Free speech cases often require defending obnoxious speech or people. Dillon Shane Webb, 23, appears to be both. Webb is one of those people who think that it is funny to say obscene things and does not care at all about how his speech is impacting children or others. For that reason, Webb thought it was really, really funny to have a window sticker reading “I eat ass.” When he was asked to take down or change the offensive sticker, he refused and was arrested for criminal obscenity. The problem is that obscenity often depends who defines what is obscene. For free speech advocates, it is a standard that invites subjectivity and ambiguity in an area that depends bright line rules. That does not mean however that we cannot and should not denounce Webb for his offensive and careless speech.
On Sunday at 5:50 pm, a deputy sheriff saw the sticker on Webb’s brown Chevrolet truck and asked Webb about the offensive language and to consider how “a parent of a small child would explain the meaning of the words,” to which Webb replied that it would be “up to the parent.”
So the deputy was able to confirm that Webb is an absolute jerk. However, he then proceeded to write up a summons under Florida Statute 847.011:
Florida Statute 847.011, which states in pertinent part:
“(2) Except as provided in paragraph (1)(c), a person who knowingly has in his or her possession, custody, or control any obscene book, magazine, periodical, pamphlet, newspaper, comic book, story paper, written or printed story or article, writing, paper, card, picture, drawing, photograph, motion picture film, film, any sticker, decal, emblem or other device attached to a motor vehicle containing obscene descriptions, photographs, or depictions, any figure, image, phonograph record, or wire or tape or other recording, or any written, printed, or recorded matter of any such character which may or may not require mechanical or other means to be transmuted into auditory, visual, or sensory representations of such character, or any article or instrument for obscene use, or purporting to be for obscene use or purpose, without intent to sell, lend, give away, distribute, transmit, show, transmute, or advertise the same, commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. A person who, after having been convicted of violating this subsection, thereafter violates any of its provisions commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. In any prosecution for such possession, it is not necessary to allege or prove the absence of such intent.”
Florida law defines “obscene” according to the Supreme Court’s controversial rulings applying “contemporary community standards” — a standard that has always been opposed by free speech advocates as imposing the values of the majority on their neighbors. It also must “appeal to the prurient interest” which involves acts that are reveal; a shameful or morbid interest in sex, nudity, or excretion. Finally, it must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Notably, the deputy suggests that Webb simply remove one “s” in “ass” to make it less immediately offensive though that would read “I eat as” — which would leave many wondering “you eat as what?”
As will come as no surprise to people on this blog, I favor the free speech position against such laws. However, I also find Webb to be a thoroughly crude and inconsiderable person. The first amendment however is not needed to protect popular people or popular speech.
By the way, the deputy also charged Webb with resisting an official without violence — another crime that civil libertarians have objected to as vague and often subjective. There is no indication of how Wedd resisted beyond contesting the view of the officer.
What do you think should happen?
I think the sheriff’s department and county prosecutor involved in this mess owe Dillon Shane Webb an apology and perhaps compensation for lost time, and any distress his arrest may have caused him. It doesn’t matter wither Webb eats ass or just is one. The same First Amendment which protects your right to harrumph over the two sewer-dwellers in charge of cleaning up Trump’s messes also protects Webb when he indulges in his own form of obscenity.
As obscenity goes, Webb’s window sticker is an epic fail. It would be difficult (maybe not impossible that close to Jeffrey Epstein’s old stomping grounds) to find someone whose “prurient interest” would be aroused by the words “I eat ass” on a car window. In the 21st century, the sorts of obscenity not only protected by the government, but actually financed by it, like Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ (immersion)” far surpass the fumbling efforts of Mr. Webb.
Like <a href="[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8URObtApS_4?start=2277&w=560&h=315%5D“>”Vinny” ini My Blue Heaven, Mr. Webb is “the worst-case scenario of Thomas Jefferson’s dreams”.
That’s not even true, though. The National Endowment for the Humanities paid Andres Serrano a total of $20,000 for a photograph called “Piss Christ (immersion)” which showed a crucifix apparently immersed in urine. Compared to the kakistocrats who wrote that check and Mr. Serrano himself, Dillon Shane Webb is just a piker.
