Mumbles and Squeaks

Also, I can’t voice that I think it’s unfair because that would be rude and inconsiderate to the pain and suffering of your idiot drunken friend.

Can you please tell your friends to drink smarter?

Because it’s two AM and I’d like to go to sleep, but I can’t because there’s someone super drunk puking in my bathroom, and two people standing in the doorway watching her like vultures and I can’t ask them to go to the other bathroom because the puking girl can’t stand, let alone walk twelve feet.

This is not fair to me, okay?

ariaofthewinds asked: 15, 27, 28

15: Which two games do you think would make an awesome crossover?

Ever since grade school, I would have sold my soul for a Pokemon/Legend of Zelda crossover. The concepts more than the characters. Link being able to travel through Hyrule and tame monsters to help him fight evil, or the protagonist in the Pokemon world traveling around with minimal technology.

27: Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry?

The endings of Ocarina of Time and the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game.

28: Which character’s clothes do you wish you owned the most?

…Am I the only one who thinks Saria’s outfit looks ridiculously comfy to wear? Gold’s too. Or Amiti. Or Ordon Link. Or really any of Link’s clothes because, again, comfy-looking tunic.

letterstomycountry:

Every time I look at this young man’s photo, my heart breaks apart for him and his family:

Cameron D’Ambrosio should not be in handcuffs.  He should not be in a court room.  He should not have been arrested, and he damn well sure should not have been accused of Communicating a Terrorist Threat, or threatened with 20 years in prison for making what amounts to poor word choices.

This entire case is shot through with injustice:

Before charges were even formally filed, local newspapers were already posting pictures from Cam’s facebook and pointing to “disturbing” posts like “Fuck politics. Fuck Obama. Fuck the government!” and “satanic” imagery (like some image from a metal band’s poster.) All of this is free speech that is 100% protected by the 1st Amendment.

And then there’s this:

Fox News went so far as to say that Cam’s facebook profile had images that they “couldn’t show on TV.” They and other media outlets frequently and intentionally printed only a small section of the lyrics that Cam was arrested for allegedly writing, and took them out of context to make rap metaphors sound like a real threat.

The media printed:

“(Expletive) a boston bominb wait till u see the (expletive) I do, I’ma be famous”

The actual line is:

“(Expletive) a boston bominb wait till u see the (expletive) I do, I’ma be famous rapping”

Notice something? The context completely changes the meaning of the line. Suddenly something that sounds like a threat of violence is clearly just bragging about how good Cammy Dee is going to be in the rap game. Last we checked, teenage dreams of grandeur were not a crime.

Such omissions are scandalous.  You can see one example here (they also incorrectly stated that Cameron pleaded “guilty.”  He pled “not guilty.”).  The source above also reported that Cameron was arrested on a previous assault and battery charge, but neglected to mention that those charges were later dismissed.

This case involves a number of horrifying breaches of journalistic ethics, paired with a complete, utter failure to exercise prosecutorial discretion.  A young 18-year old man with his whole life ahead of him may spend the next 20 years of his life in prison for doing nothing more than posting uncouth status updates on his Facebook page.  As Rob D’Ovidio, a criminal justice professor at Drexel University, said recently:

When I was young, calling a bomb threat to your high school because you didn’t want to go to school that day was treated with a slap on the wrist. Try that nowadays and you’re going to prison, no question about it. They are taking it more seriously now[.]

And then there’s this gem from the local police chief:

“There are no more threats that are high school pranks,” said Joseph Solomon, police chief, during a press conference Thursday afternoon. “If they’re thinking that way, they need to get their heads into 2013.”

This is the incarceration nation in motion.  The fear of legitimate threats is used to extend the scope of punitive executive scrutiny to cases that otherwise would’ve been dealt with outside the criminal justice system.  Stupid mistakes and ill-timed remarks become serious felonies with decades in prison as the penalty.

Cases like this highlight the need for people to push back against the overcriminalization of America.  We need to stop sending our kids to prison for dumb mistakes.  We need to stop traumatizing 18-year olds by making them do the perp walk, and then telling them they’re facing 20 years in prison for being oafish online.   None of this is necessary.  All of it is unjust, improper, and counterproductive.

#tldr america is ignoring the first amendment #again