The Freedom Bulletin

Each New Year here at the Freedom Bulletin, I make a list of the top people of the year. It has taken different forms and has used different criteria over the years, but this year, like last, I decided to do a top 10 list. The following people are the 10 who, in my opinion, mattered the most in the fields of politics, law, individual rights, and freedom. The people in the list were chosen based on a combination of how interesting, influential, high-profile, and unique they are, as well as the importance (in my humble opinion) of the issues that they stand for or are associated with. Without further ado, here are the top 10 people of 2011:

10. Casey Anthony – Accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, she was almost universally vilified by talking heads, trial watchers, and the general public, who ridiculed her partying ways and presumed her guilty because of the large amount of circumstantial evidence in the case. But her acquittal this year showed that, to one jury at least, reasonable doubt is still the standard to which criminal defendants must be judged, no matter how wrong the verdict may intuitively feel and no matter how unpopular it may be.

9. Dr. Virginia Moyer – The chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, she was behind the decisions to recommend fewer pap smears, mammograms, prostate cancer tests, and other medical screenings. After decades of ever-increasing pressure by society, government,  and doctors to undergo more and more frequent medical procedures, which take a huge toll on human dignity and quality of life, this is a small and long-overdue step in the right direction.

8. Gabrielle Giffords – This congresswoman from Arizona doesn’t need much of an explanation. It is amazing that she survived being shot in the head, let alone managed to return to Congress the same year. Her strength and bravery make her more than worthy of a place on this list.

7. SEAL Team 6 – Responsible for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, they don’t need much of an explanation either. While I don’t believe in celebrating another person’s death, no matter who it is, it is undeniable that bringing an end to America’s 10-year-long pursuit of the world’s most dangerous terrorist is a significant event that changed the world.

6. Jesse Ventura – The former Minnesota governor and wrestler won at least one fan with his opposition to the TSA’s pat-downs and full-body scanners. Although his lawsuit against these unconstitutional and degrading security policies was (wrongly) dismissed, everyone should admire his outspoken and courageous stand for freedom.

5. Susie Castillo – A somewhat unlikely freedom fighter, this former Miss USA similarly gave star power to the fight against airport security excesses. Her candid and brave YouTube video decrying a pat-down that was more like a sexual assault went viral and brought much-needed attention to this issue.

4. Gary Johnson – Although he never picked up a lot of steam in the Republican primary and is now running for president as a Libertarian, he is a man of principle who, both in his personal life and his political life, stands up for what he believes in instead of doing whatever he thinks will make him popular.

3. Anne Sinclair – Married to possibly the most hated criminal defendant of the year (see below), she showed tremendous bravery by fighting for her husband’s freedom when most of the world expected and wanted her to abandon him. By standing up for his presumption of innocence, she also became an icon of loyalty and true feminism.

2. Dominique Strauss-Kahn – No longer a powerful politician or banker, he is an important figure nonetheless because he is this year’s most high-profile victim of race, gender, and class stereotypes. Accused of sexually assaulting an African hotel maid, the wealthy, libertine Frenchman was the perfect villain to many people, who ensured that he was immediately convicted in the court of public opinion. The charges against him were dismissed for lack of evidence, but not before he was severely and unjustly punished, losing his reputation, his privacy, many of his friends, and his political career.

1. Ron Paul – What is there to say about the good doctor and congressman that I haven’t already said somewhere on this blog?? One of my favorite politicians of all time, he has managed this year not only to bravely, consistently, eloquently, intelligently, and passionately voice his pro-liberty views on almost every issue, but actually gained quite a bit of popularity as well. It is exciting to see his poll numbers placing him in the top tier of presidential candidates and sometimes even as the frontrunner. In addition to being a warrior of principle, he has actually changed public opinion and GOP ideology in the direction of liberty, and it is that achievement that lands him in the top spot on my list.

Remember when I was abruptly forced to stop blogging about the Salvatore DiMasi trial? Well, I am now free to explain why, and also to blog about that case and others that I was not able to. I don’t share a lot of information about myself or my life on this blog, but I feel that writing nothing about the final outcome of a trial that I had covered in detail each day was so out of character for me, and so different from what I would have done if I had any choice in the matter, that I owe my readers an explanation.

Without going into any more detail than I need to, suffice it to say that my former employer, in June, instituted a policy banning all employees from blogging, tweeting, posting, or mentioning online anything about any case that they were handling. I now have a new job that is not as closely related to the topics that I blog about. This means that I will not be able to go to trials as easily, but I will not be restricted from sharing my opinions and information about criminal cases and criminal justice issues, which I think is a good trade-off.

Below are some blog posts that I wrote since June but did not post because I was not allowed to…until now. Obviously, it would have been better if I was able to post these at the time the events in question were actually going on, but I figured better late than never. Here they are, in chronological order:

• Whitey Bulger and Catherine Greig back in Boston
• J.W. Carney is Whitey Bulger’s new lawyer
• Whitey Bulger pleads not guilty
• Catherine Greig’s bail hearing
• Catherine Greig’s bail hearing, part 2
• Aaron Swartz is a hero
• Catherine Greig pleads not guilty
• Sal DiMasi gets 8 years in prison
• Catherine Greig’s trial date set
• Whitey Bulger & Catherine Greig: 2 hearings

To all my readers - Due to an unforeseen event, I will not be able to attend or blog about the Salvatore DiMasi trial anymore. This comes at the worst possible time and upsets me more than words can convey. Although there is nothing I can do to change it,  I consider this to be a huge let down as a trial blogger, and for that I apologize.

