Buzzfeed: How Conservative, Tough-On-Crime Utah Reined In Police Militarization

We'll be sitting on the edge of our seat, waiting to find out how the ACLU and Libertas civil liberties coalition will roll up their sleeves for the 2015 Utah legislative session.

A Marriage Made in Heaven?

In the interest of  kicking off another Monday discussion, we'll highlight an uplifting story from Evan McMorris-Santoronternet of the internet news media company, Buzzfeed.  Here's the lede:

WASHINGTON — Here’s how you convince a legislature full of law-and-order Republicans to back efforts to rein in militarized police tactics:

Take a law passed by the Democratic legislature of Maryland, get the local chapter of the ACLU (and a group of libertarians) to rework it slightly, put it on the floor, watch it pass basically unanimously.

That was the unlikely recipe used — successfully — by activists in Utah [in 2014].

Inasmuch as the article's a mite fuzzy about exactly what the aforementioned ACLU and Libertarian "players" (namely the ACLU Utah Chapter and the Libertas Institute of Utah) accomplished through their joint collaboration during the 2014 Utah legislative session, we'll incorporate a brief and helpful summary, via the Salt Lake Tribune:

• Op-ed: Utah legislators stood up for Fourth Amendment

Moving back to the Buzzfeed story, Mr.McMorris-Santoronternet provides more tantalizing information, concerning ACLU Utah's and Libertas' plans for the 2015 legislative session, as they pick up where they successfully left off in March of this year:

And after the startling images of police deployments in Ferguson, Missouri, the same group of Utah activists is pretty confident it’ll be able to achieve even greater success in the next legislative session. This time, the activists are setting out to make Utah one of the first states to voluntarily limit the way its local police forces can accept and use surplus military equipment distributed by the Department of Defense. 

“It’s definitely another catalytic event,” said Connor Boyack, president of Libertas, the libertarian group that lead the effort with the Utah ACLU. “Some lawmakers who have been shocked at the images coming out of Ferguson … [and] have expressed skepticism that those scenes could ever be on the streets of Utah are nevertheless interested in looking at this because of the images coming out of Ferguson.”

“It just feels very timely for us,” agreed Marina Lowe, legislative and policy counsel for the ACLU in Utah. “Having a real national incident helped make this very real for everyone.”

Here'as the full Buzzfeed story, for those who'd like to read up:

• How Conservative, Tough-On-Crime Utah Reined In Police Militarization

Our take?  We'll be sitting on the edge of our seat, waiting to find out how the ACLU and Libertas civil liberties coalition, (a marriage made in heaven,we think) will roll up their their sleeves for the 2015 Utah legislative session.

So what say our Gentle Readers about all this, eh?

Breaking: LGBT Utahns Arrested After Protesting Senate’s Block of Non-Discrimination Law - Updated

Fortunately, at least at this juncture, there are still no reports of any LGBT folks or their supporters actually getting their skulls busted... at least not yet

Peaceful protesters...
about to be Frog-marched

Eye-opening action this afternoon is being reported on Utah's Capitol Hill, springing from the block-headed inaction of our bigoted Utah Republican majority, who've vowed that there will be "no bills where human rights will be even mentioned," due to the still pending Kitchen V. Herbert federal appeal matter, inasmuch as Utah GOP leadership (so-called) fears that any one of a hundred or so block-headed Utah Republican legislators might display "discrimatory 'animus," which might jeopardise Utah's already pathetic federal appeals case.

Here's the current skinny, peeps, concerning a Utah Capital Hill civil rights "standoff" which is still now developing, even as your blogmeister types this up.  Yes. peaceful Utah protesters are even now being arrested, folks:

• LGBT Utahns Arrested After Protesting Senate’s Block of Non-Discrimination Law 

Feels reminiscent of the situation in the southern USA during the 'sixties," dunnit; whilst brave black (and white) folks were manning the barricades and demonstrating for equal rights? Fortunately, at least at this juncture, there are still no reports of any Utah LGBT folks or their supporters actually getting their skulls busted... at least not yet, that is.

Kudos to all Utahns, LGBT or not,  who are willing to go to the streets to stand for equality.

Needless to say, we'll be sitting on the edge of our seat and will continue reporting, as this situation continues to develop.

