Hundreds Arrested in Oakland as Occupy Protesters Storm Barricades With Rocks, Bottles, and Improvised Explosive Devices

Damn, these people are freakin' terrorists.

See New York Times, "Occupy Protesters and Police Clash in Oakland":

A march to take over a vacant building by members of the Occupy movement in Oakland, Calif., turned into a violent confrontation with the police on Saturday, leaving three officers injured and about 200 people arrested.

The clashes began just before 3 p.m. when protesters marched toward the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, the police said, and began to tear down construction barricades. Officers ordered the crowd to disperse when protesters “began destroying construction equipment and fencing,” the Oakland police said in a press release.

“Officers were pelted with bottles, metal pipe, rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices and burning flares, the police said.” Officers responded with smoke, tear gas and beanbag projectiles. Twenty people were arrested.

Most of the arrests occurred in the evening, when large groups of people were corralled in front of the Downtown Oakland Y.M.C.A. on Broadway. At one point, one group of protesters broke into the City Hall building.

On a livestream broadcast on the Web site oakfosho.com, dozens of protesters could be seen sitting cross-legged in darkness on the street in front of the Y.M.C.A. Their hands appeared to be bound behind them, while police officers stood watch. Occasionally the protesters sang or cheered.

The events were part of a demonstration dubbed “Move-in Day,” a plan by protesters to move into the vacant convention center and use it as a commune-like command center, according to the Web site occupyoaklandmoveinday.org.

“We were going to set up a community center,” said Benjamin Phillips, 32, a member of the Occupy Oakland media team. “It would be a place where we could house people, feed people, do all the things that we have been doing.”

In an open letter to Mayor Jean Quan on the Move-in Day site, the group threatened actions like “blockading the airport indefinitely, occupying City Hall indefinitely” and “shutting down the Oakland ports.” Occupy protesters did briefly shut down the city’s busy port in November.

In a statement issued before the march, Ms. Quan said that “the residents of Oakland are wearying of the constant focus and cost to our city.” On Saturday night, she added: “Once again, a violent splinter group of the Occupy Movement is engaging in violent actions against Oakland. The Bay Area Occupy Movement has got to stop using Oakland as their playground.”

In a statement, city officials said the total number of arrests was estimated at 200.

Actually, these are the original occupiers, not a "violent splinter group." The Occupy Wall Street movement piggy-backed onto to initial violent occupations that have been ongoing for the last couple of years. Once the "we are the 1%" slogan went mainstream, the Democrats and their MFM enablers deliberately ignored. the anarcho-revolutionary agenda of the protests. These people are violent militants and radicals. See also, "Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution."

PREVIOUSLY: "Racist Walter James Casper III Doubles-Down on Endorsement of Revolutionary Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street."

Britain Could Not Reclaim Falklands, Former British General Sir Michael Jackson Warns

Britain was the world's supreme power a little over a century ago. Today, it wouldn't be able to hold onto its territorial possessions if it had to.

At Telegraph UK, "Britain could not reclaim the Falklands if Argentina invades, warns General Sir Michael Jackson":

The Falklands will be lost forever if Argentina invades again, one of Britain's senior military figures has warned.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the former head of the army, General Sir Michael Jackson, says defence cuts have made it "impossible" to win the islands back after a successful invasion, in the way the British task force did in 1982.

"What if an Argentinian force was able to secure the Mount Pleasant airfield? Then our ability to recover the islands now would be just about impossible," says General Jackson, who was Chief of the General Staff until five years ago and led the army into Iraq.
"We are not in a position to take air power by sea since the demise of the Harrier force."

Britain no longer has an aircraft carrier and the Harrier fleet which performed with such distinction during the Falklands War has been sold to the US Marine Corps.

"Let us hope we do not live to regret that decision," says General Jackson, responding to what he calls "disagreeable noises coming from Buenos Aires" as the 30th anniversary of the war approaches.

Continue at the link.

And previously, "Britain and France to Share Aircraft Carriers."

'Look Around'

The Chili Peppers are playing live this summer. I'm not sure if my wife can dig it, so I'll probably hold off on getting tickets. I love the album though, so we'll see. We're all set for Van Halen, though, so that's cool. It's going to be something else. More on that later.

