Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of January 2018. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Related posts
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Wicked Riches: Victims’ compensation rewards liars and cheats
Source: bettinaarndt.substack.com 2/26/25 What a story! Our media was agog at the recent NSW police announcement that... -
ID: Idaho House widely passes bill to limit youth access to ‘indecent sexual exhibitions’
Source: idahocapitalsun.com 2/25/25 Bill, drafted by the Idaho Family Policy Center, was inspired by drag shows... -
Watch the March 3 D.C. Vigil on live streaming!
We are very pleased with the number of people who are coming to the Washington DC...
That’s why you two (well not so much you, Lake) live up there where it rains often, and I am down here in the desert. Rarity makes the heart grow fonder, familiarity breeds contempt.
“187 foreign sex offenders, mostly Americans, barred from entering the Philippines in 2017”
“He said these agencies have been continuously providing the BI with the names and identities of foreign sex offenders so they could be placed in the bureau’s blacklist and turned back if they attempt to enter the Philippines.”
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/639145/187-foreign-sex-offenders-mostly-americans-barred-from-entering-phl-in-2017/story/
“L.A. child molester to be released after spending 17 years in state hospital [Coalinga] awaiting trial” He waited that entire time to go to court. Judge threw it out and ordered his release in disgust. So much for the right to a speedy trial.
http://beta.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sex-offender-release-20180109-story.html
RCs get mentioned in this article specifically, but is applicable for more than them obviously. More states need to follow VA’s lead on this effort. Done is done, give them their voting rights, etc back and get out of the Old Testament way of thinking, e.g. eye for eye…
How Letting Felons Vote Is Changing Virginia
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/virginia-clemency-restoration-of-rights-campaigns/549830/
I will not include long legal theories any more but will leave those for Gofile at https://gofile.io/index.php?p=ufile# and links but check out this short snippet and comments are welcome and encouraged….Steve how is this for confronting the “Frightening and High” recidivism quote?
“In Smith, the Supreme Court relied on erroneously high recidivism rates when it held that the sex offender registration requirement was not excessive in light of its regulatory purpose, in part because sex offenders have a “high rate of recidivism,” are dangerous “as a class”, and pose a danger to the public that is “frightening and high” (Smith, at 103) (citations omitted). These erroneous “frightening and high” recidivism rates have been universally debunked and the dangerous “as a class” opinion is just that, an “opinion” not founded in fact but concluded inclusively from highly subjective views or on misrepresentations of facts presented to the court in McKune and carried over into Smith.”
French Actress Catherine Deneuve Decries #MeToo Movement As ‘Puritanism’
Catherine Deneuve thinks the #MeToo movement to hold sexual harassers accountable has gone too far, joining a group of 100 other influential French women arguing that it amounts to “puritanism” and “a wave of purification” that has created “a climate of a totalitarian society.”
They also contended that puritanism about sexuality could forever condemn women to being seen as victims. Men, the letter says, are being forced into public confessions, creating a climate of a “totalitarian society.”
“As women, we do not recognize ourselves in this feminism that, beyond denouncing abuses of power, embodies hatred of men and of sexuality,” they wrote.
Search “Catherine Deneuve #Metoo” for full articles.
Just a note for those of you that live in the Long Beach area. Long Beach Memorial hospital won’t let you in if you are on the government sponsored hit list a.k.a sex offender registry. My fiance was getting a partial hysterectomy and they wouldn’t let me see her in her hospital room because they said they were next to Miller’s Children’s Hospital. So if you have a loved one or friend that is considering using that place let them know you won’t be able to visit them.
“Just a note for those of you that live in the Long Beach area. Long Beach Memorial hospital won’t let you in if you are on the government sponsored hit list a.k.a sex offender registry”
Sounds like an easy lawsuit…..
