The perfect metaphor
Tressy Capps is a Tea Party candidate for a seat on the Fontana City Council. She's also the perfect metaphor for why the Republican Party will probably lose the 2016 presidential election.
Ms Capps was an independent Coldwell-Banker real estate agent until she posted a video on the internet where she was confronting a woman about a Mexican flag in the woman's yard. In the video she manages to be rude and condescending while espousing a type of faux patriotism. Insisting that someone move back to their country of origin in order to fly that nation's flag in their own yard shows an extreme degree of ignorance of the U. S. Constitution as well as the history of this issue.
The United States Supreme Court has made it clear that while there is a section of United States Code that governs the display of the U. S. flag, it is advisory only. There are no provisions for enforcement of this section, nor are there any penalties set forth for those who fail to comply. Like flag burning, flag display is a form of expression.
This code section states that when another nation's flag is flown with the Stars and Stripes, "our" flag will be positioned in the place of honor, on its own right. In the video posted by Ms Capps, there was no U. S. flag present. Would this woman tell the owner of a business who happens to be an Italian-American not to fly the flag of Italy? Would she tell the proprietor of a Japanese restaurant not to display the Rising Sun flag of Japan? I think not. Why did she pick on this particular woman? Because Ms Capps apparently wants to ensure that those in this nation illegally aren't afforded any kind of sanctuary.
How is this a metaphor for the Republicans and their leadership? Because it is a case of acting without thinking first. Ms Capps was driving through a neighborhood, saw a Mexican flag, got upset and decided to make a statement. No planning, no thought process, nothing. She saw, she acted and now she's repenting and making bumbling attempts at spin-control. Just like the majority of Republicans in Congress.
Ms Capps lost her job, will almost certainly lose her bid for a City Council seat, and has been receiving death threats. The threats are inappropriate. The rest is the consequence of her own action. When will people learn that freedom of expression doesn't mean freedom from consequence by non-government entities and people?
* * *
While on the topic of people who don't grasp how the Constitution works, let's revisit actress Danielle Watts and her refusal to provide her identification to a police officer who was responding to a complaint that she and her boyfriend were having sex in a car.
In an op-ed piece she wrote for the L. A. Times, Ms Watts claims that she's been through four difficult traffic stops in recent months and she describes the one before the one that garnered all the attention as follows: "The third time, an officer said he was responding to reports of a "suspicious black and white couple loitering," and concerns about "robbery." We were sorting through Brian's father's garage in broad daylight. The officer asked for identification. Brian provided his license. I refused, explaining that I thought I was within my rights to decline his request. I told him I appreciated his position, but I had done nothing wrong. I told him my refusal was based on my belief in the law that protects us from unreasonable searches. I didn't have to provide him with ID because it was clear I was not breaking any law."
Let me clear this up for her and anyone else who isn't clear on this point. The United States Supreme Court ruled on this subject in 2004 in the case Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada. The court determined that state statutes that authorize police to force people to identify themselves (stop and identify laws) are constitutional and do not violate the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches. So if California had such a law, Ms Watts would have been wrong.
However, the state does not have such a law. There was CA Penal Code Section 647(e) that was repealed following a USSC ruling that it was "unconstitutionally vague." There is no federal or state law that I can find that gives California law enforcement personnel the right to "stop and identify" at this time.
Doesn't seem to be stopping them from doing this, does it? I am in favor of stop and identify laws. Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada was an extension of a USSC decision in Terry v Ohio where the court ruled that a "stop and frisk" doesn't violate the Fourth Amendment, IF a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime.
In the case of Ms Watts, the police had received a report of possible criminal activity. They responded. This established probable cause to do a stop and identify, IF California had a penal code section authorizing one. This is a situation that needs to be remedied.
The concerns that Ms Watts raises in her op-ed piece about the fact that she is an African-American and her boyfriend is Caucasian are valid. People make inappropriate assumptions about interracial couples that are as outmoded and immoral as slavery was. The basic principle behind the majority of our Bill of Rights is that we deserve the benefit of the doubt, absent any evidence that suggests otherwise.
In a perfect world, we'd all cooperate with the police when stopped, furnish our identification and be on our way once it is determined if we did or did not commit an infraction. We're nowhere near that kind of world. I don't agree with what Ms Watts did. But having learned that California no longer has a stop and identify statute, I do agree that she had a valid point in claiming the officer had no legal right to do what he did. Unless there's something I've missed, he didn't.