And check Rolling Stone in any case, for an interview with Flea:

Next year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers will turn 30 – but they’re celebrating a little early: On March 29th, they kick off a 25-city U.S. arena run in support of their 10th Album, I’m With You – their first with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. (The tour was postponed from January due to singer Anthony Kiedis’ foot injury.) And on April 14th, bassist Flea Michael Balzary, Anthony Kiedis and drummer Chad Smith will hit Cleveland to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “I’m excited, says Flea, checking in before a show in Barcelona. “It’s going to be a really cool, special night.”

After that, the Red Hot Chili Peppers will get back to rocking stadiums on a summer tour of Europe. “It took us a while to get solid with Josh Klinghoffer – there’s so much improvisation in our band that it’s like establishing a new vernacular,” says Flea. “But we’re fucking on fire, man!”

You’re a maniac onstage. How will you come down after tonight’s show?

I have my rituals. After I walk offstage, I’ll go to the dressing room and meditate. Then I’ll eat, go to back to my hotel and go on a 3 a.m. hour long walk through Barcelona. Then I hit the hay. I used to panic on tour, lose it and fall apart and crumble, but now I have it down to a science...

Continue reading.

Tea Party 2012

A great video, via ChristinaKBo on Twitter:

'Vampire Woman'

This is pretty wild, at Telegraph UK, "'Vampire Woman' shows off incredible tattoo transformation in Venezuela."

Michael Mann's Emails

This is an amazing post at Watt's Up With That, "Legal exemplars cited in Michael Mann’s UVA email case":

The selected emails include graphic descriptions of the contempt a small circle of largely taxpayer-funded alarmists held for anyone who followed scientific principles and ended up disagreeing with them. For example, in the fifteenth Petitioners’ Exemplar (PE-15), Mann encourages a boycott of one climate journal and a direct appeal to his friends on the editorial board to have one of the journal’s editors fired for accepting papers that were carefully peer-reviewed and recommended for publication on the basis that the papers dispute Mann’s own work. In PE-38, he states that another well respected journal is “being run by the baddies,” calling them “shills for industry.” In PE-39 Mann calls U.S. Congressmen concerned about how he spent taxpayer money “thugs”.

PE-18, 20 & 27 illustrate the typical fashion with which Mann used a UVa email account to accuse co-authors and other respected scientists of incompetence, berating them in emails copied to colleagues living throughout the world. UVA claims this is somehow exempt from VFOIA as scientific research.

In PE-22, Mann alludes to his “dirty laundry” which cannot come out, requesting his correspondent to not pass the email or the data attached to it to anyone else (UVa has claimed no attachments to any emails were preserved on their system). In this email, Mann admits he has failed to follow the most basic tenet of science, to keep a record of exactly what he did in his research, and thus himself could not reproduce his own results.

PE-24 & 25 characterize the efforts of this small group of academics to hide what they are doing and to avoid their work being held up to inspection under the Freedom of Information Act. In PE-26, Mann goes so far as to ask a federal employee — impossibly, as he send it to an email account subject to the federal FOIA — to “treat this email as confidential” though all the email does is complain about a Wall Street Journal author’s efforts to report the science impeaching Mann’s early work. PE-26, like many other emails UVA wishes to keep secret, is subject to release under the federal FOIA.

Continue reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Evidence Does Not Support Catastrophic Man-Made Global Warming."

U.S. Economy Picks Up Steam: Fourth-Quarter Growth Rate of 2.8% is Fastest in 18 Months, but Doesn't Appear Sustainable

At First Street Journal, "The Economy Grew 2.8% For the 4th quarter, 1.7% Overall in 2011."

And at Chicago Sun-Times, "Economic growth not enough to sharply reduce unemployment."

 WASHINGTON — The economy grew late last year at a pace that in normal times would suggest it’s healthy.

But the 2.8 percent annualized growth rate in the October-December quarter — the fastest pace since the spring of 2010 — isn’t being cheered by most economists or investors. That’s because growth would need to be much stronger to sharply reduce unemployment. And signs in the data point to slower growth ahead.

The Mechanics of the Vote Pump

It's Bill Whittle's Firewall:

More Topless Ukrainian Protest Ladies!

Well, they sure know how to generate some attention.

At Telegraph UK, "Video: Feminist group take topless protest to Davos."

