Saturday, February 26, 2022

American "Accountability" Foundation founder Thomas Jones disses SCOTUS pick because she's skeptical of the sex offense registry

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Biden's pick to replace Justice Breyer on SCOTUS, wrote an article way back in 1996, saying what we all know about the registry -- the registry increases vigilante violence and is punishment as well as bad public policy. 

It seems this right wing nut is triggered by the TRUTH. 

https://www.theblaze.com/news/bidens-pick-for-supreme-court-ketanji-brown-jackson-once-argued-judicial-system-is-unfair-to-sex-offenders

Biden's pick for Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, once argued judicial system is 'unfair' to sex offenders

Chris Pandolfo, Feb. 25, 2022

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson once argued in an article that the judicial system in America is "unfair" to sexual predators.

Jackson, whom President Joe Biden has nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court, authored an unsigned "Note" for the Harvard Law Review in 1996 calling for judges to change their analytical framework for evaluating the constitutionality of certain state sex offender statutes. She disclosed authorship of the article to the Senate Judiciary Committee after she was nominated to serve as U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia by President Barack Obama in 2012.

In the article, Jackson wrote, "In the current climate of fear, hatred, and revenge associated with the release of convicted sex criminals, courts must be especially atten­tive to legislative enactments that 'use[ ] public health and safety rhetoric to justify procedures that are, in essence, punishment and detention.'"

Her article took issue with how some state legislatures at the time enacted laws to regulate the release of sex offenders. Examples she cited include requirements for sex offenders to register with local law enforcement officials, notify community members of their presence, undergo DNA testing, and submit to civil confinement for an indefinite term.

Don't miss out on content from Dave Rubin free of big tech censorship. Listen to The Rubin Report now.

"Although many courts and commentators herald these laws as valid regulatory measures, others reject them as punitive enactments that violate the rights of individuals who already have been sanctioned for their crimes," Jackson wrote. "Under existing doctrine, the constitutionality of sex offender statutes depends upon their characterization as essentially 'preventive' rather than 'punitive,' yet courts have been unable to devise a consistent, coherent, and principled means of making this determination."

The article discusses this distinction between "preventive" and "punitive" legislation and criticizes how judges have previously approached the constitutionality of certain sex offender statutes.

"This Note maintains that, even in the face of understandable public outrage over repeat sexual predators, a principled prevention/punishment analysis evaluates the effect of challenged legislation in a manner that reinforces constitutional safeguards against unfair and unnecessarily burdensome legislative action," Jackson wrote.

She argued that judges should not "rely on legislative intent" to determine whether a state sex offender statute violates the Constitution, and she rejected other analytical frameworks established by court precedent at the time.

"Although '[a precise] analytical solution is almost impossible to construct,' this Note suggests that such a principled approach in­volves assessing the impact of sex offender statutes and deeming the laws 'punitive' to the extent that they operate to deprive sex criminals of a legal right in a manner that primarily has retributive or general­ deterrent effects," she wrote in her conclusion.

The note authored by Jackson was unearthed by the American Accountability Foundation, a conservative nonprofit watchdog group that has scrutinized several of Biden's nominees.

“Once again, Joe Biden’s White House has failed in the vetting process by nominating a radical Leftist like Judge Brown Jackson to the highest court in the land,” AAF founder Tom Jones said in a statement. “Americans want our judicial system to protect children and citizens from sexual predators. Judge Brown Jackson’s radical position raises questions on her suitability to serve on the court. Is she more interested in social justice engineering or administering justice?”

President Joe Biden on Friday announced that Jackson will be his nominee to serve on the United States Supreme Court after Justice Stephen Breyer retires this year.

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Crooked ex-Albuquerque Police Chief Raymond Schultz found a new scheme, peddling Big Brother traffic cams

Former Albuquerque Police Chief Raymond Schultz left the Albuquerque PD in 2013 under a "cloud of bad morale, a string of scandals and intense scrutiny... by the media and the U.S. Department of Justice." Excessive force and police shootings were a part of Schultz's legacy. There were also investigations into his alliance with Taser International, which included no-bid contracts while Schultz was acting as a consultant while still working for the APD. 