I'm sure that in their efforts to spend the tax dollars we pay to California, the Legislature will fail to do anything about this oversight anytime soon. They are far more interested in spending and nannying.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
George Clooney vowed he'd never get married again. Now he's gone and done it and the hearts of women around the world are broken. As the wife of Sean Connery said (when he wasn't smacking her around), never say never again.
TMZ is wondering who is better off now that they are divorcing, Bruce Jenner or his wife Kris. That's easy. Neither. Nothing's changed except money. She'll still try to tell him what to do 24/7.
I can't see how Ello can monetize their attempt to replace Facebook with an advertisement-free model.
Only a reality TV star like Kendra Wilkinson would discuss the "rumors" about her husband's alleged cheating.
I don't watch Dancing With the (so-called) Stars any longer, but after hearing about Julianne Hough's outfit from this past Monday I had to check out a photo. Now that I have, I'm wondering if she borrowed that very revealing costume from fellow DWTS judge Bruno Tonioli. Not the one he wore in this video:
Ms Capps was an independent Coldwell-Banker real estate agent until she posted a video on the internet where she was confronting a woman about a Mexican flag in the woman's yard. In the video she manages to be rude and condescending while espousing a type of faux patriotism. Insisting that someone move back to their country of origin in order to fly that nation's flag in their own yard shows an extreme degree of ignorance of the U. S. Constitution as well as the history of this issue.
The United States Supreme Court has made it clear that while there is a section of United States Code that governs the display of the U. S. flag, it is advisory only. There are no provisions for enforcement of this section, nor are there any penalties set forth for those who fail to comply. Like flag burning, flag display is a form of expression.
This code section states that when another nation's flag is flown with the Stars and Stripes, "our" flag will be positioned in the place of honor, on its own right. In the video posted by Ms Capps, there was no U. S. flag present. Would this woman tell the owner of a business who happens to be an Italian-American not to fly the flag of Italy? Would she tell the proprietor of a Japanese restaurant not to display the Rising Sun flag of Japan? I think not. Why did she pick on this particular woman? Because Ms Capps apparently wants to ensure that those in this nation illegally aren't afforded any kind of sanctuary.
How is this a metaphor for the Republicans and their leadership? Because it is a case of acting without thinking first. Ms Capps was driving through a neighborhood, saw a Mexican flag, got upset and decided to make a statement. No planning, no thought process, nothing. She saw, she acted and now she's repenting and making bumbling attempts at spin-control. Just like the majority of Republicans in Congress.
Ms Capps lost her job, will almost certainly lose her bid for a City Council seat, and has been receiving death threats. The threats are inappropriate. The rest is the consequence of her own action. When will people learn that freedom of expression doesn't mean freedom from consequence by non-government entities and people?
* * *
While on the topic of people who don't grasp how the Constitution works, let's revisit actress Danielle Watts and her refusal to provide her identification to a police officer who was responding to a complaint that she and her boyfriend were having sex in a car.
In an op-ed piece she wrote for the L. A. Times, Ms Watts claims that she's been through four difficult traffic stops in recent months and she describes the one before the one that garnered all the attention as follows: "The third time, an officer said he was responding to reports of a "suspicious black and white couple loitering," and concerns about "robbery." We were sorting through Brian's father's garage in broad daylight. The officer asked for identification. Brian provided his license. I refused, explaining that I thought I was within my rights to decline his request. I told him I appreciated his position, but I had done nothing wrong. I told him my refusal was based on my belief in the law that protects us from unreasonable searches. I didn't have to provide him with ID because it was clear I was not breaking any law."
Let me clear this up for her and anyone else who isn't clear on this point. The United States Supreme Court ruled on this subject in 2004 in the case Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada. The court determined that state statutes that authorize police to force people to identify themselves (stop and identify laws) are constitutional and do not violate the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches. So if California had such a law, Ms Watts would have been wrong.
However, the state does not have such a law. There was CA Penal Code Section 647(e) that was repealed following a USSC ruling that it was "unconstitutionally vague." There is no federal or state law that I can find that gives California law enforcement personnel the right to "stop and identify" at this time.
Doesn't seem to be stopping them from doing this, does it? I am in favor of stop and identify laws. Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada was an extension of a USSC decision in Terry v Ohio where the court ruled that a "stop and frisk" doesn't violate the Fourth Amendment, IF a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime.
In the case of Ms Watts, the police had received a report of possible criminal activity. They responded. This established probable cause to do a stop and identify, IF California had a penal code section authorizing one. This is a situation that needs to be remedied.
