A farewell to democracy(small "d").
Does anyone want a peek at what the USA citizens will look like in
just a few short years?
Remember the wicked witch in that classic film, "The Wizard of Oz"?
In her castle her guards marched with blank faces, in unison, dressed
like citizens of the Soviet Union. All faces looked the same. Not a
single suggestion of a brain behind those flat eyes. Stupid is safe.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/17/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Judge Tells Jury: Informing Public May Be Criminal Conspiracy
By Jim Naureckas, FAIR
17 December 17
Reporting the news can be punished as criminal conspiracy, federal Judge
Lynn Leibovitz told jurors at the so-called J20 trial in Washington, DC,
where journalists and protesters alike are being prosecuted for property
damage that they didn't commit during the Donald Trump inauguration.
According to an account by the Real News' Baynard Woods (12/14/17),
Leibovitz's instructions to the jury singled out defendant Alexei Wood, an
independent journalist who was livestreaming the January 20 protests:
"With respect to Mr. Wood, a reasonable juror could find that he was a
principal and an aider and abettor of the riot," Leibovitz said. "Yes, he
was there filming. There is no evidence in the record that that was for a
purpose inconsistent with participation in the riot.".
"He played a role that furthered the purposes both of the conspiracy and of
the riot itself, which was to advertise it, to broadcast it, to live-stream
it such that other could be recruited to join in," she said. "For all these
reasons, a reasonable juror could find Mr. Wood guilty of destruction of
property.".
"And persons hearing his livestream could be recruited, were being kept
abreast and informed of the events," Leibovitz said, all but defining
journalism.
So if as a journalist you inform people about illegal activities, you may
be
found guilty of committing those activities-unless, in a reversal of the
usual burden of proof in criminal cases, you provide evidence that you were
reporting "for a purpose inconsistent with participation."
This is a judicial position that should strike fear into the heart of every
journalist. Yet the Real News' Woods is the only reporter to have covered
Leibovitz's First Amendment-threatening instructions, according to a search
of Google News. The Washington Post (12/13/17), for whom both the protests
and the trial are local stories, was content in this case to let democracy
die in darkness.
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