But it didn't take Schultz long to land a new job both as a cop and as a peddler of controversial police technology. If you want to become a crooked cop, just go the Buford T. Justice route and go to Texas, and now Schultz is peddling Orwellian traffic cameras, and in doing so, he admits shows how these cameras can be abused, including investigating a Registered Person just going to church. 

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/houston-area-cities-use-automatic-license-plate-readers/285-0d7e99f5-d1ec-4914-8389-392dc5343f6c

Automatic license plate readers helping to deter crime in Houston-area cities

The Memorial Villages Police Department recovered 25 times as many stolen cars after installing ALPRs.

Author: Matt Dougherty

Published: 10:35 PM CST February 21, 2022

Updated: 10:55 PM CST February 21, 2022

HOUSTON — Some Houston-area cities are fighting crime by installing virtual gates around their communities. Dozens of cameras are taking millions of pictures of driver's license plates each month.

One local police chief said the technology helped catch 25 times as many suspects in wanted vehicles as the year before.

Each time a vehicle passes one of the automatic license plate reading cameras in the Memorial Villages, a picture is taken.

“What we’re doing is we’re scanning license plates as they pass by,” Memorial Villages Police Chief Raymond Schultz said.

It reads, scans the plates, then checks them against law enforcement databases for stolen or wanted vehicles.

If there’s a hit...

“Notice automatically goes to our dispatch center and our officers in the field,” Schultz said.

The Memorial Villages' network of 30 cameras dotting the nine square-mile territory west of Houston proper is a game-changer, Schultz said.

“Not only helping protect the community but also helping solve crimes throughout Houston,” Schultz said.

The automated license plate readers, also known as ALPRs, were put into service across the Memorial Villages last year.

The chief says the technology helped officers to recover 75 stolen vehicles in 2021.

The average before ALPRs was three per year.

“Pretty darn good,” Schultz said.

He says 61% of the “hits” from the ALPRs last year were from vehicles involved in crimes.

“We’ve arrested people from stolen cars to stolen mail, home invasions, people that are identity thieves, people in possession of other stolen property, people in possession of stolen firearms, wanted fugitives, you name it,” Schultz said.

The residents who spoke with KHOU 11 said the addition of ALPRs to their community has been a good thing.

“If we’re going to be part of society, I think we need to have rules and they need to be enforced,” one Memorial Villages resident said. “So if we have the ability to have high technology to help catch the criminals who are driving through I think that’s great.”

The technology doesn't come without its critics.

“They can be appropriate and even beneficial tools to solve serious crimes, but without those safeguards, the tools can raise serious privacy and transparency concerns,” said Nick Hudson with the ACLU of Texas.

“We don’t want the government to be able to have information that allows it to piece together where people go to church, who they’re seeing and what neighborhoods they’re hanging out in,” Hudson said.

Schultz said the cameras take a shot of a vehicle’s rear license plate, nothing else. He said the picture file is stored in the cloud for 30 days, then it's deleted.

Agencies choose which criminal-offense categories trigger a hit.

In addition to stolen vehicles and missing persons, the Memorial Villages Police Department is alerted each time a registered sex offender drives past their cameras.

“For the month of December, I had five sex offenders come through the Villages,” Schultz said.

Because the chief said there are no registered sex offenders living in the villages – he took a closer look.

“I was getting hits, but only on Sundays,” he said. “It was someone coming here to go to church.”

The chief said he doesn’t have a problem with that, but he said if there’s ever an issue at a school or a daycare, the plate numbers collected by the cameras could be useful.

Other neighborhoods using this technology include West University and Bellaire.

Bellaire’s police chief said it made 452 arrests last year because of the technology.

Both cities are buying more ALPRs.

Monday, February 21, 2022

NH State Rep. David Love is letting out some of that rank "Derry Air"

New Hampshire State Rep. David Love is getting no love (except from this awards blog, of course) for falsely claiming a drag queen was groping kids at a local library and implies that drag queen was on the public registry. 

https://www.concordmonitor.com/Community-members-call-out-Derry-state-rep-s--false--testimony-against-drag-queens-45130357

DERRY, NH – A state rep may have made false, defamatory claims about two drag queens on the public record when he spoke in support of his bill ostensibly designed to protect children at libraries from sexual predators.

