It appears there is a thin chalk line between us and anarchy. Police in various states are cracking down on a criminal epidemic sweeping the nation: sidewalk chalk protesters. We just discussed the case of a California man who was not only arrested but hit with 13 charges for writing protests in chalk in front of a Bank of America. Now in Pennsylvania, a blog is reporting that AJ Martin, a health care protester, has been arrested for disorderly conduct for writing the above statement on the public sidewalk in front of the home of Governor Tom Corbett.
Category: Bizarre
After the historic victory in the Windsor case, gay state Rep. Brian Sims (left), D-Philadelphia, rose to speak about the decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act on the floor of the Pennsylvania House. He did so during a time when members are allowed to discuss any subject of importance. However, he was blocked by Republican Rep. Daryl Metcalfe who objected on the basis that any such comments would constitute a “rebellion against . . . God.”
Jeff Olson, 40, is facing a potential 13-year jail sentence for perhaps the world’s most costly sidewalk art. A former aide to the U.S. Senator from Washington, Olson used water-soluble statements like “Stop big banks,” and “Stop Bank Blight.com” outside Bank of America branches last year to protest the company’s practices. He eventually gave up his protest but prosecutors later brought 13 charges against him. Now a judge has reportedly banned his attorney from “mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial.” It appears someone associated with Bank of American could finally go to jail, but it will not by the bank officials in the financial scandal. It is the guy writing slogans in chalk in the sidewalk.
In Idaho, South Fork Industries appears to have found a way to turn Islamophobia into a windfall. The ammunition manufacturer is selling a new line of pork-laced bullets that they say will keep Muslim terrorists from entering heaven. However, the theory that these “Jihawg Ammo” bullets are “haram” and thus a barrier to heaven is contested by actual Islamic scholars. If true, could the company be sued for false advertising or does such a claim require proof of a divinely excluded terrorist who was shot by an unclean bullet? The website calls it “Peace Through Pork.”
Continue reading “Idaho Company Offers Pork-Laced Bullets To Keep Muslim Terrorists Out Of Heaven”
There is disturbing video out of Lakeland, Florida where a police officer, Dustin Fetz, is under attack for ordering a woman to shake her bra during a search for drugs at a traffic stop. There appears no basis for the drug search, which are becoming more and more common on the roads as drivers find themselves accused of minor traffic violations but then subjected to full drug searches.
Continue reading “Florida Police Force Under Fire For Demeaning Treatment Of Woman In Roadside Stop”
As President Obama starts our intervention into yet another war in Syria and members call for even greater intervention, we have another measure of how costly our war in Afghanistan has been. Stars and Stripes is reporting that the U.S. will abandon or destroy $7 billion in equipment rather than ship it home under the tight schedule for withdrawal. Once again, history will record the insanity of both President Bush and President Obama in spending hundreds of billions on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while cutting key educational, environmental, and scientific programs needed in this country. Members who rail against support for things like NPR will not even take note of $7 billion in equipment going up in smoke in Afghanistan. In the perfect metaphor, the billions of dollars of scrap metal will be turned into Afghan pennies.
>Civil libertarians have long viewed Senator Dianne Feinstein (D.,CA) as a menace to privacy and civil liberties in her role on the Senate Intelligence Committee. She has worked to blocked investigation of torture while supporting warrantless surveillance of our own citizens. Recently, many Californians became aware of her role in seeking ever-expanding powers for the security state. Feinstein desperately tried to get citizens to embrace a new model of privacy that allows for their continual surveillance in the latest scandals under her tenure. That has not worked particularly well so now Feinstein is taking a new approach: she is proclaiming her concern over the dangers of privacy posed by . . . drones. That’s right. Like the street magicians distracting an audience, Feinstein is trying to get citizens to focus on the use of drones for surveillance and promising some form of “regulation” in the future. The obvious intent behind yesterday’s carefully constructed scene was to present Feinstein in the light of a fighter for, rather than an attacker of, privacy rights.
Jeffrey Allen Jones, 56, is clearly not going for that “this is actually quite fun” mugshot that we saw earlier.
Police were investigating the alleged rape of Sara Ylen by two men in her home in Lexington, Michigan when her attending physician noticed something odd: her bruises were wiping off clean. She is now being prosecuted for falsely claiming rape and tampering with evidence. The most chilling aspect of the story is that prosecutors convicted a man previously of raping Ylen. It is the role of the prosecutors that needs to be investigated in this bizarre story.
Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard ruled last Friday that a former housekeeper who filmed sex with former Waffle House CEO Joe Rogers had violated his privacy. The housekeeper, Mye Brindle, alleged that Rogers forced her to perform sex acts as a condition for her continued employment.
We previously discussed the case of Jared Marcum, 14, who was suspended and arrested for wearing a t-shirt supporting the Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association. While many of us derided the arrest of a student (and the continuation of a trend toward criminalizing our schools), most people assumed that some adult supervision would kick in at the police or prosecution offices and toss out the charges. Think again. We live in a world where adults no longer show such independent thought or discretion. Marcum is now formally charged with obstructing an officer and faces a $500 fine and a maximum of one year in prison.
Continue reading “West Virginia Teenage Facing Charge Over NRA T-Shirt”
President Barack Obama assured the American people yesterday that the NSA warrantless surveillance programs are entirely “transparent.” He then promised to extradite and prosecute the man who told the public about it. None of that causes any pause for the White House or its supporters. It makes perfect sense. Indeed, it helps explain how Obama promised the “most transparent” Administration in history and proceeded to expand a secret security state. It turns out that “transparent” simply means something different with Obama, just as the noun “war” is left to his definition. It turns out that transparent means that the government can see it — and see us. Total transparency in our new fishbowl society.
A passenger reportedly on a China Air flight looked out and got a rare glimpse into the attitude of Chinese freight handlers. What is remarkable is that this guy was averaging less than a 30 percent hit ratio — often throwing three boxes without any making it on the conveyor belt at Guangzhou Airport.
Paranoia and police power are never a good combination, but Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to have readily embraced both. With thousands protesting his destruction of the secular traditions of Turkey and authoritarian power, Erdogan has called on his Islamic supporters, crushed protesters with tear gas and clubs, and now blamed an international conspiracy led by the media, particularly the BBC and CNN. Turkish police have been attacking makeshift hospitals with tear gas, including an attack that led to a pregnant woman losing her baby in a miscarriage. It was a tragic symbol of the cost of Erdogan to the future of this nation.
I was interviewed yesterday in an extraordinary case out of South Florida where Attorney Marshall Dore Louis faced a problem that phone records material to his defense of a car robbery suspect have disappeared. Accordingly, he is seeking the records from one resource that has stored every call from every citizen: the National Security Agency (NSA). After all, the Administration has admitted the existence of the storage and program. After that, Dore is arguing that it is just another government agency with material evidence. Indeed, the NSA wanted a complete record of all calls to store and it is now being called upon to hand over material evidence in its possession.