Law Archives | If This Be Treason

Arizona Senate Votes to Seize Assets in Protests With Violence

By Christine Hall on February 24, 2017

Apparently, Republican state legislators in Arizona are believing the lie that people are being paid to protest against government policies, and are doing what lawmakers in Arizona do best — passing sweeping laws that infringe on citizen’s constitutional rights before learning all the facts.

Arizona residents who want to exercise their right to peaceful assembly might get more than they bargained for if a single rock is thrown during the protest.

The Arizona Capital Times reported on Wednesday that the state’s Senate has sent a bill to the House after a “17-13 party-line vote” that, among other things, allows for assets to be seized from those involved in any protest in which violence occurs.

Freedom & Obedience

By Joshua Kricker on September 14, 2013

Fort Dix 1969 — Fort Dix, New Jersey – 1969

There used to be a sign that hung on the gate to the entrance to Fort Dix (the army training ground in New Jersey ) in 1969: “OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW IS FREEDOM.” It probably was not as bad as the sign on the gate to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, “ARBEIT MACHT FREI,” (Work is Freedom), but to those of us opposing the Vietnam War in 1969, the two sentiments and the source from where they sprung certainly seemed similar.

A while after leaving Canada and returning to the United States, I enrolled in state college and majored in political science. One of the first questions that arose in class was, “what makes a legitimate government?” I had long thought about this during the terms of Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon. It’s still a basic axiom that governments remain legitimate only so long as they rule with the consent of the governed. The people give that consent (it does not have to be verbally acknowledged or recognized; it can be tacit consent, i.e. doing nothing to oppose the government’s policies) as long as they at least have some belief that there are relatively fair elections and through our elected representatives we have some voice in the laws that are made and the policies being carried out. At least that’s the theory in America. If you’re living under a blatant military dictatorship another set of principles apply.

The Perpetuation of Poverty

By Joshua Kricker on September 1, 2013

Traffic stop in North Carolina — A traffic stop in Durham, North Carolina
Photo by Ildar Sagdejev

Anyone who has occasion to sit in the County District Courts of North Carolina, the state where I reside, can’t help but see and hear the endless parade of defendants appearing before the judge on routine traffic infractions resulting in the imposition of court costs and sometimes fines.

The court costs are generally $189.00. If someone is unable to pay, a late fee of $70.00 is tacked on and the privilege to operate a vehicle is revoked. If caught operating a vehicle while the privilege is revoked, that person could, until very recently, be subject to up to 120 days incarceration, even though the sole reason for the revocation was inability to pay a fine. The legislature, not long ago, amended the statute to repeal incarceration as a penalty, provided the reason for the revocation was neither Driving Under the Influence nor Reckless Driving.

This Isn’t Your Mother’s Phone Call

By Christine Hall on June 6, 2013

Don’t look in the mirror. You won’t like what you see.

To my generation, nobody ever wanted to grow up to be like mom and dad. Indeed, many of my girlfriends were majorly traumatized when they realized they’d grown up to be “just like Mother.” It appears this is what’s happening to us now as a nation. We’ve grown up to be the countries we were warned against. We’re starting to bear a strange resemblance to countries led by people with names like Stalin or Franco.

Used To Be Only Sovereign Nations Were Too Big To Fail & Then Not Always

By Christine Hall on March 9, 2013

It becomes more and more obvious with each passing month that our government is mainly concerned with protecting financial interests, even when those interests work against the will and welfare of its citizens. Our government is acting like a business that’s in partnership with Wall Street and the banks. It also appears as if our government has granted these financial institutions some sort of special first class citizen status. Meanwhile, we the real citizens of this country are governed primarily with rules designed to make sure that we serve and not obstruct the big corporations.

httpv://youtu.be/7cKTBy7_S_I

How many billions of dollars of blood money does a bank have to launder for drug lords and how many sanctions does a bank have to violate before someone will consider shutting it down?

Demand Progress Video On Implications Of Kirtsaeng Case

By Christine Hall on March 7, 2013

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on FOSS Force. Reprinted with permission.

The internet activist group Demand Progress has released a short 2 1/2 minute video on YouTube that explains the implications of the legal wranglings between student Supap Kirtsaeng and textbook publisher John Wiley & Sons in a case that’s already gone before the U.S. Supreme Court and is now awaiting a ruling.

At issue is the reselling of new textbooks purchased cheaply abroad in the United States. Kirtsaeng, a Thai graduate student in the U.S., sold textbooks published by John Wiley & Sons on eBay that had been purchased by relatives in Thailand. The publisher is claiming copyright infringement, and so far has won all rulings in the Federal courts.

Posts published in “Law”

Apparently, Republican state legislators in Arizona are believing the lie that people are being paid to protest against government policies, and are doing what lawmakers in Arizona do best — passing sweeping laws that infringe on citizen’s constitutional rights before learning all the facts.