I feel like I’m missing something here. “I eat ass” although stupid just doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Isn’t that word all over TV today as well as calling someone a “di_k”? Maybe NY has different laws since I see way worse things on cars like the “F” word or “Hillary for President”. Even more offensive are the balls hanging from truck bumpers. Are you allowed to have them in FL?
i hate those hanging balls. As with monster trucks, one suspects there is a major deficiency in the driver
really dangerous people don’t project their capabilities, they hide them
Oh, I so very much HATE chrome bull balls hanging from trucks. WHY???!!! Talk about having an awkward conversation with kids…
It’s meant to be some manly thing, somehow, or maybe masculinizing a truck, but the thought that pops into my mind is that it looks like a castration souvenir, and then I think, wow, he must have a difficult girlfriend if she’s removed his dangly bits and nailed them to his truck…
Makes me ashamed of this county as this is exactly what the 1st amendment is all about. Also another reason I have zero respect for cops.
dont lump them all together. lots of good cops out there. this idiot is probably not one of them
There are 3,242 counties, parishes, boroughs and other county-equivalents in the US. Shouldn’t be hard to move to a less shameful one.
https://www.newsweek.com/sex-workers-livid-arrests-linked-kraft-probe-1406814
SEX WORKER ADVOCATES LIVID ABOUT ‘PRETEXT OF RESCUE’ AFTER AUTHORITIES ARREST WOMEN RELATED TO ROBERT KRAFT INVESTIGATION
BY DANIEL MORITZ-RABSON ON 4/26/19 AT 5:36 PM EDT
The arrest of a woman accused of providing sexual services to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has ignited outrage among sex worker advocates, who are questioning why low-level workers are being arrested.
Shen Mingbi was arrested on eight counts of offering to commit prostitution and one count of deriving support from proceeds of prostitution, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported on Wednesday. Mingbi was the second woman who allegedly provided sexual services to Kraft at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, in early 2018. Lei Wang, the first woman taken into custody for such accusations, was previously arrested with Hua Zhang, and both now face a range of charges.
Sex worker advocates say that sex work should be decriminalized and that the law endangers women involved in the practice.
The arrests “[bring] to light the intent of laws designed to assist those who have been thought to be trafficked,” Cristine Sardina, the director of sex worker advocacy group Desiree Alliance told Newsweek in an email. “The guise of law enforcement infiltrating the establishment for human and sex trafficking is of little merit when those who were under surveillance for a long period of time were arrested and not offered services under the TVPRA or any [federal or state] resources related to trafficking. Who benefits? Certainly not the women who were arrested under the pretext of rescue.”
Sex worker advocates, like customers, expressed outrage over police tactics used in the investigation. Thirty-one people sued Florida authorities earlier this week, saying that their rights were violated when authorities video-taped interactions at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
Authorities said the investigation, which resulted in 300 arrests and landed Kraft with two misdemeanor charges of soliciting prostitution that he has denied, focused on human trafficking.
“Whether or not these women were exploited while working in these spas, they are all more vulnerable after these arrests. Handcuffs don’t help. If the police and prosecutors really want to help, they should LISTEN TO SEX WORKERS and JUST STOP THE ARRESTS. Because of their arrests, these women will face unemployment, poverty, and homelessness, in some cases deportation, and in all cases public shaming,” Christine Hanavan, a community organizer for the Sex Workers Outreach Project Behind Bars (SBB), said at a press conference on Monday.
https://truthout.org/articles/florida-sex-workers-demand-decriminalization-after-massive-raids/
NEWS PRISONS & POLICING
Florida Sex Workers Demand Decriminalization After Massive Raids
The role of police is at the heart of the debate over decriminalization of sex work.
Mike Ludwig, Truthout
April 2, 2019
Florida lawmakers want to do something about sex trafficking in the wake of high-profile raids on massage parlors across south Florida that led to 300 prostitution-related arrests in February. So, last week, a community organizer and two activists working in the sex trade showed up to a criminal justice committee hearing on a controversial anti-sex-trafficking bill and asked lawmakers to make sweeping changes to the legislation, which they say could further the criminalization of sex workers and do little to combat trafficking.
“Sex work does not equate to human trafficking,” said Kristen Cain, a sex worker and one of the activists who spoke during the public comment period of the hearing in the Florida House of Representatives last week. “Conflating the two is dangerous for both victims of human trafficking and sex workers. Listen to sex workers. We are here to help you.”
