scurity camera video.
@lookingforward I think @Akqj10 's post highlights your point, he actually is proud that his daughter stole his neighbor’s property, and because of her white privilege he doesn’t have any concerns or feel she should suffer any consequences for stealing, a person of color would be much more concerned of the consequences of their child’s actions.
from Akqj10’s prior posts about his daughter:
Actually, from the picture it looks like the signs were posted in violation of the Falmouth political sign guidelines:
http://www.falmouthme.org/sites/falmouthme/files/file/file/political_sign_guidelines.pdf
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/10/25/falmouth-woman-stole-trump-signs-because-there-were-just-too-many-of-them/
There doesn’t seem to be a cost associated with putting up political signs.
Stealing them was still a stupid thing to do.
Edit to respond to #68 (below): I agree. I just meant there isn’t a municipal permit fee to put up political signs. I doesn’t matter if the signs were absolutely free. You still don’t steal someone else’s stuff.
So report them, don’t steal them!
The signs cost money to produce. And often citizens get them by making a campaign donation. There are real “costs”.
And sometimes signs get defaced. Tha to illegal too. Though I admit I secretly giggled when a candidate who ran for some local office several years ago had the middle vowel in his first name changed on many of his yardsigns by someone with a sense of humor. They changed the the “A” to an “O” in his first name. His name… is Pat Head.
That one, as they say, is his momma’s fault, for the name.
In that case, there is no one to blame but his parents… And probably himself (if he was a Patrick and decided to go by Pat). 
The link posted in post 64 is about a woman having many of her political signs stolen. Over and over. There are a lot of facebook pots of film of people stealing signs.
Pat Head is no youngster. Doubt his name, or even his nickname, was in anyone’s thoughts when he was born. With that last name there were other first names they definitely needed to avoid!
jym626 …richard and harold?
I actually grew up in a country where it was socially acceptable to steal from government. People spoke about it openly. They bragged about it. They viewed stealing as a tool to restore social justice. Anyone who did not want to steal was an idiot, anyone who could not steal was a loser. Even thinking about it today makes me shudder. Stealing anything from anyone for any reason is disgusting. Bragging about stealing is even more disgusting.
Abstracting away from all the discussions about privilege and such, has it occurred to anyone who approves of their kids stealing political yard signs that doing so is, well, stealing?
I mean, whether there’s any particular harm or not, can we please agree that theft is wrong? Because if we can’t agree on that—or worse, if the idea is that theft from those who disagree with us politically is right—then our society has even more intense issues than I’d thought we had.
I think many of us can agree, it’s theft, not some idle prank.
But it’s interesting: the very fact that it’s illegal in all states, whether rolled into “generic theft” or covered by a specific statute, suggests this is widespread.
An eye opener.
To me, it’s more than just theft - it’s tampering with elections and a free political process. Without these strict laws, imagine how out of hand things could get. Not good for a democracy.
It doesn’t surprise me. We had issues in my local area during the past election cycle and it wasn’t teenagers.
No parent should condone this or take it lightly. As stated previously, there are plenty of ways to exercise your political views without stooping to such behavior - and maybe one would pick up some knowledge and skills in the process.
I think, in some cases, the volume of signs often exceeds a simple, free political statement. It feels, to me, like a barrage, a tsunami of pressure being forced on me. Especially when it’s in public spaces. This is different than individuals announcing their lean with one sign on their property.
But I can agree that it’s theft.