Sunday, September 11, 2016



Guess his religion



A furious driver who snapped at a traffic warden for giving him a ticket before breaking his leg has been jailed for 18 months.

The warden's bodycam captured an incensed Shamal Karim Asaad screaming at him after he said he had received two tickets in one day on Hankey Street, Peterborough.

He was handed a penalty charge notice (PCN) for parking illegally in a permit area last September.

Footage from the officer's bodycam shows the aggressive 30-year-old confronted him waving the ticket.

The warden repeatedly told Asaad to 'back off', but he responded 'what do you mean back off?' and continued to approach the officer. 'Take your ticket' said Asaad.

The warden retorted: 'No it's your ticket back off you deal with that!' He then called in for assistance from the police, and Asaad stormed towards him and tried to grab his equipment.

Falling over the victim, who asked to remain anonymous, broke his leg.

At Peterborough Crown Court Asaad denied grievous bodily harm but was found guilty.

He was given six months in jail for two further charges of destroying and damaging property, which will run concurrent.

And he was also ordered to pay £87 compensation to the warden, who said: 'The incident last September was one of the most terrifying of my life and there are moments that will remain with me forever,' reports the Peterborough Telegraph.

'I will never forget the feeling of panic when I was lying on the ground with my attacker's face, centimetres from mine, contorted with rage. It was like something out of a horror film.'

'I would like to thank the residents who came to my rescue on the day and looked after me until the ambulance arrived. I dread to think what would have happened if they had not been there to stop my attacker. If you were one of those people, I thank you dearly for your help.

'Although my bones have healed, I have been left with semi-permanent nerve damage for which I need constant pain relief. In effect my brain is permanently telling my body that my leg is broken even though it's not.

'I am now back at work, but I am much more apprehensive than I used to be and of course the injury to my leg means that I find walking more uncomfortable. In my personal life I have had to give up many of the things I used to enjoy, including my allotment.

'I'd like to thank my family, friends, work colleagues and my manager who have all shown fantastic support and great patience during a very difficult time.

'I hope that my experience and the sentence handed to my attacker sends a warning to others who think it is acceptable to abuse civil enforcement officers and any other profession which works directly with the public.'

The quarrel had started after Asaad ran out of a house when the officer issued the ticket to a car.

Asaad left in the vehicle, but later returned and parked the car on the road again, restarting the altercation as the warden was still there sheltering from heavy rain.

The attacker then jumped on the warden knocking him out and breaking his leg in the fall.

Darren Bell, from the SaferPeterborough Prevention and Enforcement Service, said: 'Peterborough residents are generally very courteous towards our civil enforcement officers however there's always a small group of people who are not.

'This is a violent incident of personal and physical abuse and that will not be tolerated.'

Depending on the offence parking tickets in Peterborough are either £25 or £35. A council spokesman said this offence would have been a £35 ticket.

Fines are doubled if they are not paid within 14 days, according to the Peterborough Telegraph.

SOURCE







CA Opens Can of Worms With Pro-Life Censorship

California is on a mission to silence activists who uncover incriminating evidence from organizations like Planned Parenthood in the aftermath of last year’s horrific revelations from the Center for Medical Progress. The state legislature recently approved a bill that distinctly “make[s] it a crime for a person who unlawfully eavesdrops upon or records a confidential communication … with a health care provider … to intentionally disclose or distribute the contents of the confidential communication without the consent of all parties to the confidential communication.”

While Planned Parenthood does provide limited medical services, it is not, strictly speaking, a health care provider, which is just a term adopted by leftists as a ruse to masquerade the organization’s overarching motive — the facilitating of abortion. But we digress. Even those who can’t see beyond this political swindle are alarmed over the constitutional concerns raised by the bill. This summer the ACLU, of all organizations, stated, “We know of no legitimate governmental reason for singling-out disclosure of all health care provider communications for special criminal sanctions, making the bill vulnerable not only on First Amendment grounds but also on equal protection grounds.”

Even the liberal Los Angeles Times editorial board is incredulous. “[M]ake no mistake, this measure would heap more criminal and civil penalties on making a secret recording … simply to satisfy an interest group popular among Sacramento Democrats,” the editors write in “New bill to protect Planned Parenthood is bad for whistleblowers.” They conclude, “The potential for unanticipated and unwelcome consequences is huge.” We only wish they weren’t blind to the same consequences as it pertains to culture and the overall sanctity of life.

SOURCE




Can't Bake That Cake

A Louisiana teen recently discovered first hand that some people really don’t like Donald Trump. “Just left Albertsons,” the teen posted on Facebook. “The woman behind the cake counter just refused to make me a birthday cake because I wanted Trump 2016 on it. Did that really just happen.” Perhaps it did, perhaps not — hoaxes have happened before. Remember the guy who supposedly got a cake that had the word “fag” on it, only to later admit it was a hoax? But then again, the store apologized to the Trump-loving teen, saying the employee “misunderstood the training provided regarding copyrighted phrases.” Sure thing.

