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Posts Tagged ‘RIP Jim Larkin’

Far too often, journalists reserve their free speech defenses for people they actually like.  –  Matt Welch

To Molest and Rape

Seems like there’s more to this than we’re being told:

A [typical and representative] Detroit [cop] is on house arrest and facing life in prison after [rap]ing his…wife last week…David Apperson…was arraigned…on a charge of first-degree sexual conduct, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison…

You Were Warned (#1208)

Imbecilic judges side with censors & ambulance-chasers against the law and the Constitution:

…the 7th Circuit has decided…that Salesforce can be held liable for [supposed] sex trafficking on Backpage, even if Salesforce had nothing to do with the underlying crime, or any knowledge of it…because Salesforce magically should have known that Backpage was engaged in sex trafficking [even though it wasn’t], overturning a lower court ruling that had dismissed the case…this directly contradicts both the 9th Circuit and the DC Circuit, and appears to also go against what the Supreme Court ruled in Taamneh…The ruling, by Judge David Hamilton…and signed on to by Judge Doris Pryor…is…really bad?  Divorced from reality?  Driven by nonsense and moral panic?  All of those…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1305)

Cops really don’t care how many false positives these systems shit out:

Porsha Woodruff was getting her two daughters ready for school when six [cops] showed up…to…arrest [her] for robbery and carjacking…She was eight months pregnant…[but] Detroit [cops]…held [her] for 11 hours, [interrogated her and stole]…her iPhone…After [finally]…bond[ing out]…she went straight to the hospital where she was diagnosed with dehydration and given two bags of intravenous fluids.  A month later, two weeks before giving birth to her son, the Wayne County prosecutor dismissed the case against her…Woodruff is the sixth person to report being falsely accused of a crime as a result of facial recognition…[mis]used by police…all six…have been Black; Ms. Woodruff is the first woman…It is the third case involving the Detroit Police…Woodruff [has] filed a lawsuit for wrongful arrest…

Vulture Watching (#1343)

In which Texas tacitly admits it wants women with problem pregnancies to die:

A Texas judge issued a temporary injunction against the state’s abortion ban…[but] this injunction was itself blocked just hours later by an appeal from the state attorney general, leaving a final decision on the case to the Texas Supreme Court…Judge Jessica Mangrum issued an injunction against the law as part of a ruling in Zurawski v. State of Texas, a lawsuit brought by five…women who…were denied medically necessary abortions due to unclear language in the state’s abortion ban…”With the threat of losing their medical licenses, fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and up to 99 years in prison lingering over their heads,” the suit states, “it is no wonder that doctors and hospitals are turning patients away—even patients in medical emergencies”…

R.I.P. Jim Larkin

The reality of veteran newspaperman Jim Larkin’s untimely demise on July 31 at age 74 has begun to sink in, with remembrances, articles, and commentary appearing on social media and legacy media alike…

Creepy Coppers (#1362)

Cop is a cop is a cop is a cop:

A[n] adjunct professor at Utah Valley University [who was also a typical and representative cop] from California was arrested on multiple child pornography charges…Daniel Waddington…tried to record a video of a 13-year-old girl showering through a crack in the door…[he] told the girl he was just recording the audio of her singing, [but] the person who reported [him]…later found…more than 300 images and videos of child pornography…on [his laptop and phone, plus]…a photo shot up a woman’s dress or skirt in…a classroom at [the] university…

To Molest and Rape (#1363)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A Georgia [cop] was recently arrested…[for] molest[ing] a teenage girl…Patrick Benjamin Ventura…[fell under] suspicio[n because he was apparently molesting her while he was supposed to be working]…

And certainly not actual children:

A…Baton Rouge [cop named]…Demichael Robertson…was…[arrested for molest]ing a child in his care who was under the age of 12…

 

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If the government decides to point its finger at you, there’s really no question that they’re going to try to ruin you.  –  Jim Larkin

I never met Jim Larkin, but the unexpected news of his suicide brought tears to my eyes last Tuesday; those tears were not only for him, but for all of us living under the government that murdered him as surely as if he had been executed.

God help us.

His death was reported in many places online; of course the corporate media reports ranged from typical lie-parroting and bootlicking to outright grave-dancing, and the ghouls at the federal agency which hounded him to death had the jaw-dropping gall to “send condolences to his family and friends, and wish them sustenance and strength in a difficult time“.  As is not unusual these days, one needed to turn to the alternative press to read a truthful account, such as this one from Elizabeth Nolan Brown of Reason:

Lacey [and] Larkin built the Phoenix New Times from an anti-war student newspaper into a broad—and still-thriving—record of Maricopa County culture and politics…They [then] expanded their alt-weekly empire nationwide, eventually running 17 free papers, including the Miami New Times, Westword, the Dallas Observer, and The Village Voice…Collectively, the papers and their staffers were nominated for more than 1,400 national writing awards, won one Pulitzer, and were finalists for the Pulitzer six other times…Among the court battles they fought—and won—was one over infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio demanding data on New Times readers; Arpaio was eventually forced to pay Larkin and Lacey a $3.75 million settlement, which they used to establish the immigrant rights organization Frontera Fund.  Another…was waged over a 1971 New Times ad for a group that helped women in Arizona (where abortion was illegal) travel to California for the procedure.  The case eventually helped invalidate Arizona’s entire abortion ban…

And this one from Mike Masnick of Techdirt:

…contrary to the public narrative you may have heard, Backpage worked closely with federal law enforcement to actually stop sex trafficking…But they refused to do the same for consensual sex work and that is why the feds eventually came down on them like a ton of bricks, all while telling the media and politicians that it was for sex trafficking.   But that was all bullshit.  And the bullshit extended to the process of the federal case against Larkin and Lacey, including when the defendants discovered an internal DOJ memo stating flat out that Backpage was helpful, rather than harmful, in the fight against sex trafficking.  The DOJ successfully got the court to say that they couldn’t use that in their defense

His family made this statement in the paper he co-founded:

…Jim fought for voices and issues ignored by society.  He fought against police brutality, he fought for immigrant rights and, above all, he fought tooth and nail for free speech.  He wasn’t afraid to pick up the unmovable boulders of our society and shine light on the corruption beneath.  While many publishers abandoned journalistic principles in the face of pressure and harassment, Jim stood fast and fought for the truth…

But it’s Michael Lacey’s comments which are, unsurprisibly, the most poignant:

I never saw my friend do a dishonest or dishonorable thing in his entire life.

I had a four-decade friendship with a wonderful man.

Now I have only his memory.

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