Fire, Fury, And The First Amendment

We have a new presidential biography on the market, called, Fire And Fury, by Michael Wolff. Donald Trump, styling himself as the forty-fifth president of the United States, has reportedly reacted badly to this book. At this point, Trump should know a few things about elected officials and publicly spoken and written words: primarily that after winning an election, the official is no longer a private person and therefore no longer protected by state and federal laws pertaining to libel and slander. Such an individual is still entitled to a certain amount of privacy, and making threats of violence against an elected official is unlawful in most cases, but satire and whistle blowing are fair game; more so than in the case of a private person. An elected official in northeast Kansas discovered this for herself in 2013. Satire and whistle blowing are still very acceptable under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Another very important aspect of the laws about libel and slander concerns specific losses that can be ascertained by the court. If one does not have those, one's case will generally be dismissed. Since we have laws about the types of income a United States president may rake in while in office, declaring a loss might be difficult for Mr. Trump. Using the White House for financial gain is legally defined as a conflict of interest for a president, and if published, written material impedes a president's ability to commit a civil tort, the president scarcely has legal recourse!

Donald Trump has been in office long enough to understand the legalities of satire and financial conflicts of interest involving elected officials, so it appears that he is only running his yap in an ongoing effort to distract the American public from matters that are more important that Fire And Fury. It is nice to see Americans take a renewed interest in reading books, though.

Advice For The Child In Chief

Haha! This is too funny! Donald Trump should just resign......before the impeachment proceedings begin! Of course, whether he resigns or not, all investigations into his criminal conduct, before and after the 2016 election, will continue!

Abbie Hoffman Moment

Abbie Hoffman Moment

The United States Wants Edward Snowden Arrested Immediately

This past week, Edward Snowden was invited to Norway to receive the Bjornson Prize, by the Bjornstjern Bjornson Acadamy for freedom of expression. In their own words, the award is being presented for "work protecting privacy and shining a critical light on U.S. surveillance of its citizens and others." Snowden did not appear in person. Why? Because the United States sent them a memo, demanding the immediate arrest of Snowden and confiscation of his computers, cell phones, and any other electronic trappings found on his person or in his luggage.

Since a Norwegian institution has offered an award to Snowden for the very act for which the United States has issued an arrest warrant, it seems unlikely that anyone in Norway will request any of Snowden's time for anything besides getting an autograph from him. In fact, Norway's Department of Justice reassures us all that, "What Norway has done is to inform the American authorities how the Norwegian justice system works. If they request an extradition, the prosecuting authorities will decide if the case should be brought before the courts. And the court will decide if the terms for extradition are fulfilled." Imagine that! The United States does not get its own way when hounding a citizen in the civilized world! The CIA and the FBI have also pressured other countries to arrest Snowden on sight. America has even threatened to alter diplomatic relations with other countries over imminent refusals to bully and falsely arrest Snowden. He is not their problem; he is America's problem, and many people in America are not particularly troubled by Snowden.

Why hasn't the Department of Justice, here in the United States, looked a little harder at Booz, Allen, Hamilton because of the security leak involving Edward Snowden? They are, after all, the company that was responsible for the "government data" that was revealed to the public. Wasn't it their responsibility to conduct a background check and insure that everyone they trusted with the government's "private" information was worthy of a security clearance? Booz/Allen/Hamilton are really the ones who should answer for Snowden's actions. The government does, indeed, have a civil claim against them, but as other countries see it, not so much against Snowden. If Snowden were wanted for kidnapping, human trafficking, or murder; or even for nonpayment of child support, Norwegian officials might be more sympathetic. At this point, it is a surprise that the United States government even thought that asking for the arrest of Edward Snowden was worth the time it would take to make the request.

Speaking of human trafficking, the government of Guatemala has, since 2012, been demanding the return of a kidnapping victim by the name of Anyeli Hernandez Rodriguez, who was bought by Dr. Timothy Monahan and and his wife, Jennifer, from a kidnapping ring in 2008. Because the Monahans feel that the trafficked child became their personal property upon receipt of payment, they refuse to give her back to her parents and her siblings. In 2012, the State Department announced that it would not require the distinguished customers of human traffickers in Missouri to give the little girl back. "So sorry, Guatemala, we know she was trafficked; it's just that you had not yet signed the Hague Convention, so why should we care about a crime that was committed against one of your citizens?" Or something like that. The point is, if the United States government wants the respect of other governments, human trafficking victims should not be held hostage with the blessing of the State Department.

