Spring 2011
"Looks like the Supreme Court is pretty busy..."
"First the crazy blizzards and now these twisters?! This ain't normal! And we ain't ready for stuff like this!"
"What the flood?!"
The "Spring of the Supreme Court" would be labelled this season, if namely due to the surprising amount of notable Supreme Court decisions that were implemented over during the spring time. First of all was one regarding over the case of a deceased soldier killed during a peacekeeping mission during the Arab Spring, with his funeral being protested by the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. While there was the question in regards over decency and so on, The case brought up the issue of whether or not the First Amendment protected public protestors at a funeral against claims of emotional distress, better known as tort liability. It involved a claim of
intentional infliction of emotional distress. On the one hand, the First Amendment was one of the most sacred and fundamental pillars of American society along with freedom of religion, especially on public spaces. On the other hand, emotional distress and harassment had to be considered, especially since some of the protest signs were less about "public issues" and more "private harassment". Much to the outrage of many, in
Snyder v. Phelps, the Court sided with Phelps, citing an infamously previous case regarding filming animal violence and that the signs were mainly of public issues.The anger went beyond partial circles however given the relative unanimous agreement barring one dissent. Other case results were greeted more postively, such as
Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn , which saw the repeal of a state law regarding providing tax credits to people who donate to school tuition organizations providing scholarships to students attending private or religious schools.
Kentucky v. King, regarding warrantless searches violating the 4th Amendment under suspicions of destruction of evidence ended up claiming that it did, since such suspicions could be claimed on behalf of the police.
Brown v. Plata maintained that a court-mandated population limit was necessary to remedy a violation of prisoners’
Eighth Amendment constitutional rights. Some displayed concerns over letting prisoners go while others used to point out the surprisingly large prison populatons in general and the comparisons of some crimes over others.
Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting would rule that an Arizona state law suspending or revoking business licenses of businesses that hire
illegal aliens is illegal, noting overreach. Concerns over the practice of hiring illegals were displayed though others pointed out that it would not stop businesses from trying. It got many people to closer examine the view of the Supreme Court, especially with how it was they who more-or-less decided a Presidential election over back in 2000. Others began pressuring their legislatures for better laws or further actions while others took matters in their own hands.
Supreme Court image
Meanwhile, with the nation recovering the intense snow storms, they would be attacked by perhaps the biggest outbreak of tornados. The
2011 Super Outbreak was the largest, costliest, and one of the deadliest
tornado outbreaks ever recorded, taking place along the
Southern,
Midwestern, and
Northeastern United States and leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake. The event not only affected
Alabama and
Mississippi the most severely, but also produced destructive
tornadoes in
Arkansas,
Georgia,
Tennessee and
Virginia, and affected many other areas throughout the Southern and Eastern United States. In total, 360 tornadoes were confirmed by
NOAA's
National Weather Service (NWS) and
Government of Canada's
Environment Canada in 21 states from
Texas to
New York to southern
Canada. Widespread and destructive tornadoes occurred on each day of the outbreak, with April 27 being the most active day with a record of 216 tornadoes touching down that day from midnight to midnight
CDT (0500 – 0500
UTC). Four of the tornadoes were destructive enough to be rated EF5, which is the highest ranking possible on the
Enhanced Fujita scale; typically these tornadoes are only recorded about once each year or less. Following the snow storm, the entire ordeal weighed heavily on the American people, especially with many people trying to recover from losses of the snow storm or even the Great Recession. More emergancy services were being requested and people trying to rebuild themselves. The disasters became a painful reminder over the potential disaster of climate change and the lack of money coming in for infrastructure or emergancy services, leading to growing frustrations over toward the McCain administration. This also led to a revitalization of emergancy packs or people saving money for a rainy day, with the disaster causing a bit more problems for the economy.
April 27 and April 28, 2011, brought the deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States since 1974. By dawn on April 28, at least 250 people had been killed in 6 states.
However, this was not yet bad enough for the Americans, especially those living near the mighty Mississippi. The
Mississippi River floods in April and May 2011 were among the largest and most damaging recorded along the
U.S. waterway in the past century, comparable in extent to the major floods of
1927 and
1993. In April 2011, two major storm systems deposited record levels of rainfall on the Mississippi River
watershed. When that additional water combined with the springtime
snowmelt, the river and many of its
tributaries began to swell to record levels by the beginning of May. Areas along the Mississippi itself experiencing flooding included
Illinois,
Missouri,
Kentucky,
Tennessee,
Arkansas,
Mississippi, and
Louisiana. The ordeal was calling for the worst flooding to be labelled federal disaster areas. This along with the troublesome economy would end up costing people even more, pushing Americans to the limits. Additionally, the problems and cracks weighed down on them. While the Medicare for Kids made sure youngsters got free healthcare, the adults weren't as lucky, especially with job losses, or business damages and so on. For the first time in 37 years, the
Morganza Spillway was opened on May 14, deliberately flooding 4,600 square miles (12,000 km2) of rural Louisiana to save most of
Baton Rouge and
New Orleans The links to the tornadoes were unsurprising and by near the summer, a growing number of people were growing pretty pissed. Climate disasters, unsteady economies and it seemed like politicians were not listening or providing the assistance needed. Growing radical voices began proclaiming what was needed.
Flooding along Beale Street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee
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...
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"Mr. President! Mr. President! Iraq has just declared war on Syria!!!"