And at New York Times, "Davos, in the Style of Occupy Wall Street."

Gingrich, Ignoring Attacks, Plays Up Ties to Reagan

At New York Times, "Gingrich Predicts a ‘Wild and Woolly’ Campaign":

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Despite signs that he could lose the important Florida primary on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich pledged Saturday to stay in the nominating fight until the very end, telling reporters he would press on until the Republican convention in Tampa in late August.

“I will go all the way to the convention,” Mr. Gingrich told reporters after a rally at a golf course in this coastal community. “I expect to win the nomination.”

Mr. Gingrich alluded to two national polls that he said showed him ahead, but it is the state polls that count, and in Florida they show him lagging 8 or 10 percentage points behind Mitt Romney.

Mr. Romney, meanwhile, exuded confidence, telling jokes to a crowd in Pensacola and drilling down against President Obama, a shift from recent days, when he had divided his focus between Mr. Obama and Mr. Gingrich.

But he mentioned Mr. Gingrich only once, to gloat slightly about his own strong debate performances in Florida this week, which his campaign hopes will propel him to a win here on Tuesday.

Mr. Gingrich turned in uncharacteristically weak debate performances, something of a surprise since he had climbed in the polls on the strength of his ability to make sharp, succinct arguments and confront his questioners in the news media.

He has also faced a torrent of criticism from the Republican establishment warning that he is too erratic, unhinged and temperamental to be president. Moreover, they have said, he would lose to Mr. Obama in November.

The taunts seem to have emboldened Mr. Gingrich, who predicted a “wild and woolly” campaign ahead as he barreled through a series of speeches and town-hall-style meetings Saturday on Florida’s affluent Treasure Coast.

The Romney campaign has been sprinkling its surrogates on the edge of crowds at Gingrich events to talk with reporters about Mr. Gingrich’s failings and why they were supporting Mr. Romney.

The Gingrich campaign criticized this tactic, even as it brought out its own surrogates and said a backlash was developing against Mr. Romney for orchestrating criticisms of Mr. Gingrich from the Republican establishment. Despite Mr. Gingrich’s three-decade career in Washington, he argues to audiences that he is the only one with vision bold enough to change it.

“Have courage!” he told the crowd here of about 150 people who were standing by the golf course in shorts and flip-flops.

And in the face of assertions that he is exaggerating his closeness to President Ronald Reagan, Mr. Gingrich added that he was “very proud to run on a Reagan-Gingrich record.”

Also, at CNN, "Herman Cain endorses Gingrich."

Australian Bikini Rule 5

Well, this sure beats cyberstalking.

Also blogging, American Perspective, "Kate Beckinsale - Rule 5."

And a roundup at Proof Positive, "Saturday Linkaround."

Added: At Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Kate Upton."

Air War 'Grinding Newt Down'

At Los Angeles Times, "Mitt Romney leading polls in Florida":

After months of gyrating front-runners and inconclusive voter tests, a victory by Mitt Romney in the looming Florida primary would send the 2012 campaign down a well-worn path — pointing the most established GOP contender toward a highly competitive race against President Obama in the fall election.

If Newt Gingrich wins, the contours of the battle would be radically different: a prolonged intraparty struggle unlike any the GOP has seen in decades, pitting the former House speaker as an insurgent force against many present and former elected officials he once led, with unpredictable consequences in November if he is the nominee.

Romney has, for now at least, pulled ahead of Gingrich in the roller-coaster campaign for Florida. An opinion survey of Florida Republicans, released Friday by Quinnipiac University, showed Romney leading Gingrich by nine points, 38% to 29%. Rep. Ron Paul and former Sen. Rick Santorum were far back, at 14% and 12%, respectively.

"I think if Romney wins this, it's over for Newt," said John McLaughlin, a veteran Republican pollster who is unaffiliated in the presidential campaign. Looking ahead, Romney has the advantage in the Feb. 4 Nevada caucuses and other, largely symbolic contests next month, including a nonbinding Feb. 7 primary in Missouri, where Gingrich failed to qualify for the ballot.

The statewide poll, conducted Tuesday through Thursday, was the latest indication that Gingrich's surge after his Jan. 21 win in the South Carolina primary had evaporated in this week's summerlike heat. The same survey had Gingrich ahead by six points just after South Carolina voted.

