Slashdot Mirror
Teenage League of Legends Player Jailed For Months For Facebook Joke
Kohath writes "Eighteen-year-old Justin Carter of Austin, Texas was arguing with a friend on Facebook about League of Legends back in February. After being called 'insane,' he responded with 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts.' Below that, he wrote 'lol' and 'jk.' He was arrested March 27, 2013 and has been in jail since that time. A hearing to review his case is scheduled for July 1, 2013. His parents have launched a change.org petition to convince the authorities to release their son."
He wasn't actually making a direct threat at any place or thing...just shooting off his mouth.
Sad that you can be arrested for just a general saying of something.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
A teenager being sarcastic? No way that *never* happens.
I was wondering why that black van was parked in front of my house for the past 2 weeks. My wife offered them some coffee, and they just pointed guns at her. Maybe I shouldn't go back home anytime soon.
sudo make me a sandwich
The statements “lol” and “jk” — meaning “laughing out loud” and “just kidding” — indicate that Justin’s statement was entirely sarcastic, said his father.
But a Canadian woman who saw the post looked up Carter’s Austin address, determined that it was near an elementary school, and called the police.
Fucking Canadians...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Here in the US it is impossible to take two steps forward without taking a step and a half back.
This week has been pretty scary in those regards...
Week? Last decade, surely.
More Twoson than Cupertino
A Change.org petition? Do people still think those have any relevance to the people they petition? Has a Change.org petition ever had any meaningful effect?
I'm surprised it's come to this. I was sure that when I went back and read the summary more carefully, it was going to be Australia or the UK, not Austin, TX.
Who in their right mind viewed that as a credible threat?
I had a sucky sig.
On top of the people actually hurt, we are happy to create some more needless suffering.
Your tax dollars at work here people.
"Because we are not employing at entry level, offshoring will kill our industry stone dead."
The real shame here is that we're hearing about this now, after the kid's been in jail for 3 months. WTF?
And Iran are the same place.
and lack of concern for privacy. Why should facebook posts by a teen in Austin TX even be visible to a woman in Canada?
Really, how could he get away with saying something like this:
eat their still, beating hearts.
That is entirely the wrong place to put a comma. How could a heart be both still and beating? If you really have to have some kind of punctuation there, "still-beating heart" would be acceptable.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
In case anyone wonders what crime he could be accused of with those words, from the article: "Authorities charged him with making a terrorist threat. If convicted, he will face eight years in prison."
I also found this bit from the article hilarious: "“Justin was the kind of kid who didn’t read the newspaper,” said [father] Jack Carter. “He didn’t watch television. He wasn’t aware of current events. These kids, they don’t realize what they’re doing. They don’t understand the implications. They don’t understand.”
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
The teen's stupid, the woman's human waste, and... the authorities don't know what jk means. When he gets out I hope they sue for 1st amendment rights violations. Whoever issued that warrant is the real monster here.
His parents have launched a change.org petition to convince the authorities to release their son.
Perhaps his parents should understand the difference between local, state, and federal governmental jurisdictions and spend their time more wisely if they want their son released.
Jailing someone for misplaced comma? If it were a bad use of the apostrophe, I could understand. But a comma?
"Why should facebook posts by a teen in Austin TX even be visible to a woman in Canada?"
Why shouldn't they? Unless he marked his post private or friends only, anyone can see it.
Common sense should tell you that.
Contrast that to Alec Baldwin, who was making a direct threat: Alec Baldwin Melts Down On Twitter, Threatens To 'F*ck Up' Reporter
http://gawker.com/alec-baldwin-melts-down-on-twitter-threatens-to-fuck-604856776
I wonder if the rich still have their rights?
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
"is something wrong with a statement "18 year old teenager". I kinda thought "teenagers" ended right about 16, "
SevenTEEN
EighTEEN
NineTEEN
Exactly. Wtf does "still, beating hearts" even mean? Are they still? Or are they beating?
(THB it seems like this kid writes by taking phrases he's heard from other people and chains them together without actually reading the words.)
Land of the sensational, home of the afraid.
For me teenagers includes eighteen and nineteen ;)
Yes, he should know when not to say the bad things! You might not know what they are, so be careful and keep your mouth shut!
Except it wasn't a direct threat.
He's a sociopath, huh? How'd you figure that one out?
