United States Patent & Trademark Office Cancels the Washington Redskins Trademark Registration … Says Football Team’s Name “Disparaging to Native Americans”

JUST CURIOUS, HOW WAS THE NAME “REDSKINS” CONSIDERED OK FOR 82 YEARS?

Don’t ask for things, you might just open Pandora’s box … The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office canceled the Washington Redskins’ trademark stating that Federal trademark law does not permit registration of trademarks that “may disparage” individuals or groups. However, the action does not prevent the NFL’s Washington Redskins from using the name, with no patent protection, the team could lose revenue from preventing others to produce and sell merchandise using the same name.

But of course it is only a coincidence that this issue has grown with the presence of a community agitator as president.

 The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office canceled the Washington Redskins’ trademark registration on Wednesday, a move that won’t force the NFL team to change its name but fuels the intense fight by opponents to eliminate what they view as a racial slur against Native Americans.

The 99-page decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said the team’s name and logo are disparaging. It dilutes the Redskins’ legal protection against infringement and hinders the team’s ability to block counterfeit merchandise from entering the country.

But its effect is largely symbolic. The ruling cannot stop the team from selling T-shirts, beer glasses and license-plate holders with the moniker or keep the team from trying to defend itself against others who try to profit from the logo.

From Eugene Volokh at the WAPO: 2-to-1 decision, Blackhorse v. Pro Football, Inc. (USPTO TTAB June 18, 2014). A quick excerpt:

[T]hese registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered, in violation of Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act of 1946, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a) [which bars, in relevant part, registrations of marks that "may disparage ... persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute"]. This decision concerns only the statutory right to registration under Section 2(a). We lack statutory authority to issue rulings concerning the right to use trademarks.

Hmm, so who is next, the Cleveland Indians? And those of you at Atlanta Brave games doing the “tomahawk chop” will be arrested and cited for a hate crime.

Legal Insurrection opines, if the “Redskins” trademark is cancelled by USPTO as “disparaging,” are  “Negro” and “Colored” next? So does that mean the United Negro College Fund and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People should have their trademarks revoked?

Other names up for consideration, the Washington Scandals, Washington Tyranny, Washington PC’s, or my personal favorite the Washington Waste.

Jonathan Turley Says Barack Obama is the President That Richard Nixon Always Wanted To Be … Constitutional Tipping Point

THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENT …

Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley went on the Hannity Show and said the unthinkable, or should we say the unmentionable when it comes to Barack Obama, he compared him to Richard Nixon. Jonathan Turley, who mostly supports the policies of Obama, stated that we are at a tipping point constitutionally. Turley went on to call the Obama presidency an “imperial presidency, an uber presidency” and one “where the president can act unilaterally.” Folks, this is coming from a liberal.  Then came the money line … “Barack Obama is really the president Richard Nixon always wanted to be.”

People don’t seem to understand that the separation of powers is not about the power of these branches, it’s there to protect individual liberty, it’s there to protect us from the concentration of power. That’s what is occurring here. You know, I’ve said it before, Barack Obama is really the president Richard Nixon always wanted to be. You know, he’s been allowed to act unilaterally in a way that we’ve fought for decades.

VIDEO – Real Clear Politics: click on pic to watch

Transcript from RCP:

SEAN HANNITY: We do have co-equal branches of government, separation of powers. You teach this regularly. You agree with the president politically. For you to say we are at a tipping point constitutionally — now, I agree with you. What does that mean considering our constitution is our rule of law and they are ignoring it?

JONATHAN TURLEY: Well, unfortunately our system is changing, and it’s changing without a debate. Or even a discussion about what we’re going to do in the future when we have a three branch system, a tripartite system but one branch is so dominant. What’s emerging is an imperial presidency, an uber presidency as I’ve called it, where the president can act unilaterally. This is only the latest example of that.

What’s troubling is that we have a system that has been stable precisely because these are limited and shared powers. This president has indicated that he’s just not willing to comply with some of those aspects. He told Congress he would go it alone and in our system you’re not allowed to go it alone.

SEAN HANNITY: If I broke the law, why do I think they would be the first people to hand kickoff me, perp walk me and send me off to jail. This is just my belief system. Paranoia or truth?