Which brings us to the glaringly obvious contradiction. Leftists smugly applauded when Christian bakers were fined $135,000 and silenced for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. But there’s been little uproar about this Trump cake. Jonah Goldberg wrote, “As a matter of principle, I think this is totally fine. I also think it’s fine for a baker not to bake a cake for Mennonites, S&M clubs and, yes, gay weddings. I just think it’s funny to listen to the deafening silence this story is eliciting.”

SOURCE





Oregon Bakers’ Legal Battle Continues, as Same-Sex Couple Speaks Out

Aaron and Melissa Klein, the Oregon bakers who refused to make a cake for the wedding of two women, filed new documents Thursday with the Oregon Court of Appeals in response to the same-sex couple’s arguments that the Kleins had no legal right to refuse them service.

“We are hopeful that these judges will understand that [Oregon officials] violated Aaron and Melissa’s rights, including rights of free speech and due process that judges tend to respect regardless of judicial philosophy,” Ken Klukowski, a lawyer for the bakers, said.

In the new brief, the Kleins’ lawyers challenge the argument that the government can force citizens to create art and engage in speech that goes against their religious beliefs.

“None of this would have happened had everyone simply lived in peace according to their own beliefs,” Klukowski, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal group representing the Kleins, told The Daily Signal.

The Kleins initially filed their appeal in April, challenging the July 2015 decision by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries that they had discriminated against Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer, the lesbian couple who the Kleins declined to serve.

An administrative judge for the state agency ordered the Kleins to pay the Bowman-Cryers $135,000 for physical, emotional, and mental damages.

The Bowman-Cryers, responding to the appeal to Oregon’s second-highest court, argued the agency’s ruling should stand.

The Kleins’ new legal brief was the last step before both parties head to the appeals court for oral arguments.

The Kleins paid the ordered $135,000 in damages—plus interest—in December. The Bowman-Cryers have not received the money, which is being held in a separate account by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries until the appeals process plays out.

The dispute began in January 2013, when Aaron Klein told Rachel Cryer that the Kleins’ bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, would not make the wedding cake after learning it was for two women.

The Kleins are Christians and say they believe marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

The Bowman-Cryers, now married, filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries under the state’s public accommodation law, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The Oregon agency pursued charges against the Kleins on behalf of the same-sex couple.

Up until recently, the Bowman-Cryers had not spoken publicly about their case, and declined multiple interview requests from The Daily Signal through their lawyers.

But on Tuesday, the couple broke their silence.

“In recent months we’ve decided to speak out for one primary reason,” Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer wrote in The Advocate, a publication focused on LGBT issues. “We don’t want any person or family to go what we’ve gone through. Every family deserves respect, dignity, and a life free from discrimination and harassment.”

The couple also shared why they got married:

Part of the reason we decided to get married in the first place was to provide stability for our daughters. Before we became engaged, we became foster parents for two very high-needs girls after their mother, a close friend of ours, died suddenly. Lizzy, now 9, has cerebral palsy, autism, and a chromosomal disorder that causes developmental delays. Anastasia, now 7, has Asperger’s and stopped speaking when her mother died.

While the case wound its way through the courts, we won full adoptive custody of Lizzy and Anastasia, and they are the light of our lives.

For their part, Aaron and Melissa Klein chose to participate in some media interviews, including with The Daily Signal. The couple also launched a fundraising account that has brought in close to $500,000.

In their article, the Bowman-Cryers described the Kleins’ as “media darlings of the right wing.”

In interviews with The Daily Signal, Melissa Klein became emotional describing the hardships the family of seven also has faced because of the case, including closure of the bakery.

Klukowski, the lawyer who represents the Kleins, said the couple “never wanted to have to go through this ordeal” and had sought only “to run their little bakery consistent with their Christian faith as their ministry to their neighborhood.”

He said in an email to The Daily Signal:

Leftist media outlets have grossly and irresponsibly exaggerated the amount the Kleins received when generous Americans heard that the Kleins’ business was being driven into the ground due to this case, and $135,000 from that generosity had to be turned over to the [Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries] to hold in escrow in order for this appeal to be pursued.

Aaron and Melissa continue to suffer from lack of good job opportunities, and lack of educational opportunities for their children, because of the government’s draconian pursuit of them and their family, aided by the relentless mocking and derision of liberal media outlets and intolerant activists, fueling ongoing hurtful attacks on their family.

Lawyers for the Kleins said the case likely will go on regardless of the decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals, perhaps all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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