Next time take names……
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, whose father spent more than a year behind bars in a federal lockup, on Thursday will present his father-in-law President Donald Trump with a plan for prison reform after months of work on the issue.
http://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-father-jailed-prison-reform-plan-776686
Is Jared worried he might go to prison? I don’t see how Trump would make any prison improvement that would benefit the average person. Maybe they want to “Make Federal Prisons Great Again”?
Thanks for the responses on Long Beach Memorial. They check everybody’s id in the lobby before they give you a name tag to be permitted on any of the floors. That’s how they found out since they run it against the National Registry. The guy made a total scene, practically threw back his chair and called security over. Hard to take that additional stress when your fiance is getting a huge cancer surgery.
How bout it Janice et el? What is the significance of the summary judgement that you were able to procure? It seems to only address residency restrictions and, like all the other suits, although it should be recognized across the state, it only effects the city of Adelanto since other jurisdictions are still applying their own ordinances, according to several statements made on here from others….Can you sue the CA AG and demand a moratorium or memorandum or ??? to force every county across the state to null their own ordinances and comply with this court order????? As you can see from comments people are still being affected by these ordinances….The guy couldn’t even visit his wife in the hospital….
I read Pres Trump is trying to push for new libel laws. This will be interesting to keep an eye on. Any time a politician uses “predator” or the present term of “sex offender”, then he or she will be libel. Otherwise, that politician is willfully ignorant, which doesn’t look well upon a supposed leader.
Also, it’s possible that the Passport Identifier could be libel if they’re trying to protect against sex trafficking to label those whose convictions were not related to sex trafficking.
Another sign of the pervasiveness of Uncle Sam’s snooping and monitoring of every single thing one does: https://lifehacker.com/your-amazon-order-might-lock-you-out-of-trusted-travele-1821964978
So, using the story @AJ submitted on Amazon selling potentially counterfeit goods with tracking going to the USG and Global Entry being mentioned in the article, can an RC apply for Global Entry, TSA Pre-Check or CLEAR? Love to hear what experiences are with these if any and recommendations.
I know Global Entry is CBP administered and may be a no go for RCs. Pre-Check may be the same through TSA. CLEAR validates you are who you say you are from what I read.
I’m not normally a fan of the Satanic Temple, but I do hope they sue and win. It would firmly place social media truly as “media”, which then brings in a whole slew of rights and responsibilities.
https://jezebel.com/satanic-temple-threatens-to-sue-twitter-for-religious-d-1822039063
(Yes, I chose that specific website for a reason. 😉 It’s sourced on Fox, etc., too.)
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I haven’t tried going back since then to get my citizenship because of the fear that they might flag me.
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I have the same concern. That is why I will not go to Mexico with my husband when he goes to visit his family. I don’t want to screw up my chances of some day emigrating to Mexico. As it stands right now, I’d be denied entry and presumably flagged permanently in Mexico’s database.
On a bright note, after an agonizing wait and repeated delays lasting 3 years and 4 months, my husband was finally able to get his green card just this past week. The AWA was our major hurdle. I had to satisfy CIS that I did not pose a threat to my husband or any other potential beneficiary in order for my I130 Petition for Alien Relative to be approved.
Does anyone else find it ironic that the nation is agast that the president would use a single word to put all people into a general group without judging each potential citizen on their own merits? WOW, does that sound familiar to anyone?
I was recently reading Padilla v. KY (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/559/356/opinion.html), and stumbled across something that sounds strikingly similar to registration:
*****
We have long recognized that deportation is a particularly severe “penalty”; but it is not, in a strict sense, a criminal sanction. Although removal proceedings are civil in nature, [] deportation is nevertheless intimately related to the criminal process. Our law has enmeshed criminal convictions and the penalty of deportation for nearly a century[]. And, importantly, recent changes in our immigration law have made removal nearly an automatic result for a broad class of noncitizen offenders. Thus, we find it “most difficult” to divorce the penalty from the conviction in the deportation context.
