'The Interview' and First Amendment rights

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News that the controversial comedy movie The Interview will be shown on Christmas Day is dredging up a rather complicated, and confused, argument about the Constitutions First Amendment.

As of Christmas Eve day, here is a quick recap of where we stand:

Sony Pictures is now allowing independent theaters to show the movie in more than 200 locations, after Sony and major theaters pulled the film initially. Sonys computers were hacked by folks with alleged connections to North Korea. The hackers also made threats to harm people who attended movie screenings at the theater chain venues.

Then, President Barack Obama called out Sony and the national theater chains.

We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States, Obama said last Friday.

Obamas comments and a huge push back from the entertainment industry were partially driven by concerns that North Korea, or at least its proxy in the form of the hackers, could dictate what companies can publish, in the form of a film, or any other type of digital content.

They also drew a quick response from Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, who said, First, I was surprised by the remark. But, I think actually the president and I are coming from the same place. We are obviously both strong proponents of the First Amendment.

Sony also quickly pointed out that the major theater groups pulled the plug on the movie.

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'The Interview' and First Amendment rights

SJC: Harassment not protected by 1st Amendment

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Rep. Lyons

BOSTON -- Posting false advertisements online can be considered criminal harassment unprotected by the First Amendment, according to a Supreme Judicial Court decision Tuesday, which upheld the conviction of two people who directed "pranks" against an Andover lawmaker.

Rep. James Lyons, a Republican, was not yet a member of the House in 2008 when William and Gail Johnson enlisted their friend Gerald Colton to use personal information about Lyons and his wife to harass them, according to the SJC. Lyons had opposed the couple's plans to develop property abutting their home.

Colton advertised free golf carts at the Lyons' home, posted another ad offering "my late son's" motorcycle for sale with Lyons' phone number, and sent Lyons a message that said, "Remember, if you aren't miserable, I aint happy! Let's Play." William Johnson also committed the crime of falsely reporting Lyons to the Department of Children and Families for alleged child abuse.

In a ruling written by Justice Robert Cordy and released Tuesday morning, the SJC denied an appeal from the Johnsons and found the defendants' speech was not protected by the First Amendment. Cordy said the case is the court's first to consider the "type of conduct at issue here."

The case involves the use of the classified ad website Craigslist to steer unwitting people against a target.

The SJC found that though the "methods were indirect" the phony posts were "intended solely" to cause strangers to contact the Lyons.

"Where the sole purpose of the defendants' speech was to further their endeavor to intentionally harass the Lyonses, such speech is not protected by the First Amendment," the SJC wrote.

"I thought it was a very well written opinion and my wife and I are extremely grateful for the Supreme Court's decision in this case," Lyons told the News Service. "These people literally tortured my wife, my boys and myself, and to this day shown not one ounce of remorse."

Lyons, who was elected in 2010, said the Johnsons are no longer his neighbors and said both were incarcerated as a result of their convictions. The husband was sentenced to serve 18 months imprisonment and his wife was sentenced to serve six months, the SJC stated.

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SJC: Harassment not protected by 1st Amendment

SJC: Harassing not free speech

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BOSTON -- Posting false advertisements online can be considered criminal harassment unprotected by the First Amendment, according to a Supreme Judicial Court decision Tuesday, which upheld the conviction of two people who directed "pranks" against an Andover lawmaker.

Rep. James Lyons, a Republican, was not yet a member of the House in 2008 when William and Gail Johnson enlisted their friend Gerald Colton to use personal information about Lyons and his wife to harass them, according to the SJC. Lyons had opposed the couple's plans to develop property abutting their home.

Colton advertised free golf carts at the Lyons' home, posted another ad offering "my late son's" motorcycle for sale with Lyons' phone number, and sent Lyons a message that said, "Remember, if you aren't miserable, I aint happy! Let's Play." William Johnson also committed the crime of falsely reporting Lyons to the Department of Children and Families for alleged child abuse.

In a ruling written by Justice Robert Cordy and released Tuesday morning, the SJC denied an appeal from the Johnsons and found the defendants' speech was not protected by the First Amendment. Cordy said the case is the court's first to consider the "type of conduct at issue here."

The case involves the use of the classified ad website Craigslist to steer unwitting people against a target.

The SJC found that though the "methods were indirect" the phony posts were "intended solely" to cause strangers to contact the Lyons.

"Where the sole purpose of the defendants' speech was to further their endeavor to intentionally harass the Lyonses, such speech is not protected by the First Amendment," the SJC wrote.

"I thought it was a very well written opinion, and my wife and I are extremely grateful for the Supreme Court's decision in this case," Lyons told the News Service. "These people literally tortured my wife, my boys and myself, and to this day shown not one ounce of remorse."

Lyons, who was elected in 2010, said the Johnsons are no longer his neighbors and said both were incarcerated as a result of their convictions. The husband was sentenced to serve 18 months imprisonment and his wife was sentenced to serve six months, according to the SJC.

