There was an extraordinary scene in Texas that pitted student rights against school authority at the graduation for Joshua High School. Remington Reimer (great name by the way) has been accepted to the United States Naval Academy and was the speaker at the graduation. When he began his speech he mentioned that the school officials threatened to cut off his mike if he deviated from his speech. The mike then went dead.
With the widespread depression over the latest scandals involving the loss of privacy and press protections in the United States. I thought some of us could use a laugh and this YouTube video went viral a while back of a baby reacting to his father ripping paper. The best aspect of this video is that the letter is a rejection letter sent to 8-month-old Micah’s Dad.
Continue reading “Even Bad Times Can Lead To A Rippin’ Good Time”
Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
You may recall an article that I wrote back in January discussing the Steubenville, Ohio rape case. It was a case where members of the town’s high school football team were charged with repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting an unconscious young girl and it also exposed the community support these alleged rapists had. In that case a local unit of the Hacktivist group, Anonymous, published tweets and pictures of the alleged rapists. One of the citations or links that I provided in the article has since been taken down and now the local Anonymous activist had his home raided by a FBI SWAT team and may be charged with hacking into the high school website and could face a potential 10 year sentence for the alleged crimes! You may ask what are the sentences that the now convicted rapists are facing? Since they were minors at the time of the alleged serial rape, they are facing 2 year sentences. Continue reading “What Is a Worse Crime, Rape or Publishing Evidence of the Rape?”
Submitted by Charlton Stanley (Otteray Scribe) guest blogger
This has not gotten much national press….yet. I had been hearing of these events through the aviation grapevine, but did not know for sure it was actually happening until the story of Gabriel Silverstein broke on the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) news web page. Mr. Silverstein is a New Jersey businessperson who was returning from a business trip to California with his husband. He had filed a flight plan, and landed his Cirrus SR22, a small private aircraft, in Oklahoma for a fuel stop. At that time, he was subjected to a ramp check. By Federal Air Regulations, a ramp check is supposed to be done only by an FAA official. On a standard ramp check, the pilot has to produce documents showing the airplane is airworthy, is registered, and has the paperwork on board as required under Part 91 of the Federal Air Regulations. The pilot must show his or her pilot’s license and medical certificate. The Oklahoma ramp check was brief, and he went on his way. He had to stop for fuel again in Iowa City. Upon arrival, he went into the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) office to pay for his gas, take a break and file a new flight plan. When he returned to his plane, he found it surrounded by officers, being searched without his permission, and with no explanation. The officers said “Probable Cause” was the K-9 dog had “hit” on the baggage compartment. The officers ordered him to be quiet, and if he asked any more questions, he would spend the rest of the day in the back of a police cruiser in handcuffs.
CPB captions this as being at their Air and Marine Operations Center
One officer handed Mr. Silverstein a business card identifying him as being with the Department of Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Silverstein says the brown uniforms and shoulder patches he saw that day were identical to the one worn by the officer on the right in this stock CPB photo. On their web page, the CPB identifies this location as being at their Air and Marine Operations Center. I think we can safely assume this is not the main operations room, but only part of the operation.
Geography was not my favorite subject in school, but last time I looked, both Oklahoma and Iowa are a long way from any international border.
More Border Patrol and Homeland Security goodness over the jump, including a video interview with Mr. Silverstein.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The U.S. State Department recently released its 2012 International Religious Freedom Report. The report acknowledges the rights of non-believers: “Whether it be a single deity, or multiple deities, or no deities at all, freedom to believe–including the freedom not to believe–is a universal human right.” The report also notes that the “use of blasphemy and apostasy laws continued to be a significant problem, as was the continued proliferation of such laws around the world.”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Click to enlarge.
Solution below the fold.
