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"Terrorist" Lyrics Land High Schooler In Jail

An anonymous reader writes "A Methusen, Mass. high schooler, who goes by the rapper name 'Cammy Dee' has been arrested after posting lyrics that police felt were 'communicating terrorist threats.' This wouldn't be the first time rap lyrics were investigated, but if formally charged for 'communicating terrorist threats' this would a set a chilling low bar for terrorist investigations."

24 of 573 comments (clear)

  1. In America, we are safe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really, if the police have time enough to deal with this, then clearly all the more important crimes have been resolved.

  2. Welcome to the USSA by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Welcome to the USSA where freedom of speech means freedom to praise your government, where the right to bear arms means the right to go hunting, where the right to not be searched without a warrant doesn't apply, where due process can be ignored if the president wants you dead.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    1. Re:Welcome to the USSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Did you read the (short) article?

      He posted “I’m not in reality, So when u see me (expletive) go insane and make the news, the paper, and the (expletive) federal house of horror known as the white house, Don’t (expletive) cry or be worried because all YOU people (expletive) caused this (expletive),” [...] “(Expletive) a boston bominb wait till u see the (expletive) I do, I’ma be famous rapping, and beat every murder charge that comes across me!”

      You could argue that he's just a stupid teenager making a silly empty threat, but, still from the article, "D’Ambrosio was charged last year with threatening to stab his sister to death. The case was dismissed last month."

      So maybe it's worth looking into whether he's really serious or not?

    2. Re:Welcome to the USSA by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Old joke from Soviet times:

      Q: Is there freedom of speech in the USSA?
      A: Yes. Though it highly depends on the speech whether there's freedom after speech.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Twenty years in prison seems excessive by litehacksaur111 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From looking at the story, it seems like some prosecutor here wants to come off as tough on crime and terrorists to further their political career. This is Aaron Schwartz all over again. This person in question is just some 18 year old who did something stupid. A reasonable punishment seems like 500 hours community service and a $1000 fine. No reason for 20 years in prison for doing something stupid that harmed no one.The average sentence for rape is around 20 years.

    1. Re:Twenty years in prison seems excessive by jrumney · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If every musician went and got counseling instead of turning their anger into music and lyrics, we'd all be listening to Justin Beiber. Think about that next time you suggest that someone with a perfectly harmless outlet for their anger "needs counseling" because some people find what they say disturbing.

    2. Re:Twenty years in prison seems excessive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The reasonable punishment is ZERO. It's a song, and it is protected speech.

    3. Re:Twenty years in prison seems excessive by narcc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This person in question is just some 18 year old who did something stupid. A reasonable punishment seems like 500 hours community service and a $1000 fine.

      Try this on for size: "The person in question is just some 18 year old who said something stupid. Punishment is unnecessary as he's done nothing wrong."

      See, the kid never actually threatened anyone. His little rap song was directed at no one. He even made not as himself, but as his play-pretend rapper persona.

      That goofy song of his is actually a very healthy way for him to deal with his feelings of powerlessness. Children (and even some adults) do this all the time. It's perfectly normal.

      A cute example: My wife and I were watching a friends 4-year-old. We used to keep crabs, which the little fellow really enjoyed watching -- even though he was a little bit frighted by them. To deal with those feelings, he told me about the giant robot crab that eats other crabs but (and this is the important part) doesn't eat people.

      How would you prefer that this young suburban rapper deal with his feelings? Write a story, sing a song, paint a picture, etc. or rob a store, bully other kids, do drugs, etc.?

    4. Re:Twenty years in prison seems excessive by muridae · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My notebooks from highschool were filled with that sort of stuff. Listen to anything from the early goth to late industrial music, from the Cure through NIN to Assemblage 23, and some of the lyrics would disturb anyone. Metal music has entire genres devoted to it.

      Point being, writing is therapy for some people. Putting the hate, rage, depression, anger, isolation, abuse, whatever into words makes it real. That's a reason writing therapy, and music therapy, are proven counseling methods. Getting those emotions out, on paper, where they can be looked at and understood is a good thing, I agree. But it can be counseling too.

  4. NRA sedition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The very same day, the head of the NRA said that all americans should be trained in automatic weapons for the eventual day when we have to take over our government.

    That was actually a multi-billion dollar statement in terms of cost to the US.

    Why? because now all those people who hold security positions and had to sign that they had never belonged to an organization that advocated the violent overthorow of the US govt will have to be re-investigated if they continue to belong to the NRA.

    It's basically sedition.

    1. Re:NRA sedition by russotto · · Score: 5, Informative

      What you said:
      "The very same day, the head of the NRA said that all americans should be trained in automatic weapons for the eventual day when we have to take over our government."

      What NRA President Jim Porter ACTUALLY said:
      "And I am one who still feels very strongly that that is one of our most greatest charges that we can have today, is to train the civilian in the use of the standard military firearm, so that when they have to fight for their country theyâ(TM)re ready to do it. Also, when theyâ(TM)re ready to fight tyranny, theyâ(TM)re ready to do it. Also, when theyâ(TM)re ready to fight tyranny, they have the wherewithal and the weapons to do it."