During a Feb. 10 hearing for a bill that would require public libraries to do a background check on any employees or volunteers before the House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee, Rep. David Love (R-Derry) claimed the impetus for this bill was inappropriate behavior by drag queens who performed in front of children in Nashua and Derry in recent years.

Love told the committee during public testimony that this bill, of which he is the prime sponsor, was inspired by alleged misbehavior at a Drag Story Hour event at the Tupelo Music Hall last June. Michael McMahon, 22, of Danville performed as drag queen persona Clara Divine.

“After looking into it, I discovered that there was no background check done on this individual,” Love said.

Love, who did not attend the event, told committee members that the children there were at risk.

“This individual was dancing with kids, rubbing butts, just really going way too far, and there was never a background check done on him,” Love said.

“None of that was happening,” McMahon told Manchester Ink Link. “I had over 500 people in attendance and they can all vouch that none of those things happened. … Literally, he’s making up something. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Some who attended the event say Love’s characterization of the event is untrue. Derry Town Councilor Jim Morgan, who is a Republican and a gay man, wrote a letter to the committee to call Love’s claims false, saying at no point had McMahon touched a child.

“I find it distasteful that an elected member of the House would blatantly lie to the committee to provide a sense of reason to pass such a flawed bill,” Morgan wrote.

Love is a candidate in the Republican Primary to fill Morgan’s seat on the Town Council. Morgan has decided not to run for reelection.

Derry Town Councilor Joshua Bourdon said he and his wife and children attended the event and said no rubbing of butts or inappropriate behavior took place. He said it was a positive event that celebrated individuality and differences.

“I was disappointed to hear that Rep. Love lied to his peers,” Bourdon said. “Nothing like that was there.”

Tupelo owner Scott Hayward said Clara was on a stage three and a half feet high and never got off the stage and was about 20 feet from the children during the entire performance. After the event, a few kids came up and took pictures with Clara.

“That statement is about as false as it can possibly get,” Hayward said of Love’s description.

He said Clara taught kids about inclusion, respecting yourself and others, love and “everything I raise my kids to believe in.”

Hayward said Love’s comments make it sound like children are in jeopardy when they’re not.

“Maybe David should go to some of these shows, and learn something about love and inclusion,” Hayward said.

During the hearing, Love went on to say that he learned that there was a similar Drag Story Hour in the Nashua Public Library in 2019 and that it was later alleged that “the guy was a convicted sex offender.”

“It’s completely false, obviously,” said Robert Champion, who performs regularly as drag queen Monique Toosoon, and hosted the Drag Story Hour in Nashua Love alluded to.

Champion, 39, of Bow, said he was never accused or convicted of such a crime. Nor is he listed on any sex offender registry.

“I’ve been in the public eye for probably 20 years for being a drag queen, and I have never ever been accused of being a sex offender,” Champion said.

As it happens, Champion had been undergoing extensive background checks at the time of his 2019 Nashua show in order to adopt a son. He passed those checks and he and his partner of 15 years now parent a six-year-old boy.

“Obviously, I’m not a registered sex offender, I wouldn’t have been able to complete the adoption,” Champion said.

Morgan called the allegations slanderous.

“Mr. Love is not immune from civil lawsuit as he publicly demeaned and defamed both performers and by doing so is slander per se,” Morgan said in his letter.

Champion and McMahon both told Manchester Ink Link they are currently seeking legal counsel about the potentially defamatory claims.

“I care a lot about my drag and I like performing for the youth and I like performing for pretty much anyone. I don’t like things like that getting thrown around, messing with what I want to make into a career,” McMahon said.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Love told a reporter he was “told by a couple constituents” about the claim that McMahon was “rubbing butts” with children. When asked for clarity on what exactly that would entail, Love said he wasn’t sure.

As for the claim against Champion, Love said he “hope(s) to god he isn’t a sex offender,” but said he remembers reading about it in a newspaper over two years ago.