Good luck. Continue reading “Find The Kitteh Conest”
Submitted by Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
There is a new bill passed by the New York State Senate that relates to many of the blogs and discussions we have had here through the years. This bill would make it a felony to “annoy” a police officer acting in the course of his duties. While I can understand that directly interfering with a police officer in the middle of his duties should not be done, we have seen through the years that the police broadly interpret what is “interference” to include what is obviously a person exercising their First Amendment rights, such as responding negatively to a police officers actions or videotaping them. I find this law another distressing example of how far we are going in the direction of a police state, since as we have seen in our many blogs and discussions here it will be abused time and again. I will have several links at the bottom to illustrate some of the issues dealing with purported “police interference on the Jonathan Turley Blog alone. Continue reading “Don’t “Annoy” Your Local Police Or Else”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
It’s been so long that I can’t really remember when I first started thinking about and supporting freedom of speech. Perhaps it was when I was eight and went to the local library to borrow Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe”. I was told I could only borrow books from the children’s section. At the time I didn’t see that as a First Amendment Issue, because I still hadn’t learned about the Constitution. However, as the “Fifties” progressed and the issue of banning books and movies heated up, my social studies education caught up with my natural predilections and I became a full supporter of the idea of the rights of free speech, free press and everyone’s right to access information. During the “Fifties” movies were regularly cut down so as not to offend groups such as The Catholic League. The novels of some of the great authors of the Twentieth Century, such as James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, William Burroughs and Henry Miller were banned in the U.S. as pornography and their shipments confiscated at our borders. Those of us, like myself, who are old enough to have lived through those times understand that the meaning we give to the First Amendment now, was not the same as it was for the first 160 years (or so) of our country. The lesson of this is that in the courts and with the ever changing political scene , we must ever be vigilant to protect our right as a people to say, read and write what we please, providing it doesn’t cause real danger to others. The catch of course in my last sentence, is what exactly “real danger” is and then what too should be the limits of using freedom of speech as a defense? Continue reading “The First Amendment and Catch 22”
In the wake of the disclosure of a massive surveillance program ordered by the Obama Administration of all calls by all citizens using Verizon, there is a new disclosure of an equally large data-mining operation where the government has seized e-mail, photos and other private communications from some of the biggest Internet companies. Even in the wake of the attack on the free press and the surveillance of all citizens in the Verizon scandal, Democratic leaders are rallying around Obama in the rejection of the least remnants of principle in the party. We are now at the tipping point for a free nation as President Obama and leaders like Dianne Feinstein assure citizens that there is nothing to fear in our new fishbowl society.
Attorney General Eric Holder recently told intelligence community lawyers that he wants them to continue the Administration’s crackdown on leakers and media sources despite calls for his termination and the controversy on the attack on the free press. The message is clear: there will be no quarter given those who disclose classified information. Well not everyone. This week it was revealed that former CIA Director Leon Panetta disclosed classified information to “Zero Dark Thirty” filmmaker Mark Boal. According to an inspector general report, the disclosure of the name of the Navy SEAL unit that carried out the Osama bin Laden raid and the unit’s ground commander at a 2011 ceremony. Some of the information was marked as “top secret.”
We have yet another case of the “zero tolerance” policies being imposed in our school as an excuse of zero judgment or though by school officials.We have been discussing the steady stream of absurd actions taken by school officials under “zero tolerance” policies. For a prior column, click here. In the latest case, an 11-year-old boy was suspended from school for talking about guns on a school bus. That’s right, for saying the word “gun.” The boy reportedly said that he wish he could have defended the school with a gun to stop the massacre.
Continue reading “Eleven Year Old Boy Suspended For Using Word “Gun” On Maryland School Bus”
We have previously discussed the striking similarity between religious extremists in the Islamic and Jewish faiths. This week we have yet another example after a group of ultra-Orthodox men on a “modesty patrol” attacked a car carrying ultra-Orthodox women who were viewed as dress immodestly. We have previously seen the work of such immodest patrols as well as vigilantes on buses and prayer areas.
Yoga appears to be the new menace these days with Catholic priests and Muslim clerics (here and here) warning of its satanic appeal. Now, E.W. Jackson, a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Virginia, is campaigning against the practice yoga and meditation as making people vulnerable to Satan.
I have repeatedly written against the use of shaming and novel sentencing by judges around the country (here and here and here). Judges often thrill the public by imposing their own forms of justices — departing from conventional criminal sentences to force people to clean courtrooms with toothbrushes, wear demeaning placards, or carry out publicly humiliating tasks. These judges often develop a taste for such power and the public acclaim that unfortunately comes from humiliating people. Cleveland Municipal Judge Pinkey Carr is a case in point. Carr garnered clearly welcomed public attention by requiring a woman to wear a sign to punish her for reckless driving near a school bus. Now, Carr has taken to making such placards herself and, when citizens do not comply as marionettes, throwing them in jail. Such is the case with Richard Dameron who refused to carry an “idiot” sign hand crafted by Carr. In the hearing, Carr appropriately compared herself to the Burger King of the justice system.
As expected, in facing yet another attack on civil liberties by the Obama Administration, Democratic members are choosing personality over principle. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., CA) has come out to assure the public that it is a good thing that the Administration is spying on them and encourage them to accept such surveillance as the new normal. In the meantime, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R, Ga), insists that the surveillance must be fine because “to my knowledge we have not had any citizen who has registered a complaint relative to the gathering of this information.” Of course, it has been secret and just last February the Administration succeeded in blocking an effort of dozens of citizens and groups challenging such surveillance programs before the Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Learning To Love The Matrix: Feinstein Defends Warrantless Surveillance of All Citizens”