 

Anyeli Hernandez Rodgriguez, aka Karen Monahan

The Catholic Church Cracks Down On Nuns

Oh dear. The Catholic Church perceives that there is a serious problem with nuns in the Unites States! Those American nuns are failing to teach the youth to be submissive enough, and to be unquestioning to authority. But should we really be surprised? People who do not question authority and people who are overly submissive make the best victims. Judging by the nature of lawsuits filed against Catholic parishes over the past twenty years, both within the United States and in other countries, it appears that Christianity encourages and rewards those who are willing to become easy victims.

Here's an idea, Catholic Church: try cracking down on abusive and perverse priests who prey on children!

Message From Anonymous To The Ukraine

We really don't need another war. No one really cares about the Ukrainian people. The Ukraine simply happens to be in a strategic position, and Russia, the United States, and the European Union are all vying for influence. It's time to step away and simply respect the Ukraine's autonomy as a nation, if anyone can do that.

Update On Little Girl Found with Gypsies

 

Little Maria's biological parents were found! She is, to the surprise of many, actually Roma, but from Bulgaria, not Greece. In a chain of events that moved quickly enough to raise questions about lingering unsolved missing persons cases everywhere.....ahem......Maria's parents were located, along with a number of lookalike siblings, and her DNA matches.

 

A lot of people from around the world are upset at the amount of attention this case attracted, stating that if the girl was not white, specifically blond and fair, no one would have cared. While those observations are probably, to an extent, true; there is another side to the coin. Suppose little Maria had not stood out in her crowd, and had gone unnoticed? There is a whole range of issues here that contribute to the unfavorable conditions that lead to generation after generation of poverty and crime. The family in Greece with whom Maria was found committed identity theft, the European version of welfare fraud, and informal, or ILLEGAL adoptions. Not that this illegal adoption was terrible, in an of itself; it probably was a lot better than being a Roma child in an orphanage, where one's only personal value arises upon being found compatible when an order for an organ transplant comes in. No kidding. It would come as no surprise to this blogger if missing foster children from Kansas turned up in Eastern European orphanages, for this very purpose. Would Kansas sell foster children by the pound, or by the dozen? Still, illegal adoption is a worldwide human trafficking problem, and that, combined with false ID's and birth certificates for multiple children who belong elsewhere is ultimately a disservice to the illegally "adopted" child, to the community, and to the world. It needs to stop, and Maria's case, which would never have become a "case" had she been olive enough to blend in with the rest of her community, has given this problem long overdue attention from the world. 

 

The best action the European Union could probably take, after thousands of years of discriminating mercilessly against the Roma population, would be to insist upon education for all Roma children, and be just and equal about it. Getting everyone involved to come into compliance would not be easy, and it would seem to be another attack on Roma culture; can anyone remember when Nelson Mandela insisted that education become a priority, even for tribes, such as the Zulu, who felt that it was a cultural conflict? At this point, even those who opposed Mandela realize that this was insight on his part, not an attempt to dissolve cultures or destroy the identities of individual tribes. The Roma could best improve their destiny through education.

 

Meanwhile, Maria's real parents in Bulgaria and her not-so-real parents in Greece are under investigation. Her path is not yet determined, but she has a biological sister who appears to want very much to see her again. The task of finding Maria's biological parents first seemed like finding a needle in a haystack, but less than a week after Maria surfaced in the Greek Gypsy camp, her parents were found. Twenty years ago, this would not have happened so quickly, if at all. This leaves all of us to wonder why so many missing persons cases are still open in the United States, and if the United States actually tries to solve the missing persons cases that do not get solved by accident.

