Westboro Church to picket Conn. child victims funerals

[Tim Tellean]

Unbelievably sick.

Twitter / DearShirley: Westboro will picket Sandy ...

[Noop]

Man they're stupid.

[BillJasper]

What a bunch of tools.

[Autumn]

Oh this must be the new Onion articles thread. What, it isn't ? ...

[IlliniCub]

We ran these guys off once when they picketed at a funeral for my friend who died in afghanistan. Despicable people.

[Toddzilla]

This just in, the sun sets in the west.

The sooner you stop giving these assholes attention, the sooner they go away. Quit being so fucking surprised when they picket something.

[Autumn]

Sorry, Todd, we apologize.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

This just in, the sun sets in the west.

The sooner you stop giving these assholes attention, the sooner they go away. Quit being so fucking surprised when they picket something.

Tis true

SI

[IlliniCub]

Exactly if you didn't see this coming from a mile away....they are attention whores.....always seeking the headlines

[Klinglerware]

Don't we have a Westboro thread on here, oh... every other month?

[RainMaker]

Do they actually protest these things? I thought their MO of late was to just say they would be for attention and then never show.

[EagleFan]

Now would be a good time for the governor of connecticut to come out and say that he is preemptively pardoning anyone that beats the sh*t out of any of these protestors.

[IlliniCub]

If these guys ever get shot attacked or anything I couldn't feel sympathy....I remember the undue stress they put on the family of my friend...those of us outside the box, its easy to say ignore their bs....but when your son or husband has died in afghanistan it takes on a whole new meaning

[IlliniCub]

I'll never forget pushing past these bastards to goto my friend/ college teamates funeral

[IlliniCub]

The less attention you give them the better

[Crapshoot]

Why do we even give them this attention? Threads like this, news reporting on it, that's what they seek. You can't kill them through shame; so kill them through silence.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Why do we even give them this attention? Threads like this, news reporting on it, that's what they seek. You can't kill them through shame; so kill them through silence.

This......

Though it still would be nice just to whack one of them in the mouth, which of course leads to them filing a suit to finance more of their escapades, so yeah, silence.

[EagleFan]

How about killing them through killing them?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

How about killing them through killing them?

They would probably picket their own funerals.

[Simbo Klice]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

They would probably picket their own funerals.

I would drive 500 miles to picket a Westboro Church mass funeral.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Now would be a good time for the governor of connecticut to come out and say that he is preemptively pardoning anyone that beats the sh*t out of any of these protestors.

Originally Posted by IlliniCub

If these guys ever get shot attacked or anything I couldn't feel sympathy....I remember the undue stress they put on the family of my friend...those of us outside the box, its easy to say ignore their bs....but when your son or husband has died in afghanistan it takes on a whole new meaning

Originally Posted by EagleFan

How about killing them through killing them?

There should be some sort of internet matchmaking for people like school shooter and these assholes. Shooter wants to go out in a blaze of "glory"? Cool, we'll find you a group of filth to exterminate that very few would miss.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

There should be some sort of internet matchmaking for people like school shooter and these assholes. Shooter wants to go out in a blaze of "glory"? Cool, we'll find you a group of filth to exterminate that very few would miss.

Perfect!

[Kodos]

Where's Dexter when you need him?

[booradley]

Originally Posted by Simbo Klice

I would drive 500 miles to picket a Westboro Church mass funeral.

I would seriously do this. In fact, I might bookmark their site & monitor for the opportunity ...

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Simbo Klice

I would drive 500 miles to picket a Westboro Church mass funeral.

Originally Posted by booradley

I would seriously do this. In fact, I might bookmark their site & monitor for the opportunity ...

Count me in too...

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

There should be some sort of internet matchmaking for people like school shooter and these assholes. Shooter wants to go out in a blaze of "glory"? Cool, we'll find you a group of filth to exterminate that very few would miss.

This is a great Web 2.0 opportunity. Connecting murderers with assholes.

[Izulde]

Evidently Anonymous struck back by posting all of the Phelps' personal info online.

[Desnudo]

They aren't that hard to find in the first place. I'm impressed at the restraint shown by folks to this point. When even the kkk is counter protesting you you surely have a lot of enemies with the means to simply blow your stuff up.

[molson]

It's always been kind of odd to me how good a lawyer Shirley Phelps is. Like, you'd assume (I assumed) that these were a bunch of nutjobs who had enough donation money to have the ACLU defend them in court. No - Phelps writes the briefs and argues, very well, in front of the United States Supreme Court. She understands appellate law and the constitution better than most appellate lawyers. It's just a really strange dichotomy. It makes me think that maybe she's just a white collar con-artist - she's not really INTO this stuff, it's just her line of work and it pays the bills and then some.

[stevew]

I kind of think that I wouldnt shed a tear if a well regulated militia of one decided to shoot them up. But Shirley wouldnt be among them...they send the taxi squad

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by molson

It's always been kind of odd to me how good a lawyer Shirley Phelps is. Like, you'd assume (I assumed) that these were a bunch of nutjobs who had enough donation money to have the ACLU defend them in court. No - Phelps writes the briefs and argues, very well, in front of the United States Supreme Court. She understands appellate law and the constitution better than most appellate lawyers. It's just a really strange dichotomy. It makes me think that maybe she's just a white collar con-artist - she's not really INTO this stuff, it's just her line of work and it pays the bills and then some.

I've long thought it is just a fairly clever money grab.

EDIT: And the best way to thwart the money grab is to ignore them completely, but they're so inflammatory that it's virtually impossible for most people to ignore them.

[JPhillips]

Initially I thought it was sincere, if misguided, but now it's clear that this is just the family business. Protest, anger, incite, sue, repeat. It's a despicable business model, but I'd imagine it has been quite lucrative. They'll only stop when the costs of travel outweigh the rewards from lawsuits.