Sex workers are best positioned to identify victims of trafficking who are coerced into selling sexual services, the three activists told lawmakers, but fear of arrest can prevent them from making reports. They argued that criminalizing sex workers under anti-prostitution laws actually creates more space for trafficking and makes the entire sex trade more dangerous to begin with.
“Decriminalizing sex work does not mean decriminalizing human trafficking, exploitation, or violence,” victims advocate Christine Hanavan, one of the activists who spoke at the hearing, told the lawmakers. Hanavan, who works as a community organizer with the Sex Workers Outreach Project Behind Bars in Orlando, added that decriminalizing sex work “means increased safety, access to social services, and the ability to leave the sex industry if people choose to without a criminal record forever standing in the way.”
Despite emotional testimony from Cain and another activist who consensually sells sex for a living, the lawmakers did not move to decriminalize sex work in Florida. Instead, they advanced a bill that would expand a statewide human trafficking council and require the hospitality industry to train employees to watch for signs of human trafficking. Activists like Cain say the legislation could have harmful consequences for sex workers and encourage the profiling of women, members of the LGBTQ community, people of color and gender-nonconforming people as sex workers and trafficking victims.
Heather Fitzenhagen, the Republican who sponsored the bill, responded to the activists’ criticisms by declaring that she would not work with the sex workers in the future. “A consensual sex worker, a.k.a a prostitute, is committing a crime,” Fitzenhagen told the committee.
The tense exchange in the Florida legislature comes as rights for consensual sex workers and efforts to stop sex trafficking — two categorically different issues that are often intertwined in political debates over the sex trade — are splashing across the headlines nationwide, thanks to high-profile scandals and political efforts to either decriminalize sex work or crack down on trafficking. The topic is even popping up in the presidential race, where support for decriminalization has become a litmus test for progressive Democrats.
As Truthout has reported, many sex workers consider decriminalization a matter of survival, particularly for those who are already marginalized due to factors like race, income, immigration status or gender presentation.
Cain apparently changed her profile name on Twitter to call out the stigmatizing remark that Fitzenhagen made at the hearing:
Kristen Cain A.K.A. Prostitute 🤷
@Kattz716
👏👏👏👏
ErikaG
@egonz15
If your doing anti-trafficking work and you don’t have sex workers at the table, you’re doing it wrong. https://twitter.com/PaceSociety/status/1105604389559914501 …
3
12:00 AM – Mar 30, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
See Kristen Cain A.K.A. Prostitute 🤷’s other Tweets
Human Trafficking Investigation Leads to High-Profile Raids
Sex work involves consenting adults and can range from a legal strip tease to a criminalized massage or sex act, depending on local laws. In contrast, human trafficking involves forced or coerced labor. Sex trafficking victims make up the minority of those forced to work globally, but they often receive the most attention from anti-trafficking groups, which are known to use startling tales and images of enslaved young girls to raise large amounts of money.
While sex work and trafficking are very different, the line between them can sometimes appear blurry in real life because vulnerable people may engage in sex work in order to survive. People who are poor and marginalized (often due to their race, immigration status and/or gender presentation) may see sex work as their best option for employment. Laws against prostitution create an underground economy and have bred distrust between police and people working in the sex trades for centuries.
The February police sting on 10 message parlors and day spas in south Florida was the result of a months-long undercover operation and resulted in solicitation charges against several prominent men, including Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots football team. Kraft has denied the charges and is seeking to have undercover video evidence against him thrown out.
Martin Country Sheriff William Snyder and other cops have loudly framed the high-profile raids as part of an anti-human-trafficking operation, telling media outlets that immigrants from China appeared to be living in at least some of busted spas and parlors. However, police have so far been unable to bring any charges under Florida’s human trafficking statute, according to reports and a review of jailhouse records. One spa owner does face various prostitution and racketeering charges and could face decades in prison.
Police have released little information about the massage therapists they say are trafficking victims due to ongoing investigations. Local reports suggest at least 12 alleged spa employees were arrested and jailed at least initially, and it’s unclear whether those who were incarcerated are among the “victims” allegedly held in “sexual servitude.” Two “cooperating victims” are reportedly staying in “shelters.” A spokesperson for Snyder’s office did not immediately respond to an email inquiry.
The owner of the spa that Kraft attended was recently released from jail after a judge reduced her bond, and Kraft’s lawyers are lashing out at Snyder and the police, calling them liars.
