Saturn’s two largest moons meet in the sky in a rare apparent embrace. Smog-enshrouded Titan (5,150 km across) glows to the left of Rhea (1,528 km across).
The image was taken in visible light by the Cassini spacecraft using its narrow-angle camera in 2006. It was about 3.6 million km from Rhea and 5.3 million km from Titan. The moons are in crescent phase.
Image Cedit NASA
Bill Schmalfeldt fled Maryland in 2015. This Legal Error Du Jour from seven years ago today may help explain why he has never returned.
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Normally these posts are referred to as Legal LULZ, but this one isn’t funny.
I have a passing familiarity with Maryland’s child pornography law because I served as the foreman of a jury that convicted a man of violating that law.
Md. Crim. L. § 11-207 states:
(a) A person may not:
…
(3) use a computer to depict or describe a minor engaging in an obscene act, sadomasochistic abuse, or sexual conduct …
IANAL, but it appears that the law covers any depiction or description, not just texts or images. The Gentle Reader can listen to one of the Cabin Boy™ alleged comedy skits online or read the transcripts he provided to Judge Joseph as exhibits and make up his own mind about whether producing the material in Maryland might have been illegal.
BTW, the perp our jury convicted got 54 years.
UPDATE—The Cabin Boy™ is stuck on stupid.
Of course, the Cabin Boy™ statement is based on idea that if something isn’t illegal, then he hasn’t done it. Let’s try that out against some other claims the Cabin Boy™ has made.
There’s no law against being a former truck driver, therefore, Bill Schmalfeldt isn’t a former truck driver.
There’s no law against being a former GS-13 editor, therefore, Bill Schmalfeldt isn’t a former GS-13 editor.
There’s no law against being a Viet Nam era veteran, therefore, Bill Schmalfeldt isn’t a Viet Nam era veteran.
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There’s also no statute of limitation on felonies in Maryland, and Child Pornography is a felony.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
—Oscar Wilde
I think so, Brain … but why is only one senator in the psych ward?
Stacy McCain, Dianna Deeley, and I will be at our mics at 7 pm ET for the next episode of the The Other Podcast Live. Join us on Podbean.
Likely topics include Traffic, Tuition, and Crazy People Are Dangerous™.
Video Credit: ESA / NASA / C. Kilpatrick
Music: Stellardrone—Billions and Billions
Creative Commons License
Mockery has been a significant part of this blog’s coverage of Team Kimberlin’s lawfare and cyberthuggery. The TKPOTD for six years ago today was a mundane report on the progress of one of the LOLsuits. A couple of commenters used it as an opportunity to laugh at Brett Kimberlin.
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The online docket for the Kimberlin v. Frey RICO Remnant LOLsuit shows the Patterico’s lawyers filed their last bit of paperwork related motions for summary judgment in the case.
The ball is now in Judge Hazel’s court. If he doesn’t grant summary judgment to either party, the case will go to trial.
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Here’s the comments—
Heh.
When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.
—Stephen Hawking
I’m so old, I remember when NPR did legitimate science reporting.
I enjoyed this tweet.
It reminded me of a story told by a friend who’s an ex-cop. One Saturday afternoon a deputy in the county where my friend was working wound up having to shoot a suspect when a traffic stop went bad. The shooting was on a causeway, and the perp fell over the guardrail into the water. The body was quickly recovered. However, the perp’s gun wasn’t, and the usual suspects began to claim that the shooting was unprovoked. Divers weren’t available to search the river bottom until Monday.
They found over a dozen handguns, and none of them showed signs of being in the water more than a few days. Several actually matched the general description the deputy gave of the perp’s revolver.
I think so, Brain … but if we switched to Javanese, today would be a day ending in –h.
Video Credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / A. Simon (NASA-GSFC) / M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley) ‘ J. DePasquale (STScI) ‘ N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)
Music Credit: Tonelabs—The Red North
Creative Common License
All Lickspittle Broadcast System programs end with an announcement such as this one—
ANNOUNCER: Johnny Atsign is a work of fiction. If anyone thinks it’s about him, he should read Proverbs 28:1. This is LBS, the Lickspittle Broadcasting System.