Update 2/10/14 6:26 p.m.:  Check out this awesome and inspirational video:



Whatever you do, don't let the cat get your tongues!

Update 2/10/14 8:25 p.m.:  Good news!  Looks like 13 enemies of the Utah GOP Fascist State have already (and miraculously) made bail:

Free at Last!!!

Update 2/1014 9:41 p.m.: Okay folks. Better late than never, the Salt Lake Tribune's Lindsay Whitehurst is now all over this story:

• Utah troopers arrest LGBT protesters at Capitol sit-in

Just keep voting Republican, folks, as the State of Utah increasingly emulates the old Soviet Union! 

And don't "clam up," O Gentle Ones.

Standard-Examiner: Mug Shot Website Suing Salt Lake Sheriff Over Access to Booking Photos

Yes; this blooming web-based mug-shot blackmail industry has opened up a whole can of legal worms, one which we'll be closely watching as these cases progress, of course

Intriguing development on the Utah civil liberties front, as the Standard-Examiner reports this morning that "The owner of a website that publishes inmate booking photos is suing a Utah sheriff for denying a public records request for more than a thousand mug shots." And the first interesting twist to this story? Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder takes the "novel" position that the denial of such bulk request for these admittedly "public records" is legally justifiable because the Sheriff's Office "holds copyright control over the images," while the plaintiff, Kyle Prall, who runs the website bustedmugshots.com, contends that "if the court doesn’t overturn the Sheriff’s 'wrong and selective denial,' it would set a 'dangerous precedent' beyond mug shots into broader rights of public access to government records," thereby denying that the Salt Lake Sheriff's office enjoys any such "copyright" protection: 

• Mug shot website suing Salt Lake sheriff over access to booking photos 

Mr. Prall may have a troubling but arguable point, wethinks.  Imagine, for instance, the further difficulties Ogden City government watchdog Dan Schroeder might have suffered in his ultimately successful effort to dislodge Ogden City water utility and budget records, in the event that the Ogden City administration had successfully asserted "precedented" copyright protection for those long-sought public documents. Having said that, we do support any reasonable efforts to shut down this blood-sucking web-based industry, while ever keeping in mind the old legal axiom: "hard cases make bad law."
 
The bustedmugshots.com website is of course one of dozens of similar websites which obtain "publicly available" jail booking photos "for free," plaster them up on the web, and then "extort" fees, sometimes in the "hundreds of dollars," for removal of these "embarrasing" images from public view.

For some recent historical background on the development of this story, here's an earlier write-up from the Salt Lake Tribune: 

• Salt Lake County Council supports sheriff not releasing mug shots 

And here's another recent article more broadly examining the thorny Utah legal dilemma:

• Open government a casualty in Utah’s war on mug-shot websites

This last article of course also cites the 2013 legislature's recently enacted  HB 408, which provides "prohibits county sheriffs from providing a copy of a booking photograph to a person if the photograph will be placed in a publication or posted on a website that requires a  payment in order to remove the photograph; requires a person requesting a copy of a booking photograph to sign a statement that the photograph will not be placed in a publication or on a website that requires payment in order to remove the photograph; and provides a criminal penalty for a false statement." So in a nutshell, the enactment of this Utah statutory provision would provide further "legal ammo" for Sheriff Winder's booking photo request denial, beyond the original assertion of "copyright protection."  
 
And further complicating the murky issues surrounding this pending Utah matter may be another lawsuit in Ohio, involving circumstances where government authorities have attempted to deny similar image production requests on so-called First Amendment "right of publicity" grounds:

• A court case against those skeezy mugshot websites raises First Amendment issues
• Shamed by Mugshot Sites, Arrestees Try Novel Lawsuit
• Are Rights of Publicity the Fatal Flaw of the Mugshot Racket?

It would come as no surprise to us to see this issue also arise in the pending Utah matter, of course.

Yesiree, folks.  This blooming web-based mug-shot blackmail  industry has opened up a major legal can of worms, one which we'll be closely watching as these cases progress. "That" you can take straight to the bank, as you probably already know.

With that, what say our gentle readers about all this? 

Daily Show with Jon Stewart: "Weak Constitution" Episode

Once the shredding of the Constitution gets started it's difficult to stop

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin
Historical Review of Pennsylvania
1759

And that's why how we andle Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is so important; for the strength of our system lies in how durable it is, even for our most heinous citizens.

