Prairieland defendants sentenced today to prison terms ranging from 30-100 years(prairielanddefendants.com) |
Prairieland defendants sentenced today to prison terms ranging from 30-100 years(prairielanddefendants.com) |
> Alarmingly, this mistrial order is just the latest example of attacks on the Prairieland Defendants’ constitutional rights to access to counsel, a fair and impartial jury, an adequate defense, a public trial, and more. Judge Pittman has made highly unusual moves that suppress defense teams and which federal lawyers have not seen during their entire careers:
[...]
> NLG remains extremely concerned about these cases. Defendants’ First Amendment rights to free expression, assembly, and association; their Sixth Amendment rights to counsel; their Fifth Amendment rights to a public trial; and their Second Amendment rights to bear arms are under attack in North Texas. If unchecked and ignored, this case and the judicial decisions coming from it will set a very dark precedent for the rest of the country.
Frankly I don't see how a cop presenting unwarranted deadly force is different from a random person doing the same. Especially now that we've had a decade of body worn camera footage to prove just how lawless American police are.
What is a proportionate sentence for convictions like these? In other words, is there a norm when looking at similar convictions?
APAB
Body: "material support for terrorists, attempted murder, possession and conspiracy to use explosives"
Um?
Even the part that sounds the worst if you take it out of context, was not a murder or even failed attempted murder, but the successful prevention of a murder.
As for explosives, the defendants say it was fireworks. Carrying fireworks at protests is common.
I’ve been to several protests over the years and at exactly zero of them did I encounter fireworks of any kind. Maybe we run in different circles.
There is no non-criminal reason to use fireworks at a protest. Most cities ban their use altogether except for a few days a year around Independence Day and New Year’s Day.
This sounds to me _exactly_ as weird as when I watch on TV those little gated "free speech zones" American cities have been implementing and, even worse, protesters obediently limiting their protest to within he gated area, "conveniently" placed several blocks away from where the protest would be effective.
Weird. Very, very weird.
Are gated free speech zones a thing, and do Americans obey that? If no, what are the news talking about when they show those? If yes, why do Americans submit to this?
And is carrying guns into protests allowed? If not, why aren't all gun carriers arrested on the spot? If yes, how does it make sense to allow them, but not fireworks, and how are fireworks more dangerous than loaded guns, and worthy of jailing, prosecution and imprisonment, while guns aren't?
There is a guy in my town that protests a wealthy businessman on the public street corner near his house almost everyday with a bullhorn and wearable sign. The businessman has tried every trick in the book to get him to stop, but courts in our city and state have consistently ruled he has the right to do this on public property. He is homeless and a little looney, but still has constitutional rights that our courts protect.
In many US states, open carry of firearms is legal without a permit, again, barring private property owners posting signage stating it’s forbidden. I’ve been to protests at my state capital building and people open carry on the premises. Inside the statehouse it’s illegal. Brandishing a weapon is also illegal but generally keeping the firearm holstered prevents any issues.
Using fireworks inside most city limits is illegal, as is discharging a firearm. The difference is you can’t use fireworks for self defense, unlike a firearm, and discharging a firearm in self defense is legal.
There is a legitimate reason to have a firearm at a protest: to defend yourself. Fireworks, on the other hand do nothing but make gunshot like noises, which are very likely to get you shot in a protest here.
You have to assume people in a crowd are carrying firearms here. There are more guns than people in the US last I checked, and many states also allow conceal carry without a permit. Creating gunshot like noises in such situations is a great way to accidentally get shot.
In a nutshell, guns are a weapon that is legal to possess and use in self defense in most areas of the US. Fireworks cannot be used in self defense, but are great at making people think you just fired a gun. See the Kyle Rittenhouse trial for an example of how this plays out.
Most people not from the US have a hard time imagining people carrying handguns in a hip holster at the grocery store, but outside of LA and New York, it’s not that uncommon. And for every one person you see open carrying, there are likely five others conceal carrying.
A friend of mine is a mechanic and about once a month he sees a handgun tucked inside the door or between the seat and console of a car he’s working on. It is a cultural thing in a lot of areas, one that most people that haven’t traveled outside of major US cities have a hard time believing.
There are occasionally attempts to keep protestors away from wahtever's being protested. They tend to not do well when challenged in court.
Here's a couple (opinionated, obviously) articles: