Tag: missouri

Missouri v. Biden UPDATE: Judge Orders ‘Jurisdictional Discovery’ to Settle Govt’s Bad Faith Arguments

Experts have said that the Missouri v. Biden case is “the most important free speech case in a generation.”

The case involves the federal government wholesale deleting and deplatforming millions of Americans from social media based entirely on their truthful political statements.

Just this past week, the trial court has issued a new order in the case, after an appeal to the Supreme Court was successful for the Biden administration, which sought to undo a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the censorship regime.

Now, the trial court is ordering the two sides to conduct “jurisdictional discovery” so that it can prove one issue critical to the case moving forward: whether the Plaintiffs on the side of free speech have enough legal ‘standing’ to move forward. What this means is that the parties are now going to fight about whether the specific Plaintiffs in the case can prove that they were specifically harmed.

You can read the court order here.

Whereas previously the parties could show the massive censorship regime and show that they were deplatformed, now the parties must show the connection and demonstrate that the specific Biden speech suppression complex deplatformed these specific Plaintiffs.

Thus the court is allowing both parties to issue ‘discovery’ to primarily third parties right now, meaning demand evidence, documents, and depositions from people, organizations, and companies, in order to build the record of evidence both parties need to make their arguments.

The claims in the case cannot rest on mere speculation, the parties need to be able to get tangible evidence to back up their claims. Lawyers involved in the case say the critical issue at this juncture is: proving that the federal government targeted a specific Plaintiff, and that the Plaintiff’s speech was harmed as a result.

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Series of Missouri UFO Sightings Continue to Baffle

Missouri resident Justin Johnson captured something extraordinary on his phone– a silver cube spinning like a disco ball. But what was it? Johnson is still waiting for an answer. He reached out to weather balloon enthusiasts and air traffic controllers, but no one could identify the hovering object. He tried to follow it in his pickup truck but lost sight of it. Three years later, the memory still baffles him. At the time, it was hard to find someone to objectively assess the video.

Just a few weeks ago, Johnson recorded a new video that shows enigmatic white light objects moving in the sky at sunrise. But today, he has a new option for analysis– an app called Enigma that allows users to upload videos and information about unexplained objects in the sky. The goal is to create a comprehensive database of these sightings for researchers to analyze.

Alejandro Rojas, a consultant to Enigma Labs, says most cases are simply explained– airplanes, drones, military flares, or satellites. But sometimes, Enigma’s experts encounter something more puzzling, like footage an airline passenger recorded of a thin, white object zooming across the sky over north central Missouri.

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Missouri Democrat Senate Candidate Lucas Kunce Accidentally Shoots Reporter at Event with Adam Kinzinger – Is Savaged Online

Toxic RINO Adam Kinzinger was out campaigning with Missouri Senate Democrat candidate Lucas Kunce when a reporter covering the event was hit by shrapnel.

The geniuses were shooting at steel targets 10 feet away.

KSHB 41 News reporter Ryan Gamboa was in Holt, Missouri covering an event at a private residence when he was hit by shrapnel after Lucas Kunce fired his rifle.

Gamboa was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for a non-life threatening injury.

KSHB reported:

A KSHB 41 News reporter was hit by a metal fragment Tuesday afternoon while covering a campaign event for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce.

Reporter Ryan Gamboa was covering the event at a private residence in Holt, Missouri — about 40 miles northeast of Kansas City — Tuesday afternoon when he was struck in the arm. It was unclear if he was struck by a bullet ricochet or another type of metal fragment.

Kunce was firing an AR-15-style weapon at the time that the reporter was struck.

Kunce was among those who provided treatment to Gamboa, wrapping a bandage around his arm.

Lucas Kunce thought he had a great day out on the range after he shot someone!

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SCOTUS Revives Lawsuit Against Missouri Cop Who Jailed a Man ‘for Being an Asshole’

On a Saturday night in May 2021, Mason Murphy was walking on the shoulder of a rural road in Sunrise Beach, a small Missouri town, when he was accosted by a local police officer, Michael Schmitt, who asked him to identify himself. Since Murphy was minding his own business and was not, as far as he knew, doing anything illegal, he did not think he should have to comply with that request. Murphy’s objection resulted in a nine-minute argument with Schmitt, who ultimately handcuffed Murphy and took him to jail, where he was detained for two hours.

Why? Schmitt had trouble answering that question. “I didn’t want him walking down my highway,” he told another officer at the jail. Schmitt also suggested that Murphy was being held “for being an asshole” and that he would stay in jail “until he decides to play nice.” Even after consulting with a senior officer and a local prosecutor, Schmitt could not come up with a valid reason to arrest Murphy, who was released without being charged.