And now he's mentally ill?
Hasn't stopped you from casting judgement.
Therefore no amount of abusive, oppressive investigation and imprisonment is too much!
That is, as long as you have money upfront for expensive lawyers ($500/hr kind, or up from there), or you're lucky enough to find a large law firm willing to take your case on a contingency basis.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
In other news Obama is supporting Syrian rebels who actually did eat the heart of their victims. It is Obama's fault for promoting cannibalism.
The science seems to show that the brain doesn't fully develop until around 24, so most psychologists consider anyone up to 24 or so to still be an "adolescent". That's judging by a person's ability to make decisions where they have to weigh future benefits against immediate benefits. Mature people (over 24) make more logical decisions regarding, e.g., investments, risk, etc.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
This is the age when the humorless will finally get their revenge.
Be aware, we are on to you!
That's what I wondered too, actually....
The only way the phrase "still, beating hearts" makes any sense at all is if you take away the comma, so it refers to "still beating hearts", or rather, hearts that are still beating.
Of course, that doesn't make sense in context that he used the expression because unless one is some sort voodoo master from the Temple of Doom, you're not going to have a heart that's still beating once it has been removed from a body.
But then again, he might not have ever intended to be taken so seriously.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
dr/tl: Only if the government decides to even accept the case. If he's held by the state, then he may be able to sue. Otherwise he's screwed/blued and tattooed.
Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
SixTEEN, sevenTEEN, eighTEEN, nineTEEN... Regardless, it's legal to discriminate against young people in the USA, so you're essentially treated as a child (unless you commit a crime, of course) until you're at least 21.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Fallacy: Slippery slope argument.
How can you say that considering all the bullshit coming out of Washington, DC lately? The government always abusing their power? The NSA was able to get away with it for so long because of abuse of the PATRIOT Act. The TSA is constantly going way beyond their original purpose.
The Slippery Slope argument is not only true but it is a fact.
Actually, I can't think of when it's NOT true.
No, but he will once he has a pilot's licence for his ROFLCOPTER.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
Isn't it curious! Hollywood makes 'fiction' where characters behave in the most vile ways imaginable, but no-one in Hollywood ever fears arrest. For you cretins that say this is different, there is ZERO concept in the USA of either a state-sanctioned journalist or state-sanctioned creator of appropriate fiction.
When Justin Carter wrote his post, he actually (although in law this is NOT required) went the extra mile to ensure readers would know it was a work of fiction (jokes and satire are a form of fiction). Now a cretin, shill or troll will now trot out the old "can't shout 'fire' in a theatre if there is no fire". Of course, we all know there are malicious circumstances where "it was just a joke" doesn't cut it. Bomb threats, or robbing a bank with a fictional gun come to mind.
However, where a person is rightfully prosecuted for issuing a threat, one of two factors must be present. Malicious intent or criminally careless behaviour. Irritating an official satisfies neither of these circumstances.
Sadly, monsters have worked to get the public accepting a police-state approach to enforcement, allowing (especially young) people to be taken out simply for saying the 'wrong' thing regardless of circumstance. This started with people making clear and obvious jokes at security stations in airports. Courts convicted on the basis on non-existent criminal principles with general public approval (the old 'lynch mob' or 'burn the witch' mentality.
The real game here is compliance conditioning. The sheeple are supposed to think only those state-approved zionists on the idiot box have free speech. Free speech by proxy. You choose your free-speech 'representative' (right-wing, left-wing, radical, etc) and only he or she has the freedom to express 'difficult' concepts. You, the sheeple, on the other hand, do NOT get to express 'difficult' ideas. Team Obama says "where's the problem- every type of opinion occurs in our free press".
Free speech by proxy is never free speech. Arresting certain groups of people for creating fiction, while allowing zionist Hollywood to express any form of outrageous fiction is disgusting, but how else is Team Obama supposed to groom a nation to cheer a rolling program of geocidal wars in the Middle-East.
The parents ought to submit a filing to the court with just one thing in it: a photocopy of the page from the dictionary with the definition of "sarcasm" highlighted, and the comment "Apparently the <SARCASM> tags in his post failed to render correctly.".
I think it's time to start pranking the authorities mercilessly and without respite. They want to be Dolores Umbridge, they need the same treatment.