*****
Let’s see how it reads with a few changes:
[Registration] is not, in a strict sense, a criminal sanction. Although [sex offender registration schemes] are civil in nature, [registration] is nevertheless intimately related to the criminal process. Our law has enmeshed criminal convictions and the penalty of [registration] for [decades]. And, importantly, recent changes in [sex offender] law[s] have made [registration] an automatic result for a broad class of [] offenders. Thus, we find it “most difficult” to divorce the penalty from the conviction in the [registration] context.
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Thoughts? One key issue is that SCOTUS has “long held” deportation as a penalty, whereas not so with registration. Still, SCOTUS has shown that it is possible for a civil action to be a penalty, despite it not being a criminal sanction.
A quick question about registering where one is attending school. What would happen were I to “attend” online classes at MIT or USC or wherever? Would I need to report in person to MA or CA to complete my registration (and within 3 days)? What if I’m under supervision and my PO won’t let me leave the state?
It would seem this system works all fine and dandy for school where I’m actually on campus. But the law (to my knowledge) doesn’t discriminate between the manner of schooling (online v. in person).
Man AJ this Millard case has some powerful statements in it..Lot of good stuff…I really like the following….
“This ongoing imposition of a known and uncontrollable risk of public abuse of
information from the sex offender registry, in the absence of any link to an objective risk to the
public posed by each individual sex offender, has resulted in and continues to threaten Plaintiffs
with punishment disproportionate to the offenses they committed. Where the nature of such
punishment is by its nature uncertain and unpredictable, the state cannot assure that it will ever
be proportionate to the offense. SORA as applied to these Plaintiffs therefore violates the Eighth
Amendment.”
These kinds of decisions are very suggestive that well argued cases can and are winning in every good case…Articulation and evidence is the key …..
*** Coalinga State Hospital Update. *** Detainee Mike St. Martin reports on recent developments in which the Hospital has announced plans to seize much of the property of Detainees, despite having previously allowed these items. The items will either be destroyed or sent by Detainees at their own expense out of the Hospital. They will not be compensated for the loss of these items. Detainees have been told that, if they do not consent in writing to a search, their property will be destroyed. Detainees are subject to weekly searches of their property and living space. Staff, who have long wanted to greatly reduce the number of items which they must search, instigated this most recent property seizure. The Department of State Hospitals (DSH) had earlier sought and obtained the authority from the State Legislature to implement their own rules and to conduct seizures without the need to promulgate rules and procedures with the Office of Administrative Law. Such self-written rules will no longer be subject to scrutiny by any external authority. This is something like the F.B.I. self-writing its own search warrants. This imminent seizure of property is the latest in a long series of actions which have gradually eroded the rights of Detainees and their quality of life. The number of packages which Detainees can receive, as well as the range of items which may be allowed, has been drastically reduced over time. Postage stamps, which had previously served as a form of currency necessary for buying or selling items, including food, are now strictly limited in the number which can be possessed. The current administration of CSH has said “Previous administrations have given you too much stuff and we’re going to take it away from you.” Never mind that they were never “given” any of these items but had to pay for it themselves. ______It is important to remember that those civilly committed in Coalinga are to be held in the “least restrictive means possible” as they are not prisoners and are not to be punished. They are said to retain their rights as citizens, including their right to vote, even while they are stripped of their right to freedom of movement and of association. As with those of us on the Registry, those civilly committed must not be further punished according to the U.S. Supreme Court. _____
Here is the memo which announces this policy and its impending implementation: ____
