Entries Tagged '1st Amendment' ↓

In another weird twist I was NOT expecting (my predictions on this case have been way off . . . really way off), The Living Man was given NO additional jail time AND is allowed to confront the mayor at public meetings as long as he does not get within in 15 feet of the mayor (he wouldn’t want to scuff his sneakers 🙂

So why do I think the judge decided this, oh, it may have to do with that pesky 1st Amendment that so many politicians struggle with. Mayor Selfie had this to say in his letter to the judge (full transcript below the story);

“It was clear to me that Mr. Bruce’s disapproval of my leadership had crossed the line from a policy debate and delved into a pattern of threatening and harassing communication that included not just me, but my family,” the letter said.

While it pains me, I will agree with Paul on one thing, even if you know it is hyperbole, don’t use words like ‘bullets’ when addressing politicians. I know our own leader of this great nation has stooped to that level, but there is never a need to confuse the delicate leaders of this great city with our POTUS’ offensive language, or at least language they believe is threatening, that being said, I really think that TLM was well within his rights, and not having a record of ever hurting anyone in the past, except their feelings, the judge really had no choice.

As a person who has followed 1st Amendment cases, and is a proud member of the National Coalition Against Censorship, I take this sh*t seriously. Elected officials may not like you playing imaginary violins in the back row at council meetings, but they signed up for this, they have taken an oath of office to highest law of the land, the US Constitution, and if they don’t like it they have two choices, 1) they can practice the same rights afforded to them and debate their accusers in a public forum OR 2) resign. But jailing people because your feelings are hurt is what they do in countries like Russia.

I’m going to enjoy TLM’s public inputs moving forward. I really need to start selling popcorn in front of Carnegie and make a little money from all this corruption.

Not sure who drew the spikes around the city seal, but it was a nice touch 🙂

I have watched the video of Mark Burgress being arrested several times, and there seems to be a lot of misinformation about what is actually in the video. We all know Mark was a cussing moron, that’s apparent. We also know that a judge could find him guilty of disorderly conduct (if police can actually prove he was interfering in their investigation), but some people, including Belfrage are trying to say there are other things happening in the video that are not.

For instance he said Mark was preventing the police investigation of the traffic accident. I didn’t see that. He was standing on a public sidewalk cussing, and they were actually about ready to leave the site before arresting him. Not once did I ever see Mark walk into the scene and try to physically interfere.

He also said they were questioning him, watch the video, they were trying to grab him even though they had no reason to. There is a difference between keeping a safe distance and questioning someone and trying to detain them. At no point did Mark ‘threaten’ the police with violence or with a weapon.

Belfrage also says that you should always follow police instructions. Not the case. While police have a right to ask bystanders questions, you have a right to NOT answer the question. Immediately after asking Mark a question they try to detain him before he can answer. Refusing to answer a question, as Mark did, is not a reason to arrest or detain someone. Mark actually asks them why they are trying to grab him, they have no response.

While we can certainly DEBATE the incident, let’s debate it on what actually happened in the video.

While I don’t recommend anyone tell the police to ‘F’ck Off’ while they are working on a traffic issue, it is perfectly legal to do so as long as the person isn’t interfering in their work. The person in the video below did say some ‘mean’ things, but he wasn’t interfering with the traffic investigation. He was also on a public sidewalk. In fact the PD were about to leave when they decided to attack him.

I keep telling the city a big 1st Amendment case is coming, if not several, and they are really screwed on this one. This is why they should all have body cameras, because these kind of arrests would start going away once officers start getting fired.

The first video is the incident (lots of cussing BTW) and the second video is the cameraman asking the PD what happened.

While I find what this gun chuckler from Hiremorewhitepeople, SD did in a parade in a town no one has heard of kind of disgusting, I will defend his 1st Amendment right to do so;

“My stance, and the city’s stance is that every person has a right to the first amendment, to express his or her speech, and the expressions of it, we do not regulate that,” said Day.

You can actually ‘regulate’ what is in a parade. Many parades held in Sioux Falls have certain regulations. It’s kind of like requiring vehicles to have headlights to drive at night. Wait, does this town even have roads? It looks like they put out a fresh patch of gravel just for this float.

What I find funny is the failed attempt at satire, yes, I’m laughing at the fact that I don’t get the joke. First off, your jail cell doesn’t have a bottom, you know they can crawl right underneath. Also, why are they smiling? I was in jail once, the only time I laughed/smiled was when I had to show the deputy how to properly scan my fingerprints (no kidding!) Secondly, while Barry and Hillary get accused of a lot of crimes, I still have no idea what those ‘actual’ crimes are and if they have ever been brought up on charges. Trump, on the other hand has been sued thousands of times, and he most likely is a criminal.

I’m glad some sh*thole town in South Dakota is sticking up for my 1st Amendment rights, I just think they need a lesson in political satire, if only we could find the place on google maps.

I have been of the opinion that city correspondence should be public record unless it is addressing legal counsel, personnel or discussing possible legislation.