“I don’t know if it was a Boston Herald or the Union Leader or what,” Love said. “I’ve done more research on that and haven’t found it.”

Ultimately, Love said he still believes Drag Story Hours are not appropriate for children.

“All things aside, it’s adult entertainment. … I don’t know why we’re going to this extreme, societally-wise. But to me it’s not right,” Love said. “If you want to do it as adult entertainment, have at it. But for kids, leave it alone.”

Champion said there is a difference between adult drag shows and Drag Story Hour events geared toward younger audiences. While adult shows might push the envelope, with “crude” jokes and sexual innuendos, Champion said they censor themselves and tone down their performances when they have children in the audience of their shows.

“I certainly know how to tone it down for an audience of children, or in my case teenagers,” Champion said.

He compares drag queens to clowns and considers himself a sort of standup comedian. He said he tailors his material to his market.

“Honestly, as a parent, I don’t think background checks are a bad thing, but do we need it for a one time event that is completely supervised?” Champion said.

In fact, he said if there was any danger to the children during his 2019 show, he said it would have been more likely from the “haters” who were sending threatening messages to him. He said he was assigned a security detail who chaperoned him the whole time he was on the library premises.

“I volunteered my time to do that. I did that to be an inspiration or a role model for people who may have needed me at the time,” Champion said. “None of the drag queens I work with are bad people, I just don’t seem to get why people think drag queens are criminals or something.”

Hayward said it disgusts him when people try to equate crossdressing with sexual abuse.

“It’s just ridiculous to equate those two things. It’s insane,” Hayward said.


Morgan said Love appears to be motivated by prejudice.

“Perhaps Representative Love would be better served by resigning his office to focus on his past personal issues before trying to make laws that govern people he doesn’t seem to accept,” Morgan told Manchester Ink Link. “As it stands, he’s trafficking in prejudiced myths that all the LGBTQ community members are predators.”

During his testimony, Love shared his personal experiences as a victim of sexual abuse when he was six years old, the trauma from which he said resulted in years of destructive behaviors and substance misuse.

“It was a long time of suffering. A lifetime of suffering,” Long said.

“I’m sorry that he went through the experience that he went through,” Champion offered.

The Derry show was attended by dozens of families in the parking lot of the Tupelo Music Hall. Congressman Chris Pappas attended the start of the event to welcome Clara Divine to the stage, and local news media recorded the event.

“New Hampshire is a welcoming place where everyone should be proud to be themselves. The event in Derry was a family-friendly story hour that brought the community together, and it’s shameful that it’s being used as the reason to introduce this legislation that seeks to stigmatize the LGBTQ+ community,” Pappas said in a statement.

The event was moved to the Tupelo after original plans to hold it at Derry’s Taylor Library were canceled in response to calls for protest.

During Love’s testimony, he appeared to take partial credit for pressuring the library to cancel the event.

“And we did stop it at the Taylor Library in Derry,” Love said. “They decided to not have it. Then they were going to do it in the public park and there was an outrage over that. Then they did it at a private entity.”

In the race for Morgan’s Town Council seat, Love is running against Doug Flood, the founder of Pizzastock, an annual mental health awareness concert in Derry in memory of his son Jason Flood, who died by suicide in 2016.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Roxanne Hammond of the Pennington Co (SD) Persecutor's Office makes blatantly false claim before the SD state legislature

If you willfully misrepresent a fact to a legislature, is that not fraud? If so, then why is this isiot prosecutor not being arrested for FRAUD? Especially given she apparently can't even handle her job for long? Lying can be stressful too, Roxanne. 

As an aside, we've never feautured anyone from South Dakota before. 

https://listen.sdpb.org/crime-courts/2022-02-03/bill-disallows-misdemeanor-for-registered-sex-offenders

Roxanne Hammond is a Pennington County prosecutor. She testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier in the session to explain the reasoning behind Senate Bill 77.

“And what we know of sex offenders, what we know of sex crimes, is they are one of the most difficult individuals to rehabilitate,” Hammond said. “And so that’s largely why we have the sex offender registry, to keep tabs essentially on people that are more likely to re-offend.”