Sex Worker Rights Advocates Clash With Anti-Trafficking Movement
The resulting media frenzy is once again pitting sex worker rights activists against the conservative wing of the anti-trafficking movement, which broadly seeks to end or contain the sex trade by targeting men who buy sex for arrest, prosecution and public embarrassment. This is known as the “end demand model” or the “Nordic model.” Sex worker and human rights groups have long argued against it, saying that criminalizing clients makes sex work riskier, and sex workers still get caught up in law enforcement raids.
Proponents of the “end demand” model argue that sex trafficking has become more prevalent in countries that have decriminalized or legalized prostitution, and criminalizing at least the buyers of sexual services allows police and anti-trafficking groups to intervene. By conflating the sex trades with “modern day slavery” that exploits young women and girls, anti-trafficking groups are able to raise massive budgets and sway lawmakers to their side.
Meanwhile, critics of the “end demand” model say claims of widespread sex trafficking are often overblown. Several investigations by Truthout have found that anti-trafficking groups in the so-called “rescue industry” have fabricated sensational tales of sex slavery, lack fiscal transparency and often do not count sex workers or sex trafficking victims among their leadership. In the past, some in the movement have been accused of exploiting sex workers and trafficking victims in the media and coercing them into uncompensated labor — an element of human trafficking itself.
“Victims, they go from being trafficked to a trafficking rescue that continues to exploit them — it’s incredibly troubling that they do that,” Hanavan told Truthout in an interview.
Hanavan, who has worked in shelters for women, added that police often arrest and incarcerate both sex workers and suspected trafficking victims in prostitution raids, a highly traumatizing experience that cops may attempt to paint as an anti-trafficking “rescue” operation when the media starts asking questions.
“It’s a very simple matter to Google images of Florida sheriff’s deputies and police officers leading victims away in handcuffs,” Hanavan said.
Debates Over the Role of the Police
Judging by comments made by lawmakers at the committee hearing, the anti-trafficking movement and its allies in law enforcement have the ear of the Florida legislature, where bills based on the “end demand” framework are advancing in both chambers.
Hanavan said lawmakers were more receptive to lobbying efforts by sex workers in the Florida Senate, and lawmakers in both chambers agreed to drop language in companion anti-trafficking bills that would have created a public registry of people found guilty of prostitution-related offenses, but not of human trafficking crimes.
Sex worker advocates are still concerned about other parts of the legislation supported by law enforcement and anti-trafficking groups, including language that would require hotels to train certain employees to spot and report suspected human trafficking victims to hotlines and the police.
While this would give consensual sex workers more reason to worry about snitches at hotels, sex worker advocates say training and awareness efforts on the “signs of human trafficking” can be dangerously inaccurate and result in profiling and harassment of people who have nothing to do with the sex trade, including immigrants, multiracial families, queer and trans people, neurodivergent people and single women traveling alone.
“We want to make sure that things are done with input from the people that are actually impacted,” Hanavan said.
The Fight for Decriminalization Continues
Hanavan, Cain and other activists are pushing lawmakers to amend the legislation to decriminalize sex work and give sex workers and trafficking victims leadership roles in the state’s efforts to combat sex trafficking, but their proposals have yet to gain real traction. When it comes to decriminalization, the debate is not actually about the lines between consensual sex work and trafficking, it’s about the role of police.
In a recent op-ed, even Snyder was showing interest in decriminalization, at least to an extent. Decriminalization, he wrote, would give police more discretion, lessen penalties for consensual sex work, and ensure that sex trafficking victims are not made criminals as well. However, he warns that full decriminalization or legalization of prostitution would eliminate the ability of police to investigate and bust sex traffickers and is therefore not the answer.
Sex workers argue police often do more harm than good.
“People in the sex industry say over and over again that they’re afraid of the police,” Hanavan told lawmakers at the hearing last week. “They can’t trust the police. The police aren’t helping. They are more afraid of police than the traffickers and predators. We need to listen.”
Even if we ignore the historic relationship between prostitutes and police, it’s easy to see why sex workers and advocates like Hanavan are concerned. After entertainer Stormy Daniels accused the vice squad in Columbus, Ohio, of targeting her because of her dispute with President Trump over alleged hush money payments, vice squad officer Andrew Mitchell was charged with kidnapping and forcing two women to have sex with him under threat of arrest. He also faces a grand jury for killing a young mother while attempting to make a prostitution arrest.
