Man Arrested For Parodying Mayor On Twitter Files Civil Rights Lawsuit 163
mpicpp (3454017) writes with an update from Ars Technica to this story: "The Illinois man who made headlines when he was detained for parodying the town's mayor on Twitter sued the Peoria politician and local police, claiming on Thursday that his civil rights were violated. As part of the April raid, the authorities seized the mobile phone and laptop of the 29-year-old prankster, Jonathan Daniel, and reviewed their contents, which he says was in violation of his First Amendment rights. Daniel, the operator of the @peoriamayor handle shut down by Twitter after the city threatened a lawsuit, was initially accused of impersonating a public official in violation of Illinois law. The authorities never lodged charges, however."
Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Insightful)
Is there a crowdfunding site where I can donate to his legal fund? I can't stand Illinois, and any time somebody scores a victory against the government there it brightens my day.
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Funny)
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you could mock the mayor on twitter. sounds like he deserves it.
The mayor already resigned. He's still being sued, but he is no longer in office.
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Informative)
> The mayor already resigned. He's still being sued, but he is no longer in office.
That is false. Jim Ardis is still in office. [peoriagov.org]
It is the Chief of Police who resigned [centralillinoisproud.com] to take a job as head of north american security for Caterpillar where he is surely making even more money.
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I seriously have to wonder about Cat's decision there. If it weren't for the high likelihood of the job being given to Settingsgaard as a reward for "looking the other way" when some Cat Exec's kid (or the Exec themself) got caught with hookers and blow at some downtown hotel, I'd think they were insane.
No well-heeled global corporation would go hiring for a "security professional" at the Peoria Police Department, primarily because "encouraging lazy acts of random thuggery" and "complete failure to do your
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I'm at 1060 w addison come and get me
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Insightful)
In this case, it's an Illinois Republican. Elected with 100% of the vote, yet apparently has somewhat thin skin.
And he's a numb skull if he thinks arrest is going to fly with higher courts. It's perfectly legal to parody a public official in the US.
In fact, I'm pretty sure most of our elected officials are parodies of public servants.
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Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think he cares, the arrest alone is a punishment and a demonstration of "might makes right" Soviet style.
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Tried to source your statement, did you pull it out of your ass?
Google searches show this guy is an independent, does not being a democrat sycophant mean republican to you?
For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P... [wikipedia.org]
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Your google-fu is very weak.
The very first line of his Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Not one line, the first line.
You could have looked it up in less time than it took to write your stupid post.
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So would I.
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Interesting)
Same here, born in Pekin, moved to Peoria then realized the whole state sucks and left for Troy Michigan.
After living here and then revisiting IL for Christmas every few years I realize how bad it really is there. I'll only be in town for like 2 or 3 days yet I'll be harassed by cops, have them randomly floor their cars screeching their tires while riding next to me then slam on the breaks and then speed back up next to me and stare at me.
For no reason besides that I drive an Evo which is a very fast Turbo AWD rally car. I'll just be cruising and instantly get all sorts of harassment. North Pekin and Marquette Heights are the worst. Had a car fly up on me when a car was next to me.... Car behind has high beams on, I figured I'd speed up a tad to make room to move right so he could get past, soon as I did I get busted for my first speeding ticket at 18yrs old. He refuses to budge even after commenting that I "got away from them for 2 years so I must have it coming". Mind you this was my first ticket ever back when I drove a 95 Ford Escort and I have zero police records or interactions. All I did was politely move forward with my signal on to let an apparently faster car with high beams on by.....
Every year I visit I tell my Fiance that something will happen somewhat mockingly.... then before our very eyes Illinois Police then start driving like thugs within our view. Running red lights and screeching their tires. Then they get behind some random car and then tailgate him about 1 inch from his bumper. After a few intersections they stop at 7-11 and spend 25 minutes there chatting it up. I actually stopped to watch them, then phoned in their car number to the sarge and explained to him what was going on. I've learned to fight fire with fire.
