Brianna Boston Arrested: “Delay. Deny. Depose. You People Are Next!” Free Speech or True Threat?

This will shed a little light on what I’m talking about.

To be completely fair, I haven’t reviewed the Florida statute that she’s charged under. But basically she calls Blue Cross Blue Shield about some denied claims. Gets angry. Says “Delay, Deny, Depose, you people are next!” And gets charged with terrorism or something like that, with $100,000 bail. Apparently she’s a mom with no history of violence and no criminal history.

My gut reaction? The authorities are in fear mode. They know that there were a lot of people happy about the recent shooting I blogged about, and they think they can contain that stuff by making people afraid of what the law might do to them if they step out of line.

But screw my gut feeling. Let’s be real. Under American law, speech is not protected by the First Amendment if it is a true threat.

So I googled true threat and let the AI do the work for me.

A true threat is a statement that a reasonable person would interpret as a serious expression of intent to commit unlawful violence against another person.

Well, I can kinda see problems with this prosecution already. Does a reasonable person believe “you people are next” from a mom that’s angry about her claim being denied really mean she’s going to commit unlawful violence against them? I see how we could get there. But I also think there are much more “violent” statements that the police would never arrest anyone for.

For example, I was once told by the relative of someone I was dating that if I hurt her, they would kill me. And you know, when he said it, I was actually a little scared. Now, I didn’t run to the police. But I know the vibe of cops on Staten Island, and I have a feeling that if I went to them and recited this, they’d laugh at my face and tell me to go away. I’ll never know for sure.

But I know for a fact that when a doorman called the NYPD during my medical incident in Manhattan years ago, where that doorman obviously felt the situation required police intervention, they just never showed up. So, you know, for us little people, at least anecdotally and from stories I’ve heard over the years, it’s hit or miss on whether the cops are going to help you, shoot you, or no show. But when you make an off comment to an insurance company employee? Boom. Arrested. 100k bail. I know it’s different states. I concede that.

I think the hinge here is intent. Did she intend to communicate a threat of violence? And I guess that depends very much on the definition of intent.

Did she intend to threaten the person on the other end of that phone?

What will the courts ultimately decide? I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer and I could easily see myself arguing it either way.

But my gut, again, is telling me this is a not guilty situation. It’s more a crime of stupidity than any actual terrorism.

Then again, we live in a country where people who post legal annotations online have been called terrorist.

Maybe I’m a terrorist too?

Political Hey Cop Haters, I’m Not One of You. You Should Be One of Me…

I’ll often describe my political writing as leftist, liberal, or progressive. And sometimes those labels carry the implication of people that hate cops, authority, and the system of law by default.

Despite all my ideals, I’m a realist and a strategist. Whenever I can, I teach young leftists, particularly the ones that spout off thinking they’re going to have some revolution, that the system is designed to crush violence, and that their best bet at effecting change is to use their first amendment rights, same way I do. I mean, look at what I was able to do, send corporate fraudsters running faster than the FTC could. Love or hate my politics, I’m always going to try to be a moral man. Educating young people on the fact that they can be successful in the current system through hard work and smart investment is paramount. My arguments are much more from a policy perspective and making that route as palatable as possible for the widest range of incomes and individuals. More people participating in the system means the system will be stronger. Let me not get too far off track here. (PRO TIP: Check out Verizon’s dividends.)

The bottom line is that I believe in the system and, as a general rule, trust the people that uphold it. Or at least am able to understand there’s good and bad everywhere. When I saw two cops had prevented a suicide on the Staten Island Ferry, it really made me think about some of the darker things I’ve written about police in the last few weeks. Was it unfair? Don’t ever let my criticism of systems reflect poorly on the good men, women, and otherwise that serve our counties, cities, states, and countries (I have readers outside the USA). There are many who feel public sector incomes are a waste. But how much value do you place on a human life? Obviously we can’t financially retire everybody that saves a life, there’d be too much incentive to fabricate. But can we please acknowledge that there ARE good people in government?

And those good people are cut down. Rest in peace, Jonathan Diller. I’ve read and watched tragedies like yours before. I will not forget if ever I’m in a position to effect change.