Last week, prosecutors announced that women living in Mitchell’s rental properties traded sex for free or reduced rent under pressure from Mitchell, according to The Appeal. If the allegations are true, then a police officer whose duty was to enforce laws criminalizing sex work is a sex trafficker himself. The vice squad was disbanded last month.
Back in Florida, Snyder has told reporters that he has been unable to file human trafficking charges in the massage parlor cases because trafficking is difficult to prove, particularly when the alleged “victims” refuse to cooperate with police.
“Whether lawmakers want to admit it or not, [sex workers] are the experts on reducing trafficking and violence in the sex industry, along with other issues that affect them,” Hanavan said.
Kurtz, Kraft’s crime was that he had a friendship with Trump. I am waiting for them to prove he did anything illegal. Such massage parlors are all over the nation and frequented by both sexes. I consider it criminal that the police were filming nude individuals that were in private rooms, both male and female, being observed by police of both sexes. I hope a bunch of the victims sue and win large rewards and that whomever authorized this loses his job.
Oh my gosh, I was so slow to grasp about that whole massage parlor thing. Years ago, I picked up lunch in front of a massage parlor out of town for like a week in a row. I remember thinking, massage parlor, a massage sounds nice. My back muscles are so locked up. Then, how weird that all the front windows are blacked out. Next day, well that’s interesting. Seems like a steady stream of customers, but they’re all men. I think I was still planning on giving it a try on my last day but luckily announced my intentions to my horrified, and rolling with laughter, colleagues.
I thought massage parlors were physical therapy centers. LOL
Karen, massage parlors can offer massages without any sexual overtones. However, even in massage parlors where no sex is supposedly offered it can exist. It is a hopeless thing to wipe our different types of sexual activities between two consenting adults when no one is being hurt. The answer to a person’s problems with what they consider undesireable activity is not to look and certainly not to put hidden cameras into rooms where innocent people go for medical releif with a massage.
The police that did that used the excuse of human trafficking but the camera doesn’t prove human trafficking at all. It only proves that a person may have been touched inappropriately according to some standards and can prove a tip was left which happens with or without the inappropriate touching.
The statute, at least the quoted excerpt, covers mere possession of obscenity in the home. It is overbroad and therefore unconstitutional on its face even if applied to a display of supposedly obscene material.
A different statute, limited to the display or distribution of obscene material, while constitutional, would still not apply to this window sticker. Vulgarity is not obscenity, nor is mere reference to a possibly sexual act. It doesn’t matter if the deputy claims he or some imaginary child felt offended. Many things can offend people – especially those looking for a reason to be offended.
This case isn’t even close, and the deputy should have known that. Perhaps he did.
Interesting that the only complaint came from officer Doright
Strange. Florida “US mail bomber” Cesar Sayoc’s van was covered with political stickers
Cesar, the Florida man who pleaded guilty to mailing several faulty pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and critics of President Trump is blaming years of steroid use for the events leading up to his arrest.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff posted to the bomber’s court case file Tuesday, 57-year-old Cesar Sayoc said he’d abused “heavy amounts of steroids” and used 274 different supplements and vitamins before he was arrested in late October. In all, he said he’d abused the steroids for over four decades.
roids are a bad idea, especially overuse. they make you crazy and shrink your nutz
This is one of those scenarios when short sighted self-righteous people eager to start dumping buckets of silicon grease on the slippery slope, twist their arms out of socket patting themselves on the back for supporting vanquishing evil.
Stripping the least likable individuals of their Rights is always a key starting point and the easiest avenue to desensitize people and get their consent to, just this one time, in just this one case, for just this one person, put the removal of just this one Right on the optional table.
These nebulous laws that set up millions of empowered subjective mini judges with power to interpret the law and demand and execute their their own standards of justice regardless of what actual legal Rights have to be jettisoned, are some of the core components of the current outrage bully movement aka brownshirting being used to saturate society with Anti-Rights, Anti-Freedom engineered norms. They carry more power than Laws and Rights and brand consequences for violations of Constitutional and Civil Rights outdated, impotent, evil and criminal and turn social conscience toward outrage and punishment of non criminal behavior of Rights Protected People that they simply don’t like, disagree with or who have been branded unworthy of Rights.