I'm gonna go shoot up a school, perhaps bomb wall street and throw M80's at the white house
jk
jk = just killing
There done. Come get me, faggots.
Can't; your too much of a coward to show your handle.
The correct way to make pissy threats at people is not to threaten their mortal life. E.g.
For Jusus FUCKing Christ people, I will pray to god everyday that when you meet your maker, you are given a 1-way, express trip, to the inner most circle of hell where demons will eat your still beating heart as you are drinking pure lava all while having to listen to Justin Beaver.
beating hearts. Misplaced comma and all. And by "their" I refer to anyone who ever supported any legislation involving "terrorism". Absolutely fucking disgusting.
/me looks over at the U.S. Government.
Yeah, I'm not posting this AC. Because we shouldn't be scared of saying keywords or using goddamn sarcasm.
As kids like this might say, COME AT ME BRO.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
That's kind of my point. If you don't care about privacy and broadcast everything for everyone to see, you end up with some nutjob lady getting so upset about a joke she calls local authorities who are too stupid to recognize a joke and this mess happens. Idiocy is easily avoided by avoiding other people.
One hundred thirTEEN...
Another example of our freedoms being taken away under the guise of fighting terrorism. Sickening.
not jk.
First they came for the jokers with bad taste standing in line waiting to be strip scanned or sexually molested. We said little, did nothing...
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
nonsense, anyone can make a statement like that. something is wrong between your ears, you are the one needing mental evaluation as you are a psychological marshmallow.
Besides the last Cease and Desist Order, the last ./ reported stupid American trials belong to Texas.
No, they are MOST CERTAINLY NOT "damned if they do and damned f they don't". There is a big difference between doing an ACTUAL INVESTIGATION, and arresting someone without any critical thought or due process.
If any actual critical thinking was applied here, this kid would not be arrested.
No one has a problem with the police investigating threats. They are not "damned if they do". The problem starts when they just go off arresting people without any thoughts on if, you know, they actually meant whatever was being written.
So is this kid from Houston or Austin? I've read it both ways. One of my wife's co-workers had a problem with the pizza delivery guy. Her husband made some choice comments to the little jack-ass. Later that night the cops came a-knockin'. Threw the guy in jail. The little bastard pressed charges of making a terrorist threat. This was in Houston. So no big surprise with this story. The only shocking thing is that we didn't hear about it three months ago.
HPD and friends have a history of shitty things like this. Just last Christmas an off-duty sheriff shot and killed a shoplifter in a Walmart parking lot. He claimed they were trying to run him over. I got pulled over for going 35 in a 35, because it was "almost time" for it to be a school zone. They arrested hundreds at a parking lot for trespassing even though some of them were actually eating at Sonic or shopping at Kmart.
Why does it matter that they were arguing about LoL? That seems like a really extraneous detail.
You either didn't read the article (or the summary, or even the headline very well), or I'm confused as to what point you're making, since that's a different kid.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
So what happens if everyone starts Tweeting jokey threats in response to these charges? Maybe it's happening already - I don't Tweet, or Twitterise, or whatever you'd call it.
But I think I will get drunk and go beat up some midgets.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
If we have a right, the government can not just claim "saftey first!" and subjugate that right, just because they say. If they can then we never had any rights to begin with and we have a larger problem
Greet your friend named Jack in an airport by saying, "Hi Jack." You'll get a similar response.
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
I agree with others that since there's neither a direct threat nor any intent to harm anyone (quite obvously, I might add), this kid should not be in jail. However, his parents (not the government or the police) should take away his computer for being so stupid. People these days just don't think about the consequences of their actions. This reminds me of that MIT student who went to the airport with a "fake bomb" strapped to her chest. It wasn't a fake bomb, but she damn well should have known better than to think that TSA grunts were going to know the difference.
See, if you're trying to make a political statement, then it's sometimes necessary to do something like this. Like if you're trying to expose flaws in the TSA scanning systems or demonstrate principles of free speech. But that is NOT what these kids were trying to do at all. They were just being stupid and would have been better off doing something different. All they accomplished was to make things difficult for themselves. What I mean is, if you're going to tick off the authorities, do it for a REASON, with a meaningful and productive goal in mind, with your ass covered (i.e. your plan documented with your attorney) in the (likely) event that you get arrested. When the authorities inevitably screw up, they look stupid. Ticking off the authorities "by accident" like this just makes YOU look stupid.