Five months later, Murphy sued Schmitt for violating his First Amendment rights by arresting him in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech. A federal judge dismissed Murphy’s claim, and last year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit upheld that decision. But this week the U.S. Supreme Court revived Murphy’s lawsuit, remanding the case for further consideration in light of Gonzalez v. Trevino, a June 2024 decision that made it easier for victims of retaliatory arrests to make a case for compensation.

“This decision is a huge step forward, not just for Mason Murphy, but for all Americans who have been retaliated against by government officials for their speech,” said Marie Miller, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, which filed Murphy’s Supreme Court petition. “Our work is building lasting precedent, making it easier for people to hold officials accountable when their rights are violated. We will continue fighting until all Americans are protected against government retaliation.”

Although Schmitt evidently did not realize it at the time, Murphy had broken the law: He had violated Section 300.405.2 of Missouri’s statutes, which says: “Where sidewalks are not provided any pedestrian walking along and upon a highway shall when practicable walk only on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic which may approach from the opposite direction.” Murphy was walking on the right side of the road when Schmitt approached him—a fact to which the officer alluded during the initial encounter, most of which was recorded by Schmitt’s body camera.

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Missouri Regulators Launch ‘Raids’ Of Nearly 50 Stores, Looking For Intoxicating Hemp Edibles

State health regulators walked into the busy Prime Fuel gas station in Sedalia on Tuesday morning and asked the clerk if there were any intoxicating hemp-derived THC edibles in the store—products the governor banned as of September 1.

The two employees of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) learned the store had already taken the products off the shelves, according to the regulators’ report on the visit, and they were being stored in a box in the office.

The report says regulators called the owner and he voluntarily agreed to destroy the products.

But that’s not how the owner describes the incident, said Craig Katz, spokesman for the Missouri Hemp Trade Association.

“He seemed to be forced into it,” Katz said.

Katz said the owner had boxed up the products so he could return them to the wholesaler for a refund, and he explained this to the regulators. Instead, they told him his manager had to pour bleach over about $5,000 worth of product, Katz said, a process that took two hours.

On Wednesday, the Missouri Hemp Trade Association’s attorney Chuck Hatfield sent a letter to the department’s general counsel saying the regulators deprived the owner of his right to tell his side of the story to a judge.

“The law is extremely clear that DHSS is not authorized to destroy product, or to demand that others do so, without a court order,” Hatfield wrote.

State regulators had visited 44 establishments as of 4 p.m. Thursday to inspect for the banned products, said Lisa Cox, spokesperson for the department.

Of the 44 facilities, regulators found “unregulated psychoactive cannabis products” during inspections at 23 of them, Cox said.

“Four facilities have refused to embargo or discard products,” she said. “The remaining facilities agreed to embargo and/or discard products. At this time, we have taken no court action.”

Cox declined comment on Hatfield’s letter.

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Missouri health department to begin enforcing ban on psychoactive cannabis compounds

On Sunday, the state of Missouri will begin enforcing Gov. Mike Parson’s executive order to crack down on psychoactive cannabis products.

The governor has said the products being targeted are often packaged to look like candy and can appeal to children, and they’re sold at convenience stores and other businesses with liquor licenses. The only exceptions will be for products that come from a source approved by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The executive order issued August 1st also required the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control to file an emergency rule to forbid liquor license holders from selling psychoactive cannabis, but the rule has been blocked by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

In a statement, the Department of Health and Senior Services said the rejection of the emergency rule filing “has no impact” on their enforcing the executive order.

“Executive Order 24-10 does not apply to products under the control or purview of the Division of Cannabis Regulation pursuant to Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution and sold by establishments licensed pursuant to Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution,” the statement said.

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Despite Parent Complaints, Suburban Missouri District Keeps R-Rated Books In School Library

When Paula Allen first wanted pornography removed from her child’s school library, she didn’t realize that would be controversial. Everyone, she reasoned, agrees graphic descriptions of sexual intercourse and images of full-frontal nudity found in schools should be immediately removed.

The school board of Missouri’s Cameron R-I district, which serves 1,600 students in a suburb of Kansas City, disagreed. After two years of complaints from parents, this August the district put 36 of 80 challenged books behind the circulation desk, where publicly sponsored pornography continues to be available to minors so long as they have parent permission. Any explicit books that parents haven’t discovered yet, and future books selected by employees who have already used taxpayer funds to buy minors pornography, could still be on the shelves after the district denied parents library access.

“At my very first meeting [with] the superintendent… I all but begged him, ‘Let’s please work together in unity as a group, as parents, we have a concern. You have to address these concerns. Let’s work together,’” Allen explained. “[They] attempted to do essentially a character assassination, to discredit us and to make them, as in the school board and the school district administration, look like victims and make us look like villains. Because we’re standing up for our kids.”

A group of local parents has been battling to protect children in school libraries for more than two years. Allen and Heath Gilbert spoke with The Federalist about their efforts to keep pornographic books out of children’s hands and their school board’s effort to resist. 