Romney's superior performances in two Florida debates blunted Gingrich's efforts to build on his recent primary success. Earlier nationally televised forums had been crucial to Gingrich's ability to counter Romney's edge in campaign money and organization.

At the same time, Romney and his supporters are using overwhelming force to gain the upper hand in the Florida air war, unleashing a barrage of negative ads that are "just grinding Newt down," McLaughlin said. Members of Congress and other forces in the GOP establishment have fanned out across the state to criticize Gingrich and boost Romney.

More at the link.

And see also the New York Times, "Romney Goes on Offensive in Florida, Bolstered by Debate Performance."

And at Quinnipiac, "Romney Pulls Ahead In See-Saw Florida GOP Primary, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Men Shift From Gingrich to Romney."

On Nevada, check CBS News Las Vegas, "TV Ad War Heating Up Before Nevada’s GOP Caucus."

NBC Objects to New Romney Ad

At National Journal, "NBC Asks Romney Campaign to Remove Its Content from New Ad."

Susan Duclos comments (via Memeorandum):

This type of dishonesty may be one reason that Mitt Romney's negativity rating has surged 20 points with Independents since November.

Seems ironic that Mitt Romney is going after Newt Gingrich using ethics charges that he was exonerated from by using questionable ethics of his own.

Still more links at Memeorandum.

Also at The Last Tradition, "Romney camp uses Tom Brokaw in hard hitting ad about Newt Gingrich’s ethics. Brokaw doesn’t like it."

Sarah Palin Denounces 'Tactics of the Left' by GOP Establishment

See Palin's comments on Facebook, "Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left" (via Memeorandum):

We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.

We will look back on this week and realize that something changed. I have given numerous interviews wherein I espoused the benefits of thorough vetting during aggressive contested primary elections, but this week’s tactics aren’t what I meant. Those who claim allegiance to Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment should stop and think about where we are today. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater, the fathers of the modern conservative movement, would be ashamed of us in this primary. Let me make clear that I have no problem with the routine rough and tumble of a heated campaign. As I said at the first Tea Party convention two years ago, I am in favor of contested primaries and healthy, pointed debate. They help focus candidates and the electorate. I have fought in tough and heated contested primaries myself. But what we have seen in Florida this week is beyond the pale. It was unprecedented in GOP primaries. I’ve seen it before – heck, I lived it before – but not in a GOP primary race.

I am sadly too familiar with these tactics because they were used against the GOP ticket in 2008. The left seeks to single someone out and destroy his or her record and reputation and family using the media as a channel to dump handpicked and half-baked campaign opposition research on the public. The difference in 2008 was that I was largely unknown to the American public, so they had no way of differentiating between the lies and the truth. All of it came at them at once as “facts” about me. But Newt Gingrich is known to us – both the good and the bad.

More at the link.

And from George Moneo, at Babalú:

I don't have a dog in this hunt: none of these candidates is my ideal of a conservative Republican in the Reagan mode. That said, however, the sniping, conniving, backstabbing, innuendos and calumnies (from all parties) are beginning to wear thin and piss me off. This is not the campaign I envisioned that was needed to end the Democrats' hopes of reelecting Jimmy Carter II.

Yeah, I'll be glad when the primaries are over, big time.

BONUS: From Dan Riehl:

I believe it was Dan Gainor who pointed out via Twitter last night, in essence, the establishment may end up getting Romney through but they are quite possibly costing themselves the election to do it. Mitt Romney IS a progressive Republican who will say anything to get the nomination. The GOP sycophants that call themselves conservative in our Beltway media can shill and hide massive weaknesses for Romney all they want. Come a general election, they will be irrelevant and an Obama-friendly media will be calling the shots. Given the bias of so many GOP pundits in the primary, they will have no right to complain about it, as if it would even matter.

Demi Moore 911 Call Released

At ABC News, "Friend Says on 911 Call Demi Moore Was Convulsing."

And at Los Angeles Times, "Confusion over Demi Moore 911 call delayed paramedics' dispatch to star's home."

Newt Gingrich Comments On Palestinians as 'Invented People'

This was something that impressed me about Gingrich previously, and it was a high point of the Jacksonville debate:

PREVIOUSLY: "Newt Gingrich Attacked By Weasels."