This is way too Orwellian and although terrorism is bad, mm'kay, we better find a way to determine the real threats versus the non-real threats. Not too just protect people and their potential futures (which this kid now has none). But, also to not overburden the system with a bunch of gamers saying $h!t.
I not only hope that they dismiss the case, but, purge his record entirely. He won't even be able to get a public trust clearance with this.
Land of the Free... and the Home of the Brave??? Ha!
For once I actually RTFA, because I couldn't think of a crime this kid could have been charged with. He is charged with "making a terroristic threat."
Then I wondered what that means, feeling a bit surprised that this kid's actions could be interpreted as a terroristic threat (though, I think we can all agree that sometimes summaries on /. and descriptions in news can be innaccurate, which may very well be the case here), so I found this summary of the common elements of the crime of "making a terroristic threat":
http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/making-a-terrorist-threat.html
Basically, my conclusion is that, yes, we should all be afraid--This is getting into "thought crime" territory.
Not to be "that guy", but really it should be "still beating" or "still-beating" hearts, and not: still, beating hearts. The later of the examples is just silly sounding.
...but it's for The Children.
But where? It sucks when the most armed country in the world goes. It's like being locked up in a cell with Hannibal Lector. You know things won't end up well for you.
I applaud your efforts, but you then hid behind "Anonymous Coward", thus feeding into the very hysteria you're trying to avoid.
But then you turn around and insult how few people were killed in Newtown so I guess you're just trying to be SuPeR eDgY
The ones that go on rampages, though, aren't merely saying stupid things. They were doing lots of stuff in addition to what they were saying, stuff that should've raised the red flags. You're demonstrating the very problem that causes those massacres: people in a position to do something about them getting "target fixation", focusing so much on one single thing that they completely ignore all the other warnings blaring because those warnings aren't the one single thing they're concentrating on.
Agreed. I read the articles. The story has nothing to do with the game at all, yet the articles (and Slashdot) highlight the game in their titles and pictures because the guy plays the game at times. If the guy happened to have a collection of postage stamps, would the media write their headlines as "Teenage Stamp Collector Jailed For Months For Facebook Joke"?
The officials who oversaw this debacle should be relieved of office by the taxpayers. Enough is enough. If you can't parse reality, if you can't understand multi-syllabic words like "hyperbole" then please do the taxpayers of Texas a favor and find a job for yourself that doesn't require you to.
Perhaps become a Sunday morning commentator.
That's judging by a person's ability to make decisions where they have to weigh future benefits against immediate benefits.
I guess by that logic the voting age should be 24. Long term benefits vs short term benefits are a very important factor in deciding who to vote for. That is the problem with magic numbers. Yes the brain might not be fully developed before 24 but it does not switch from no ability weigh future benefits against immediate benefits to complete ability to weigh future benefits against immediate benefits. It is a transition and that ability should be well enough developed in an 18 year to understand that a threat against a school is not a good thing. It comes down to this, the brain does not need to be completely developed to be responsible for one's actions.
He posted it in February, and then was jailed March 27th? That's some good police work, right there.
Is it me, or is something wrong with a statement "18 year old teenager". I kinda thought "teenagers" ended right about 16
You thought wrong.
In any case, "j/k" and "lol" does not excuse a sociopath, nor does it guarantee that a mentally ill person will not actually act upon the threat.
Sorry, but almost all teens are sociopaths. It's part of the shitty environment they're put through in school. Hell, I know a lot of adult sociopaths that are fully functioning members of society.
It behooves the authorities to search for CONTEXT as well.
As anybody with any semblance of consciousness understands that zero tolerance is bullshit, first to last. And that context makes all the difference.
Yes, consciousness. As only someone asleep or brain dead could imagine zero tolerance was any sort of reasonable policy.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Mature people (over 24) make more logical decisions regarding, e.g., investments, risk, etc.
And yet many of them still act like imbeciles who think the terrorist/pedophile/communist bogeyman is going to get them unless the government takes away some of our rights. Speaking as a 31 year old, many adults may as well be adolescents; it wouldn't make much of a difference.
