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Sunday, June 10, 2012

A Bloggin Response to Academia Semillas del Pueblo "Cease and Desist Request", BRING IT ON!

Academia Semillas del Pueblo's Charter School "Cease and Desist Letter" to blogger Scott Johnson
 Page One
Page Two
Page Three ** BTW, how many Costco Pizzas could have been purchase to feed Academia students with the legal cost of this letter?
Memo to Academia Semillas del Pueblo Executive Director Marcos Aguilar and "Legal Counsel" Salomon Zavala, care to join us in a teachable moment regarding Academia Semillas del Pueblo's latest attack on First Amendment rights and a Free Press? 
For the bloggin benefit of our political cyber audience, lets refresh our readers on tactics behind your latest threat of a "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation" aka S.L.A.P.P. and some background via Wikipedia., against a journalistic entity. **.... and remind everyone how much was awarded KABC 790 AM Morning Host Doug McIntyre and Disney in legal fees last time Academia attempted to use S.LA.P.P. to silence their critics.

strategic lawsuit against public participation(SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.[1]The typical SLAPP plaintiff does not normally expect to win the lawsuit. The plaintiff's goals are accomplished if the defendant succumbs to fear, intimidation, mounting legal costs or simple exhaustion and abandons the criticism. A SLAPP may also intimidate others from participating in the debate. A SLAPP is often preceded by a legal threat. The difficulty, of course, is that plaintiffs do not present themselves to the Court admitting that their intent is to censor, intimidate or silence their critics. Hence, the difficulty in drafting SLAPP legislation, and in applying it, is to craft an approach which affords an early termination to invalid abusive suits, without denying a legitimate day in court to valid good faith claims.

We here at Mayor Sam have some history with these "Cease and Desist your First Amendment Right to Free Expression Demands" (in the writer's own words with help of "spoll check"). Our cyber audience will remember this blog's  first encounter with "Cease and Desist" via "Infant Assemblyman Mike Gatto" (one is easily bully the first time) and we are still here today despite repeated bile personal attacks via the dreaded "Gatto Truthers". Recently, "Private Citizen/ Democratic Campaign Consultant" John Shallman took issue with some of this blogger's past commentary and made threats about libel which were just that, threats to intimidate our opinions. Now we have this latest tired example of waste of legal fees and paper to which we say BRING IT ON!


In what is becoming this writer's standard disclaimer......, let me state that we endeavor here at Mayor Sam to base our musings on the facts. If we choose to incorporate speculation, we label it as such. Plus, in the course of writing we have the right to question all possible story angles base upon the information at hand and craft our product in a style that may incorporate satire, mixed with parody. That is the bloggin way (especially for this writer).


In the case of our coverage of the on going issues at the controversial Charter School, we are very aware that only the facts are expose, especially in reporting on a trouble institution of learning (that is why LAUSD professional staff recommended non-renewal of charter) who's actions may have a detrimental effect on the children it supposedly serve. We stand by our reporting and commentary. We also extend the invitation to Academia Semillas del Pueblo staff and supporters to respond in writing to any of our coverage which we will post in the interest of a communal dialog. That is what blogging promotes, truthful dialog, not legal threats.


Your thoughts ..............
Scott Johnson in CD 14      

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10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

They are paying rent for a location that has never been permitted to operate so paying a lawyer to file frivolous lawsuits should be no problem. Given their record, get a high priced attorney and sue for legal costs. BTW, is Solomon a graduate of Semillas? The grammar on his letter would indicate as much: "We take this issue gravely seriously..." I bet they learned him how to spoke reeeal good there.

June 11, 2012 12:17 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Unlike LAUSD proceedings to approve charter renewal, a court case requires that you give testimony under oath. Scott, get UTLA to help fund your court case and put Marcos and the rest of the admin and board on the stand. Perjury is a serious offense. How truthful do you think these charter school proponents will be in a case like this. It could be a landmark case in the fight against corrupt charter schools. Semillas is diggins a hole for themselves, now there wil lbe reason to open up the books in a public forum.

June 11, 2012 7:51 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

what a bunch of gangsters

June 11, 2012 11:14 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

No not gangsters, wannabe maybe, but not gangsters. Gangsters know better than to bring attention to themselves when they ar doing something illegal.

June 12, 2012 6:29 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

That shcool is a freaking joke! Those kids should not be learning a language that will not be of any used to them in the future. They should not have to be calling the "principal" Tata Marcos. I have a friend but it would be a good idea to send her kids there as charter schools are supposed to have a higher standard when it comes to curriculum. Sad thing is her kids went there for 2 years before she decided to take them out and put them back it to the Alhambra public school system. She learned real quick that her kids were so far behind in there grade level that she had pay for a tutor so that they wouldn't be held back. I feel so sorry for the kids are going there now!

June 12, 2012 10:38 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Follower!! That's why they want the kids to call hime " TATA MARCOS" .. I wonder what these students are going to say about their experiences there at the school when they graduate.. first year of Graduating student.. HMMMMM

June 12, 2012 11:53 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Tata is a term of respect in the indigenous communities, of which Mexicanos are part. But it must be earned, not granted. I guess if you are earning $150K a year for directing a failing school, something is being earned - but not the title!

June 12, 2012 1:54 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The news of this school is not new; I do not have problem teaching student different languages, however, at least one that will benefit them in today's education. However, their first responsibility is to teach them the preliminaries of education in the USA, reading, writing, and math, if they cannot do that, they should not venture into languages that are no supported nor have the capability of continuing the education of that particular language. Options should be first English, Spanish, Chineses, Japanese and definitely Latin. This school definetely needs to review the constitution of the USA to start.

June 12, 2012 3:00 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"Gravely Seriously" .. I couldn't stop laughing .. What happens is that you require a Semiilas dictionary to make sense of these people.. That book cost $49.99.. But for u there is special offer of 2 easy payments of $39.95.. To spoke our language .. "tata"..

June 12, 2012 3:35 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

My wife and I spoke to recruiters for the Semiilas school a few years ago. We asked about their test scores. They told us that the school's state standardized tests were well above the LAUSD's district norm! I knew they were not telling us the truth but didn't press the issue.

June 15, 2012 7:33 PM  

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