John Pfaff: I’m glad to see that Hannover, PA, has reduced all crimes to zero, so the police chief has time to harass ppl for … tarot readings.

I’m glad to see that Hannover, PA, has reduced all crimes to zero, so the police chief has time to harass ppl for … tarot readings.

A Pennsylvania Shop Offered Tarot Readings. Then the Police Came.www.nytimes.com The police chief in Hanover visited the shop to “educate” its owner about an archaic state law that prohibits fortunetelling.

Fun fact: that statute actually has provisions barring fortunetelling for the purpose of helping people find buried treasure. There’s also a religious exemption in case law

I prefer to point out the fact it bars for-profit necromancy. Pro bono necromancy, however, remains fine.

Pro bone-o, surely

You can summon uncle Jimmy but not for money.

Pro Bono Necromancy is my next band name.

Is it a U2 tribute band?

U2 meets Grateful Dead

ꟼrobonecrO

So we can do normal, mundane stuff for-profit, with a free side of sorcery?

Free necromancy with every purchase of a $30 glass of Pepsi.

The glass is a collectable! But it's leaded glass.

I work on tips.

Wasn't fortune telling for the purpose of finding buried treasure basically how Joseph Smith got his start?

The statute appears to prohibit professional astronomy, including the prediction of eclipses. @kenwhite.bsky.social

Astronomy isn't pretend. Probably not the right argument.

When I do it it is.

Straight to jail

This conversation creates a universe of grifter astronomy, where they have to prove their knowledge. Owner: I was doing Astronomy, I'm allowed to have this telescope. Police: Oh? Then what's at the center of our galaxy? Owner: (Oh god, don't say earth, don't say earth) Umm. Earth? *gunshot*

Epicycles? Always has been.

They key part is "fortunetelling", which tarot readers will always say they don't do. Frankly, most readings come down to having a good chat, which is helped by the cards as cues. She mentions this explicitly in the article :)

The statute seems to rely on subjective earnestness.

Oh man, whether someone has predicted future events is an element of this offense, this would be a hilarious and impossible prosecution.

Not to over-read a ridiculous law, but I read it as criminalizing *pretending to* predict the future, which doesn’t seem to need to actually predict (or fail to).

Doesn’t say “pretending to,” though! Defendant should get the rule-of-lenity reading. (Perhaps that reading comes in through the “tell fortunes” disjunctive, though.)

Eh. That feels a little muddled because we’re talking about the legislative intent of people who spoke a historic dialect and were almost endlessly ignorant

And the local news reporting sunrise/sunset times.

This is phrenogist erasure!

NO LUCRE ALLOWED

And, "as chief constable I'm supposed to get a pig every month... and two comely lasses of virtue true."

Clip from: Marge vs. the Monorailcomb.io Hey, according to the charter, as chief constable I'm supposed to get a pig every month... "and two comely lasses of virtue true." Keep the pig. How many broads do I get? Hey, hey, let go! You're ripp...

thinking she should have seen the cops coming beforehand

Kind of disappointed by how far I had to scroll for this.

as did I before posting

bsky.app/profile/drea...

augury [aw-gyuh-ree], n.: 1) When the doves scry.

Police in the US have such massive leeway to enforce or not enforce laws. Obviously they have an agenda when it comes to bothering an attractive young woman over an archaic law

(Non-PW article: www.inquirer.com/life/hanover... ) Red Bank NJ had a similar case in the 80s; somebody opened a New Agey crystal shoppe, and fortune telling was also illegal in the ?town?state? because of past history of scammy fortune tellers preying on the gullible.

Police warn witchcraft shop in rural Pa. that tarot is illegalwww.inquirer.com In Pennsylvania, fortune-telling is illegal and punishable by 6-12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

seems more like "free legal advice" than "harassment"

I love when the mafia lads drop by my store with free fire safety advice.

So this is a very serious question: as domestic violence and manslaughter is global wherever humans live permanently, why are law enforcement agencies not sued for not going after crime?

Legally, bc the SCOTUS, in a grim case called Castle Rock v Gonzalez (involving a suit like you suggest after a man murdered his entire family following repeated failure by the police to enforce a restraining order), said they can’t be sued. Basically, police enforcement discretion is unreviewable.

Land of the free from persecution, conditions may apply, read our annex for additional surcharges, ask your doctor if you experience complications.

The police chief received intelligence from a seance that a future crime was going to be committed with information passed on through the tarot readings.

Isn't that the plot of Elvira, The Mistress of the Dark?

Oh, look, a real witch hunt.

This is when I miss Topix.

Then there's the STL cop who ghosts the progressive DA when her office tries to schedule his testimony in court. At least one stone killer went free.

They’re just scared of what they don’t understand lmao

So you’re telling me the cops finally busted Madame Marie for telling fortunes better than they do?

I was in Hanover last weekend. I’ll be sure not to be witchy next time I cross the boarder into koo koo bananas PA

We should all live in such utopias

Tarot isn't fortune telling, so she wasn't even in breach of this law.

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