Submitted by David Rosenthal via The Foundation for Economic Education,
While most people know Jolly Old Saint Nick as a friendly figure, he too is not immune from the perils of administrative overreach and overcriminalization.
To get you in the Christmas spirit, here is a list of some of the potential crimes and violations of federal law Saint Nick as he prepares to take flight for 2016.
1. The Reindeer Act
One day after the Islamic State published a list of the names and addresses of thousands of churches in the United States and called on its adherents to attack them during the holiday season, according to a message posted late-night Wednesday in the group’s “Secrets of Jihadis” social media group, the FBI warned of possible ISIS-inspired attacks in the US. Coming just days after the Berlin Christmas market terrorist attack in Berlin, U.S.
Newly-released footage captures an incident from March which shows a Kansas under-sheriff tasing a 91-year-old man with Alzheimer’s at a nursing home in Minneapolis. The Ottaway County deputy Russ Thornton was filmed discharging his stun gun at the distressed man and then handcuffing him on the ground as he writhed around in agony. The elderly man who had become ‘disorderly’ and allegedly struck another patient, died just two months after the incident.
Police are allowed to shoot and kill your dog if it moves “a few inches” or barks at them, a ruling from the 6th Circuit Court has decreed. Mark and Cheryl Brown petitioned the appeals court to hold the city and police officers from Battle Creek, Mich., accountable for shooting and killing their dogs while executing a search warrant of their home looking for evidence of drugs.
In October 1977, a Memphis, Tennessee woman was raped in her home by two intruders. The woman subsequently identified one of the perpetrators as her neighbor, 22 year old Lawrence McKinney. One year later, McKinney was convicted on rape and burglary charges and sentenced to 115 years in prison.