[IlliniCub]

Yeah I agree at the top it's money, but all the underlings that joined really buy in to and believe the stuff I'd say just like with any other cult

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by IlliniCub

Yeah I agree at the top it's money, but all the underlings that joined really buy in to and believe the stuff I'd say just like with any other cult

Not to be a dick, well fuck it, yeah to be a dick, too bad that whole group doesn't just decide to have their own Kool-Aid party.

Money drives the Phelps, while ignorance stocks their army of misguided followers. Sad that some are so susceptiple to the influence of hate.

[kcchief19]

I don't think money is at the top of the chain. Westboro Baptist is a cult plain and simple. Yes, they file plenty of lawsuits but I'm not sure the totality of judgements in their favor at this point have outweighed the costs of their operation. Most of their legal activity is aimed at creating a nuisance.

Their activity is much more involved in the KC area since they are based in Kansas. Hard to go long without seeing them protest something or other. It's not just funerals and other events that get attention here; they protested the Bruce Springsteen concert a few weeks ago.

As we've discussed before, Fred Phelps was a "good guy" until he snapped in the late '70s. My fear is that if his group feels they aren't getting enough attention, they may escalate their activities.

[sabotai]

Is there any way to find out how much money they've won in lawsuits and how many lawsuits there have been? I've thought for awhile that they do this shit to bait people to sue, but have never heard of any of the lawsuits.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Do they actually protest these things? I thought their MO of late was to just say they would be for attention and then never show.

Yep, this has been what they've been doing lately. Never saw them at the F1 race in Austin.

[CU Tiger]

I'm waiting on the day when someone attacks and kills these protesters.

How easy do you think it would be to find 12 Americans who would convict a gunman who killed even a large number of protesters in this particular case.

And to detour the hell out of the conversation, what would that say and result in for our US legal system.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Perfect!

Originally Posted by Autumn

This is a great Web 2.0 opportunity. Connecting murderers with assholes.

I need first to figure out a name that's not at all suspicious, so there's no bank statement fudging required.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I'm waiting on the day when someone attacks and kills these protesters.

How easy do you think it would be to find 12 Americans who would convict a gunman who killed even a large number of protesters in this particular case.

And to detour the hell out of the conversation, what would that say and result in for our US legal system.

Difficulty: getting a judge who would allow their protest history into the evidentiary record as well as allowing people who have heard of WBC to serve.

If you can empanel a jury who knows WBC's history, the evidence record might not matter. If you can introduce the history into evidence, you might be able to inflame the panel.

If you can't do either, you might have a tough time getting an acquittal.

[Izulde]

But can you even find 12 people who haven't heard of WBC?

[bob]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

I need first to figure out a name that's not at all suspicious, so there's no bank statement fudging required.

I think there is a thread on here somewhere that might help in case you do need to fudge your bank statement....

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Izulde

But can you even find 12 people who haven't heard of WBC?

I imagine that would be pretty easy in plenty of areas.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I imagine that would be pretty easy in plenty of areas.

My first thought would be the shooting of the protesters taking place in Atlanta and then a change of venue to somewhere like Cusseta.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

How about killing them through killing them?

Stupid people have rights. The idea that violence is a solution is ought of 3rd grade - we grow up and realize it doesn't work.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Difficulty: getting a judge who would allow their protest history into the evidentiary record as well as allowing people who have heard of WBC to serve.

If you can empanel a jury who knows WBC's history, the evidence record might not matter. If you can introduce the history into evidence, you might be able to inflame the panel.

If you can't do either, you might have a tough time getting an acquittal.

Would that evidence be allowed into the grand jury a.k.a. could you get it nullified? Just thinking back to A Time to Kill.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Izulde

But can you even find 12 people who haven't heard of WBC?

Easily.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I imagine that would be pretty easy in plenty of areas.

College campuses would be a good place to start, especially if the venue is a city/town that has multiple colleges/universities, but none of them are the flagship of the state university system.

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Would that evidence be allowed into the grand jury a.k.a. could you get it nullified? Just thinking back to A Time to Kill.

Dunno. In theory all you'd need is one person on the grand jury who a) knows who WBC is b) is able to sandbag until deliberations and c) is persuasive enough to get enough of his/her fellow jurors to reject the charges.

In practice (with the admitted IANAL caveat), the grand jury exists to determine whether sufficient evidence exists for trial, not the guilt of the accused.

And I would think the prosecution would hammer that home, that the jury isn't there to determine whether or not the defendant should be punished, but to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to put the defendant on trial.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Dunno. In theory all you'd need is one person on the grand jury who a) knows who WBC is b) is able to sandbag until deliberations and c) is persuasive enough to get enough of his/her fellow jurors to reject the charges.

In practice (with the admitted IANAL caveat), the grand jury exists to determine whether sufficient evidence exists for trial, not the guilt of the accused.

And I would think the prosecution would hammer that home, that the jury isn't there to determine whether or not the defendant should be punished, but to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to put the defendant on trial.

Yeah, I don't really know how grand juries work in practice. I do remember that New Hampshire passed a law explicitly allowing defense attorneys to tell jurors about jury nullification ( New Hampshire Adopts Jury Nullification Law - Hit & Run : Reason.com ), but I'm sure the judge would still have a right to suppress facts.

[Wolfpack]

Would it be possible to have a "Fred Phelps amendment" whereby the 1st amendment is temporarily suspended for this specific group so that whenever they mount a protest so it's permissible to beat them all to soupy pulp for their idiocy? I'm sure we can get it passed through Congress and 38 state legislatures in short order.

[Neon_Chaos]

How I would love these fucking bastards to try that shit here in the Philippines. Heartless fucks.