How Far Can An Internet Post Go?

 

On behalf of North Middle School, in Louden County, Tennessee, I am sharing this picture. It was made and shared in order to prove a point to children that once a post or picture makes it's way to the internet, there is no control over it's direction, especially within social media venues. The picture was initially posted to Facebook on December 16, 2013.

 

Laura McNish Is A Social Media Whore

The rumor persists, in Marshall County Kansas, that the county prosecutor, Laura McNish, is overworked. In order to lay this silly notion to rest, this site has published this post, and this post, in the past. Laura McNish has people arrested for personal slights, uses local and county police forces to intimidate defense witnesses, then sits on the internet all day long at the courthouse, perusing social media websites.

The above referenced entries involve the prosecutor's unbalanced interest in someone she had arrested for "obstruction of justice", and whose charges have since been dismissed with prejudice. While other cases involving actual crime linger in her backlog of neglected cases, quite possibly due to her lack of legal expertise and courtroom finesse, Laura McNish sits before a computer all day long, looking furiously for something on Facebook or Google that she can use against a defense witness whose charges were manufactured exclusively to suit an imaginary scenario and whose bond was less than one hundred dollars. This is most likely why she had the witness arrested; because SOMEONE instructed law enforcement to ensure that the same witness be in the emergency room on the trial date, from injuries or autoimmune reactions, if jail was not a possibility, instead of testifying in favor of the defense.

In another case, Laura McNish, Esquire, also stated in court that she spoke with an alleged domestic violence victim "almost every day". She used a soft and lilting voice to breath this boldface lie to the judge. Upon hearing about it, the alleged victim could not even remember Laura's name, because she had only met Laura once, and had never heard from her after that! Perhaps what the county's counsel really meant was the she looked at Facebook "almost every day"!

Facebook Felony

Luckily for all of us, Senators Al Franken, (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have introduced introduced legislation to narrow the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or the CFAA, which was enacted primarily to prosecute malicious hacking, such as identity theft and bank larceny done via computers. Lately, there has been discussion by lawmakers about all sorts of things that are done online every day by innocent computer users, such as using an online moniker that is not one's actual name on a social networking website or checking one's email at work on an employer's computer. Even more shocking is the idea that using a nickname on Facebook can even be construed as a felony! A couple of cases wherein defendants have been charged and prosecuted have involved violations of the Terms Of Service agreements for various networks......but while it is understandable that a network can reserve the right to delete the account of an errant user, how is this defined, by law, as a crime, particularly a felony? The other widely committed act that is done by many, many people is the act of using a workplace computer for unauthorized purposes, such as checking one's email or surfing social media sites. It seems like a boss should have the option to reserve the right to terminate an employee who sits on Facebook or Google Plus all day, but should the employee go to jail, after being prosecuted under CFAA, and have a felony record over using an online moniker other than a legal name?

 

 

Once Again, Your Tax Dollars At Work

Host Name:				68-234-126-187.dsl.bluevalley.net									Browser:				Safari 5.1
IP Address:				68.234.126.187 — [Label IP Address]									Operating System:				MacOSX
Location:				Marysville, Kansas, United States									Resolution:				2560x1440
Returning Visits:													Javascript:				Enabled
Visit Length:				Multiple visits spread over more than one day									ISP:				Blue Valley Tele-communications

I noticed you again today, 68-234-126-187! I see you you have not lost any interest in social media networks, and probably not gained any true interest in doing the job you are paid by the taxpayers to do! I must say, I am not surprised!

Hello Again, Fishy Fishy

Hello again, 68.234.126.187, of Marysville, Kansas! While that in no way represents the only IP address related to you or your internet trolling habits, I noticed you again today. I just wondered, during all the time tax payors pay you to play on the computer and peruse social media sites online while you should be working but ARE NOT; do you take time out for a lunch break? If not, here is a suggestion:
 

Of course, driving to the nearest McDonald's would take you away from trolling social media websites on company time for a substantial amount of time during the afternoon.
 

Post Election Etiquette

Geesh. Not only are Americans flying their flags upside down, which is only done if the nation is under attack or in distress, but sad Republicans are now going on social media with racist insults and assasination threats. The problems had by the police and secret service are......which threats get taken seriously?

Not only does racism make one appear socially inept and uneducated, but it is often coupled with violence. That's why the oversized female in the video below lost her job, when her boss noticed what she said about the President on Facebook. She may as well have mass mailed her unintelligent ramblings, because the FBI picked up on her scent and questioned her. Without talking to her, they felt they had no way of knowing if her threats were just unintelligent ramblings, or if they were intentions. Why would anyone talk the way this female collection of substandard DNA is talking, anyway? She accuses the President of "not doing anything for our country", yet cannot specifically name a single thing he should have done, but didn't, except need more sunblock at the pool.

Kudos to her boss for not forcing others to endure her presence in the workplace. Life is stressful enough.

 

 

Twittergate Fallout Because Brownback Sucks

It seems that Emma Sullivan, the young lady who tweeted late last month, while on a field trip with her school, that Brownback sucks, has picked up a few critics as well as many, many supporters. I am one of Emma's supporters, by the way. The only thing I think she could do differently the next time she states that Brownback sucks is to state why she thinks Brownback sucks, so that all of her nice eavesdroppers and gentle spies will understand why she opines in such a way.