Students May Not Take Pictures of Sleeping Teachers

Well, I can't imagine when a teacher would have time to sleep, although one semester when I had a night class, after I held my office hours in the afternoon, I'd lie down on the floor to rest before going back out to teach.

But that's not what this is about, at Blazing Cat Fur and Jawa Report:

Pentagon May Delay Replacement of U-2 Spy Planes Because of Defense Department Cutbacks

At Los Angeles Times, "U.S. may rely on aging U-2 spy planes longer than expected":

Wars have come and gone. But for more than half a century, the CIA and U.S. military have relied on a skinny sinister-looking black jet to go deep behind enemy lines for vital intelligence-gathering missions.

The high-flying U-2 spy plane was first designed during the Eisenhower administration to breach the iron curtain and, as engineers said, snap "picture postcards for Ike" of hidden military strongholds in the Soviet Union.

And although the plane is perhaps best known for being shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 and the subsequent capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 continues to play a critical role in national security today, hunting Al Qaeda forces in the Middle East. The aging cold warrior once slated for retirement in 2015 may fight on into the next decade.

The fleet of 33 spycraft was supposed to be replaced in the next few years with RQ-4 Global Hawks, the high-tech drones that have been part of the Air Force since 2001. But this week the Pentagon proposed delaying the U-2's retirement as part of Defense Department cutbacks.

At an estimated cost of $176 million each, the Global Hawk drone had "priced itself out of the niche, in terms of taking pictures in the air," said Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter at a Thursday news conference. "That's a disappointment for us, but that's the fate of things that become too expensive in a resource-constrained environment."

The Pentagon has determined that operating the U-2 would be cheaper for the foreseeable future; it won't disclose how much operating the U-2s will cost for security reasons. The government has relied on the U-2 since 1955, when the aircraft was first built and designed under tight security by Lockheed Corp. at its famed Skunk Works facilities in Burbank headed by legendary chief engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson.

"It's incredible to think that these planes are flying," said Francis Gary Powers Jr., Powers' son and founder of the Cold War Museum in Warrenton, Va. "You'd think another spy plane, or satellite or drone would come along by now to replace it."

Continue reading.

Near Earth Objects

A cool piece, at Telegraph UK, "Asteroid near misses and the threats to come."

Figures show about 50 million NEO’s (Near Earth Objects) pass by every day. Here are some previous near misses as well as possible future threats.

California Penal Code Section 646.9 on Criminal Harassment and Cyberstalking: Statement of Warning to Hate-Blogger Walter James Casper III

Okay, this has gone on long enough.

I am herewith setting out my policy on harassment and stalking and I'm affirming for the record that I'm playing for keeps.

For some reason racist hate-blogger Walter James Casper III thinks this is all fun and games. I warned him not to comment here and that if he does comment I will approve those as a record of harassment, which I will report to Google. Casper's contacts here at this blog are unwanted and unsolicited. I am within my free speech rights to post commentary and criticism on politics and ideology. And I am particularly within my rights to identify and highlight criminally derogatory and racist speech directed against me. And thus I will continue to monitor Casper's hate blog American Nihilist. Importantly, since Casper sponsored workplace attacks against me, and since he has contacted me personally by email with threatening statements, I ceased all direct contact with him at his blog or elsewhere online. And I have also repeatedly warned Walter James Casper III not to contact me or to comment at this blog. It's all on the record.

As is within my free speech rights, I highlighted Casper's dishonesty and stupidity in an essay today: "Oops! MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Spews Hatred of American Exceptionalism: Racist Attack Blogger Walter James Casper III Caught Lying Again!"

Comments are closed at that post to prevent harassment. Casper commented at an unrelated post, against my wishes, since he is banned from commenting here. After I updated the post, Casper ignored the admonitions yet again with another comment in violation of my rights:

repsac3 said...

"Walter James Casper is now in likely violation of Google's terms of use. He is banned from commenting here and he is abusing his Google privileges. I am now approving all of hate-blogger Walter James Casper's comments and submitting them to Google as a record of the harassment."

I'll get around to the rest of Dr. Douglas' nonsense if / when I have the time, but I did want to briefly comment on this bit...