City councilors have been sharing discussion emails with the media and this blog for well over a decade. Since the council’s email and use of it is taxpayer owned property, there really isn’t any harm in sharing discussion emails with the public, I would even argue it is our right to see it.

Lately there has been some internal discussions on the council whether or not sharing discussion emails is appropriate. Not only is it OK it is essential to open government and seeing what our council is doing. This is also a reason why texting during the meetings should not be allowed. Any correspondence during these meetings, whether through a text or email should either not be allowed by ordinance or shared with the public since it seems to be a part of the public hearing.

It’s hard to ‘Leak’ confidential information to the public if it’s NOT confidential to begin with.

There is nothing wrong with online surveys. If you are willing to give up some form of security to help marketing companies make a little extra money, that is your bizzo. But when government hires a private company to do a survey that requires a name, address and phone number, then we have issues;

Today, Mayor Paul TenHaken’s Events Campus Study Group launched a public survey to gather input from the community on the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center Campus.

Available at siouxfalls.org/ec-survey, the short survey asks for input on the current status of the campus and looks for feedback on potential improvements. Survey respondents will be entered into a drawing to win one of many $25 gift cards.

One of the other key questions is if you are a registered voter. None of this information is pertinent unless the city and the marketing company (Lawrence & Schiller) needs to collect data on you as a registered voter. Remember, Mayor TenHaken is serving his first term in elected office of any position, he has a long political life ahead of him (I hope not). L & S also does political consulting for a wide range of candidates across the state. This kind of voter data would be very valuable to both PTH and L & S. It is also not needed. Simply marking a box saying your are a SF resident should be good enough for this survey.

But this isn’t the only place the city is gathering data on you. They are also doing it with the phone app for reporting potholes and other issues. They are also doing it HERE on the city website and HERE on the GIS website.

They have also gotten away from posting really any video on the city’s main website and very few in YouTube. They have been basically using FB as their main source to getting out information. Besides the fact that some people don’t use FB, it goes back to not having to have a ‘login’ to access public information. They can also track you via FB.

The Brexit campaign to leave the EU used FB to manipulate the vote. It is under a massive investigation because of complicated UK laws that deal with voter protections. Using FB to collect voter and citizen data isn’t some fairytale.

There is absolutely NO reason a citizen should have to have a login to get public information. Public information should be available for FREE and without sharing your identity.

While I could go into several constitutional reasons why what they are doing is wrong, the bigger question I have is ‘WHY’ collect the data? Why does the administration and certain people within city government, and now apparently private companies, think they need our home addresses, names, phone numbers, age, email, voter registration? What does that have to do with a dying ball field?

This is a ploy to collect as much data as possible on us to manipulate future elections. It’s very Karl Rovian and certainly in PTH’s ‘wheelhouse’.

DON’T sign up to receive data. Don’t fill out these surveys. And if the government comes knocking on your door, tell them they need a warrant.

UPDATE: A SouthDaCola foot soldier who knows the student told me this, “She was kicked out of girls state for posting that photo. Friends of Noem’s messaged her threatening if she didn’t take it down.”

Ever notice that the SD GOP royalty can’t take a joke?

Isn’t funny how government puts this stuff up to protect themselves from us;

“There are an estimated 30 million surveillance cameras now deployed in the United States shooting 4 billion hours of footage a week,” reported Popular Mechanics 10 years ago. Five years later,according to The New York Times, “there were 245 million professionally installed surveillance cameras around the world.” Today, five years later, they’re talking about 30,000 spy cameras in the city of Chicago alone.

The Cameras Everywhere craze came to full bloom after September 11, when fear of the “other” transformed into fear of everything. This fear was fed and nurtured through the oppressive onslaught of cynical politicians and ratings-hungry news networks. Recently, however, cities have begun to flip their own high beams at the eyes that never blink.

“In 2013, Seattle police installed surveillance cameras and a network that could track wireless devices throughout downtown,”reported The Seattle Times in February of 2018. The network “had the potential to track and log every wireless device that moved through its system: people attending protests, people getting cups of coffee, people going to a hotel in the middle of the workday…. After unwanted publicity, they turned it off. Now the city is paying $150,000 to physically tear it down.”

Of all the interesting politicians I have met over the past 15 years, Mike was one of the most memorable. Tenacious as all get out. I often was amused of the way the political establishment (he was a registered Independent his entire life) and the media treated him as a gadfly. As a candidate for governor, he was the most qualified person to ever run for the position. A former journalist, CEO of Mayo and USD Law Professor, people often ignored his resume. But it was Mike’s personality that made him a winner.

In this video, campus police at USD tried to tell him he was trespassing in the law center. He was sent a letter from the University basically telling him he was not welcome, something they call ‘Persona Non Grata’ which is a fancy legal term that doesn’t mean a pile of beans. This is why we asked for the court order that they could not produce. We will miss you Mike, you will not be forgotten.