John Stewart
The Daily Show/Weak Constitution
April 26, 2013

In yesterday's Daily Show "Weak Constitution" segment, Comedy Central funny-man Jon Stewart observes how, in the wake of the Boston bombing,  some "freedom loving" right wing pundits would "jettison Constitutional amendments like Han Solo dumping his cargo at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser":

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Weak Constitution
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Indecision Political Humor The Daily Show on Facebook

Food for thought, no?

Huffington Post: Indefinite Detention Ruling Backed By Civil Liberties Groups

Hopefully President Obama will instruct the federal Justice Department to accept this ruling and STAND DOWN!

Dang good news on the American civil liberties front, as HuffPo announces that a NY Federal District Court Judge has ruled to strike down the "indefinite detention" provision of the federal National Defense Authorization Act of 2012!

• Indefinite Detention Ruling Backed By Civil Liberties Groups

"Today is a day to celebrate," one of the plaintiffs, Tangerine Bolen, said in a statement after the ruling. "After eleven years of witnessing a radical departure from democracy and fundamental civil liberties and towards increased authoritarianism -- all under the guise of the war on terror -- we have a ray of hope and reason to keep the faith."

Next stop... the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals?

Hopefully President Obama will instruct the federal Justice Department to accept this pro-individual liberty ruling and simply STAND DOWN!

Post Mortem on Yesterday's Keep The Peace Rally

No apparent word yet on whether rally organizers will be labeling the rally a success

The Northern Utah news media are all over yesterday's Keep the Peace rally, which began at the Ogden Municipal Building and wound up at the Weber County Center:

•  Father of injured cop shows up at Matthew Stewart protest rally
•  Family, friends of accused killer Matthew Stewart rally
•  Protest in Ogden in support of accused police shooter

Although protester attendance was  surprisingly meager, Northern Utah journalists certainly showed up in force.

There's no apparent word yet on whether rally organizers will be labeling the rally a success.

Standard-Examiner: Weber Commission Chambers Designated as Gathering Site for Rally in Support of Matthew David Stewart - Updated

Weber County officials take steps to guard against the possibility of finding "unsightly" protesters under foot

 “It’s good to be living in the United States of America.”

Commissioner Jan Zogmaister - Standard-Examiner
Weber County provides space for protesters
May 16, 2012

The Standard-Examiner reports this morning on an interesting peripheral development in connection with the Matthew Stewart shootout case. As several other news media sources have previously reported, supporters of defendant Matthew Stewart are planning a May 18 rally for Stewart, which will begin at noon on the front steps of the Ogden Municipal Building, 2549 Washington Blvd.  "After the speakers’ remarks, the group will cross Washington Boulevard and head to the Weber Center, where another presentation will take place."

Here's the latest development: In the interest of  not jamming up the small reception area within County Attorney Dee Smith's office, our Weber County Commissioners have "graciously" provided access to the County Commission Chambers as a "designated protest area," which will remain open  to protesters from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Check out the free online Jesus Lopez story:

• Weber commission chambers designated as gathering site for rally in support of Matthew David Stewart

Read S-E reporter Lopez's expanded Digital Edition story here:

• Weber County provides space for protesters

Putting it all in context, we'll note that these uniquely "American-style," specially designated "free speech zones", (which are sometimes "lovingly" referred to by civil libertarians as "free speech cages,") are the latest rage amongst government bureaucrats to guard against the possibility of finding "unsightly" protesters under foot.

Several Sodden Queries for our Gentle WCF readership:

• Will the shuffling off of Friday's protesters to a Weber County Center "back room" amount to an abridgment of these folks' First Amendment rights?
• If the second leg of Friday's rally is held in the County Commission Chambers, will County Attorney Dee Smith or anyone else in the Weber County government "leadership loop" even notice that a public demonstration is going on?
• Will these arrangements ultimately prove acceptable to the protesters themselves?
• Will Friday's protesters be content to remain confined within the "designated protest area"?
• According to this morning's story "Protesters will be allowed to remain in the area as long as they do not endanger anyone’s health, safety or welfare," raising the additional question: Do Weber County authorities expect acts of civil disobedience?
• Will Friday's rally provoke another "unsightly" Dee Smith press conference?