There's an idea that has been expressed via comments to this blog from posters in this part of the country that Emma Sullivan is somehow responsible for the reactions that the principal of her school, Karl R. Krawtiz, has gotton from the general public since the story aired in the media. That's simply error. Miss Sullivan did not tweet the nation; she only tweeted her friends. While it's true that tweets are internet propoganda, viewable by anyone, the tweet in question would not have been viewed by anyone except the intended viewer if Brownback's office had not eavesdropped. So; rather than blame Miss Sullivan, toward which a few Kansas folk seem inclined, it seems to me that the blame for all of the negative reactions including death threats, (according to my commenters) aimed at Krawtiz, rests upon the governer's office. 

"Juli...the lesson Emma and you apparently haven't learned is this - social media has consequences. True enough, the person making the death threat is ultimately responsible. But what brought it to his attention? A post on the internet. More specifically, Emma's posting of her "ordeal" with Dr K. "She didn't think" when she originally posted about Brownback. She found out that gosh...somebody I didn't want noticing noticed this. Did she learn? Nope...even more twits about her "ordeal" of "being yelled at for an hour". Again, I am sure there was no literary embellishment on her part (I say as I roll my eyes). "She didn't think" in the capitol, and after noticing her 60 followers increased to 1,000, I guess "she didn't think" that critical postings about Dr K would get the attention of some nutcase. Sounds to me like she should learn to think before she twits. I don't think she has though."

That's a comment I got about this. First of all, I do not think that anyone did anything to deserve a death threat, so I sincerely hope that no more threats are made to anyone. Second, an eighteen year old has not had as much experience with social media or any kind of media as someone who is Brownback's age, or the ages of those who work for him. I expect more from Brownback and his staff. If Brownback's henchmen did not know that this is a first amendment issue, shame on them. It should be no surprise that when an elected official steps on the rights of a citizen, even if the citizen and said elected official do not agree, any attempt to rob a person of his or her rights is very likely to get heralded by the media. It's happened before. It will happen again. Blaming an eighteen year old is unfair. I think Brownback and his staff should take responsibility for the threats to Krawitz and I think that other people should stop holding Emma Sullivan responsible. Third, eavesdropping is rude. Lots of people have posted in lots of places that Emma Sullivan needs to learn manners; well........so does Governer Brownback.

Of course, there are even more disturbing questions that may have to be answered in the future about Brownback and his merry band of eavesdroppers. This time, it was only tweets of a teenager that were snooped at, but whose communiques will it be next time? How many ethics does this governer violate in a day's time? How does he manipulate the information he gets and who does he manipulate with this information? And......why is he doing it? Does it help him govern the state?

Perhaps, if Emma wanted to be gracious, she might call one of the local news stations and request that a very quick statement be made requesting that anyone who has made threats to Karl Krawitz cease and desist.

The Republic Of Kansas

WHOA....Whoa....whoa....where do I even begin in reaction to this story? A young woman, on a Statehouse field trip in Topeka, Kansas, with Shawnee Mission East, tweeted, while on the field trip, that Governer Brownback sucks. Which, in my opinion, he does. If you have read former posts on this blog concerning the governer of Kansas, you probably know that I think he sucks. I've written it, I've typed it, I've thought it, I've said it; I've never said it to Browncrack in person, but I think it is well known among my friends and aquaintences that it is my opinion that this particular governer sucks balls.

Ok, that said; Governer Browncrack's henchmen, upon finding the tweet, while monitoring the social media to find out what everyone says, up to the minute, about their furor, discovered this young lady's tweet and approached the principal of her school, Karl R. Krawitz, to....I guess...report a teasing! And what did Karl Marx Krawitz do? He told this bold young woman that for exercising her first amendment rights, and for her intelligent insight about our governer, and for speaking the truth, she must write an apology! That's right, folks; it is wrong, in Kansas, to state that Governer Mao Brownback sucks! It's bad enough that our tax dollars pay people in the governer's office to read tweets and facebook posts, but it is downright offensive that a public school would actually sanction a student for making a statement that was perfectly within her rights. If the principal was upset about the tweet, or the use of the electronic device, he should say so, but I do not think that was the problem. I think that if the student had made comments about the governer that were positive, and possibly untruthful, but supportive of the deception brought on by taking in republican propoganda, Karl Marx Krawitz would not have had a problem. Something else to which I would like to respond is this, from cjonline:

"That wasn't respectful," responded Sherriene Jones-Sontag. "In order to really have a constructive dialogue, there has to be mutual respect."

That was what Browncrack's henchmen had to say about the offending tweet. Browncrack's office overlooks two things. First, there was no dialogue with the governer at the time, it was a private tweet among likeminded people. Second, respect has to be earned, and Brownback, if one would care to peruse at least a decade of editorials of various publications and other media, has not EARNED everyone's respect. Outside of Kansas, I do not believe he could even get elected to public office again. And that's any public office, not just that of governer. He panders to big money and uses religion to play on the fears and superstitions of people who are unsuspecting and don't know any better, but that's another post.

Back to this apology that must be written by this bold and forthright student....what would I compose if I were in her shoes? Hmmm.....while having to perform this task is nothing short of an insult, it is also an opportunity. So how would I begin? "Dear Governer Brownback, I am so sorry that the truth hurts and that not everyone in a democracy agrees with you." Or, "Dear Governer Brownback, I applaud your control over Kansas public schools and your ability to erode our first amendment rights." Possibly, "Dear Governer Brownback, Sucking as badly as you suck must be an awful burden in life. You have my condolences."  The possibilities are endless.

Our Furor, Governer Brownback. Maybe someone will tease him after he is finished dispensing whatever Koolaide he is handing out in this picture, and he will run home to mommy, or better yet, get someone in trouble with the principal!