Same night one comes up behind me in a drive thru which I had already been waiting at for nearly 15 minutes. I saw him coming down the road and suddenly he noticed my sports car. He whips 3 lanes to quickly turn at the intersection and into the restaurant parking lot to get behind me. Then he doesn't order anything, flies out right behind me as I'm done with my order and throws his lights on. I've literally moved like 10ft and haven't even had a chance to get up to 25mph. Then he rolls next to me, flips me off, then burns his tires back towards downtown and shuts his lights off....
I swear it's like a freaking police state. literally. figuratively. essentially....... Then I go back to Michigan where everyone is friendly, non-judgemental, and most importantly I'm not guilty of anything by driving my Red Mustang Cobra or Lancer Evolution until I actually break a law. In IL I'm profiled and stopped before I can even break a law. Literally pulling me over out of a drive thru that I sat at for a long time. How could I possibly have deserved that?
I've still yet to ever be arrested or actually taken to jail. Yet I've had like 10-15 police encounters in the years since living there and almost a guaranteed one every time I visit for 2 to 3 days ONCE A YEAR. Like clockwork they never fail to perform exactly as I mention.
It's basically Jocks with guns at this point. Jackbooted thuggery,
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I'll only be in town for like 2 or 3 days yet I'll be harassed by cops, have them randomly floor their cars screeching their tires while riding next to me then slam on the breaks and then speed back up next to me and stare at me.
For no reason besides that I drive an Evo which is a very fast Turbo AWD rally car. I'll just be cruising and instantly get all sorts of harassment. ... I saw him coming down the road and suddenly he noticed my sports car. ...
You're driving a Mitsubishi compact sedan or hatchback. Unless you've tarted it up with bric-a-brac (spoilers, coffee can exhaust, stickers, etc) or you're a leadfoot the police think you're driving a Mitsubishi compact sedan or hatchback.
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Evos come tarted up with bric-a-brac from the factory.
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You're driving a Mitsubishi compact sedan or hatchback. Unless you've tarted it up with bric-a-brac (spoilers, coffee can exhaust, stickers, etc) or you're a leadfoot the police think you're driving a Mitsubishi compact sedan or hatchback.
this is a factory Evo: http://images.pistonheads.com/... [pistonheads.com]
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No a lancer evolution comes from the factory with 300 horsepower and 300ft/lbs of torque from as low as 3000rpm. That's V8 grunt. Except the engine a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder with a massive turbocharger breathing 23psi. In Europe the same car is available with up to 440 horsepower and 415ft/lbs of torque from the same 2.0 liter engine. It's called the FQ440. They also sell 400hp/360hp/330hp/ and in America only the 300hp version.
All of which is housed in the body of a Lancer, which is what the police see unless you're a leadfoot.
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Maybe if you cover up all the EVO badging and take off the stock body work that differentiates it. It may not be that different but I can spot them (or BMW M series cars, or Audi R series cars) without much trouble. I'm sure a cop who spends all day driving around and pulling over cars would also get pretty good at it.
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Or it could be old-fashioned racism. There are plenty of places in the US still where, if you're driving a Japanese car, the locals will see you as some kind of commie mutant traitor.
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You know the score, pal. If your not cops your little people.
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That petition is a bunch of socialist BS. The real victims have already been compensated - AI is just making a shameless cash grab.
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think you'll need to fund it. If you haven't read the PDF of his complaint, the listing of facts is surprisingly strong.
Seriously, it is short, just read the few pages in the middle. Complaint in PDF [arstechnica.net].
The claims include that there are written documents (probably email) between the mayor and the chief of police, where the mayor tells the cops to do something, the police chief says there is no legal basis, and the mayor tells him to do it anyway. Then the claims include that the cops made written statements (again, probably email) that show officers were ordered to arrest him, they balked saying there was no legal basis, but the police chief ordered it anyway. If he has those emails, that is rather damning.
The list of claims continues by citing court records, where the police filed an empty form citing no probable cause even though the law requires proper documentation. Granting a warrant based on a blank probable cause statement is also pretty damning for those involved.
If he actually has those papers, city officials and court officials declaring that they knew it was illegal but did it anyway, that is going to be hard for the individuals to deny.