So many questions... so few answers...

We'll be keeping a close eye on this one folks.

Ain't America great?

Update 5/16/12 10:00 a.m.:  More info on Friday's rally, via the Help Matthew Stewart website:

• POW: Protest the violent war on drugs and support Matthew David Stewart

Update 5/16/12 10:30 a.m.: Well Lo and Behold, rally supporters have transmitted to us a press release, filling in a few more details concerning Friday's rally:

• Supporters: Stewart is a POW, “Prisoner of War on Drugs”

It's dated 5/15/12. Note to self: "Check out your WCF email inbox a little more frequently."

Thursday Morning Ogden City News Roundup - Updated

Two special public events... and a link to a chirpy "good news" story, for good measure

There's not much happening on the red meat news political front this morning folks; but as far as we're concerned, that's no reason to sit on our blogmeister thumbs. In that connection, we'll kickstart the discussion with reminders of two special events calendered for this evening, and throw in a link to a chirpy good news story, for good measure:

1) Tonight's the night for the Weber County Republican Party Nominating Convention, where there's one particularly interesting nomination item on the agenda. Squaring off for Weber County GOP delegates' approval this evening for the Weber County Commission Seat "C" nomination are current Weber County GOP Chairman Matt Bell, and a familiar WCF face, our old WCF pal, former OPD Police Chief/State Senator Jon Greiner. Ace Reporter Schwebke provides the full lowdown with this morning's Standard-Examiner story:

• Bell and Greiner vie for commission

For those WCF readers/GOP delegates who may be still sitting on the fence, we'll wholeheartedly give warhorse Republican Matt Bell our enthusiastic endorsement, for what that's worth. If that isn't good enough however, we'll link this 4/9/12 Weber County Sheriff Terry Thompson endorsement letter, with which sentiment we agree 100%.

Unlike some crankier folks, it's not that we have anything in particular against Chief Greiner. We just happen to believe that Chairman Bell is the superior choice. Besides, after an illustrious 38-year law enforcement career... we believe that Jon Greiner deserves to begin enjoying his several retirements and spend a lot more pleasurable time on the golf course improving his stroke.

2) As a followup to our earlier public announcement, we'll again remind our civil rights-minded WCF readers of tonight's public event at the Weber County Main Library at 7:30 p.m., where Law Enforcement Against Prohibition's David Goddridge will present an informational workshop/seminar. Salt Lake City Weekly provides the story:

• Rally Against the War on Drugs Set for Thursday in Ogden

For those interested in learning more about the problems with our state and nation’s drug laws and policies, be sure to check out this event.

3) Good news from the Standard this morning for our Ogden City Schools, who always seem to get a bad rap:

• Ogden High School wins coveted baccalaureate accreditation

Ogden High School is your blogmeister's own alma mater folks, so with considerable OHS Tiger pride, we'll hand out a Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to Ogden High School administrators and teachers, for working their butts off to promote academic excellence.

That's it for now, folks.

Who'll be the first to throw in their own 2¢?

Update 4/12/12 11:50 p.m.: The both Standard and the Tribune carry reports on tonight's LEAP informational event:

• In wake of police-Stewart shootout, group forms to end war on drugs
• Supporters of accused Ogde cop killer decry violent drug raids

Update 4/13/12 6:30 a.m.: The results are in from last night's Weber County Republican Convention:

Matt Bell 70% Jon Greiner 30% But the delegates gave Greiner a standing ovation for all his hard work in the community. Read this morning's S-E story:

• Bell wins nomination at Weber County Republican convention

WIRED Magazine: The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) - Updated

Although we're not quite ready to don our tin-foil hats in re this project, we believe all liberty minded American citizens should keep this situation on their radar screens.

To kickstart the Monday morning conversation, we'll shine the WCF spotlight on a fascinating internet media discussion breaking out concerning the federal government's Utah-situated $1.5 billion National Security Agency data center, which was locally billed in the below-linked 1/6/11 Deseret News story as both a propitious congressional exercise of a Senator Orrin Hatch earmark and "important in the short term for construction jobs and important in the long term for Utah's reputation as a technology center":

• Utah's $1.5 billion cyber-security center under way

As construction continues on this massive project, which was originally touted as a facility designed to protect the government's computer infrastructure from cyber attacks, several online sources are now suggesting more sinister motives, specifically, an unprecedented government invasion into every American citizen's personal privacy.