The issue is that the target has no way of proving the threat is not credible and may react as if it is. Many extortion plots have no actual way of being carried out but they work because it is possible for them to work. For example, I could see someone going into a hotel room with some other than the spouse, assume sex was going on and threaten the person with showing the spouse sex tapes. I have no sex tapes but the person does not know that because it is possible that they exist. The threat is the issue not whether or not the person making the threat can carry it out.
dr/tl: Only if the government decides to even accept the case. If he's held by the state, then he may be able to sue. Otherwise he's screwed/blued and tattooed.
at this point they're holding him to get a plea deal where he admits to it and doesn't get any more time - so that they don't have to lose in court.
technically his right for a speedy trial has been trumped as well. when cops do that to teenagers it's always to get them to confess something to other, because they almost always will, just to get the fuck out or because the man told them to. kudos for him if actually read the interrogation logs and checked that they didn't add what they wanted to it.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Why is this chap still in jail?
I've read the articles. Maybe my Google-Fu is weak today. But I cannot find anything that explicitly states why either he was denied bail or the bail was set ludicrously high.
Having to go to court for this is silly enough. But did a judge seriously deem this teen so much a threat as to deny him bail? I'd really like to know because it would seem to me a judge is who should have added some sanity to this issue.
Of course the NSA sees everything regardless of privacy settings. So unless you trust the US government, it's probably best not to post anything that would be interpreted [by a moron] as a threat.
...have become the 'Stranger Danger' adults and these adults are so weak-minded that things like this happen all the time.
All. The. Time.
The enemy of my enemy is quite possibly also my enemy. I've made a lot of enemies.
If you get to 113 then you see how many people complain about you acting with no empathy and staying in bed until 11am.
Slippery slope is a fallacy only when there is no evidence that the slope exists.
It's well produce proven that government will in fact stretch any powers they are given to the limit. As example, the US federal government was given the power to regulate commerce between the states. Based on that power, they made it illegal to grow vegetables in your home garden, for you to eat. There's nothing interstate about that, and no commerce, but nevertheless govt did that under the interstate commerce clause.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn
In any case, "j/k" and "lol" does not excuse a sociopath, nor does it guarantee that a mentally ill person will not actually act upon the threat. It would, of course, be better if authorities investigated this faster and, hopefully, found that no such threat exists.
Aside from that, we don't know all the circumstances of the case (except for what one side with vested interest tells us). Perhaps such threat does really exist.
It's possible a credible threat existed, but it's pretty unlikely. It's reasonable that the police may make contact following an international notification, but an arrest seems excessive, let alone several months imprisonment.
Texas, where saying something in bad taste is a felony?
Hope they have a lot of prisons! ;)
jk lol
Imagine, trying to raise a child in Texas. In TEXAS! What are they thinking of.
That would be correct. You can only sue the government if they allow you to do so.
Isn't that nice?
Love sees no species.
He wasn't making a threat in jest. He was making a joking interpretation of the word "insane", which had been wrongly applied to him. The point was to underscore the absurdity of the insult. And underscore it he did, with a bright highlighter across the entire state of Texas and the sadistic government operations that go under the banner of "law enforcement" there.
Why is this just now being reported?
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
He's a sociopath, huh? How'd you figure that one out?
And now he's mentally ill?
I did not say that either of those things are true. What I *did* say is that either of those things are *possible*. Hence, there is a need for investigation which, as far as I can tell, is ongoing. It is possible that they found something we did not.
Hasn't stopped you from casting judgement.
I provided no judgement. Rather, I specified what possible options are there (among with "completely innocent", obviously).
If and when more information becomes available - I may form a more specific opinion. I wish the required slashdot raging would be reserved until such time as well.
What a load of crap. No reasonable person would believe that to be a real threat. WTF is wrong with you in the head?
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
In China?
ya?lol say that to all the dead kids parents of all the murdered kids. im betting they wish someone took this kinds dumbass statement serious. And no reasonable NORMAL person would say that trash, well maybe you would since you think its ok to say. Go crawl back into your hole troll.
Jack of all trades,master of none
I see lots of comments about the 'garbage coming out of DC these days'. Is it really the politicians causing events like this though? I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, our government has been having a field day using terorism as an excuse to grab new powers and erode our freedoms. But.. locking up some dumb kid who said the wrong thing of Facebook? I don't see how that even directly benefits any of the self-serving politicians. I doubt very many of them care one way or another what happens to this kid.