Those that believe government is a waste should step back and realize how ridiculously interconnected everything in this country is. Gutting things on the grounds that the government is too expensive to maintain is insane. Think through the impacts. A kind of inductive reasoning. It’s clear that government creates winners and losers. Plop a courthouse down and all the small businesses nearby get an influx of foot traffic on lunch hour. Just a single example. So why can’t we start writing policy that creates more winners? If we really did defund the police, would they have been there to save this man?

Will we be able to come up with policy that protects our protectors too?

Not if we continue to trust existing political parties, I feel.

Patriots Against Corporatism?

Fight the big money problem, we’ll have politicians unafraid to do what has to be done to meet the needs of the country. A government by its people and for its people.

And maybe we’ll remember that cops are people too.

P.S.

Never let my admiration of the good people I meet be mistaken for an unwillingness to point out systemic failures or the more bizarre things I see.

Never let my willingness to point out systemic failures be mistaken for an unwillingness to strengthen that system.

Should any of those young leftists I talked about come to this page, the first amendment is your best friend. If the government violates a constitutional right, you have systemic recourse. If you violate the law, the government has the right to interfere with your life. Don’t be like the “YouTube auditors” and use your free speech rights to be a jackass. And especially don’t use your rights to abuse cops. But understand that you’re allowed to organize with large groups of people online and off.

A lot of people hold the opinion that organizing online isn’t helpful or doesn’t amount to anything. This is false. We slew a fraud nonprofit with online organization. And on the right-wing end of the spectrum most of the book ban stuff was being done by like 12 people. Once again, a matter of people confidently spouting nonsense in the same way the AIs we created do. The internet has an impact on the world. That’s why world governments use troll farms to influence us.

Relatively small groups of people can have gigantic impacts on any one moment in time, and any one moment in time can change the course of history.

Fate is malleable. Does that scare people?

Am I afraid?

Evil apes duking it out on a giant ball.

Some apes, it seems, are more equal than others.

You see, it’s true. An ape like me can learn to be human too.

Governments in America Seizing Journalist Devices and Records…

Recently the case of Tim Burke came to my attention. A journalist charged with no crime as of writing. His devices were seized by the FBI, harming his ability to do his job.

It’s now come to my attention that the Marion County Record had its office raided too. And it’s been reported that a co-owner died from the stress of the raid. It’s also been reported there was no probable cause affidavit attached.

Search Warrant from the raid on the Marion County Record

I did reach out to the police chief there. Though other journalists from the r/journalism subreddit told me it was a pretty standard police response.

Response from Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody

Generally I don’t bring non-court reporting stuff to this blog, but quite frankly throughout these last many years I’ve learned how underpaid journalists are. There are only maybe 50,000 of them according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the occupation is facing a 9% decline this decade. That pretty much means that 1 in 10 journalists is going to be losing their job this decade as the population continues to grow. There will be more and more news with less and less coverage. If you’ve ever wondered why not a single journalist seems interested in the court reporter shortage fraud, it might be because they’re overworked, underpaid, and willing to lap up whatever crap the companies in our field say. But the situation as a whole gives me a natural bias toward supporting journalists.

Of course, I leave my mind open to the possibility that journalists can use their position to facilitate crime, but given the absence of a probable cause affidavit, it’s looking less likely now. I’ll create an addendum if I learn more.

This is a concern. If everyone from small-town governments to the Feds can just come claim journalists’ stuff for “investigation,” then what good is our constitution, really? “We can violate you as much as we want, and you might win in court later, but in the interim, your mom’s dead and your life’s upended.” There were also journalists targeted during 2020, according to one article.

The satire I wrote on this issue may just come to life someday. To the extent I’m a citizen journalist that writes against powerful people, I may one day see unjust retribution. If this style of censorship comes to your municipality, please stand up against it. If the citizens don’t demand free speech, those who uphold the law have shown they don’t mind trampling it.

And when your news is only coming from government-approved sources, are you really free?

Addendum:

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press issued a letter.

A court later ordered copies of the electronic records destroyed.