A few of them are likely just CYA papers, but if accurate, the exchange boils down to this: "Do this illegal thing." "Sorry boss, it is against the law." "I know it is against the law, do it anyway." If the allegations can be substantiated (and since the suit says those are all public official records, it should be easy to validate) then this case will be a quick settlement.
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Interesting)
Based upon that, the fellow is tackling the problem all wrong. First up should be a call to Federal Authorities to file a complaint for infringement of his civil rights and let them do all the heavy lifting. Once the Feds have successfully prosecuted the case, his civil suit then becomes a simple manner of negotiating out the value of the claim.
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Insightful)
At this stage he probably doesn't have much confidence in law enforcement.
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At this stage, who does?
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More: (Score:2, Informative)
The account had fewer than 50 followers, yet now "there are more than a dozen copycat accounts."
Re: Shut up and take my money (Score:1)
For a country keen on its seperation of powers, I'm constantly surprised there aren't independent police and prosecuting authorities. Appointments at the top are one thing, but direct orders from politician to police should be third world stuff.
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I think this part is cool.
"The claims include that there are written documents (probably email) between the mayor and the chief of police, where the mayor tells the cops to do something, the police chief says there is no legal basis, and the mayor tells him to do it anyway. Then the claims include that the cops made written statements (again, probably email) that show officers were ordered to arrest him, they balked saying there was no legal basis, but the police chief ordered it anyway. If he has those ema
Re:Shut up and take my money (Score:5, Interesting)
His criminal charges were dropped, the only legal stuff he has left is his lawsuit against the city which the ACLU is taking care of. I would suggest becoming a member of the ACLU and donating to them so that they can continue standing up for everyone's civil rights.
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I wouldn't. Not that they don't do good stuff, and they certainly trumpet it on their front-page. But it isn't until you're a member that you start getting the full story. It seems the overwhelming majority of their cases are dedicated to suing every municipality that doesn't immediately take down any even vaguely religious symbol that someone else put on anything that eve
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Re: Shut up and take my money (Score:1)
A plague of lawyers seems appropriate (Score:5, Funny)
punishment for officials who abuse their power. Sort of a use your enemies to fight each other strategy
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Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery (Score:4, Insightful)
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I don't think it is open and shut... perhaps for illegal search but they detained him legally, I believe, and released him without charge. The question is whether they had grounds to detain him. He can claim parody but there's not much indication of that. He used actual pictures of the man, made slanderous statements, and may have made claims to be the real mayor (not sure on this as I've not read the tweets). Very little of it seems parody-like from what I've read. I'll bet there will be a counter sui
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the question is not if they had grounds to detain him. You can FIND grounds to detain anyone. Searching his phone without a warrant though is (should be) serious trouble. The cops should have known better. And if you'd seen the tweets, it was pretty obvious this was NOT the mayor.... I think it has good standing as Parody, but IANAL.
Re:Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery (Score:4, Informative)
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they detained him legally, I believe, and released him without charge
False arrests need to be treated as felonies and the police responsible need to be placed in prison like other felons.
With all of the thousands and thousands of laws which were designed to allow police and 'officials' to create charges out of thin air, none of them applied to this person. This person did absolutely nothing wrong in the eyes of the law, yet an armed paramilitary wing of the city government came to kick his door in. The problem with this paramilitary wing coming to kidnap you is that they h
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This is open-and-shut case, and the only question is what the settlement and payout to Jonathan Daniel would be.
Normal people aren't allowed to pay their way out of jail for their crimes.
Why are there settlements instead of sentences when a business or any other type of organization is involved?
Re:Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery (Score:5, Insightful)
Right - they never lodged charges, but they stole his stuff, and read his private papers anyway. That's sorta the whole point.
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The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Did they..................have a warrant? That's the due process, described in the Constitution. You know what the Constitution is, right?
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Shush. You're interrupting the Two Minutes Hate.
Re: Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery (Score:1)
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To be a "troll" would mean that I make comments to bait others into angry responses. With very few exceptions, I don't do that. I do, however, hold opinions different than your own.