So, why are these things happening? Who is really to blame? It's the whole country!
Crazy people do horrible horrible things and the media happily serves the details, tears and all to the rest of the nation. Then... (and here is where I see things really beginning to break down) people are shocked by it. Please.. don't get me wrong, I don't mean to dishonour the victims by taking lightly what has been done to them. But... we shouldn't be so shocked every time we see tragedy on the news. The US is a big place with a lot of people. And.. some percentage of any population is batshit insane. So... bad things do happen.
Then... all of these shocked people demand that something must be done. All logic and reason goes out the window, it is just a big emotional scream for action. What would one possibly do to make 311 million people inhabiting 3.79 million square miles of space totally safe from one another? Sorry, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. The politicians know this. If they don't know it coming in to office for the first time (naive) I'm sure they learn it very soon after. But... they care about re-election. They are elected by all of these shocked people who are demanding action. So we get zero tolerance laws. Yay! I feel safer now!
Then there are the enforcers. Another thing you are guaranteed to find among any population of more than a few people is people who crave power over others and a feeling of authority. And... what kind of personality is going to be most attracted to the prosecutor's position? The kind that just wants to live and let live? Yeah... right! So.. they take these crappy laws and use them to lock up dumb (and I do mean dumb) kids that run their mouths in the wrong way. But.. hey America... you got what you wanted, they did something!!
So.. remember this when bad stuff happens. Encourage your politicians to support law enforcement finding the crazy who hurt people and making an example of them... GOOD! Pushing for new laws and action for action's sake.. BAD!!
People say silly things all the time. That's why most related laws have a "reasonable man" test: would a reasonable man believe the statement?
I understand that you oppose free speech and love giving the government the power to protect you, you might want consider that your chance of being a victim of a mass shooting or other terrorist activity is statistically insignificant (less than the chance of being stuck by lightning, and vastly less risk than ladders), while the risk of government abusing whatever power you give it is a near certainty.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I wish the required slashdot raging would be reserved until such time as well.
And I'm sure Justin Carter wishes he weren't being held in jail until that time.
This kid must be thinking so many bad things about society in general right now that when/if he gets out of jail, it would be no surprise if he actually plans to get even. Mr. Osama must be happy that the US authorities are carrying out his plan.
none
I've said way worse things, just as sarcastically. I've learned not to say things like YES, I AM TOTALLY A TERRORIST, I HAVE BOMBS ALL OVER MY PERSON while in an airplane, but I can't possibly imagine anyone arresting me for posting that on a freaking internet site.
I AM TOTALLY A TERRORIST, I HAVE BOMBS ALL OVER MY PERSON.
(No. No I do not.)
What he said was not silly or funny. So your made up test is worthless. Its used for pornography. I am for free speech and I VOTE so you dont have a fucking clue about me. And Our constitution doesn't protect the kinda speech that dumass made. Just like you cant threaten the president so there is no such thing as total free speech never was nor will be allowed to make threats. As i said that dumbass put himself in the position he is in now no matter how much YOU sugar coat what he said. You dont have the right to say BOMB nor do you have the right to say im going to off kids. To think other wise is unreasonable
Jack of all trades,master of none
I was going to say "damn!", but that implies condemning people to an eternity of destruction in a lake of fire with no chance of redemption. Not sure how the authorities might interpret that.
It has nothing to do with what he wrote - that's just a pretext. It's about money. You're being jailed for non-crimes because some rich fucks are profitting of it. Since your penitentiary system has been "reformed" (privatized) in 80s, number of people jailed in the US has risen ten fold. Does anyone in his right mind believe that people suddenly started commiting 10 times more crimes than before ? Or is it just prison industry lobbying to incriminate more and more people in order to increase its profits ? Sorry to say this but your "justice" system looks more and more like nazi Germany used to look like. They also had corporations profitting of breaking human lives (and murdering them in later stages).
It was one of my favorite lines, as Johnny pulls out a revolver with a barrel about 3 feet long: "It shoots through schools..."
Although clearly inappropriate, I'm disgusted that it's now illegal to say certain words... even in jest. This country is falling apart faster and faster.
