The Alarming Case of Justin Carter, Facebook “Terrorist”

[…]  When speech is a crime, thought is a crime, because when punishing speech the authorities are actually punishing what they think — or want jurors to think — was meant by the speech. Even when acting in good faith, people misinterpret. Since no one reads minds, it is a good thing the First Amendment protects our speech.

Unfortunately the First Amendment, like the rest of the Constitution, has been under siege recently. Otherwise any speech that does not represent a clear and present danger to other people’s safety would be protected.

Punishable speech is one area where liberty skates on thin of ice. Despite the obvious need for security, “terroristic threat” is another:

According to the indictment, Carter’s statement met two of the necessities required by state law: His words were uttered “with the intent to place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury,” or uttered “with the intent to cause impairment or interruption of public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service.”

Too bad Justin couldn’t have loaned the authorities his sense of humor, because that would never pass the laugh test.  (read the entire article)

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(Via Breitbart) […]  According to Fox News, de Blasio’s proposed plan to increase the minimum wage is getting as negative a reception as the plan to fund universal pre-K. Author Barnini Chakraborty notes that the latter has run into significant problems as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a state-wide universal pre-K plan that would make de Blasio’s tax hike unnecessary–something de Blasio flatly rejected.

Fox News notes that Cuomo called the idea of making rich neighborhoods fund themselves separately from the rest of the state “repugnant.”

The minimum wage plan might meet a similar fate in Albany.

In his State of the City address, de Blasio’s minimum wage increase plan featured prominently along the universal pre-K idea and new proposition to give government identification to illegal immigrants, which would allow them to open bank accounts and access other resources in the city. (more…)

It’s all covered in this news report video. I’m not even going to comment – you decide what’s going on here.

(Via MediaIte)  CNN legal analyst Paul Callan noted the issue here is whether the shooting was premeditated or if it was a last-minute decision. Lemon took note of all the people pointing out online how angry he’s been over the case, saying, “I know people are saying Don Lemon is pissed on Twitter. Yes, I am pissed! I am absolutely pissed!”

He continued, “I think there needs to be a Mind Your Business law that goes along with the Stand Your Ground law.”  (link)

Common theme of #MichaelDunn & #GeorgeZimmerman > 2 interfering busy-bodies who if they'd minded their damn business wouldn't have killed.

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 16, 2014

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In 2012 this happened:

Update ST CLOUD – MINNESOTA – A Stearns County judge sentenced 18-year-old Jesse Smithers to 10 years on Thursday. Smithers admitted to delivering the deadly punch in a St. Cloud alley almost a year and a half ago.

On Sept. 21, 2012, Colton Gleason was walking with friends when a car pulled up, and Smithers got out and punched him. Colton died after falling and hitting his head.

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9813074

His father, John Gleason, says the pain, bitterness and hurt his family feels did not go away with the sentencing of the man responsible for his son’s death. (more…)

“No my friend, you don’t sell this stuff to me.  You sell this to the people who don’t have self-respect and self-determination,  and they are weak,  and they love to be subjugated and to be dependent on the government.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbEV5xcoZiA

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Earlier in the week we shared with you the story of a large riot in Tampa Florida at the state fair.   Now the County Sheriff, David Gee, is coming under fire for sending a letter to members of his appointed Black Advisory Council for help.

The Black community is outraged the sheriff would have the audacity to point out the identical racial profiles of the people involved in the riot.   How dare he….

TAMPA (FOX 13) – New video released Tuesday by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office shows  the start of what would become a massive stampede of rowdy students at the  Florida State Fair that led to dozens of ejections and several arrests.

The video was shot by a vendor and handed over to investigators as they try  to identify victims and make more arrests in connection to the organized  stampede known as “wilding.”

“It’s more of a giant stampede, and that’s kind of the beginning of it that  you see on that video,” explained Col. Jim Previtera. “It does give a brief  glimpse of what ‘wilding’ looks like.”

[…]   Sheriff David Gee, meanwhile, sent a letter to leaders in the African  American community, asking for their help. (more…)

A recent review of another Washington Post article discussing Attorney General Eric Holder’s goal to reinstate voting rights of convicted felons shows an odd progressive disconnect. 

Essentially, the post article outlines the goal is really to get black Democrats their right to vote in key swing states.    {Insert a generically obtuse “DUH” sound here}   But what strikes as odd is the unspoken reality:

Holy smokes more than 20% of black people have committed felonies ?

(Washington Post)  Reason Why Holder Suddenly Wants Felons To Vote: More Than 20% of Blacks In Swing States Can’t Vote Because They’ve Been Convicted of a Felony.

In Florida, more than one in five black adults can’t vote. Not because they lack citizenship or haven’t registered, but because they have, at some point, been convicted of a felony.

The Sunshine State’s not alone. As in Florida, more than 20 percent of black adults have lost their right to vote in Kentucky and Virginia, too, according to the Sentencing Project, a group that advocates for reforms to sentencing policy that reduces racial disparities. (more…)

D’oh – Even after President Milli Vanilli has been shown to lip-sync (teleprompter needed) in an effort to make appearance of actual intellect, the band brand management continues to maintain the ruse of competency.

(Daily Caller) White House officials have quietly changed an official transcript to hide President Barack Obama’s embarrassing historical error during his international press conference with French President Francois Hollande.

Obama’s error came when he misnamed Alexis de Tocqueville, a clear-eyed Frenchman who explained the subtle miracle of American culture and democracy in the 1830s. His book is a classic, partly because his insights about Americans’ social equality and civic society have become commonplace among centrists and conservatives.

But Obama called him “Alex” in front of the French and U.S. press, and while facing banks of TV cameras. (more…)

(Via Newsbusters) Fifty years to the day after The Beatles’ first concert in the United States, NBC’s Shawna Thomas could have been mistaken for one of the screaming fan girls at the Washington Coliseum. But instead of idolizing the rock and roll band, the network’s White House producer shouted for joy over Michelle Obama’s gown, which the First Lady wore to Tuesday’s state dinner for French President Francois Hollande.

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