There is no "term of use" that forbids anyone from submitting comments to any blogspot blog, and I find it awful hard to believe that anyone at Google is going to reprimand a person for one for one [sic] comments in response to posts where that person is called out by name, no matter how vociferously the blog owner asserts his right to malign a person at his blog without being called on it at that same blog. (I'm willing to bet I could submit a comment or two in response to every post at this blog, and Google still would not act -- Dr. Douglas should consider himself lucky I only submit comments to some of the posts where he attacks me by name.)

That said, if Google does agree with Dr. Douglas, and contacts me pointing out the term I am violating, I will most certainly stop doing so. I suspect, however, that should Google respond to Dr. Douglas' specious "Mommy, he's making faces at me!! Make him STOP!!!" pleas at all, it will be to tell Dr. Douglas that he ought to grow up and stop whining. One cannot throw the first punch, and then scurry to hide behind his mother's skirt complaining about the return punch.

And seeing as he intends to approve of my comments, anyway, perhaps Dr. Douglas would be so brave as to not delete the comment sections on posts mentioning me--or maybe, just not moderate his blog in the first place. (though the latter'd prolly take more guts than Dr. D. has, anymore... Golly forbid folks actually disagree with him on his own blog...)

Say hi to our Google overlords for me... ...and thanks for approving my comments...

January 27, 2012 5:53 PM

Actually, there are indeed "'terms of use' that forbid" Casper from harassing me in the comments. According to Blogger's "Terms of Service":

2. Proper Use. You agree that you are responsible for your own use of the Service, for any posts you make, and for any consequences thereof. You agree that you will use the Service in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations, including any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence and all United States export control laws.

Walter James Casper is engaged in a malicious, persistent, and willful pattern of abuse that is prohibited under California state law (see below). As such, Casper's comments here are a violation of Blogger's terms of service. Moreover, here's the statement from Google's "Reporting abuse - Blogger Help" page:

We strongly believe in freedom of expression, even if a blog contains unappealing or distasteful content or presents unpopular viewpoints. We realize this may be frustrating, and we regret any inconvenience this may cause you. In cases where contact information for the author is listed on the page, we recommend that you work directly with this person to have the content in question removed or changed.

Here are some examples of content we will not remove unless provided with a court order:

Personal attacks or alleged defamation
Parody or satire of individuals
Distasteful imagery or language
Political or social commentary

Thus, this is to inform Walter James Casper III of my effort to "work directly with this person" to stop his comments on this blog. THIS IS A FORMAL LEGAL WARNING TO CEASE AND DESIST FROM COMMENTING AT THIS BLOG. Hereafter, I will consider any new comment posted here a "personal attack" within the purview of the terms of service and I'll append the comment to this post and send it to Google as a legal complaint and report on abuse, harassment, and cyberstalking.

Here's California Penal Code Section 646.9 on Criminal Harassment and Cyberstalking:

646.9.

(a) Any person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows or harasses another person and who makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her immediate family, is guilty of the crime of stalking, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in the state prison.

(b) Any person who violates subdivision (a) when there is a temporary restraining order, injunction, or any other court order in effect prohibiting the behavior described in subdivision (a) against the same party, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years.  

(c) Every person who, having been convicted of a felony under this section, commits a second or subsequent violation of this section shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three,
or four years.

(d) In addition to the penalties provided in this section, the sentencing court may order a person convicted of a felony under this section to register as a sex offender pursuant to subparagraph (E) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 290.

(e) For the purposes of this section, "harasses" means a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes the person, and that serves no legitimate purpose.  This course of conduct must be such as would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and must actually cause substantial emotional distress to the person.  

(f) For purposes of this section, "course of conduct" means a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose. Constitutionally protected activity is not included within the meaning of "course of conduct."

(g) For the purposes of this section, "credible threat" means a verbal or written threat, including that performed through the use of an electronic communication device, or a threat implied by a pattern of conduct or a combination of verbal, written, or electronically communicated statements and conduct made with the intent to place the person that is the target of the threat in reasonable fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her family and made with the apparent ability to carry out the threat so as to cause the person who is the target of the threat to reasonably fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her family.  It is not necessary to prove that the defendant had the intent to actually carry out the threat.  The present incarceration of a person making the threat shall not be a bar to prosecution under this section.  