I feel that the stability and predictability of following established procedures are more important than the immediate gratification of making exceptions for causes that were lucky enough to become the blessed champions of the Internet echo chamber. Sure, the so-called "establishment" makes mistakes, and injustices happen. The "
Re:Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery (Score:5, Informative)
The fourth (warrant) doesn't really matter (and yes they did have one). This guy is claiming 1st amendment US constitution and article 1 section 4 of the Illinois state constitution here.
He is saying he has a right to mock politicians. Even if they filed charges, his first amendment claims simply becomes a defense but it appears that the only charges they could file is if the fake account attempted to impersonate a government official in their official capacity. The problem here is that the comments or tweets were about smoking crack, eating pussy, and crap like that in response to the mayor's actions. For the law in question to apply, he would have had to say something like the mayors office is supporting the Gay KKK rally or something of the sorts that would make the public believe government was taking an action or position on something. But it appears to have all been personal degradation and character assassinations (which may open a civil suit but still would have no net effect on the first amendment claims).
Re:Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery (Score:5, Informative)
But it appears to have all been personal degradation and character assassinations (which may open a civil suit but still would have no net effect on the first amendment claims).
Libel laws have much tighter requirements in the case of a "public figure", where actual financial harm has to be proven. The (real) mayor can't simply claim "his false statements made me embarrassed, so I want $10,000 in pain and suffering", he has to show real losses, as in "when he claimed I smoked crack, my boss filled out an HR form that said they had to fire me because they couldn't have a drug user driving forklifts, so I was fired, and lost $10,000 in wages."
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It's actually the opposite. Libel and defamation laws offer public figures virtually NO protection. Otherwise any politician who lost a race could sue the winner for defaming him through those nasty attack ads, etc etc.
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He's not arguing they didn't have a warrant, he's arguing they didn't have the "probable cause" you bolded and they performed the "unreasonable searches and seizures" you didn't bold: in other words, that they didn't follow due process to obtain the warrant they used against him.
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Hopefully the Judge that signed the warrant gets in some shit as well.
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blocking AC's is censorship.
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Judges cannot be held liable no matter how badly they disregard the law. The city officials might be on the hook for damages, maybe, if they *knowingly* violated this man's rights (but there would need to be supporting evidence, such as emails, otherwise it's an ordinary lawsuit challenging a government practice rather than going after officials for damages)
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They had a warrant, but it was granted with no probable cause. Due process includes all of the above (affiant giving probable cause, place and things to be searched, warrant granted). If you have a warrant without probable cause, it's still a violation of the 4th Amendment.
dom
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Re:Is this still the Land of the Free ? (Score:5, Funny)
Didn't you know? It's FREE*
*With purchase of power, results may vary. By reading this you agree to give up all your legal rights.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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What has happened to FREEDOM and LIBERTY ?
Have they been stripped off by the Obama Administration, along with the Privacy of the citizens ?
Bush happened. Obama promised change. He lied.
Re:Is this still the Land of the Free ? (Score:5, Insightful)
I sadly can't think of a better alternative, though.
For a start, how about calling "campaign contributions" what they really are, "bribes," and make it illegal.
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Your suggestion will only result in a cycle of election of candidates who already have ever-increasingly large sums of money to spend on their campaigns. Are you sure you've thought this through?
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I suggest you take a much closer look at how power is consolidated in politics, and at how many of your elected officials greatly benefit from "career public service" for the duration of their lives (and their children's lives, in many cases). These points aside, you also appear to have a limited understanding of the fundamental desire for power over others; this is a characteristic that is frequently presented as a desire to "help" fellow citizens, when the end results are all too often anything but helpfu
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Have they been stripped off by the Obama Administration,
No. Rather they've been stripped off by the Obama Administration, the Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration, etc etc.
And we all let it happen. Sometimes we switch it up and vote for "the other guys", only to remember a few years later why that was a bad idea too.
We're not smart enough to vote for anyone but the main two, so on it goes.
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Still blame him for the DMCA?
Yes, a law that allows censorship without so much as a court hearing, and makes it illegal to break most DRM.
Before the DMCA, pirate sites were shut down and stayed down. After the DMCA, pirate sites follow the takedown process and still stay up.