Memo from Executive Director, C.S.H., Date: January 12, 2018 To: All DSH-C Patients From: Brandon Price, Executive Director ______Subject: Emergency Regulation Approved by Office of Administrative Law (OAL) § 4350. Contraband Electronic Devices with Communication and Internet Capabilities. _____”The Department of State Hospitals (DSH) submitted an emergency regulation package to amend California Code of Regulations Title 9, Section 4350 on December 22,2017. The Office of Administrative Law approved the emergency regulation with an effective date of Friday, January 12, 2018. The emergency regulation adds the following language to CCR Title 9, Section 4350, which makes the listed items contraband at DSH facilities: • Desktop computers; laptop computers; single-board computers or motherboards such as “Raspberry Pi”, cellular or satellite phones; personal digital assistant (PDA); graphing calculators; and satellite shortwave, CB and GPS radios. • Digital media recording devices, including but limited to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray burners. • Voice or visual recording devices in any format. • Items capable of memory storage (i.e. digital memory, removeable memory, recordable disks, USB devices (i.e. thumb drives/flash drives), hard drives, SIM cards, SO cards/drives, Micro SO cards, and all other devices that store memory. • Gaming devices with digital memory storage ability. • Floppy disks, hard disks, VHS tapes. ______The following electronic items patients are permitted to possess or have personal access to: • Patients will be allowed to possess one (1) television or computer monitor [Note: the computer monitor is not for use with a computer but to be used as a television set with the addition of a tuner adapter. Televisions, themselves, can no longer be purchased as they typically have too many features today that are prohibited by CSH.], one (1) DVD/Blu-ray Player, one (1) CD player, and one (1) radio or music player. • No more than thirty (30) commercially manufactured and unmodified CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays received in factory-original packaging. • Tablets or other devices designed for confined individuals as approved by DSH and CDCR. [Note: these are “tablets” without WiFi, microphones or cameras and no way to access the Internet which is completely forbidden at CSH] _______ Safety, Treatment and Responsibility January 12, 2018 Emergency Regulation Approved by Office of Administrative Law (OAL) § 4350. Contraband Electronic Devices with Communication and Internet Capabilities. Page 2 DSH-C will begin implementation once we have an approved implementation plan and timeline. We expect to start the first phase of implementation within the next few weeks. Prior to implementation, the approved plan will be shared with all staff and patients. Safety is our highest priority [Editor: though never the “safety” of Detainees] and additional security measures will be taken to assist with a safe implementation of this regulation. /J BRANDON b PRICE Executive Director
***********
“The guy.. was liking a bunch of videos that were of young girls walking around in their underwear. Sometimes they wouldn’t have their shirts on,” he says. “That may appear relatively innocuous, but it had that undertone. If you look at these things through a certain lens, you start to see a pattern.”
“So I typed up a search warrant in light of that information for Mr Siders’ residence and we executed it the next day,” Det Sgt Parks says.”
Let that sink in: search warrants obtained on the basis of “Likes” on YouTube. Not child porn, didn’t produce it, didn’t post it, just “Liked” it.
This all started when an Australian came across YouTube videos viewer enthusiasm for which he found appalling and started the ball rolling which stopped with a guy in the U.S. probably going to prison for the rest of his life.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42559977
Good to see you back Chris. Seems like you were gone for awhile or just not posting….
Anniversary Date
I am close being free for 15 years the beginning of next month. I served a 22 month sentence for an attempted 288(a); a sheriff department sting. Anyway, since I was released and served my additional supervised release time I have learned a lot about our system of justice. I am one of the fortunate ones whose family and the vast majority of friends stayed loyal to me and saw the crime as something I did and not who I was. I have been blessed in that way. I have been able to stay employed 90% of the time and never lost a job due to my crime. We did have to move since the house we lived in for 28 years was in close proximity to a school After the supervised release expired and I only have to report once a year the only run in I have had was the Halloween issue in my town. That has been the only home visit from the PD. I did take a cruise and did have a run in with the Canadian authorities which I had not expected and that was not nice at all. Now as I want to travel I am being hemmed in my the days I can stay in one state or another. Funny that murderers, DUI, robbers, home invasions. etc. can travel at will and stay as long as they like anywhere in the world. I am blessed in that I can live with about 51% of my freedom intact and feel for those who cannot. I am trusting that the new Calf tiered law will help but that is five years away.
I just want to share some thoughts about the past years and glad I have been able to still live here in the USA but saddened by the erosion of the laws protecting all other forms of law breakers and not us
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” MLK, Jr.
Seems apropos today.