(h) For purposes of this section, the term "electronic communication device" includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cellular phones, computers, video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. "Electronic communication" has the same meaning as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

See the full text here or here.

I will also report new instances of abuse and harassment to the Irvine Police Department and the Long Beach Police Department. Here is the record of harassment published previously, with one of Casper's emails warning me to "reconsider" or else: "Continuing Lies by Cowardly Hate-Blogger W. James Casper in Left's Demonic Workplace Intimidation Campaign." And American Nihilist's long pattern of abuse, intimidation, and workplace harassment is chronicled at this post as well.

The harassment stops now. Walter James Casper III has no right to comment on this blog. If he feels he has been maligned or libeled he can take proper legal recourse. I have legal representation and I am prepared to defend my free speech rights in a court of law.

And folks might weigh Ann Althouse's comments policy in relation to the policy I'm setting forth here. She writes:

I have started deleting all the comments of one of our most conspicuous commenters for reasons I am not going to discuss. I ask all of my commenters to take some extra care with your comments now. Don't be a troll and don't feed a troll. If you are a troll, I may target you for deletion next. If you feed a troll, you may soon find that your comment refers to a comment that has been deleted. Let's raise the level of discussion around here. I have many great commenters that I love having as my guests. Others are being destructive and need to stop. If you're someone I'm targeting for deletion -- and I'm deleting all your comments regardless of content -- you need to go away permanently. You are on notice that I consider you to be harassing me, and I will contact Blogger about your account if you do not desist.

Althouse is a professor of law, so she certainly knows something about harassment and stalking. And recall that Walter James Casper III has long been trolling my comments. Indeed, I went to comment moderation to help prevent his trolling. But comment moderation has not been effective, and I have had to disable comments to some posts on occasion to prevent malicious attacks. When I did that, Casper then started harassing me by email. These emails I consider personally threatening to me and my family. And as such they're considered criminal activity under California state law. Hereafter I will update this post with any comment here from Walter James Casper III, or with any other form of unwanted personal contact, and I will submit a complaint of abuse and criminal harassment to Google and to the proper legal authorities.

Walter James Casper III is hereby notified under the law.

Comments on this post are closed.

UPDATE: (1-28-12 8:20am PST) Walter Jamers Casper III is on record that he wants to be known as a criminal harasser. Here's is his comment in violation of this policy:

repsac3 said...

In reply to: California Penal Code Section 646.9 on Criminal Harassment and Cyberstalking: Statement of Warning to Hate-Blogger Walter James Casper III

Sorry, Dr. Douglas, but I will not allow you to attempt to intimidate me with specious threats. My answer now is the same as it was the last time you made this kinda noise, back in September (and probably before that too, though it ain't worth the search):

If you really believe I am in violation of any federal or state law or ISP/Google/??? term of service because I submit a comment or two to your moderated blog against your expressed wishes, often in reply to American Power blog posts where you discuss me by name, I cordially invite you to make your reports to Google, the Irvine / Long Beach police department, Homeland Security, or whoever you feel you need to.

The time has come to fish or cut bait.

January 28, 2012 4:22 AM

UPDATE: (1-28-12 8:45am PST) Here's the complaint sent through the Blogger help page:

A man named Walter James Casper III used to be a commenter on my blog years ago. He became obsessed and abusive and started an entire blog to attack me personally and to threaten me with harassment. His co-bloggers at the blog, called "American Nihilist," have contacted my workplace to complain about my blogging, trying to get me fired. These attacks are violating my free speech rights and causing me and my family personal strife and emotional duress. Walter James Casper has also sent me personal emails of a threatening nature. These are completely unsolicited, as I have never exchanged emails with him at any time. I have written about the harassment and threats at my blog and Walter James Casper claims he has a right to respond in the comment section at my blog. While I have moderated comments, or even disabled comments, Casper continues to harass me with additional attempts to comment, with threats, and by email. I will also be filing police reports and contacting my attorney about these issues. My complaint is in no way an attempt to suppress Casper's free speech rights. This is only to notify Blogger of a terms of use violation, since Casper's threats are illegal under California state law, Penal Code Section 646.9, which makes cyberstalking and online harassment a crime. Casper's Blogger profile name is "Repsac3" and this is his Blogger profile URL: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15458282944035344707. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I will also be notifying the police of Walter James Casper's harassment next week.