Fact is most 8 year olds have a vocabulary that includes “adult words” like “ass” learned from listening to music, playing video games, movies, and TV , know how to give oral sex, are actively exploring whether or not they are transsexuals and if so the best hospitals to get their breasts and penises cut off, know the best way to slip on a condom in a hurry, just in case they meet somebody behind the bleachers at recess and not a peep about this state sanctioned form of education is heard or the contents of what is being taught in elementary school is scrutinized.
THAT is obscene.
A better question is why is any parent is letting their child develope a moral compass taken from what they see around them and instilled in them by people who view them as “tools of the trade” instead of one cultivated by the parents to serve the child in life? Any child who walks down certain streets in any big city or uses any form of media is going to be treated to an earful and eyeful eye full of sexually explicit content and images and yet parents stupidly believe it is better to let these be the child’s guide in the world than giving guidance themselves because somehow that interferes with letting the child “be him or herself,” whatever that idiotic soundbite from a bumpersticker means.
Is the answer to shutter the tittie bars and girly shows, abolish entertainment, burn all books and use absolute control over everybody’s life to sanitize and bring about a perfect child friendly the world to further dumb down children, make them impotent to live life in the real world and create another generation of snowflakes on steroids?
(” in the name of the children” of course.)
There is now a growing trend that is deeming porn a “health crisis” and calling for the criminalization of ALL it. This is such a perfect segue into the abolishment of Free Speech I am only amazed this hammer hasn’t been pulled out of the tool box and promoted until mission accomplished before.
What if the quote was tattooed on this guys arms or his forehead? Then what? State forced laser surgery? Life in prison so children at the 7 Eleven won’t see his tattoo as he buys a couple of suitcases of beer wearing a wife beater shirt?
There is too much “offensive” content in the world to ban everything and frankly the parents should man and woman up and do their job, a job they CHOSE, not expect everybody else to be their extended nannies. If a child sees the bumper sticker and asks about it, the parent should explain in age appropriate language, or better yet tell him or her to ask their 8 year old sibling, not take the kid in arms and jump on board the Abolish Free Speech Boxcar with them.
“What do you think should happen?” Fire the damn officer immediately. He thinks he is way too important for a job where he carries a gun and essentially has the license to kill anyone he want. Fire his ASS now.
People who act like this usually have some personality disorder. He will eventually end up in jail if his behavior is allowed to escalate. I don’t think he should be arrested for being a jackass but something should go on his record as a reminder to him that he is on the radar of law enforcement.
People who act like this usually have some personality disorder.
actually no. You are more likely to find people with PD on the internet writing in the comments sections insulting, taunting, demeaning other commenters. Many self-styled blogs are authored by people with PD: Weird, Wild and Worried. The incidence of people with PD is on the rise in the US given it it associated with people with an inability to develop meaningful social relationships. The internet is their sole means of having interactions with others anonymously, which furthers their illness.
Look for these symptoms within these 3 clusters when you visit internet forums
Weird: Cluster A: Accusatory, Aloof, Awkward
Wild: Cluster B: Bad, Borderline, flamBoyant, must be the Best
Worried: Cluster C: Cowardly, obsessive-Compulsive,Clingy.
PD is defined as having an inflexible, maladaptive, and rigidly pervasive pattern of behavior causing subjective distress and/or impaired functioning; Usually presents by early adulthood. No pharmacological treatment. Patient must learn skills to manage their mental illness and self-regulate.
Trolls are people with PD and this forum appears to have a large number of them: L4D, Natacha, Anon, Anonymous, Peter Shill, Fishwings, Mark M and others
The kid is 23. He is barely ripe and close to the age of teenagers whose crazyness is sometimes likened to schizophrenia. In today’s world, though he should be, he is not expected to act like an adult.
What wasn’t he doing?
He wasn’t drunk or potted.
He wasn’t speeding or driving recklessly.
He wasn’t texting.
He apparently was wearing a seat belt.
He a license and insurance.
He wasn’t exposing himself.
He apparently didn’t have a gun nor was he transporting drugs.
Certain parts of Florida are experts at arresting people who aren’t bothering others.
Like when they arrested a rich guy for supposedly getting his groin rubbed under the pretense of a human trafficking investigation which it certainly wasnt.
