You Can’t Sue the EPA Without their Consent
What happened:
Imagine if a disgruntled employee could reduce your business to rubble, using the full force of the United States government.
For some reason, an 18 year old employee of a water testing lab told the EPA that the lab was falsifying its water reports. This lead to an armed EPA raid of the facility in 2007.
A year later, with no charges filed against them, the owners of the lab were forced to resign from the larger water testing company of which their lab was a part.
The EPA investigation was terminated in 2012, with no charges filed.
At this point, with their business ruined based on the faulty actions of the EPA, the lab owners sought damages from the EPA, which were twice denied.
Finally the owners of the lab sued the EPA, only to be told that the two year statute of limitations had started running at the time of the raid, and therefore they could no longer sue. They appealed.
In the beginning of March the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lower court was wrong to rule based on the statute of limitations. Why? Because they had no jurisdiction.
The United States government and its agencies must consent to being sued, or else they have sovereign immunity, and cannot be taken to court.
After the United States government ruined their business and wasted ten years of their lives, the lab owners were told that the EPA and USA do not consent to being sued by them. Case closed.
What this means:
The injustice is palpable.
First, the lie of one single individual should never lead to an armed raid by a federal agency. They are supposed to have proof or at least probable cause of criminal activity before going to that extreme.
Second, no charges were ever filed, yet the raid led to the owners of the lab being forced to resign, and close their business. So the investigation, which was based on nothing, lost these two their business. They were guilty until proven innocent.
And finally, they have no recourse, because apparently as part of a sovereign state the EPA is immune from being sued for their negligence and criminal behavior, unless the EPA agrees to be sued! How absurd.
Basically, federal agencies can raid whoever they want without risk of punishment, based on even the most miniscule false accusation.
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” -George Orwell, 1984
What happened:
If you criticize the founding fathers of America, you might get some choice words hurled at you, but you will have broken no law. At least with freedom of speech, we can have a discussion about American “heroes and martyrs.”
That will no longer be the case in China as the government continues its crusade to alter history in the minds of its citizens. It will be illegal to speak out against the heroes and martyrs of China and the communist party.
Already Chinese citizens are pummelled with revisionist history, so that even events like the massacre at Tiananmen Square are viewed with confusion and misunderstanding by younger generations.
But now you could end up legally liable for just challenging the historical narrative told by the government.
What this means:
Last week we talked about China’s new Social Credit Score that the government will use to rate citizens based on things like patriotism, and what they say on social media.
Now they are banning objective discussion of history, which is another piece of the authoritarian puzzle.
By controlling how much Chinese citizens understand about the past, the government can exert more control, by hiding crimes of communists, and falsely reporting achievements.
The consequences for speaking out against current and past Chinese government now permeate legal, social, and all other aspects of life in China.
China is becoming the closest country on earth to the predictions of 1984.
Apes are People too?
What happened:
At least one lawyer thinks apes are people, or at least should have legal personhood. He has been fighting for years for certain apes to be granted personhood, and therefore have the right to the best life possible under their circumstances.
Thursday a division of the New York Supreme Court heard arguments for awarding non-human personhood to specific chimpanzees.
But in the state of New York where mere possession of a taser can be punished by a year in jail, perhaps the lawyer would have a tough enough fight getting humans personhood rights.
Maybe he figured that since New York has such disdain for the rights of humans, his time would be better spent elevating chimpanzees in the eyes of the law.
What this means:
Clearly, this is the first step towards planet of the apes. In fact New York’s insistence that people do not have the right to protect themselves may even be an ape conspiracy to take over.
It’s clear to see that New York’s drive to stop humans from being able to protect themselves plays right into the hands–uh stinking paws?–of the damn dirty ape conspirators.
How else do you explain the fact that humans are spied on by the NSA? I don’t recall the apes’ communications being collected and scrutinized. Unless Jane Goodall–who, by the way, will be testifying on the apes’ behalf–secretly works for the government as a monkey spy.
Texas Lawmaker Wants to Fine Men for Masturbating
What happened:
It’s all a big joke to one Texas lawmaker. How absurd, she thinks, it is to regulate women’s bodies. So she introduced a bill to fine men for masturbating.
She says she introduced the bill to call attention to laws passed in Texas which make it harder for women to have abortions.
The lawmaker knows the satirical bill will not pass–it was a publicity stunt.
But among the scores of volumes of federal and state laws, some statutes still exist that make her legislation seem reasonable.
What this means:
What the Texas lawmaker inadvertently called attention to is the ability of the state to pass absurd laws that will stay on the books for years. The law may sound ridiculous, but consider others that are currently in effect.
For instance, it is actually completely illegal to have sex in Virginia unless you are married. Seriously.
In Texas, it is illegal to sell your eyeballs. Clearly this simply limits the eyeball supply, which creates underground black markets for eyeballs.
In Arizona, if you are caught stealing a bar of soap, according to the law the punishment is to wash yourself with the soap until it is entirely used up. This was actually cruel and unusual punishment in the days of lye soap.
In Tennessee it is illegal to share your Netflix password.
And as further evidence that apes are gaining control of our legal system; it is illegal in Washington state to harass Bigfoot.