Spurious correlations...
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You haven't had real freedom for a LONG time. Blaming Obama just makes you look like an idiot.
Ask yourself how many wars we've been in since WW2. How many of them were fought for the freedom of Americans, and how many of them were fought for economic interests?
Ask yourself if what the CIA did in South America from the 50's was about freedom, or economic interests?
America hasn't been a bastion of Freedom for a long time. Don't blame Obama. Don't even blame Bush. We have less than 50% voter turnout. It'
Ever seen a parody ? (Score:1)
Let's hope its a section 1983 suit (Score:5, Interesting)
Section 1983 lawsuits for deprivation of civil rights under color of authority allows piercing the immunity of public officers and going after their personal assets. In this case, the mayor, and any of the police that participated. Their. Personal. Assets. Not the taxpayers.
http://legal-dictionary.thefre... [thefreedictionary.com]
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section 242: send them to jail (Score:4, Interesting)
Also section 242 makes it a crime to violate someone's civil rights under color of law, with sentences ranging from one year to the death penalty.
During settlement negotiations, his lawyer could mention that she has an appointment with federal prosecutors to discuss the case. The mayor, judge, and chief of police may sell their houses and cars to pay a settlement which makes the Curtin happy enough that he doesn't feel the need to press for a federal criminal case.
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What warrants the death penalty? Using the color of the law to get someone wrongly executed?
causing death, kidnapping, rape, attempted murder (Score:2)
Here is the statute. Notice the race stuff is surrounded by the word "or" twice. That has been held to mean it applies if your rights or violated OR if you are punished on the basis of race.
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punish
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I would guess that if the victim dies while being harassed ("stop resisting! stop resisting!" and dies [policestateusa.com]).
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The Civil Rights Act of 1871 was signed by President Grant to deal with the Klan and others in the aftermath of the civil war. So, yeah, if the sheriff is at the front of the pack wearing a white sheet when somebody gets hanged for trying to vote, that might get the death penalty for the sheriff.
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That was exactly my thought when I saw the paragraphs seven through 12 containing : "He is sued in his individual capacity," with section 12 using a plural instead of singular for the two defendants. Section 13 likely has a bearing on the "individual capacity" in case the judge finds they were not acting under "color of right" although I am not schooled in Illinois law. I do know that the state has incarcerated a sizable percentage of recent governors, but I do not know the statistics on former mayors.
Left something out (Score:4, Insightful)
Why does the summary not mention the name of the mayor? It's pertinent, no?
Re:Left something out (Score:4, Funny)
the original poster didn't want to be arrested.
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So the name of the parodist is pertinent but not the name of the more notable person who got parodied?
I don't understand journalism, apparently.
May be Even Worse than First Reports (Score:1)
It is starting to look like this wasn't just a case of going after j random twitter user.
Instead, it was probably an attempt to discredit the local newspaper. [vice.com]
I bet he had a bug up his ass about the newspaper for some story they wrote in the past and so he convinced himself that the anonymous twitter user was really this reporter and that if he could expose the guy he would get even with the paper. That would totally explain why he had such an over-the-top reaction to the parody, he was already primed and l
The right to complain (Score:1)
One of the surest signs of democracy is the open right to complain. Specifically about either elected public officials, public policy, or any business or person that has failed to live up to promises or contracts. The antithesis of this: the surest sign for a non-democracy is the objection to complaints directed towards either elected public officials, public policy, or any business or person that has failed to live up to promises or contracts. Clearly with the arrest of this man for bringing public scor
Will there be an act 2? (Score:2)
Sounds like a stupid strategical mistake (Score:1)
Arresting a man for parodying a local politician on Twitter sounds incredibly stupid. I'm glad the politician in question did the right thing and resigned after that, and if I were the blogger in question, I'd stop being vindictive and make peace with the politician. Hopefully, he can later help pass a law protecting people similar to him from future abuse while remaining on good terms with his target of criticism.
As a citizen and resident of Israel, I should note that something like that seems highly un
Please make youtube videos (Score:2)
I think people know what needs to be done.