Category: Uncategorized

On August 6, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a 31-page opinion in Commonwealth v Melissa Lucas. The opinion strikes down a 1947 Massachusetts law that provides “no person shall make or publish any false statement in relation to any candidate for nomination or election to public office, which is designed or tends to aid or to injure or defeat such candidate.” The law has another section applying to ballot measures.
The opinion is based on the Free Speech portion of the Massachusetts Constitution, and was unanimous. …read more

Seneca, SC — Although his son was arrested earlier this year for stealing drugs from a detention center, Seneca Police Chief John Covington holds a harsh double standard for the children of his own community. While failing the war on drugs at home, Chief Covington has recently accused a teenager of causing his own death during a routine marijuana sting. Instead of relying on empirical evidence, Covington is defending the officer who gunned down the 19-year-old and then lied in order to justify the shooting.
On January 5, Chief Covington’s son allegedly stole drugs from a woman being held at the …read more

Charlotte, NC — In September of 2013, Jonathan Ferrell was in a state of distress after crashing his car and attempted to get help by knocking on a woman’s door in the middle of the night. The woman became frightened, so she shut her door and called the police.
When officers responded to the scene, they saw the former Florida A&M football player walking down the street, in an alleged “zombie state.”
As Ferrell attempted to run from police, one of the officers, Randall Kerrick opened fire, unleashing a fury of bullets into the back of this unarmed man.
Kerrick fired 12 shots …read more

On August 4, Mississippi held primaries for the statewide executive offices. The state elects its Governor and other statewide offices, and its legislators, on November 3, 2015. The Democratic primary was won by Robert Gray, who didn’t campaign, nor spend any money. He didn’t even vote in the primary. He defeated two other candidates who had campaigned. See this story.
The vote isn’t official, but so far Gray has 51%, enough to avoid a runoff primary. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link. …read more

On August 5, the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion in Veasey v Abbott, 14-41127. The voting rights organizations that filed the case had argued that the 2011 Texas law that requires voters at the polls to show certain kinds of government photo-ID violates the Voting Rights Act, section two. In 2014 the U.S. District Court had agreed with the plaintiffs and invalidated the law. The Fifth Circuit agrees with the U.S. District Court that the Texas law has the effect of discriminating against Hispanic and African-American voters.
But the Fifth Circuit said that just because the law has …read more

In June, the New Jersey legislature passed AB 4613, which lets any voter cast a vote during the weeks before election day, provides for automatic registration for people who apply for drivers licenses unless they opt out, and makes it possible for 17-year-olds to pre-register.
New Jersey gives Governors a long period in which to decide whether to sign, veto, or amend bills. Governor Chris Christie must decide whether to approve this bill by August 13, if the legislature is in session that day. But if the legislature is not in session that day, he can wait until it …read more

Memphis TN – At approximately 9:15 pm on Saturday, August 1st, Officer Sean Bolton, 33, pulled up in front of a vehicle that was allegedly illegally parked in the Parkway Village neighborhood of Memphis.
Officer Bolton approached the vehicle and is believed to have interrupted a sale of a small amount (1.7 grams) of Cannabis. When Officer Bolton attempted to use force against the vehicles’ occupants, a struggle ensued, and Officer Bolton was shot by Tremaine Wilbourne, 29.
As expected the community immediately expressed outrage over a police officer being killed and a manhunt ensued. During a press conference the following evening, …read more

Los Angeles, CA — After a number of tragic overdoses at music festivals in the Los Angeles area, politicians are responding in typical statist fashion to prevent any further overdoses — ban music festivals.
According to Fox11, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis introduced a motion at a board meeting this week that would ban all music festivals on county property. The motion is a reactionary step following the death of two people at last weekend’s HARD Summer music festival at the Pomona Fairgrounds.
“I am deeply troubled by the fact that this is the third such death to happen in my …read more

Should we call it government or something else? You need better labels. #tlot Retweet

MEDIA ALERT: On Thursday, Jim Babka guest-hosts a radio talk-show. See details in the P.P.S.…

We’ll share some stunning new information with you on Friday. Evidence shows that our so-called government intentionally allied itself with al-Qaeda, even though…
They knew this would lead to the rise of a group like ISIS.
This evidence is so damning that it calls into question the very nature of our current approach to governance.

It also raises doubts about the long-standing U.S. policy of foreign intervention. Before we share that evidence, we want to discuss …read more

On August 3, the Louisiana Republican Party filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging that the part of the McCain-Feingold Law of 2002 that limits individual campaign contributions to political parties is unconstitutional. The lawsuit only pertains to independent expenditures made by political parties.
Here is the Complaint. The case is Republican Party of Louisiana v Federal Election Commission, 1:15cv-1241.
Generally, all groups can receive unlimited donations if the money is used for independent expenditures. The only type of group for which that statement is not true is a political party. Before 2002, anyone …read more