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Trans-Identified Male Using Women’s Gym Locker Room Prompts Protest By Patrons, Investigation by Missouri’s Attorney General

A man who began using the women’s locker room at a Missouri gym after changing his legal gender marker has prompted outcry after a patron lodged a formal complaint against him with local police. Eris Discordia Montano, who frequently posts photos of himself with weapons to his social media, was first reported to law enforcement on July 29 after being spotted in the female facilities of the Ellisville Life Time Fitness.

Following the first complaint, several more women came forward to express their concerns about Montano, prompting Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to issue a statement announcing an investigation into the fitness center on August 2. According to a letter from the Attorney General’s office sent to the CEO of Life Time Fitness, Bahram Akradi, women who had complained about Montano’s presence in the women’s locker room were chastised and told to refer to him with the “correct” feminine pronouns.

“It has come to my attention that Life Time Fitness has proudly adopted a policy that permits biological men to use locker rooms designated specifically for women and young girls,” reads the Attorney General’s letter. “Even more concerning is the fact that instead of taking the safety concerns from your gym members seriously, you rudely correct them and insist they call this biological male by the ‘correct pronouns.’ While it might be considered fashionable in certain corporate boardrooms to pretend that biology is irrelevant, the American heartland still lives in reality.”

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MISSOURI’S ATTORNEY GENERAL IS WAGING WAR TO KEEP THE WRONGLY CONVICTED LOCKED UP

WEARING A CRISP gray suit, Christopher Dunn walked into the Division 18 courtroom just blocks west from the famed Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, on May 21. He took his seat at a long table crowded with binders of legal exhibits and surrounded by a half-dozen lawyers working to free him from prison.

It was the same courthouse where Dunn, now 52, was convicted in July 1991 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 15-year-old Recco Rogers. According to the state, under the cover of darkness Dunn opened fire on Rogers and two other boys while they were sitting on the front steps of a friend’s home.

There was no physical evidence linking Dunn to the murder; he has always maintained his innocence and says that on the night of the shooting he was at home with family watching TV and talking to a friend on the phone until after midnight. The state’s case against Dunn was built solely on the testimony of the two boys sitting with Rogers: 12-year-old Michael Davis and 14-year-old DeMorris Stepp. During truncated police interviews, each boy named Dunn as the shooter. At Dunn’s trial, the prosecutor boldly leaned into the lack of physical evidence: The boys’ testimony was “all the evidence in the case,” he told the jury.

As such, when Davis and Stepp later recanted their stories about Dunn being the assailant, there was nothing left to prop up the prosecution’s case. Although the situation was about as straightforward as they come, thanks to quirks of Missouri law, Dunn found himself in a legal quagmire. He had no way to effectively challenge his conviction. And so it was — until 2021, when a new law offered prosecutors an avenue to overturn convictions they believe were wrongly obtained by their office. In February, Gabriel Gore, St. Louis’ appointed circuit attorney, asked a court to exonerate Dunn. “Both witnesses … now state that it was too dark to see any shooter on May 18, 1990,” Gore wrote in a motion to vacate the conviction. “The recantations alone are enough to show clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence.”

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Another Missouri Judge Approves Stacking City And County Marijuana Taxes

Buchanan County can collect a special marijuana sales tax on dispensaries within St. Joseph city limits, a judge ruled Wednesday in the second decision granting counties the right to stack taxes on top of city levies.

Circuit Judge Daniel Kellogg wrote in his two-page ruling that provisions in the recreational marijuana constitutional amendment passed in 2022 do not limit the taxing power of counties within corporate limits of towns and cities.

“To put it bluntly, the court cannot accept [the] plaintiff’s interpretation of ‘Local Government’ to prohibit the power of the county to impose such tax within the Saint Joseph city limits,” Kellogg wrote. “The definition of ‘Local Government’ includes both the city and the county. As such, both are authorized to impose and collect the tax.”

Vertical Enterprises, which is licensed for retail sales, cultivation and marijuana product manufacturing in St. Joseph, sued the Buchanan County Collector’s office, the Missouri Department of Revenue and the Buchanan County Clerk’s office to block enforcement of the tax.

Along with regular sales taxes—which in some locations approach 12 percent—people purchasing marijuana for recreational use also pay a special 6 percent state tax and a local tax of 3 percent if approved by voters.

The ruling will cost Vertical’s customers about $30,000 a month, said Chris McHugh, CEO of the company. There are two other dispensaries in St. Joseph and he estimated their tax payments would be comparable to his.

“Consumers should be outraged,” McHugh said. “They’re paying this.”

Statewide, consumers purchased $1.1 billion worth of marijuana in the first year of recreational use sales.

“This is millions and millions of dollars that never, never should be taken from consumers,” McHugh said. “It’s nothing but an anti-marijuana tax.”

McHugh said he will appeal Kellogg’s decision.

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