Pledge of Slavery - TLF106

A girl kicked out of school for not praising the state with the Pledge of Slavery, and now the Texas AG is doubling down. What's in the News with stories on a killer cop update, Memphis PD spying, drug arrests up, government debt, disaster relief disaster, and a Cody Wilson update. And, finally Yet Another Bad Cop on a deputy in Florida who planted evidence dozens of times. This episode is brought to you by ZenCash, now known as Horizen, a cryptocurrency that infuses privacy, anonymity, and security done right. Also brought to you by Free Talk Live, providing you with fresh, pro-liberty content 7 days a week on more than 180 radio stations across the country.    WHAT’S RUSTLING MY JIMMIES I am thankful that I live in a country that gives me at least some semblance of free speech, and I take advantage of this every chance I get. I sit here and do a podcast every week basically calling for the death of government in all forms, and I have never been threatened or punished in any way for it. I also use my freedom of speech to not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem every time I am surrounded by people who stand for them. I can do that because, compared to people in many areas of the world, I am relatively free. That is not to say I am free. It is to say I am freer than people in say Iran or North Korea. Trust me, I would not be doing this show if I were in Iran or North Korea. Call me a coward, but I have a family to live for. However, even in this country, where we are supposedly free to say what we want and express our opinions how we choose, that is not close to being the case in all circumstances. Take the case of India Landry in a Houston, TX area high school. Last year, she was sent home from school for refusing to stand during the Pledge of Slavery... oh, sorry, I mean the Pledge of Allegiance. The principal told India's mother that, "she can't come to my school if she won't stand for the pledge."   WHAT'S IN THE NEWS In killer cop update news, Amber Guyger, the Dallas police officer who faces a manslaughter charge in the shooting death of Botham Jean, has been fired, the Police Department announced. In my old stomping ground news, the legal team at Facebook has fired off a letter to the Memphis Police Department. The social media giant says MPD needs to stop creating fake accounts to monitor citizens. In cannabis news, marijuana arrests are rising in the U.S., even as more states legalize cannabis. There is now an average of one marijuana bust roughly every 48 seconds, according to a new FBI report. In government theft news, the federal government could soon pay more in interest on its debt than it spends on the military, Medicaid or children’s programs. In disaster relief news, a North Carolina woman was arrested after 27 dogs and cats she took in during Hurricane Florence were confiscated from her shelter, investigators revealed. In a Cody Wilson update, Defense Distributed announced that founder Cody Wilson had resigned from the company.   AND YET ANOTHER BAD COP Zachary Wester, a 26-year-old Jackson County Florida deputy has been getting many complaints, so much so that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (the FDLE) opened an investigation Aug. 1. The probe is ongoing, and no charges have been filed yet. The allegations are that Wester was pulling over drivers — some with records, many unable to afford their own lawyers — and planting drugs in their cars before hauling them to jail. A number of the encounters were captured on Wester’s own body camera, but it’s unclear how many. As the investigation unfolded, FDLE investigators briefed State Attorney Glenn Hess of the 14th Judicial Circuit. He was shown body camera footage in which Wester can be seen holding what appears to be a baggie in his hand before starting a search. Hess said, “I saw a video and I saw still photographs that caused me to do a whole lot of things that state attorneys usually don’t do." Over recent days, a torrent of motions filed by Hess and Public Defender Mark Sims have been filed in Jackson Circuit Court. Charges have been dropped in at least 48 cases that were initiated by Wester or hinged on his testimony.