This post, Funny You Should Ask, from eight years ago today is an example of the truth contained in that proverb.
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The last three intriguing episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Atsign have dealt with several potentially interrelated episodes of harassment wherein either The Grouch or The Bomber had contacted a third party in order to harass someone who was or wound up as one of Johnny’s clients. None of the episodes provide any information about the contents of the harassing messages. Yet, today, Hogewash! received this comment to yesterday’s episode.
Why would “Keep Wondering” ask such a question unless he knew that the contents of one or more of the messages directed the recipient(s) attention to “public information”?
Pretend for a moment that the fictional Johnny Atsign episodes are, like Blognet, based on true incidents but with the some of the names changed to protect the innocent. That knowledge of the contents of at least one of the messages would limit the range of possible identities of “Keep Wondering” to one of the senders or one of the recipients. Since the recipients know why they turned the messages over to law enforcement agencies, they probably have a good idea of why the messages might be illegal. That leaves a very small population of suspects.
Still, the question deserves an answer. There are several—depending on who received which message.
Under Maryland law, it is a crime to harass a government employee at work.
Under federal law, it is a serious felony to harass a federal employee or a contractor assisting a federal employee at work.
Under Maryland law, it is a crime to make a false report to a public official which causes an investigation to occur.
Under federal law, it is a crime to make a false statement to a federal official.
Someone is playing Go Fish when the real game is Fizzbin.
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And it turns out he wasn’t playing with a full deck.
Winning too often is as disastrous as losing too often. Both get the same results, the falling off of the public’s enthusiasm.
—Knute Rockne
I think so, Brain … but we can always say the made up sources are anonymous.
It’s a well known fact that unicorns fart rainbows and poop Skittles. Yet the California legislature has a bill before it that would ban Skittles.
Do they really believe they will ever have enough EV trucks to be able to haul unicorn droppings from the Bay Area alone for proper disposal?
This animation shows the evolution of the cloud of debris that was ejected the asteroid Dimorphos after it was hit by the DART spacecraft. It was created using images taken with the MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope during the one month after the impact.
Video Credit: ESO
This episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Atsign first ran eight years ago today.
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ANNOUNCER: From Westminster, it’s time for—
SOUND: Skype rings once.
JOHNNY: Johnny Atsign.
AGENT: (Telephone Filter) Mr. Atsign, this is Special Agent Wilson following up on that harassment matter.
JOHNNY: Hi. What can I help you with? And call me “Johnny.”
AGENT: (Telephone Filter) I’ve been working with my counterpart back East, and we need a few more details. I thought you might have something in a related case that would provide a lead.
JOHNNY: Are you talking about the connection to The Bomber or The Grouch?
AGENT: (Telephone Filter) The Bomber. He’s suing our agency.
JOHNNY: That doesn’t make sense, but it has to be true. No one could make up a story like that.
MUSIC: Theme up and under.
ANNOUNCER: The Lickspittle Broadcasting System presents W. J. J. Hoge in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed Twitter account, America’s fabulous free-lance Internet investigator …
JOHNNY: Yours Truly, Johnny Atsign!
MUSIC: Theme up to music out. Continue reading
Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
—Steve Jobs
… I remember when we only had a few years to save ourselves from the next Ice Age.
Meanwhile, the UN has a new report out reminding us we have a few years (less than a decade this time, I think) to keep the world from—checks report—”catastrophic climate change.” That apparently still means global warming.
I think so, Brain … but for a conspiracy theory to be true, it would have to describe an organized activity, and most of what they describe is pretty disorganized.
Creative Commons Attribution license
It was six years ago that some of the main stream media picked up on an attempt to use fake financial documents as part of the Russian Collusion Hoax, and Brett Kimberlin’s name turned up as funding part of the scam. Here’s the TKPOTD for six years ago today.
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Heh.
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And here’s Vigilans Vindex’s cartoon from the comment section.
Heh indeed.
It is nearly always the most improbable things that really come to pass.
—E. T. A. Hoffmann