      So training, yes. With automatic weapons, yes. But to take over our government... well, are you suggesting we're living in a tyranny, tovarisch?

      So no, the NRA is still not in that category of organizations which advocates the violent overthrow of the United States government. Nice try, though.

    2. Re:NRA sedition by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Informative

      This may surprise you but world history cannot be acurately modeled by polarised US domestic politics.

      Neither Hitler nor Stalin were socialists, they were both ruthless totalitarian dictators, what's more they were expert propogandists, so much so that the majority of their people worshiped them (particularly Stalin who set himself up as a demigod). They didn't disarm their people they gave them "inhumane" enemies, weapons, and 20 million graves. The Nazis found so many enemies that by the end of the war one in every two native germans had spent time in a Nazi prison.

      Dictators cannot survive without the tacit support of the society they control. Dictatorial control is all about human phycology it has nothing to do with right/left politics, google "Stanford Prison expereriments" and realise that just like everybody else on the planet you also have a potential torturer/victim burried deep within your phyche. These natural human behaviours are waiting for the right environmental context to take over your thoughts and actions (Abu Graib is a recent example).

      I see two problems in the US, the first is the overt and shrill propoganda coming from certain sections of the media, in a just society their manevolent lies would be a source of embarrasment but many people do exactly the opposite and swallow the ludicrous comparison of Bush/Obama to Hitler/Stalin. This serves to demonstrate how effective propoganda is in the US.

      The second problem is the willingness of the US to lock up it's own citizens, it has the highest incarceration rate in the world, higher than China and 7X that of the EU. A very strong indication that the US is not listening to what their own research has been telling them for 40yrs.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    3. Re:NRA sedition by SerpentMage · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Here is people like you don't get!

      The Connecticut shooter was a good guy UNTIL he pulled the trigger. The Colorado shooter was a good guy UNTIL he pulled the trigger! All of you NRA nutballs thinks that if we somehow manage to isolate the bad guys then the good guys can take them down like a shoot out in the OK corral! The reality is that the bad guys come from the pool we call the good guys. We only know they are bad once they have done their act.

      Simply put it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep the guns out of the bad guys because they are the good guys to start off with. Yes yes some bad guys are bad guys and are able to get guns. But I ask you a simple question, how the eff did they bad guys get a gun in the first place?

      Think hard about this. Smith Wesson (good guy) makes a gun, exchange, exchange, exchange, shooter (bad guy) kills person. We started this chain with a good guy and ended up with a bad guy. How did this happen? According to the NRA it was pixie dust where the gun magically appeared and no good guy was responsible foe it. This is why gun control is not only needed, it is an absolute for it is the good guys that are coopting our society, not the bad guys doing the action. Because bad guys are just that bad guys, but it is the good guys that do business with the bad guys that are the real problems.

      --

      "You can't make a race horse of a pig"
      "No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
  5. that's nothing, i saw three movies recently by decora · · Score: 5, Insightful

    where the white house gets attacked. why dont we lock those fillmakers up? or at least those actors spewing those hateful lines.

  6. Re:News For Nerds? by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dystopian fiction has always been an interesting topic for nerds. I mean, I'm pretty sure all of us have at least read one or two good dystopian novels that have changed our ways of thinking (1984, Brave New World, We, Anthem, The Time Machine, A Clockwork Orange, etc.) and so when we see the dystopian future that we hoped only existed in the realm of fiction (or at least somewhere other than the US and Western Europe) happening in our backyard, it becomes a discussion point.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  7. Re:NRA sedition^H^H^H patriotism by Xenx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Armed citizenry is kind of how we broke free and ultimately formed the nation. Just because it wasn't specifically against the US government, it isn't any less valid.

  8. Re:Hmm. by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really? How many "hate criminals" are shipped off to Gitmo without a trial?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Re:NRA sedition^H^H^H patriotism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Armed citizenry is kind of how we broke free and ultimately formed the nation. Just because it wasn't specifically against the US government, it isn't any less valid.

    And the French Army, which is a small detail overlooked by libertarian revisionists.

  10. Re:Hmm. by NicBenjamin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's the double-standard:
    Every holy book has brutally violent sections. In the Old Testament God orders genocide more then once. Which means that if you think Islam has to be singled out due to it's violent nature you also think that Judaism, and the third Abrahamic religion (Christianity) need singling out. And in the US the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims are pretty much everyone. It should also be noted that all three religions are explicitly anti-freedom in their holy books. God never lays out a freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc. in the Old Testament. He simply says "Do this Jew-boy, or I will find a really creative fucking way to make you suffer." He doesn't create a Congress to balance the Kings of Judea. He just makes David a King. Then Jesus shows up and he doesn't say "Only obey the Emperor when the Emperor respects this list of your freedoms," he says "give the Emperor whatever the fuck he wants."