The concerns that Ms Watts raises in her op-ed piece about the fact that she is an African-American and her boyfriend is Caucasian are valid. People make inappropriate assumptions about interracial couples that are as outmoded and immoral as slavery was. The basic principle behind the majority of our Bill of Rights is that we deserve the benefit of the doubt, absent any evidence that suggests otherwise.
In a perfect world, we'd all cooperate with the police when stopped, furnish our identification and be on our way once it is determined if we did or did not commit an infraction. We're nowhere near that kind of world. I don't agree with what Ms Watts did. But having learned that California no longer has a stop and identify statute, I do agree that she had a valid point in claiming the officer had no legal right to do what he did. Unless there's something I've missed, he didn't.
I'm sure that in their efforts to spend the tax dollars we pay to California, the Legislature will fail to do anything about this oversight anytime soon. They are far more interested in spending and nannying.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
George Clooney vowed he'd never get married again. Now he's gone and done it and the hearts of women around the world are broken. As the wife of Sean Connery said (when he wasn't smacking her around), never say never again.
TMZ is wondering who is better off now that they are divorcing, Bruce Jenner or his wife Kris. That's easy. Neither. Nothing's changed except money. She'll still try to tell him what to do 24/7.
I can't see how Ello can monetize their attempt to replace Facebook with an advertisement-free model.
Only a reality TV star like Kendra Wilkinson would discuss the "rumors" about her husband's alleged cheating.
Some other costume from his extensive history of dancing.
I understand why the cops in Ferguson, MO want to wear the wristbands showing their solidarity with Darren Wilson. That doesn't make it right, or smart for them to do so. Nor does some of them covering up their badges make any sense. At this point, anything going on in Ferguson is going to be recorded.
It is mind-boggling that the value of the New York Yankees increased by more than $2 billion during the career of Derek Jeter.
A swimming pool 130 feet deep? Yes, in Italy. Don't fall in.
Big props to Sean Smith of the York Revolution, a baseball team in the independent Atlantic League. After hitting a massive home run, he tore his right ACL while rounding first base and had to hop the remaining 270 feet around the bases on one leg. That's just awesome.
Speaking of awesome...
That's Ohio State football's assistant strength coach Anthony Schlegel body slamming a fan who ran onto the field during the game. Some are likening his technique to that of Dwayne Johnson's famous wrestling move the "Rock Bottom" but any good judoka will recognize this as more closely resembling a koshi waza.
I'm not going to visit the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills just to try out their restaurant's $360 surf and turf that consists of seven ounces of Wagyu beef and some caviar. Sounds awful as well as overpriced.
Circling back to reality TV for a moment, I never ceased to be amazed at how certain fans of such shows are about what step the stars should take next. Comments about stories on whether or not Lamar Odem and Khloe Kardashian will reconcile or not contain statements about how strong their love was, and the depth of their relationship. Did the authors of these comments spend much time with the couple?
* * *
September 28th in History:
522 BC – Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper
Gaumâta, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire.
61 BC – Pompey the Great celebrates his third
triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on
his 45th birthday.
1227 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is
excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the
Crusades.
1364 – Battle of Auray: English forces defeat the
French in Brittany; end of the Breton War of Succession.
1567 – At a dinner, the Duke of Alba arrests the
Count of Egmont and the Count of Hoorn for treason.
1650 – Henry Robinson opens his Office of Addresses
and Encounters in Threadneedle Street, London.
1717 – An earthquake strikes Antigua Guatemala,
destroying much of the city's architecture and making authorities consider
moving the capital to a different city.
1789 – The United States Department of War first
establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
1789 – The 1st United States Congress adjourns.
1829 – The Metropolitan Police of London, later also
known as the Met, is founded.
1848 – Battle of Pákozd: stalemate between Hungarian
and Croatian forces at Pákozd; the first battle of the Hungarian Revolution of
1848.
1850 – The Roman Catholic hierarchy is
re-established in England and Wales by Pope Pius IX.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chaffin's
Farm is fought.
1885 – The first practical public electric tramway
in the world is opened in Blackpool, England.
1907 – The cornerstone is laid at Washington
National Cathedral in the U.S. capital.
1911 – Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1918 – World War I, Battle of St. Quentin Canal: The
Hindenburg Line is broken by Allied forces. Bulgaria signs an armistice.
1923 – The British Mandate for Palestine takes
effect, creating Mandatory Palestine.