It’s the end of 2010. Guess what that means here at the Freedom Bulletin? It’s time for my roundup of the top 10 most important, influential, and interesting people of the year (formerly the Imperial Awards, but now the Freedom Awards since I changed the name of my blog from the Imperial Bulletin to the Freedom Bulletin).

The list includes people good and bad, local, national, and international. For some reason, this year, at least to me, was much busier than most in terms of newsworthy, brave people who stand up for freedom…and people who are newsworthy for other reasons. As a result, it was extremely difficult to narrow it down to 10 people. But here goes:

10. Evgeni Plushenko – In the world of sports, it was Plushenko, a Russian figure skater, who stood out to me. Although he only won the silver medal in the Vancouver Olympics, he showed that he truly cared about the future of his sport by speaking out fearlessly against what he saw as unfair judging and an unfair scoring system.

9. Thomas Mortimer IV - The quadruple murder case of this Winchester, MA man, accused of killing his wife, children, and mother-in-law, was one of the most interesting, sad, and shocking crime stories of the year.

8. Philip Markoff – The alleged “Craigslist killer” will remain just that forever. One of the nation’s most notorious murder defendants, he committed suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial, leaving unanswered questions and mysteries in his wake.

7. Ron Paul – As always, this Congressman from Texas spoke out for liberty on many fronts this year, from WikiLeaks to health insurance to airport security. He was also awarded the chairmanship of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy.

6. Rand Paul – Not only the son of Ron but a libertarian / conservative leader in his own right, Rand defeated establishment candidates in the Republican primary and went on to win a Kentucky Senate seat this November, giving the Tea Party movement, and liberty in general, a great victory. I’m excited to see what he does once he takes office.

5. Scott Brown - Back in the beginning of the year, he was elected Senator, becoming the first Republican from Massachusetts elected to either part of Congress in recent memory. Although this trend did not continue in November (at least in his home state), a Republican Senator from Massachusetts is something special indeed.

4. John Boehner – Now the Speaker-Elect of the House of Representatives, Boehner was the Minority Leader when the Democrats forced their health non-reform bill through Congress. He condemned the bill in a moving speech, as well as getting all Republicans in the House to vote against it.

3. Ken Cuccinelli – As the Attorney General of Virginia, he sued the federal government over the health non-reform bill and its individual mandate and triumphed when the mandate was declared unconstitutional earlier this month.

The top two people of the year are both great in different ways. They are both worthy of being person of the year, so it was only right to do just that. The following brave freedom fighters are tied for person of the year 2010:

1. Julian Assange – Before 2010, hardly anyone had heard of Assange or WikiLeaks, but he became one of the world’s most talked-about people when his website published the “collateral murder” video and later thousands of secret diplomatic cables. Loved by many and hated by many, Assange faced death threats, attacks on his website, rape accusations, and the possibility of espionage charges because of his work for government transparency. He is truly an admirable person because he stands up for his beliefs no matter what the cost.

1. John Tyner – Many people don’t recognize his name, but almost everyone knows his famous words to TSA agents, which he captured on video: “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested.” Tyner had the courage to stand up to the TSA’s truly despicable policy of requiring people to either be seen naked or have their private parts patted down in order to board an airplane. This November, he helped to spark a long-overdue popular uprising. So this award goes not only to Tyner but to everyone who has protested, in any way, against the TSA’s attacks on our freedom and dignity.

Runners up:

• Jan Brewer – the Governor of Arizona who signed into law the controversial illegal-immigration crackdown.
• Jason Chaffetz – the Utah Congressman who was one of the first to protest full-body scanners and contined to speak out against them this year.
• Carla Howell – the Massachusetts small government activist who led the campaign to cut the state sales tax.
• Bill Hudak – a Massachusetts candidate for Congress who showed courage by sticking to his conservative, anti-Obama beliefs despite liberals’ ridicule.
• Judge Henry Hudson – the federal judge who ruled the individual health insurance mandate unconstitutional.
• Chris Liu – the “Patriot Pilot” who posted YouTube videos exposing the flaws in TSA security procedures.
• Bill McCollum – the Florida Attorney General who sued the federal government over the individual mandate.
• Meg McLain – a radio host who was handcuffed after refusing to submit to the TSA’s full-body scans and pat-downs.
• Michael Merlina – the Massachusetts man who sued the state for fining people who do not buy health insurance.
• Sarah Palin – this year, she toured around the country with the Tea Party Express, starred in a reality show, wrote a book, and campaigned for many conservative candidates.
• Michael Roberts – the pilot who encouraged his colleagues to boycott full-body scanners.
• Steven Slater – the Jet Blue flight attendant who quit his job by telling a passenger off, grabbing some beers, and sliding down the emergency slide.

I am proud to announce that this blog has a new name: The Freedom Bulletin. Along with the new name comes a new domain – this blog can now be accessed at TheFreedomBulletin.com.

The content of this blog will not be changing; I was just getting sick of the old name and felt that it was time for a change. For a long time I have considered this blog just a part of my other site, ImperialKingdom.net, and I wanted a name that matched. However, I think it’s time for this blog to have its own identity and its own name which better refects what it’s all about. Although I blog about a variety of topics, from politics to law to entertainment, most of what I write about has to do with freedom in some form or another, be it political freedom, economic freedom, or simply the freedom to be oneself. There is nothing that I believe in more than freedom, and I think of this blog as a way for me to advance that cause.

I hope you like the new name; I know that I do! Welcome to TheFreedomBulletin.com!