 

 

 

Separation Of Communication And State

Moving from the analog world to the digital world has left some loose ends in national and global communications which, instead of protecting, the United States government has exploited. Separation of Church and State is not respected or guarded carefully enough; and now it is time to write and enact legislation about the separation of communication and State! Most Americans do not thoroughly understand their fourth amendment rights, and that apparently, is by design. Schools need to return to actual teaching, and demand that students learn before graduating, and citizens need to understand their rights when communications have been intercepted unlawfully and abused. Has anyone gotten around to questioning what might be the government's keen interest in carrying out such abuses?

Bradley Manning Acquitted of Aiding The Enemy

Bradley Manning has been found not guilty of aiding the enemy, the most serious of the charges leveled against him by military prosecutors. He was also found not guilty of a charge of espionage, but found guilty of most of the other crimes with which he was charged. This is good news for our civil liberties; while betrayal of professional confidence and contract breaches are still torts, high treason continues to have a very specific definition, and the United States government does not have carte blanche to accuse and convict anyone of whom they decide to make an example.

 

Have You Guys Had Enough Koolaide Yet?

This is the latest from Anonymous on Edward Snowden. China would not cooperate with the United States in sending Snowden back home to face prosecutorial misconduct and judicial harassment for the act, not the crime, of informing the American population about the abuses by the American government of their fourth amendment rights. Russia would not send Snowden back to the United States, either. While Booz Allen Hamilton, Snowden's former employer, probably has a civil complaint with Snowden, the government most certainly does not. If the United States government has a complaint with anyone, it is Booz Allen Hamilton, in the form of a civil case. There is no call to charge Snowden with espionage and ruin his life. When is the Koolaide going to stop running from everyone's kitchen faucet?

 

 

 

Bubble Bubble Toil Trouble

On Thursday, March 28, someone decided to shoot at the home of a Florida author of childrens books because of her Pagan religion. Kyrja Withers has been noticing harassment, such as people stopping their vehicles outside her house, and screaming obscenities intermittently with the word "witch", for some time now, but this is the first time someone has shot at her. Witchcraft and different persuasions of Paganism are, indeed, religions that are recognized as such by the United States Constitution, and shooting at someone, or committing any other type of assault or harassment for reasons of religion qualifies these actions as hate crimes. That makes matters much more serious.

 

 

Mitt's Misconceptions

Mitt Romney obviously has not had much experience dealing with crowds. Especially American crowds, who are not obliged to follow any fundamental church's authority. He was in Iowa, yesterday, talking about whatever Mormon Republicans talk about.......blah..blah..blah.......and someone in the crowd loudly disagreed with him. It became a shouting match, and it boiled down to an interesting statement, made by Mitt Romney, in his retort that "corperations are people, too". While corperations have certain obligations and rights under the law, in order to function as entities in the business world, there are a few things that set them apart in the legal world from people. So I am going to have to say that Romney is wrong about this. Now; after the whole criminal investigation, criminal findings, and criminal court proceedings with Warren Jeffs and his sexual taste for children and the reluctance of the surrounding community, mostly Mormon, to assist in bringing Jeffs to justice, I am forced to wonder if this comparison of corperations to human beings on Romney's part is cultural. One of the main differences between a corperation and a human in the United States is that a human cannot be bought, sold, or traded, but a corperation can. Yet, it appears, from recent data, mostly data presented as evidence in court, disturbingly, that girls and women in the Mormon church ARE considered "property", or "chattel" to be bought, sold, and traded, and that may be part of the confusion from which Romney suffers. See also http://blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/2011/08/fundamentalist-mormon-warren-jeffs-and.html , where someone who just wanted the custody orders from his divorce enforced ran into a brick wall, when dealing with the largely Mormon culture in Utah. Children and folks who are not Mormon apparently rank the same as women and corperations in their world; things to be bought, sold, or traded.

I really hope America is paying attention here. Downgrading a human being to the same civil level as a corperation is not acceptable, and I see nothing but trouble and problems for this country if it is run by someone who sees all of us as pawns to be bought, sold, or traded, like one of his businesses. Once again, let me make this point:

         BOTH MORMON!!!!!

Both of these men were respected and protected by their communities, the MORMON CHURCH. You should not be any more ready for children of both genders to live as pawns to be bought and sold by Romney than you are for Jeffs to get his hands on your daughters.