Jailing of an Alabama blogger: It’s worse than we thought

[Snarkoleptic]

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/14/jailing_of_an_alabama_blogger_its_worse_than_we_thought/

Shuler’s is the only name listed from the Western Hemisphere in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ list of imprisoned news workers around the world. While the presence of a U.S. blogger in a U.S. prison because of his work is troubling enough from a constitutional standpoint, there is even more to Shuler’s story than was first suggested in early reports. A New York Times report on Shuler may have underplayed some chilling factors relating to the blogger’s situation.

--snip--

...the judge issued a preliminary injunction against Shuler — a prior restraint order demanding that he write no more stories about the allegedly defamed parties. Prior restraint orders are rare and occupy a strange space with regard to constitutional law: They are a de facto muzzle; the burden of proof for issuing prior restraint must be high. It is not clear that the defamation claims against Shuler merited such a far-reaching preliminary injunction in the first place. Even before Shuler was jailed for contempt (for refusing to remove blog posts about Riley as ordered), the judge’s rulings may have crossed the line into First Amendment violations. That Shuler was then jailed for acting in contempt of the court’s contentious decision is thus beyond troubling.

--snip--

Thus while the Times stressed that Shuler’s imprisonment raised perturbing First Amendment questions, the characterization of the blogger as a gossip-monger with himself somewhat to blame for his predicament does disservice to the gravity of Shuler’s situation, while ignoring the possibility that Alabama power brokers may have had some hand in his severe punishment.

Here's a link to Roger Shuler's blog-
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/

And a link to his youtube page- (what seems to have driven the Alabama pug machine over the edge are the "Liberty Duke" videos)
https://www.youtube.com/user/rshuler3156/videos

Shuler's jailing is a badge of shame for Alabama and the Country as a whole. He's much more than a pushpin on the world map of jailed journalists-
https://www.cpj.org/imprisoned/2013.php

[Scuba]

1. Boy, just wait 'til the liberal media hears about this!

They'll bring out all the big guns to defend journalism, right?

[L0oniX]

2. The media works for TPTB and real journalists better get used to it. Our undemocratic country rules.

[Coyotl]

3. Jailing of an Alabama Governor: It’s worse than we thought, they stole the election from him too!

This is the real story and the real problem in Alabama, the conspiracy to steal an election that now has to be covered up until all the perps are dead. That meant jailing Siegelman on false charges because he was the biggest threat to the conspiracy unravelling.

[snooper2]

4. I just did enough research to realize this Shuler dude is a fucking idiot

And also-

The fact he is in jail is bullshit, the judges order was way too broad...