We have to hear about Wunderkind Gay Mayor Pete and his partner all the time are the Great Hope of Progressives– but a rich old widower getting a rub down in private is a crime.
If I remember correctly the strongly Democratic head of Palm Beach County prosecutors also went after Rush Limbaugh. This is how Democrats run things. Abuse of power.
i looked it up on wiki which nach dislikes. . You appear to be correct Allan!
————————-
The county is governed by a board of commissioners, consisting of seven commissioners, who are all elected from single-member districts. One of the commissioners is elected mayor and one of them is elected vice mayor.[citation needed] Commissioners serve staggered terms, and commissioners from Districts 1, 3, 5, and 7 are elected during presidential election years, while the commissioners from Districts 2, 4, and 6 are elected in gubernatorial election years.
Elected county officers include a clerk of courts and comptroller, sheriff, property appraiser, tax collector, and supervisor of elections. State officers serving the Florida judicial district include the state attorney and public defender. All positions are 4-year terms, requiring direct election by voters in presidential election years.
Five former county commissioners have been accused or found guilty of corruption from 2006 to 2009. A grand jury recommended a strong inspector general. This position was approved by county voters in 2010. A county judge found that the mandate covered municipal government in 2015.[81]
Palm Beach County Officials
Position Incumbent
District 1 Commissioner Hal R. Valeche
District 2 Commissioner Gregg Weiss
District 3 Commissioner Vice Mayor Dave Kerner
District 4 Commissioner Robert S. Weinroth
District 5 Commissioner Mary Lou Berger
District 6 Commissioner Melissa McKinlay
District 7 Commissioner Mayor Mack Bernard
Clerk and Comptroller Sharon R. Bock
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw
Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks
Tax Collector Anne M. Gannon
Supervisor of Elections Wendy Link
State Attorney Dave Aronberg
Public Defender Carey Haughwout
Elections
Presidential elections results
Voter registration
As of February 28, 2019, the county had a strong Democratic plurality, with large independent and Republican minorities, respectively.[83]
Name Number of voters %
Democratic 396,425 42.05
Republican 266,481 28.27
Independent 269,870 28.63
Other 9,924 1.05
Total 942,700
Political history
Since 1992, Palm Beach County has supported a Democrat for the presidency.
Kurtz, remember large numbers of people from NYC and its surrounding areas migrated to the gold coast starting in Miami and moving north. The west coast (Treasure Coast) of Florida has a lot of midwesterners. A lot of the wealthy from NY, NJ and Connecticut are relocating there and elsewhere for financial reasons. That brings more Democrats into Florida and the potential for Democratic victorys in the state.
Florida almost elected Gillium who was terrible candidate and perhaps even criminal.
Yes Jupiter Florida where the keystone cops harass massage workers and their customers is in Palm Beach County. Gee what a coincidence. lots of bored idiots on the force looking to pull people over for bumper stickers and lots of “detectives” volunteering for massage parlor undercover operations
If I could make a joke:
Q: What’s better than a relaxing massage at the Day Spa?
A: a relaxing massage where the taxpayer pays the bill
Why someone would eat a donkey is beyond me. However, it is his choice.
Where’s PETA on this?
donkey soup is big in some parts of china. seriously.
“When he was asked to take down or change the offensive sticker, he refused and was arrested for criminal obscenity. The problem is that obscenity often depends who defines what is obscene. For free speech advocates, it is a standard that invites subjectivity and ambiguity in an area that depends bright line rules.”
*******************
The purpose of the criminal law is to protect the life, property and decency of the citizenry. Prohibiting this cretin from displaying his vile ignorance in a obscene way seems a small intrusion into his right to spew stupid from the rooftops. I’d fine him for every day it remains and lock him up when he inevitably doesn’t pay. Defining obscenity is the job of the community and really isn’t that difficult a thing to do. One need only ask, “What type of public square do I want to have for me and mine to live in?”
“The purpose of the criminal law”
Forgetting the eventual chaos the law is vague and what might be totally appropriate in one place might be just slightly inappropriate in another. What type and level of harm is this singular statement on a car causing? It is gone in a flash.