Lyons praised the police investigation that identified the culprits and said William Johnson pled guilty to the additional crime of witness intimidation against Lyons and his sons after the arrest.

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SJC: Harassing not free speech

PayCoin Denver | PayCoin CryptoCurrency Coaching +

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Paycoin-Cryptocurrency Coaching & Business Development

By PayCoin

When lots of people think of cryptocurrency they might too be thinking of puzzling currency. Really few folks seem to understand what it is as well as for some reason everybody seems to be discussing it as if they do. This record will with any luck debunk all the aspects of cryptocurrency to ensure that by the time youre completed reading you will have a respectable suggestion of what it is and what its everything about.

You may discover that cryptocurrency is for you or you might not however a minimum of youll have the ability to speak with a level of surety and also understanding that wont possess.

There are lots of people that have already reached millionaire standing by dealing in cryptocurrency. Plainly theres a bunch of cash in this brand-new market.

Cryptocurrency is electronic money, brief and also easy. Nonetheless, whats not so brief and easy is specifically how it comes to have value.

Cryptocurrency is a digitized, online, decentralized money created by the application of cryptography, which, according to Merriam Webster dictionary, is the digital encoding as well as decoding of details. Cryptography is the foundation that makes debit cards, computer system banking as well as eCommerce systems possible.

Cryptocurrency isnt supported by financial institutions; its not supported by a government, but by a very challenging plan of formulas. Cryptocurrency is electrical power which is encoded right into intricate strings of formulas. What lends financial value is their intricacy and their protection from cyberpunks. The method that crypto currency is made is just as well difficult to replicate.

Cryptocurrency is in direct opposition to exactly what is called fiat cash. Fiat money is currency that gets its worth from government ruling or law. The dollar, the yen, as well as the Euro are all instances. Any kind of money that is defined as legal tender is fiat cash.

Unlike fiat cash, one more part of just what makes crypto money important is that, like an asset such as silver and also gold, theres only a finite amount of it. Just 21,000,000 of these incredibly complicated formulas were made. No more, no less. It cannot be changed by printing even more of it, like a federal government printing even more cash to pump up the system without backing. Or by a banking changing a digital journal, something the Federal Reserve will advise financial institutions to do to readjust for inflation.

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PayCoin Denver | PayCoin CryptoCurrency Coaching +

When the World Comes to Kerala, New Worlds Open Up GUIDE’ – Video

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When the World Comes to Kerala, New Worlds Open Up GUIDE #39;
The second in a series of three evocative films done by Kerala Tourism to reflect the new possibilities that Responsible Tourism initiatives are opening up in Kerala. The films are part of...

By: Kerala Tourism

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When the World Comes to Kerala, New Worlds Open Up GUIDE' - Video

15 hz Integration of personality & spirituality [PURE SINUS TONE] – Binaural Brainwave Entrainment – Video

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15 hz Integration of personality spirituality [PURE SINUS TONE] - Binaural Brainwave Entrainment
Integration of personality spirituality. Chronic pain. Sound which bypasses the ears for sublimination (auditory cortex; Hrzentrum). Capillary formation, fibroblast proliferation, decreased...

By: Harry Fyntal

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15 hz Integration of personality & spirituality [PURE SINUS TONE] - Binaural Brainwave Entrainment - Video

Large UFO above our Earth! From the international Spacestation camera23122014 What you can’t see Ti – Video

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Large UFO above our Earth! From the international Spacestation camera23122014 What you can #39;t see Ti
Today.23. 12. 2014. you can see how they appearing every day around the International Space station. Under the Space station you can see a very large UFO was hovering above our Earth.This ...

By: colourufo

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Large UFO above our Earth! From the international Spacestation camera23122014 What you can't see Ti - Video

Stunning Time-Lapse Reveals Auroras and Earth From Space

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As if Santa attached a GoPro camera to his sleigh, a new video reveals the Earth as few have seen it.

Published this week, the time-lapse shows stunning views of the Earth, sunrises, clouds, lightning, auroras, stars, and the International Space Station.

The video was made by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, who stitched together 12,500 images captured during his six-month stay on the International Space Station, which orbits 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the surface. (See more aurora photos.)

The ultra-high-definition video "shows the best our beautiful planet has to offer," writes the European Space Agency.

Gerst set up cameras to record the celestial fireworks while he was conducting scientific experiments or helping dock vehicles during a mission called Blue Dot. (See more striking photos from the space station.)

Gerst returned to Earth on November 10, landing in the Kazakh Steppe in a Soyuz spacecraft with two other crew members. While in space he conducted 50 experiments, including installing a special furnace that cools molten metal in mid-air.

The third German to visit the International Space Station, Gerst is a volcanologist and geophysicist by training. (See photos of the space station.)

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Stunning Time-Lapse Reveals Auroras and Earth From Space