I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
If Justin Carter was really arrested and held for four months on the basis of a stupid joke on Facebook, then there's plenty of reason to be outraged. But I've got a feeling that we're not getting the facts. If you Google this story, you'll see that all of the articles are traced back to one short, badly sourced article by KHOU in Houston. There isn't a single independent source for this article that I could find. And nothing from a news organization that might be considered reliable. So maybe Justin Carter is really getting a raw deal and we should be storming the castle. Or maybe the facts are different. Who knows, I'm not even sure that Justin Carter even exists.
Having played online games, I'm pretty sure millons need to be arrested for potential rapists, since I've heard lots of insults regarding fucking people's mums!
he did not threaten any particular person. you are imagining things not there. people joke like that all the time without intention to harm anyone.
All three of them.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
What's so stupid in being able to use basic literate decides, like sarcasm?
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
No, see, that's the whole POINT of the 1st Amendment - you ARE supposed to be able to say dumb statements like that, and it should only be able to be considered making a "terrorist threat" if there is even the most remote shred of evidence or proof it could have been serious. Given the police didn't even QUESTION the kid until a month after they imprisoned him it's pretty clear they didn't care about said proof.
Is it me, or is something wrong with a statement "18 year old teenager". I kinda thought "teenagers" ended right about 16
You only get so many characters to write a headline on Slashdot. "Eighteen-year-old" didn't fit. It's not ambiguous at all because of the very first line in the summary.
In any case, "j/k" and "lol" does not excuse a sociopath
Sure it does. Sociopaths have precisely the same free speech rights as everyone else.
nor does it guarantee that a mentally ill person will not actually act upon the threat.
Life offers few guarantees. The future is unknown.
It would, of course, be better if authorities investigated this faster and, hopefully, found that no such threat exists.
Yes, because locking up an innocent guy for months for a joke is supremely unjust and, for lack of a better word, evil.
Aside from that, we don't know all the circumstances of the case (except for what one side with vested interest tells us). Perhaps such threat does really exist.
I'll reserve my raging for something else, if you do not mind.
Got it. Locking up people for months, without a trial, for (something that seems like) a joke on a Facebook page is something you take lightly.
Ah, I see, you support free speech as long as that speech does not offend you. How nice.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Dear FBI: Stan92057 just said "BOMB .. I'm going to off kids". Just to be safe, please lock him up until this can be cleared up. Thanks.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Wait. This kid makes a threat to kill schoolchildren, and she's the "nutjob"?
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
This is in the grey area of yelling "fire" in a theater. If the school was evacuated or went on lock down as a result, that's people's time and money being expended and that's damaging.
I don't really get what they have here though, thus the statement about the DOJ monster, it sounds like a case of a totalitarian execution of power by LEOs and a fat judge. When is enough enough? For a DOJ employee ruining a kids life the sentence should be nothing less than life in the confines they've created.
FIFY.
You know how I know you watch a lot of TeeVee news and/or read Fox.com? Because you're all worked up over a non-existent crisis.
Yeah, right.
That's the authorities basis:
“In light of recent situations, statements such as the one Justin made are taken seriously,” said an Austin police detective in a statement.
Yelling fire in a theater would be the dark side here, while his situation is in the grey, so it sounds like you don't understand what a grey area is, but that's ok. Still, that statement by the PD is circumstantial, last I heard people didn't go to jail for circumstantial statements. The whole situation smells of abuse of power.
Wow, literally every sentence you wrote is wrong, illogical, and/or inconsistent. Amazing. I couldn't have pulled that off if I tried.
weinersmith
In Soviet Russia, You don't have a legal right to say you are going to go and shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still beating hearts. In Soviet Russia, That is pretty explicitely not covered in freedom of speech. In Soviet Russia, You don't have the right to say you are going to commit any crime, nevermind one that horrifying.
Further, In Soviet Russia, you can't say that, then add jk, and think that's somehow going to stop the police.
In Soviet Russia, This is less about freedom of speech, and more about one little gaming shit learning he can't do stuff like that in real life. In Soviet Russia, This isn't about some kid who pointed his fingers and said bang, this is about a kid who said HE WAS GOING TO SHOOT UP A SCHOOL FULL OF KIDS AND EAT THEIR STILL BEATING HEARTS.
