Sean Penn May Face Real Trouble for El Chapo Interview

Actor and Leftist social activist Sean Penn traveled to the jungles of Mexico to meet with the notorious Sinaloa  Cartel fugitive Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.  The day after Guzman was re-apprehended by Mexico authorities, Rolling Stone published an article online of Sean Penn's interview.

This encounter was supposed to have been a win-win.  Despite his fugitive status after escaping from Mexican prison last spring, El Chapo can still act like a billionaire by rubbing elbows with a Hollywood star.  Meanwhile, Penn gets free media for his close encounter with a drug lord, burnishes his progressive credentials and plays the part of a journalist.

Well, the secret meeting between El Chapo and Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, did not work out exactly as planned.  Now Penn has more to worry about then brief vulnerability of his body parts. 

 Penn's meeting aided authorities in the capture of Guzman. Oops. It is unclear if Penn was the willing dupe of Mexican and American law enforcement or if his activities just tipped off the federales. 

Some might argue that Penn has nothing to fear from the government, because he was being a journalist.  Not so much.  Rolling Stone gave final editorial authority to El Chapo. Remarkably, the drug kingpin did not require any changes to the piece.  An independent journalist pursuing the truth does not give the editorial right of first refusal to a interviewee.  

But this is a dual jurisdiction situation. The Mexican authorities are not constrained by notions of First Amendment freedom of the press. 

Consider the complication about concealing or harboring a fugitive. Per criminal defense attorney Page Pate, one must do more than have a clandestine meeting with a fugitive for 18 USC 1071 harboring or concealing a fugitive to apply.  However, if Penn gave money to El Chapo for security or shared contact to evade authorities then he would be criminally liable.  There might be complications in Mexican law.  So Penn should not play on vacationing in sunny Mexico anytime soon.

Yet even if Penn may not face the pen for his El Chapo interview, Mediaite points out that G-men may want to debrief Penn based upon issues raised during his interview, like how El Chapo told him of companies which accept illegal investments, details about El Chapo's security (as Penn was not blindfolded in transit to his close encounter) and insight on El Chapo's drug operation. 

Considering how Penn's pen led the police to El Chapo, Penn may be safer in the pen rather than exposed to retaliation from Sinaloa sympathizers.  But then there is Mexican prison gangs to worry about. 

In that case, Penn may reprise his role as Spicoli: "Dude, that's my skull-- I'm so wasted". 

But this time, the stoner line might take on an entirely new context. 

h/t: Mediaite

Contemporary Civil Crucifixions?

As the Christian faithful commemorate the Triduum, when their blameless Lord was persecuted and crucified for their sins, we can contemplate contemporary crucifixions.

Sadly, we live in a world in which ISIS Islamists actually crucify and martyr "Nazarenes" for their faith.  Yet we do not have to look abroad to see contemporary civil crucifixions.

Consider how masses have been riled up and incited to violence over lies emanating from the chief priest of liberal secular humanism in social justice circles and the media. Ferguson, Missouri brought forth the meme "Hands Up, Don't Shoot", which inspired rioting both in the Show Me State as well as civil intimidation in Brooklyn.  Yet the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision showed that the "Hands Up Don't Shoot" manta was  all based on lies.

Then there was the Rolling Stone gang rape story which was meant to peddle the war on women wedge issue especially college fraternities.  Once again a fabrications yet the fraternity at the University of Virginia was forced to close until police reports showed that the accusation was based on a tissue of lies.

Lately, the focus has been on Indiana, as the Hoosier State passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  Progressives painted a rainbow smear claiming that RFRA would allow businesses to discriminate against homosexual customers.  In reality, Indiana's  RFRA was modeled after a 1993 Federal Law (which President Bill Clinton signed)  and 19 other states (including Illinois which State Senator Barack Obama voted for), with updates to reflect the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling.

Rather than being a weapon for business owners to pursue discrimination, RFRA is a shield which allows those with a strongly held religious belief to simply have their day in court.  The masses where whipped up into a frenzy under the rainbow banner to stop bigotry.

One enterprising jo-whore-nalist from ABC 57 in South Bend, sought out a pizzaria in Elkhorn, Indiana supposedly to get a small town perspective on the Hoosier RFRA law. Reporter Alyssa Marino  "randomly" chose Memories Pizza, which just so happened to be a Christian establishment. They  entertained a hypothetical of catering a same-sex wedding and concluded that participating in that ceremony would be against their religious beliefs.

