Prosecutors drop criminal case against activist arrested after laughing at Sessions
Last edited Wed Nov 8, 2017, 11:26 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: Washington Post
Public Safety
Prosecutors drop criminal case against activist arrested after laughing at Sessions
By Peter Hermann November 7 at 3:42 PM
District prosecutors have decided to give up pursing a criminal case against an activist who was arrested after laughing during Attorney General Jeff Sessionss Senate confirmation hearing in January.
The decision was quietly entered into the record on Monday, nearly four months after the chief judge of the D.C. Superior Court threw out a May jury conviction for Desiree Fairooz on two misdemeanor charges of unlawful conduct on Capitol grounds.
A retrial was set for November for the 61-year-old woman, who faced up to six months in jail. ... But prosecutors dropped the case one week ahead of the planned court date. The U.S. Attorneys Office typically does not discuss charging decisions, and has no comment on the decision to dismiss this particular case, according to a statement issued by the offices spokesman, Bill Miller.
Fairooz could not be reached on Tuesday. Her attorney, Samuel A. Bogash, did not return calls. Fairooz had earlier described the case as a waste of time and a dangerous precedent for free speech.
....
Peter Hermann covers crime for The Washington Post. Follow @phscoop
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/prosecutors-drop-criminal-case-against-activist-arrested-after-laughing-at-sessions/2017/11/07/35468c0e-c3ec-11e7-aae0-cb18a8c29c65_story.html
Prosecutors drop criminal case against activist arrested after laughing at Sessions
Link to tweet
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The story was also posted in GD, and an hour earlier at that:
Laughing at Jeff Sessions, previously deemed criminal by his prosecutors, is now officially OK again
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029810290
I did not see that until now. Hat tip, Gothmog.
= new reply since forum marked as read
So prescient:
For you younguns out there:
When Pogo Met Simple J. Malarkey
Who?
....
Simple J. Malarkey
Perhaps the most famous example of the strip's satirical edge came into being on May 1, 1953, when Kelly introduced a friend of Mole's: a wildcat named "Simple J. Malarkey," an obvious caricature of Senator Joseph McCarthy. This showed significant courage on Kelly's part, considering the influence the politician wielded at the time and the possibility of scaring away subscribing newspapers.
When The Providence Bulletin issued an ultimatum in 1954, threatening to drop the strip if Malarkey's face appeared in the strip again, Kelly had Malarkey throw a bag over his head as Miss "Sis" Boombah (a Rhode Island Red hen) approached, explaining "no one from Providence should see me!" Kelly thought Malarkey's new look was especially appropriate because the bag over his head resembled a Klansman's hood. (Kelly later attacked the Klan directly, in a comic nightmare parable called "The Kluck Klams," included in The Pogo Poop Book, 1966.)
Malarkey appeared in the strip only once after that sequence ended, during Kelly's tenure, on October 15, 1955. Again his face was covered, this time by his speech balloons as he stood on a soapbox shouting to general uninterest. Kelly had planned to defy the threats made by the Bulletin and show Malarkey's face, but decided it was more fun to see how many people recognized the character and the man he lampooned by speech patterns alone. When Kelly got letters of complaint about kicking the senator when he was down (McCarthy had been censured by that time, and had lost most of his influence), Kelly responded, "They identified him, I didn't."
was ludicrous and was done for pure spite. I.e., it was someone's "attempt" at chilling speech and "sending a message". 
