Oh, Now It’s Tyranny
As devoted practitioners of the Raised Eyebrow, we got a good workout Monday night when this headline appeared at WorldNetDaily: “Teen homeschooler jailed under Patriot Act.”
That’s pretty rich, we thought, coming from a website that is deeply concerned about Michael Savage being fingered as a hate-speech terrorist by Britain. Somehow we don’t expect to find an ACLU card in Joseph Farah’s wallet.
But setting aside their angle for the moment, let’s look at the case.
The teen homeschooler in question is 16-year-old Ashton Lundeby, of Oxford, North Carolina. According to his mom, Annette, the Feds and local police paid an unannounced visit to their home at 10 p.m. March 5, collecting Ashton, his computer, his cell phone, and some bank statements.
The charge? Making numerous bomb threats in Indiana from the computer.
Mom thinks it’s a case of hijacked identity. She says there was no trace of bomb-making materials in the house, and suspects someone hacked Ashton’s IP address to originate the phone calls. (We’ll spare the geeky details on how that might work, but let’s say Ashton picked up some malware cruising porn sites.)
But back to the story: “Undoubtedly, they were given false information,” Mom told WRAL-TV in Raleigh, “or they would not have had twelve agents in my house with a widow and two children and three cats.”
And now for the familiar kicker:
Allowed little access to see her son over the last two months, facing a court date that keeps being pushed back and given no information by FBI agents sitting behind a gag order on the case, Lundeby now says the USA Patriot Act has unjustly imprisoned an innocent boy and stripped her son of due process.
Well, yes. That’s exactly what the Patriot Act does. Nice of folks to notice almost eight years after the fact.
WND lets the story stand as is, but if we pay a visit to the TV story’s YouTube page, a few comments tell the rest:
- “This happened under Obama’s watch.”
- “Bush had good reason to start the Patriot Act, It’s the USA people that put that tool in Obama’s hand.”
- “Blame the Obama Administration for this. and add it to the list of grievances in which we should DEMAND redress or Revolution.”
- “I hope this woman gets armed, now that she has seen how oppressive and tyrannical the government has become. Please, woman, get armed! Being armed against tyranny is the American way.”
We’re cherry-picking, of course — there’s actually an interesting populist Con Law seminar going on there. But we’re fascinated that folks are suddenly objecting to Bush’s laws, now that someone else is administering them.
Teen homeschooler jailed under Patriot Act [WND]
Whatever.
On another subject, AP refers to Carrie Prejean as “the titular Miss California.” You know… titular.
Especially since that OTHER happens to a half black man.
But I’d like to say a few things:
1) If you’re innocent then why are you so afraid?
2) The law applies to EVERYONE not just Muslims and Libruls.
3) Boy, oh boy, you wingnuts and RWers are REALLY fucking dumb.
@Benedick: Fake titular Miss California would be closer to the truth.
I can see a response like this if they actually have evidence that he’s building bombs, but bomb threats? When I was a boy bomb threats were a great way to wile away a lazy Sunday afternoon…
My school specialized in bombs. One of the boys sent one through the mail to one of the masters. It blew up in the post office. We were patrolled by the police for a couple of years. Then another boy blew up the new sewage pipes under the quad. Happy days.
NOJO,
ahh, but in way-too-large segments of our society,
NOW they are barry’s laws!
And I’d bet serious cash (American) that the mom voted for Bush twice. Elections have consequences!
@blogenfreude: And is a member of Team Sarah! Chickens, roosts, such as.
blogenfreude: Believe it or don’t, but it appears that she’s represented by a Dumbocrat in Congress. A quick check shows that Oxford, North Carolina is Butterfield Country. (Whatever that means.) Point being that she may not be seeking shelter in the Tent of Freedom.
I saw this when Clinton was president, too. Right wing nuts who are usually little concerned about civil liberties, preferring instead to focus their outrage on our “lenient” judicial system that let’s criminals off on “technicalities,” suddenly transformed themselves into fierce civil libertarians concerned that every law enforcement measure passed under Clinton was a power grab by a Federal Government Hell-bent on enslaving us under a Surveillance State reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984.
Rest assured, people, that every time the DEA mistakenly raids the wrong home, every time some nutter White Supremacist gets himself killed in a shootout with local authorities, every time somebody is arrested under the newly formed powers of the Patriot Act, the very same people who screamed “pre-9/11 mentality!!!” at every opponent of the Act will turn around and start whining about the excessive power that the act affords the Obama Administration.
@Serolf Divad: ‘Twas during the Clinton days that one of the right’s favorite hyperbolic phrases was “jack-booted thugs.”
The other thing they do is lie, also.
@Prommie: Hey, just because they are crazy doesn’t mean they are wrong. Ruby Ridge and Waco did happen on Clinton’s watch and Delta Force WAS at Waco. These are milestone events that were brushed away to our collective peril, again making mundane the militarization of law enforcement. I say join the chorus that wants to know why a fuckwitted kid is subject to an estate of toxic laws that should be repealed.
“I hope this woman gets armed, now that she has seen how oppressive and tyrannical the government has become. Please, woman, get armed! Being armed against tyranny is the American way.”
This is also known as the “How to go out in a blaze of glory” theory of child rearing, right?
NOJO • A Kind of Hash @nojo: Never been to a big-league game, so saw the Yankees with friends last night. Grand slam was…
NOJO • A Kind of Hash @¡Andrew!: Not yet, but I’m sure I can borrow one from a neighbor on the…
¡ANDREW! • A Kind of Hash @nojo: Oh wow! Congratulations on the move. Hope it's going well. I assume that you now have a…
MANCHUCANDIDATE • A Kind of Hash For the Ex-Mo contingent... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1W0pDpDBqE
NOJO • A Kind of Hash @¡Andrew!: Never made it, and too late now — I’ve been in Brooklyn since May.
¡ANDREW! • A Kind of Hash @nojo: So, have you dined at Casa Bonita yet? It seems to be the primary cause of mass insanity in…
¡ANDREW! • A Kind of Hash I hope Taylor Swift figured out a way to unleash her flying monkeys/army of lawyers against Tr666p…
MANCHUCANDIDATE • A Kind of Hash Team Kamala/Walz/Swifty
NOJO • A Kind of Hash Nothing in my life goes to waste.
FLYINGCHAINSAW • Harris-Kelly ’24 HARRIS QUOTES TOWER OF POWER IN DEBATE: TURN THE PAGE !