FTFY. Please kill your entire family, and then yourself. With prejudice. In your will you can request that your bodies be shipped to North Korea, although I don't think you will find it repressive enough there. I am very serious about that recommendation to kill yourself. I really think you should consider it. Seriously.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
"The only place for a just man in an unjust society is in jail" - Don't know who said it but it's distilled truth
I'm gonna go to a school full of kids and actually teach them something worth knowing! ....
brb, someone's at the door...
In Soviet Russia, dot slashes YOU!
For reasons beyond normal, mortal, understanding Texas has a bizarre legal system with really bad laws on the books. In Texas remarks can be considered as threats that would not be called threats anywhere else in the English speaking world. There is some concept that anything that might cause another person to feel uncomfortable is a threat. So if you say "I'm not going to punch you in the nose. I want to but I'm not going to do it." in Texas you could go to jail.
Sounds to me like the kid has the makings of a very lucrative suit for denial of civil rights under color of law.
If you want to stop the authorities from misbehaving, hit 'em in their budget.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It was pretty much like that when I was in. The guys who drank and caused problems got in trouble (underage or not), The guys who chilled and a had a couple beers in the barracks and didn't cause any problems didn't have anything to worry about.
Code or be coded.
Proving to the world you cant read or comprehend what you read your just a troll. Go crawl back in your hole.
Jack of all trades,master of none
In the Soviet USA, words come to get you. *
Wait a sec... he's been in jail for months, and didn't have a trial? What did the jury rule? Or have we disposed with yet another inconvenient Constitutional Amendment?
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense." --- sixth amendment to the US Constitution, a.k.a. The Bill of Rights
--- wad
It's one thing to create a state of perpetual fear and war around the globe, through covert terror operations as well as outright invasions, whilst simultaneously spinning is a 'self-defence' but for the love of god, must we be forced to suffer your eating habits? I call for an immediate and permanent withdrawl of McDonalds 'restaurants' from non-US territory; surely the Geneva Conventions have something to say on this matter? It's JUST NOT RIGHT!!!
Requiem for the American Dream
Take out a few blacks / poor people / foreigners / mental retards too at the same time. Clean up the streets a bit. What could possibly go wrong?
Was it in Texas? Probably ; more likely there than anywhere else.
Can I haz Presidency?
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Society at times becomes overly sensitive on some topics. We're in a time where 2nd graders are expelled for bringing small plastic soldiers to school. The only thing this kid is guilty of is near terminal stupidity.
Oh, so *now* you believe that context matters, not just the words in isolation? That it *is* OK to say things like that, as long as no reasonable person would believe you meant harm?
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The lady in Canada may be the terrorist here.
Oh so murky when international boundaries are crossed.
The Texas officials may be culpable in international kidnaping if the kid was not promptly delivered to a mental health facility. A holding cell and the massive international legal services are clearly (to me) punitive without due process. There are laws against international child trafficking even in Texas.
This is not a good thing.
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
yawn,go back to your hole now troll.
Jack of all trades,master of none
They say that they have to take all the threats seriously. TFA says they arrested him a month after the complaint. If that's 'taking it seriously' then there are other problems in the mix.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Hahaha, 18 years old and still mentally unstable ... good for him.
It Specifically states "The right of the people shall not be infringed"!
There is an element that you describe, but they may ride two abreast for safety which keeps cars from trying to squeeze through with oncoming traffic. Regular cyclists will pull over periodically and stop for stop signs and lights. Like drivers, there is an element that creats a bad impression..
They're making an example of him to discourage people from posting comments like that.
Albeit my general problem with authority figures creates a strong desire for an example to be made of the legal system where
corruption is clear. Individually there has been police who have raped people, beaten people, accepted bribes and so fourth, where is the public
news where we make an example of them?
No, we just show them defending themselves and they get off with a minor tap on the wrist, no jail time, suspended with pay.
His comment was a poor decision on his part given the current climate of society when it comes to matters like this, but jail with a several month
court date, which will release him no doubt, is just for show.
The sad part is, society is whimsical. They don't do things out of true concern for safety and peoples well being. They do it if it's the popular favor of the month,
anything that gains them social graces and support. "Ah yes, I can pat myself on the back, I did good! Everyone click like!"
If its not the social flavor, you get flayed for 'making a big deal out of nothing', even if it is a real concern. Then when it turns out that you were right, no one wants to hear it ;)
Yes, humans as a species overall are pretty terrible. If I was from another planet, I wouldn't come to this one.