This naive admission set off a firestorm of protest against the small town pizza parlor.  Rush Limbaugh suspects this was a set up for a Christian business and was being magnified by a small group of progressive activists who spin a cyber chimera of being an internet army. How else could a UHF TV station in South Bend generate thousands of social media protests in less than ten minutes?  

The hype over Memories Pizza got so severe that a high school teacher tweeted seeking comrades to help burn the place down. Memories Pizza was forced to close with all of the crank calls and calls to violence

   

After her suspension is lifted, she should stick to instructing girls' golf rather than teaching hatred and inciting violence on the internet.

Fortunately, like the miracle of the resurrection after the public crucifixion, there is a happy ending for Memories Pizza.  BlazeTV personal Dana Loesch organized a crowdfunding effort to help the O'Connor family with their Memories Pizza business.  In a couple of days, 30,000 people contributed over $850,000. This will allow Memories Pizza to weather the RFRA firestorm and to expand.  

Yet progressives still sought to punish Memories Pizza.  Some conspiracy minded liberals implied that the O'Connors intentionally created the media frenzy for online donations.  These are the same type of people who obsess over Loose Change  Another internet activist, who co-incidentally is a social media employee of WTVR-TV CBS6 in Richmond, Virginia, implied that the crowdfunding was fraudulent to discourage contributions.  

While during Holy Week it is facile to focus on crowds being whipped into a frenzy to be the cat's paw for leaders.  But it is also worth considering why the Romans resorted to crucifixions in their empire.  These brutal crucifixions served as examples not to challenge the orthodoxy of the powers that be. 

Crucifixion (even the civil kind)?  No, I would rather choose religious freedom. 

But like Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), it is best to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

H/T: A.F. Branco

   

Bloody Hell: MSNBC Fashion Protest

When the Texas State Legislature was in special session to pass legislation which prohibited discretionary abortions after 20 weeks and mandated improved surgical standards for such womens' health procedures, an anchor at MSNBC chose a striking physical prop to protest the proceedings.

It was prudent to prepare for strange civic expressions considering mob mentality and trashy  theatrics which abortion activists have employed during the course of this Texas abortion debate.  Spectators' demonstrations drown out lawmaker debate at the end of the first special session to obstruct passage. Abortion activitist chanted Hail Satan over pro-life prayers.  During the second special session, State Troopers reportedly took urine and feces away from  pro-choice protesters.

In this environment, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (R-TX) did not want feminine hygiene products to be used as projectiles during the legislative session.  So tampons and condoms were prohibited from being  brought into the gallery, along with paint and other biological excretions.

But a week after the messy instance of legislation, MSNBC hostess Melissa Harris-Perry engaged in the Theater of the Absurd by wearing tampon earrings.  As she donned the custom made fashion protest accessories, Harris Perry ejaculated:

I just have to show these. My producer Lorena made for me last week some tampon earrings because of course you’re remember that the Texas state legislature said that you couldn’t bring tampons in when they were going these women to in fact stand up for their own reproductive rights. You weren’t allowed initially to bring tampons. So, just in case that ever happens again ladies, you can just bring them on your earrings.

As a news junkie, I do not object to a commentator having a pronounced opinion. On a cable channel like MSNBC which boasts the marketing mantra "Lean Forward" and is colloquially called "Mess-DNC", it is expected that views are going to be slanted to the left. But Ms. Harris-Perry is also supposed to be a Professor of Political Science from Tulane University, with earlier stints at Princeton and the University of Chicago (in African American Studies).   With this that sort of pedagogic pedigree, Melissa Harris Perry stoops to conquer by wearing tampon earrings a week after the issue has passed.

Tiger Beat Terrorist Parody

Is MSNBC so desperate for ratings that it needs to use cheap publicity stunts like Rolling Stone by putting the surviving Boston Bomber as on the cover like the equivalent of being Tigerbeat Terrorist to win the spotlight?  Or does Harris-Perry's lack of decency embody the libertine left's total lack of tact?  Or does it show that NBC's cable news channel has no standards--after all, they give Al Sharpton a daily news show each evening.  Resist we much (sic).





h/t: Michelle Malkin