Honeypotted For A Good Cause

North Korea looms in the distance

Watching "The Interview" as a means of supporting the First Amendment is a lot easier than attending a counter rally to, say, the whacked out Westboro Baptist Church, or defending the free speech rights of a convicted felon to speak about his expensive sedition trial.

But still, not exactly Academy Award material.  

Of course the delicious karma of using the Internet as a main means of distributing the comedy only ads to the payback.

After all, the first shots fired in this free speech battle occurred in cyberspace with the anonymous hacking of Sony International Entertainment which provided material to bully and threaten them over releasing the movie.

And by extension threatening the rights of all Americans to choose what to see and when to see it.

If this entire back story saga were to someday become a Hollywood movie the target work being threatened would probably not be a comedy, and would no doubt take on a high brow issue like racism, sexism or some other noble cause.

The ending of the movie tries to have it both ways.  The fluffy entertainment "journalist" exposes Kim Jong-un as a tyrant with daddy issues who can't feed his people, and then lies about it via propaganda.

Rather than letting this "truth to power" live exposé bring him down, they still feel the need to take him out via a tank round.  Killing the revered leader of a sovereign nation -- even if the reverence is built on deception and fear -- is not overly funny material. 

Neither will be their response.

Touring the DMZ

Another Good Sign

You have to wonder if the young man who wrote this -- naturally as a Cowardly Anon Nitwit -- gets up in the morning and curses the mirror when it reflects a big fat zit on his scrawny face.

Thus I have another reason to believe that indeed, the Tide is Turning:

When the hard core minority of party hardy idiots who give all students a bad name lash out in such a juvenile manner, you know the heat is getting to them.

A closer look at the tickets handed out by APD for bad behavior demonstrates there is a hard core minority who just don't seem to get it.

Noise tickets were down dramatically this semester from 91 to only 17, but the "Nuisance House" tickets -- a higher level of mayhem -- were not down all that much, going from 33 last fall to 25 this fall.

It will be interesting to see the UMass report on off campus student discipline for violation of the student code of conduct covering this fall, which of course will reflect the same dramatic drop in number of sanctions imposed (since they are based on APD arrest/ticket reports).

And the severity of the sanctions handed out will probably be pretty mild.  

What UMass really needs to do is seek out the hard core party types (reflected in Nuisance House tickets, Resisting Arrest, and Assault and Battery on a police officer charges) and be rid of them once and for all.

DUI Dishonor Roll

239 children died in drunk driving incidents in 2012

Yes it's probably overly disconcerting to be arrested for drunk driving during the holiday season, but certainly nowhere near as disconcerting as the potential carnage these drivers could have caused to innocent folks going about their daily routine at this busy time of year.

 William Zimmerman stands before Judge William O'Grady

In Eastern Hampshire District Court yesterday Shannen Mcmahon, age 22, and William Zimmerman, age 32, had pleas of "not guilty" entered in their behalf with their cases continued until next month.

Zimmerman was also charged an extra $50 fee for the arrest warrant which was issued after he failed to appear in Court on Friday morning as scheduled.

UMPD Statement of Facts

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Shannen Mcmahon stands before Judge O'Grady

Hadley PD Statement of Facts

Still A Stand Up Guy

Stan Rosenberg, Dave Sullivan, John Olver July 4th Parade Amherst town center 2009

As someone greatly concerned with government transparency at all levels -- especially when it concerns corruption or conflict of interest -- I can honestly say the recent soap opera backstory concerning our favorite State Senator doesn't have me concerned in the least.

At least not yet.

I've known State Senator Stan Rosenberg for 25+ years and have always found him to be the most responsive hard working politician in the state.

When he came out on July 4th, 2009 I called him a stand up guy -- both here on the blog, and in person as he was marching in the July 4th Parade I helped promote.

But even ten years before that, Stan attended as a guest speaker a controversial rally I organized on the Amherst town common decrying the (1999) cancellation of 'West Side Story', to this day one of the all time greatest stains on the reputation of our little college town.

Both he and ACLU Western Massachusetts Director Bill Newman gave a spirited defense of the First Amendment while lamenting the cancellation of the play at Amherst Regional High School.  Stan even tried to find state funds to bring a traveling professional troupe to Amherst to perform the iconic play.

And no matter how controversial the July 4th Parade became over the ten years it stepped off in Amherst (only in Amherst could a July 4th Parade become a heated controversy) he could always be counted on to march.  

So if anyone understands the light of media attention that can shine with blinding speed and luminance, it would be a guy who has had to deal with it for most of his adult life -- one who doesn't duck away from controversial issues.

Thus far he has handled the problem created by his significant other with a textbook response:  admit there's a problem and clearly outline a simple solution.

Erecting a "firewall" between his personal relationship and the duties of a powerful politician about to get more powerful is exactly the right answer.  Sort of like newspapers erecting a solid brick wall between editorial and advertising (or at least they used to back in the day).

Western Massachusetts always seems to fly under the radar with folks at the Boston Statehouse.  Our region will become a much bigger blip with Stan Rosenberg as State Senate President. 

Rest assured Western Massachusetts: we're still in very good hands. 

Senseless Slaughter

That thin blue line that stands between civility and chaos -- us and them -- just got a little thinner, and we all are diminished by this tragic loss. 

Even the most ardent critic of police involvement in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown should be taken aback by the cold hearted assassination of two patrolmen, partners, sitting in their cruiser Saturday afternoon.  Assuming of course you're a rational human being.

Neither officer involved in the Garner or Brown deaths got up that morning thinking they were going to kill a black man.  Unlike Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who clearly decided he was going to kill that day, with the only prerequisite being the victims dressed in blue.

Unfortunately for them and the families they leave behind, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were in his line of sight.

 Amherst Police Station 12/7/14 #Ferguson protesters shut down Main Street

Have highly publicized demonstrations over the past few months -- some of them here in Amherst -- contributed to this outrage?  How could they not -- especially with chants like "Fuck The Police".

Self serving denials ring cold and hollow, like a freshly dug grave.

When a large group of college aged youth demonstrated in front of Amherst police station two weeks ago, they chanted in choreographed unison, "Who do you protect, who do you serve?"

Now the men and women in blue will be giving much more thought to protecting their own.

Police lives matter

We are heartbroken over the shooting of two #NYPD officers.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim's families, friends and coworkers.
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) December 20, 2014

High Times In Pelham

Zachary Amadon, age 20, arraigned before Judge Shea on Friday

If you are on your way to a court mandated alcohol education class you probably should not be smoking pot ... or driving with a suspended license due to a previous DUI. 

   Pelham PD Pot Incident

DUI Dishonor Roll

The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21 to 25 year olds (23.4 percent) - See more at: http://www.madd.org/statistics/#sthash.FMPelWkJ.dpuf

 The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21-25 year olds (23.4%) MADD statistic

Christmas time is certainly a time for good cheer, but unfortunately for all too many folks, that takes the form of too much alcohol.

In this case Amherst police arrested 21-year-old Laquan Wood after he crashed into a telephone pole on Snell Street, a busy cut through connecting Rt 9 and Rt 116, the two busiest roads in town at a somewhat busy time of night.

Click to enlarge/read

Laquan Wood is arraigned before Judge Michael Mulcahy in Easter Hampshire District Court yesterday