This is a troublesome area of law. We accept some abridgment of our rights to protect us from harm but an over reaction starts to restrict our rights based on the decision of a singular person in power. I don’t think that is a good tradeoff.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/1a3bd26c-83c9-4b8f-a101-2dc0229687b8
Mespo,
That was my understanding as well; that a landmark case c.50? years ago specified that community standards could be applied in definining and determining what is obscene for a given city/ region.
Words or images that result in a citation in an area of Florida might be not cause a problem in a place like Colorado.
Why is this post illustrated with a 35 year old picture of Peter Shill?
Looks 20-ish to me.
20-ish plus 35 equals 55-ish. Or about the same age as Quintuply Absurd. Curious. No?
Anonymous says: May 9, 2019 at 9:07 AM
20-ish plus 35 equals 55-ish. Or about the same age as Quintuply Absurd. Curious. No?
This Anonymous commenter appears to meet diagnostic criteria, going on their extensive history on this forum, of quite possibly having a Personality Disorder, a bona fide Troll.
It appears webmaster, Darren has blocked Anonymous /L4D IP address from posting on this forum but, true to form for a Troll, the user has established an alternative IP address thus circumventing the block for now. IOW user is playing whack a mole with the webmaster
This is a person with a Personality Disorder
Late4Dinner says: April 5, 2019 at 7:05 AM
P. Hill is most definitely virtuous on the counts of courage, patience and savoir faire. And the most recent commenter using the handle Anon is a stalwart, a champion and a real mensch. The other Anons are all vicious guttersnipes. Had it not been for Smith’s bit bucket blockade L4D might have maintained the seventh most frequent commenter position. Or not. Either way, folly is a proper object of love. Wisdom is not.
https://jonathanturley.org/2019/04/04/congress-moves-to-grab-trump-tax-records-from-last-six-years/comment-page-1/#comment-1839334
Columbia County, FL….just south of the Georgia state line on I-75
https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190508/window-sticker-arrest-is-it-offensive-sure-but-obscene-maybe-not
“Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputy Travis English would later arrest Webb for possession of obscene material and resisting an officer, after he refused to take an “S” off the sticker to make the message road-worthy.”
I suspect the Deputy was angry the hunky guy would not eat his as*, hence resisting an officer so he arrested him.
He looks like a younger version of our adorable Mespo!
😬
“He looks like a younger version of our adorable Mespo!”
********************
Oh so nice to be loved!
It is a slippery slope to have laws that are so vague. Eventually it leads to chaos
“It is a slippery slope to have laws that are so vague. Eventually it leads to chaos.”
**********************
Well we’ve had laws against obscenity for hundreds of years dating back to the British but the chaos seems to have only ensued when we loosened them in the 60s, not when we imposed them. That’s a long “eventually” and misplaces cause and effect.
bork said that political speech was at the heart of the first amendment not obscenity
boy was he right. historically. but now political speech lands you in hot water whereas obscenity is the currency of the realm
That’s the whole idea and goal behind empowering subjective emotional hysteria to dictate laws Michael.
Had he behaved in a conciliatory manner, the summons might have been easily avoided. But regardless of speech issues, there are penalties in life for being the third word on that bumper sticker.
lighten up. He wasn’t what you said he was but your anger and bitterness indicate you might be in need of his services. Don’t be offended if he resists though
?? Not angry/bitter – puzzled by your response. All I said was that if he had been nicer to the policeman he might not have received a summons. Just an observation (and an attempt at humor that may not have flown). Sorry you took offense – any offense was unintended. Peace.
He needs some Sicilian relatives. They can go shoot the cop.
@L2-I’m a Siggi we don’t shoot anyone. Why do people think it’s OK to malign white Europeans but hands off to others?
ah the perils of ethnicity. i should think anybody would be proud to be Siciilian
my calabrian friends are at least as prone to violence as my Sicilian ones.
dont get started on the Greeks. nobody say. “maybe it’s that Greek blood in them”. LOL
I’d make him spend a night or two in jail with his bumper sticker slogan on his chest!
I’d serve him an ass sandwich for his jail dinner, and when he complains, shrug and say, “it’s just food.” After all, “food” is subjective. One culture’s garbage is another culture’s delicacy. Does the fact that we can’t precisely define the standards in every single situation mean that we should have no standards at all? That’s what some here seem to be advocating.
Hot dogs are probably close enough. The cheap, non-kosher kind probably have a certain amount of “offal”, which includes pork sphincters.