JONATHAN TURLEY: Well, I think that the biggest problem we have is that the system itself, if we have a dominant branch, simply begins to shut down in terms of the safeguards. People don’t seem to understand that the separation of powers is not about the power of these branches, it’s there to protect individual liberty, it’s there to protect us from the concentration of power. That’s what is occurring here. You know, I’ve said it before, Barack Obama is really the president Richard Nixon always wanted to be. You know, he’s been allowed to act unilaterally in a way that we’ve fought for decades.

Hillary Clinton’s State Department Refused to Brand Boko Haram as Terrorists … But, Hillary Called the Abduction of the Girls by Boko Haram was “Abominable, It’s Criminal, It’s an Act of Terrorism”

HOW PRESIDENTIAL … Hillary Clinton, I was for not calling Boko Haram terrorists, before I was for it.

Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has a lot of explaining to do. In the wake of the Muslim Islamist terror group Boko Haram kidnapping nearly 300 girls and threatening to sell them into human sex slavery, Hillary Clinton like many jumped on the bandwagon of outrage. On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton called the abduction of the girls by Boko Haram was “abominable, it’s criminal, it’s an act of terrorism and it really merits the fullest response possible, first and foremost from the government of Nigeria. Clinton went on to say that as Secretary of State she had numerous meetings with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and had urged the Nigerian government to do more on counter-terrorism.

Oh contraire mon frère … Hillary Clinton supposedly urged the Nigerian government to do more on counter-terrorism, but as reported at The Daily Beast, Hillary’s State Department refused to brand Boko Haram as terrorists. According to accounts by Josh Rogin, what Hillary Clinton failed to mention was that her own State Department refused to place Boko Haram on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2011, after the group bombed the U.N. headquarters in Abuja. The refusal of branding  Boko Haram as terrorists came despite the urging of the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and over a dozen senators and congressmen.But of course naming a new group to the terrorist list would have gone against Obama’s reelection talking points that al Qaeda was on the run.

As the folks at Hot Air opines,“Sound familiar? … Now Hillary wants to fight Boko Haram with hashtags. Too bad she didn’t fight them with real resources when she had the chance.”

Under Hillary Clinton, the State Department repeatedly declined to fully go after the terror group responsible for kidnapping hundreds of girls.

The State Department under Hillary Clinton fought hard against placing the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram on its official list of foreign terrorist organizations for two years. And now, lawmakers and former U.S. officials are saying that the decision may have hampered the American government’s ability to confront the Nigerian group that shocked the world by abducting hundreds of innocent girls.

In the past week, Clinton, who made protecting women and girls a key pillar of her tenure at the State Department, has been a vocal advocate for the 200 Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, the loosely organized group of militants terrorizing northern Nigeria. Her May 4 tweet about the girls, using the hashtag #BringOurGirlsBack, was cited across the media and widely credited for raising awareness of their plight.

What Clinton didn’t mention was that her own State Department refused to place Boko Haram on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2011, after the group bombed the U.N. headquarters in Abuja. The refusal came despite the urging of the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and over a dozen senators and congressmen.

But of course Clinton’s response to these questions will be, we have 300 girls threatened to be sold into sex slavery, what difference does it make that Boko Haram are terrorists.

Former Boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, Who Was Wrongly Convicted of Murder Dies at age 76 of Prostate Cancer in Toronto, Canada

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the former middleweight boxing contender who spent 19 year in prison after being wrongly convicted of a triple murder, has died in Toronto, Canada at the age of 76 from prostate cancer. John Artis, a longtime friend and caregiver, said Carter died in his sleep Sunday. Rubin Carter spent 19 years in prison for a triple killing at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey before a federal judge ruled in 1985 that he and John Artis, who was with Carter on the night of the shootings. His story was made famous by Denzel Washington in the 1999 movie, ‘The Hurricane’ and  the Bob Dylan’s 1975 song, ‘Hurricane’.  However, truth be known, there was much poetic Hollywood license and fiction in the movie. There was a bit to much of the softening of The Hurricane. But that being said, it does not change the fact that Rubin “Hurricane” Carter had been very wronged by the system. Carter was freed in November 1985 when his convictions were set aside after years of appeals and public advocacy.

Carter, 76, died of complications from prostate cancer, Wahrer said.

