Hey law enforcement, what gives?
So some kid with an axe to grind against a teacher or principal at his school can sit home and photoshop some gun crosshairs over their target and post it on Facebook, and the next day the police are knocking at the door.
But Sarah Palin does the same thing and spews direct threats at the people in the crosshairs and nothing happens. Reload?Bullseye? We all know what she meant. She can squirm all she wants, but she can't get out from under this.
Oh, yea, that's right, something DID happen. One of the people in her crosshairs got shot at point blank range and is lying in critical condition with a bullet path through her brain.
And what's Palin doing today? Likely monitoring the price of gold like she did yesterday.
I'm a breaking news junkie. That's why I got on Twitter. I like knowing what's happening first. Yesterday, Twitter told me about the shooting and today, the people of Twitter are still using their 140 characters to deliver profound statements on this tragedy in Tuscon.
They were fluttering by my screen yesterday. So much information was breaking. But there was one tweet that made me stop in my tracks.
BMissy MissyB Please tell me why we lock up/psych ward high school students that put crosshairs on specific people/places but not @SarahPalinUSA? #p2
Wait a minute, I just saw something tweet by me about that...
Care2Causes Care2Causes 6 #Girls #Arrested For #Facebook Attack-A-Teacher Day Link here #education 18 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
Holy crap. These kids seem to have done almost the same thing Palin did. But they got arrested.
Six middle-school girls in Carson City, Nevada, have been arrested in Carson City, Nevada, in connection with a invitation posted on Facebook to participate in "Attack a Teacher Day."
Apparently one girl created an event on Facebook and invited about 100 students to the event scheduled for a few days ago, and the other five joined in and posted various threats online about their least favorite teachers.
The AP article says the girls were booked at juvenile hall on misdemeanor charge of "communicating threats."
Now that the girls are in trouble, they are saying their threat was just a joke. Now that Palin is in trouble, she's saying the crosshairs were survey marks. Back when she got in trouble for this initially, she added an asterisk to her call for violence, saying it wasn't a call for violence.
So if the girls posted the "Attack a Teacher" day event and put a little asterisk to a line that said "This is not a call for violence" and then continued to talk about violence and use violent rhetoric, would that be okay? Hey kids! Guess what?
The principal of the school said the girls were arrested on the same day a Nebraska high school student shot and killed his assistant principal and wounded his principal before he ran from the school and shot himself.
“School shootings really happen. That’s why we took it seriously,” (the Principal) told The Associated Press on Friday. “It’s not OK, and it’s not funny in this day and age if you’re going to make a threat against a teacher.”
The Carson City Sheriff put the responsibility for the issue with the girls on the parents, who need to better monitor their children's online posts.
“They made some pretty violent comments about some teachers, and this isn’t even close to a joke,” he said. “Children’s stresses are so great that they can act out on their frustrations. Parents need to monitor what their kids are doing on communication devices.”
Anybody see where I'm going with this?
What makes Palin above the law? Why do the six girls get arrested and booked and Palin goes off on a book tour, a reality show and no one that I know of ever did anything about what she did. Ever. We have a record of television interviews that show Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was in fear of her life.
You and I know there are dozens, if not hundreds of instances where kids got in big trouble for making threats or implying threats on Facebook. These six girls were just the latest bunch I've heard of. Why did Palin get a pass?
I did a quick search to see the definition of "communicating threats" and the first I saw was from North Carolina's anti-stalking laws, which is listed on the National Center for Victims of Crime's website. This is what North Carolina's law defines as "Communicating Threats":
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-277.1. Communicating threats. (1999) (a) A person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if without lawful authority: (1) He willfully threatens to physically injure the person or that person's child, sibling, spouse, or dependent or willfully threatens to damage the property of another; (2) The threat is communicated to the other person, orally, in writing, or by any other means; (3) The threat is made in a manner and under circumstances which would cause a reasonable person to believe that the threat is likely to be carried out; and (4) The person threatened believes that the threat will be carried out. (b) A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
In Alaska, I don't see a similar law, but it does say this under 'stalking.'
Alaska Stat. § 11.41.270. Stalking in the second degree. (1993) (a) A person commits the crime of stalking in the second degree if the person knowingly engages in a course of conduct that recklessly places another person in fear of death or physical injury, or in fear of the death or physical injury of a family member.
Maybe a lawyer can help us understand why Palin gets away with what puts six high school girls in handcuffs. I know I can't understand it, but I do know for me, these actions appear to be rather similar. Both put people in fear. But of the two actions, only one ended up with people gravely injured and dead.
Why did the girls get arrested and not Palin? Did any teacher even get attacked?
And like a teenager who got caught by her mom or the school for posting some real nasty stuff on Facebook and Twitter, Palin spent the day yesterday trying to cover her tracks. But she did have time to squeek out this little ditty, that shows us all that no matter how sad she says she is, she is as cold as a stone and as greedy and narcissistic as they come.
SarahPalinUSA Sarah Palin
The price of gold today is at $1,368.90 an ounce, and during the 2-hour finale of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" you'll...
The link she provides goes to a video promo of her show, where apparently we get to see her panning for gold.
Then I smiled when I saw the smackdown from her neighbor Shannyn Moore
shannynmoore Shannyn Moore
RT @SarahPalinUSA: The price of gold today is at $1,368.90 an ounce.../ ARE YOU SERIOUS? REALLY? STFU Already.