1932 – Chaco War: Last day of the Battle of Boquerón
between Paraguay and Bolivia.
1938 – Munich Agreement: Germany is given permission
from France, Italy, and Great Britain to seize the territory of Sudetenland,
Czechoslovakia. The meeting takes place in Munich, and leaders from neither the
Soviet Union nor Czechoslovakia attend.
1940 – Two Avro Ansons of No. 2 Service Flying
Training School RAAF collide in mid-air over Brocklesby, New South Wales,
Australia, remain locked together after colliding, and then land safely.
1941 – World War II: Holocaust in Kiev, Soviet
Union: German Einsatzgruppe C begins the Babi Yar massacre, according to the
Einsatzgruppen operational situation report.
1949 – The Communist Party of China writes the
Common Programme for the future People's Republic of China.
1951 – The first live sporting event seen
coast-to-coast in the United States, a college football game between Duke and
the University of Pittsburgh, is televised on NBC.
1954 – The convention establishing CERN (the
European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed.
1957 – 20 MCi (740 petabecquerels) of radioactive
material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at
Chelyabinsk.
1960 – Nikita Khrushchev, leader of Soviet Union,
disrupts a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with a number of
angry outbursts.
1962 – Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, is
launched.
1963 – The second period of the Second Vatican
Council opens.
1964 – The Argentine comic strip Mafalda is
published for the first time.
1966 – The Chevrolet Camaro, originally named
Panther, is introduced.
1971 – Oman joins the Arab League.
1972 – China–Japan relations: Japan establishes
diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after breaking
official ties with the Republic of China.
1975 – WGPR in Detroit, Michigan, becomes the
world's first black-owned-and-operated television station.
1979 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to
visit Ireland.
1982 – The Chicago Tylenol murders begin when the
first of seven individuals dies in metropolitan Chicago.
1988 – Space Shuttle: NASA launches STS-26, the
return to flight mission, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
1990 – Construction of the Washington National
Cathedral is completed.
1990 – The YF-22, which would later become the F-22
Raptor, flies for the first time.
1991 – Military coup in Haiti (1991 Haitian coup
d'état).
1992 – Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello
is impeached.
1995 – The United States Navy disbands Fighter
Squadron 84 (VF-84), nicknamed the "Jolly Rogers".
2004 – The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within four
lunar distances of Earth.
2004 – The Burt Rutan Ansari X Prize entry
SpaceShipOne performs a successful spaceflight, the first of two required to
win the prize.
2006 – Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 collides
in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy business jet near Peixoto de Azevedo, Mato
Grosso, Brazil, killing 154 total people, and triggering a Brazilian aviation
crisis.
2007 – Calder Hall, the world's first commercial
nuclear power station, is demolished in a controlled explosion.
2008 – Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers
and Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points,
the largest single-day point loss in its history.
2009 – An 8.0 magnitude earthquake near the Samoan
Islands causes a tsunami.
2013 – Over 42 people are killed by members of Boko
Haram at the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Nigeria.
Famous Folk Born on September 29th:
Caravaggio
Robert Clive
Horatio Nelson
Princess Thyra
Roscoe Turner
Enrico Fermi
Greer Garson
Gene Autry
Trevor Howard
Stan Berenstein
Bum Phillips
Steve Forrest
Pete McCloskey
Anita Ekberg
Robert Benton
Skandar Akbar
Jerry Lee Lewis
Tommy Boyce
Madeline Kahn
Lech Walesa
Gary Wetzel (Medal of Honor recipient)
Mark Farner
Bryant Gumbel
Gabor Csupo
Sebastian Coe
Andrew Dice Clay
Stephanie Miller
Jill Whelan
Emily Lloyd
Natasha Gregson Wagner
Famous Folk Born on September 29th:
Caravaggio
Robert Clive
Horatio Nelson
Princess Thyra
Roscoe Turner
Enrico Fermi
Greer Garson
Gene Autry
Trevor Howard
Stan Berenstein
Bum Phillips
Steve Forrest
Pete McCloskey
Anita Ekberg
Robert Benton
Skandar Akbar
Jerry Lee Lewis
Tommy Boyce
Madeline Kahn
Lech Walesa
Gary Wetzel (Medal of Honor recipient)
Mark Farner
Bryant Gumbel
Gabor Csupo
Sebastian Coe
Andrew Dice Clay
Stephanie Miller
Jill Whelan
Emily Lloyd
Natasha Gregson Wagner
posted by me at 3:34 PM
