"I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
TSA Checkpoints Now on Tennessee Interstate Highways - YouTube
Topic: Miscellaneous
10:32 am EDT, Nov 4, 2011
If you want a glimpse into the future of this country, this news broadcast is it. It talks about TSA agents performing random searches of vehicles on Tennessee freeways and they throw up a map with hot spots all over the state where checkpoints have been established.
Unconstitutional? Nah! The Constitution doesn't require warrants to perform searches. It just bans searches that are "unreasonable." This news broadcast clearly states that there is a terrorist threat on the freeways. The searches are a reasonable, measured response to that threat, and the searchers are narrowly limited to what is required to protect people from that threat. No Constitutional problem at all!
The problem, of course, is that this news broadcast isn't entirely accurate, as the TSA clarified on their blog. But it will be. Just you wait. You'll see.
I did not know, until last night, that Killing an Arab by the Cure, one of my favorite songs, is a reference to a story by Albert Camus called L'Étranger. I recall his Myth of Sisyphus as one of the most interesting and valuable things that I was "forced" to read in High School. So a copy of L'Étranger is now in my backpack and I am most excited about reading it.
Or rather, an English translation of it - the correct translation being a subject of some controversy, apparently. I find myself wishing that my French was strong enough that I wouldn't have to bother with a translation. It is the first time in my life when I have wanted to know French for a deeper reason than to be able to hang out in France without being constantly regarded as an annoying outsider (which is an impossible goal for an American and therefore an ironically Sisyphusian reason for practicing the language).
I also did not know that Albert Camus was French - much less a Pied-Noir, an Algerian Frenchman. Hence the killing of an Arab by the stranger - by a Frenchman on a beach in Algeria. I continue to be fascinated by Algeria after watching The Battle of Algiers, which was every bit as interesting as it was supposed to be. I still haven't seen Pepe le Moko.
Feds bust alleged Atlanta terror plot | 11alive.com
Topic: Miscellaneous
12:42 am EDT, Nov 2, 2011
Thomas is quoted in the affidavit from a recorded conversation with the informant: "There is no way for us, as militiamen, to save the country, to save Georgia, without doing something that's highly illegal. Murder. That's (expletive) illegal, but it's gotta be done. When it comes time to saving the Constitution, that means some people gotta die."
I want to understand the mechanism whereby 3 years into a Democratic administration - *poof* - you get right wing "militiamen" planning to blow up Atlanta. Its like these people went into cryostorage after the '96 Olympics and somehow they just woke back up.
U.S. Supreme Court declines to rule on student free speech in Connecticut case - Courant.com
Topic: Miscellaneous
7:38 pm EDT, Nov 1, 2011
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday ended former Connecticut high school student Avery Doninger's First Amendment fight when it let stand a prior ruling that school administrators acted reasonably when they disciplined her for using a vulgar term to criticize faculty.
I wrote extensively about this case here and Zeugma engaged me in a lively debate. The result is not as bad as the ruling Sotomayor joined which I analyzed in that blog post. The court basically decided that the school could prevent students involved in "offensive" protests from participating in the student government specifically because participating in the student government requires a respectful relationship with the administration. They imply that other kinds of sanctions may not have been legal. Zeugma made this point in his posts in the thread on MemeStreams.
On my Web site, I compiled various databases that show the airports I’ve been in, food I’ve eaten at home, food I’ve eaten on the road, random hotel beds I’ve slept in, various parking lots off Interstate 80 that I parked in, empty train stations I saw, as well as very specific information like photos of the tacos I ate in Mexico City between July 5 and 7, and the toilets I used.
These images seem empty, and could be anywhere, but they’re not; they are extremely specific records of my exact travels to particular places. There are 46,000 images on my site. I trust that the F.B.I. has seen all of them.
Tennessee agrees to stop arresting Occupy protesters - San Jose Mercury News
Topic: Miscellaneous
7:19 pm EDT, Oct 31, 2011
State Attorney General's Office Senior Counsel Bill Marett announced at the beginning of a hearing before Judge Aleta Trauger that the state would not fight efforts to halt the policy.
The judge said she had already decided to grant the restraining order because the curfew was a "clear prior restraint on free speech rights."
"I can't think of a more quintessential public forum than Legislative Plaza," Trauger said.
Air Space - a trip through an airport detention center - Boing Boing
Topic: Miscellaneous
7:18 pm EDT, Oct 31, 2011
This essay is important because it documents the systematic use the airline flight security apparatus to harass a person who obviously is not a threat to flight security. The reason TSA searches are constitutional is that they relate to protecting the security of flights. Suspicionless searches at airports that do not relate to the security of flights are not constitutional.
The Associated Press: Tenn. protesters defy curfew a 3rd time
Topic: Miscellaneous
12:19 am EDT, Oct 30, 2011
Nashville magistrate Tom Nelson has said there's no legal reason in his city to keep the demonstrators behind bars and he has released them after each arrest. He has refused each night to sign off on arrest warrants for more than two dozen people taken into custody.
Some legal experts agreed with the judge.
"You can't pass a curfew mid-protest because you disagree with this group of protesters," said criminal defense attorney Patrick Frogge, who is representing some of those arrested.