    In other words, you really don't want to have a debate over whether the Koran is more anti-freedom then your Holy Book. It may very well be, but the simple fact is that it doesn't really matter. Just as modern Christians and Jews engage in mental gymnastics to justify obeying three branches of government when God clearly establishes a King and no Legislature, Muslims can reason their way around a Hadith.

    Moreover you're missing her point:
    When's the last time you heard of a Neonazi attack called terrorism? What about the Klan? Both groups exist solely to terrorize large proportions of the American people, but they are never identified as terrorists. In fact the most successful terror-campaign in US History was the Klan's campaign against blacks in the aftermath of Reconstruction. Before the Klan started several southern states were majority black. They managed to get 20 point drops in the black population throughout the South.

  11. Re:NRA sedition^H^H^H patriotism by NicBenjamin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Armed citizenry was part of it, but you're missing a lot. The Prussian Drill Washington instituted under Baron von Steuben was the antithesis of Armed Citizens, and even with an Armed Citizenry and an actual army Washington couldn't win until after Admiral de Grasse delivered the historic coup de grasse at the battle of Chesepeake. Armed citizens could make it difficult for the British to hold territory, but they simply could not drive the British out.

    And that was in the days when 100 guys with hunting rifles were better-armed then 100 combat troops with military-grade weapons. Nowadays military technology has moved on. A guy with a rifle is not a threat to any modern Army. What they fear are roadside bombs, IEDs, and similar devices.

  12. Re:NRA sedition^H^H^H patriotism by NicBenjamin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do you mean 1776? Because the change in government in 1774 was the creation of Congress, and if Congress is the "rogue element," that an Armed Citizenry is supposed to fight then the Armed Citizenry lost.

    If you're trying to refer to 1776, as I mentioned in another post we couldn't have won that war without a professional army, the French Navy, and French money to pay for it all.

    Even if you give the Armed Citizenry 100% credit, you have to ask how they'd beat the US Army today?

    The Taliban have weapons orders of magnitude better then anything that has even been legal in the US because they have RPGs. Their backup weapon is better then anything currently street-legal in the US (fully auto AKs are not street legal). And yet most of their successful attacks are IEDs.

    Military technology is changed. As a weapon today the rifle is where the sword was in 1860-65. It's useful militarily in certain tactical situations, but basing your entire tyranny-prevention policy on rifles...

  13. Re:Hmm. by anagama · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Being called a terrorist or avoiding that label all comes down to who and what you are.

    Glenn Greenwald has been commenting on this issue for a while with respect to the disparate law enforcement treatment Muslims receive in general, and specifically most recently in the way the Boston bombers have been labeled terrorists before there is any real knowledge of motive.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/22/boston-marathon-terrorism-aurora-sandy-hook

    Can acts of violence be deemed "terrorism" without knowing the motive?

    This is far more than a semantic question. Whether something is or is not "terrorism" has very substantial political implications, and very significant legal consequences as well. The word "terrorism" is, at this point, one of the most potent in our political lexicon: it single-handedly ends debates, ratchets up fear levels, and justifies almost anything the government wants to do in its name. It's hard not to suspect that the only thing distinguishing the Boston attack from Tucson, Aurora, Sandy Hook and Columbine (to say nothing of the US "shock and awe" attack on Baghdad and the mass killings in Fallujah) is that the accused Boston attackers are Muslim and the other perpetrators are not. As usual, what terrorism really means in American discourse - its operational meaning - is: violence by Muslims against Americans and their allies. For the manipulative use of the word "terrorism", see the scholarship of NYU's Remi Brulin and the second-to-last section here.

    --
    What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  14. Re:NRA sedition^H^H^H patriotism by jpatters · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This.

    The thing that will prevent tyranny is an educated populace, and the political faction most associated with the NRA is the same faction that is trying to gut education in this country.

    They want everyone ignorant and afraid, so they can sell more guns.

    --
    "Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
  15. Re:NRA sedition^H^H^H patriotism by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Even if you give the Armed Citizenry 100% credit, you have to ask how they'd beat the US Army today?"

    Members of the United States armed forces are also CITIZENS of this land. Each of them has a home, located in some city or town, located in some state or another. Each of them (well, the overwhelming majority, anyway) has loved ones, whom they probably value more than they value the US government.

    I'll remind you of General Robert E. Lee, who didn't want to see the states fight each other - but decided that if there were to be a fight, he would fight for his home state of Virginia.

    If revolution should happen, you cannot rely on the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force to remain intact as fighting units, to be used against the people of the United States. Nor can you rely on the government's ability to retain control over all the hardware, command infrastructure, or much of anything else.

    For this reason, and others, the Department of Homeland Security was formed. The government hopes to retain control of DHS if and when the shit hits the fan. Unfortunately for the government - DHS consists of mostly incompetent buffoons, far less capable than agents from any other agency. Further, the loyalty of Napolitano's troops remain untested.

    Anyone can sit around and make up scenarios about how a revolution would evolve, and the results of said revolution. History proves one thing: civil wars are fucking MESSY!!

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br