In that latter connection, here's the lede from last week's Fox News story (of all places):

WASHINGTON – What would you think if someone told you personal emails, voicemails and web searches, basically your electronic footprint, could be viewed and stored by a government official?

The feds say that would never happen but some say it is, and by 2013 it will all be funneled into the Utah Data Center.

A more formal description of the center is the First Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative Data Center.

And it’s huge. One million square feet, all to be filled with more technology and data storage than you could imagine.

It is not a stretch to say Utah is quickly becoming the data center capitol of the U.S., especially now that the state will be home to what some say is one the largest spy centers in the nation.

Plans for the facility are nothing new. Construction has been well underway for a year, and brainstorming for the facility began a decade ago. The NSA has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the estimated billion dollar data center.

So why is it making headlines now?

In a bombshell article published this month in WIRED Magazine, author James Bamford interviews a whistleblower claiming the NSA has software that searches domestic folks.

This software can reveal everything from target addresses, to web searches to social media sites to email and phone calls.

It claims any communication that looks suspicious are automatically red flagged. Basically, we’re all at risk for being watched.

Read on:

• NSA dismisses claims Utah Data Center watches average Americans

Cutting to the chase, here's the article which sparked the current controversy, i.e., James Bamford's above-cited 3/15/12 WIRED Magazine expose:

• The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)

This one's a a real eye-opener, innit?

Although we're not quite ready to don our tin-foil hats in re this project, we believe all liberty minded American citizens should keep this situation on their radar screens.

And remember, folks, in the midst of this year's Sagebrush Revolution, wherein our wacky Utah Government has vowed to throw off the shackles of federal government tyranny once and for all, Senator-for-Life Hatch characterizes this cyber-security boondoggle as the "largest military construction project in recent memory," and the Utah economy becomes even more dependent on the federal dole.

Go figure.

Update 4/3/12: And there's now more interesting internet media discussion emerging on this topic:

• Data Mining You: How the Intelligence Community Is Creating a New American World

No need to worry about unchecked government surveillance, unless you've done something wrong, right?

2011: The Year in Civil Liberties

All in all, it’s been a mixed bag of a year in America; but on the civil liberties front, things were particularly grim

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin
Historical Review of Pennsylvania
1759

What does 2012 hold for us? Only time will tell. But as Jane Addams, the first U.S. woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize advised, “America’s future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach and how we live.” If we want to avert certain disaster in the form of authoritarianism, then we’d do well to start teaching the principles of freedom to our young people right away and hope the lesson sticks.

John W. Whitehead - ANTIWAR.COM
2011: The Year in Civil Liberties
December 29, 2011

Eye-opening end-of year American civil liberties retrospective by John W. Whitehead of ANTIWAR.COM. Here's the lede:

It’s been a year of populist uprisings, economic downturns, political assassinations, and one scandal after another. Gold prices soared, while the dollar plummeted. The Arab Spring triggered worldwide protests, including the Occupy Wall Street protests here in America. Nature unleashed her forces with a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan, flooding in Thailand and Pakistan, a severe drought in East Africa, and a famine in Somalia. With an unemployment rate hovering around 9.5%, more than 4 million Americans passed the one-year mark for being out of a job. After a death toll that included more than 4,500 American troops and at least 60,000 Iraqis, the war in Iraq officially ended. At the conclusion of their respective media circus trials, Casey Anthony went free while Conrad Murray went to jail. And Will and Kate tied the knot, while Demi and Ashton broke ties. All in all, it’s been a mixed bag of a year, but on the civil liberties front, things were particularly grim.

Brief article "highlights":

1) Welcome to the new total security state
2) GPS tracking and secret spying on Americans
3) Internet surveillance
4) Intrusive pat-downs, virtual strip searches, and screening stations
5) More powers for the FBI
6) PATRIOT Act redux
7) Drones over America
8) Increased arrests for recording encounters with police
9) Terrorism liaison officers
10) Fusion centers
11) Merger of the military and the police, and the establishment of a standing army
12) Court rulings affirming the right of police to invade our homes without warrants
13) Bringing the war home

Read up, folks!

• 2011: The Year in Civil Liberties

Comments, anyone?