“I always remember spending hours and hours with Rubin talking about the wrongful convictions,” she told CNN. “He was a great mentor and teacher. I felt very fortunate to have those times with him. … He lived a very full life.”

Carter spent 19 years in prison for a triple killing in New Jersey before a federal judge ruled in 1985 that he and John Artis, who was with Carter on the night of the shootings, did not receive fair trials and released them.

The Toronto Star: Rubin “Hurricane” Carter dead at 76.

His career as a prized, top middleweight boxer ended abruptly when he was wrongfully convicted of a 1966 triple murder in New Jersey. In 1985 a U.S. judge freed him, ruling that the prosecution had conducted “an appeal to racism rather than reason, concealment rather than disclosure.”

After he was released from prison Carter moved to the Toronto area, where he took up the cause to fight for those who are wrongfully convicted. In 1993 he helped establish the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, a Toronto-based non-profit.

Toronto lawyer James Lockyer, a founding director of the association said Carter “dominated the room with a mixture of power and humour and decisiveness.”

Lockyer said Carter forged close bonds with the wrongfully accused he worked to free, a lengthy list that included Guy Paul Morin, David Milgaard and Steven Truscott.

“He brought such comfort to them and such inspiration to them to carry on the fight,” Lockyer said.

Whenever the association needed an advocate or a speaker, Carter was the natural choice, he said.

And now for a more truthful depiction of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, his career, the events of 1966 at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey, the trial and aftermath … from ESPN Sports Century – Rubin Hurricane Carter.

Sports Century – Rubin Hurricane Carter Part 1 of 3

Sports Century – Rubin Hurricane Carter Part 2 of 3

Sports Century – Rubin Hurricane Carter Part 3 of 3

3 People Dead after Shootings at Jewish Community Center, Village Shalom in Overland Park, Kansas (Update: Suspect Yells “Heil Hitler” While Being Arrested)(Update: Suspect ID’d as Glenn Frazier Cross, aka Glenn Miller, Former grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the KKK)

Three people have been killed and two others injured after a shooting at Village Shalom, a Jewish Community Center, in Overland Park, Kansas. The fatal shooting took place on the eve of Passover.  A 14 year-old boy and his grandfather were killed outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. A female was killed a few minutes later in the parking lot at Village Shalom, an assisted living facility. Two of the victims were a grandfather and grandson who were members of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS.

VIDEO – KCTV 5, click here to watch video (pic – screen grab from video)

Police will not yet call this a hate crime; as they are reporting this as a possible hate crime. Possible??? However, we will … THIS IS A HATE CRIME!!!

Authorities are investigating whether the shootings were a hate crime, Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass told reporters.

“It’s too early in the investigation to try to label it. We know it’s a vicious act of violence. Obviously, at two Jewish facilities, one might make that assumption, but we’re going to have to know more about it,” he said.

When some one asks the following before killing someone, chances are it is a hate crime … “Asking someone if you are Jewish before shooting sounds very much like a hate crime,”  Rabbi Herbert Mandl, a chaplain with the Overland Park Police Department, said.

Press Conference – CNN

UPDATE I: Police take shooting suspect into custody.

Police took one man into custody at the Valley Park Elementary at 123rd and Lamar. The man was heard yelling “heil Hitler” as he was taken into custody. However, investigators say it is too early to label the incident as a hate crime.

The person of interest is described as a man in his 70s. Investigators say he is not from the area and there’s no indication that he knew the victims. His identity has not been released at this time. He is being held at the Johnson County Detention Center.

UPDATE II: Suspect ID’d as 73 year old Glenn Frazier Cross, who also goes by Glenn Miller, is a known white supremacist.

Glenn Frazier Cross, aka Glenn Miller, is a former “grand dragon” of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Glenn Frazier Cross, 73, was arrested at 1:28 p.m. He is being held by Overland Park police on multiple charges including premeditated first-degree murder, according to online jail records.

Cross, who also goes by Glenn Miller, is a known white supremacist and known for his anti-Semitic thoughts. He is a former grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He is a perennial candidate for office, including running in 2006 against then-U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-MO. He ran against Blunt in 2010 when Blunt was elected to the Senate.

Cross made headlines in the 2010 campaign for his racist and anti-Semitic campaign ads. Federal law required broadcast stations to air the ads even though they did not want to put such vile rantings on their airwaves.