Tag: Constitution

Myrtle Beach’s Unequal Application of Law

One thing that has become consistent in the City of Myrtle Beach over recent years is the law will be applied inconsistently. It’s not what you do, it’s who you are that matters.

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution guarantee due process and equal application of the law to both federal and state jurisdictions.

But not in Myrtle Beach!

The city is currently being sued by business owners in the city for violating the owners’ rights guaranteed by the Constitution and those amendments with what the city calls its Entertainment Overlay District.

Inside that district, businesses are prohibited from selling legal products such as CBD oils and Vape accessories with the threat of having their business licenses revoked and the business being closed down.

Those same products are sold in other areas of the city without any restriction or harassment by city officials.

Most, if not all, of these businesses are beachwear stores owned by Jewish businessmen, which brings in other issues to the lawsuit in the form of violations of the Civil Rights Act and discrimination.

City officials have said these restrictions were put in place by city ordinance in an effort to make the district “family friendly” – the city’s favorite buzzword.

However, there have recently been three raids on two hotels within the same district for the sale of illegal drugs on the properties, you know heroin, cocaine and those types of drugs, with no threat to business licenses.

There is no indication that the owners or operators of those hotels were involved in the illegal activity, but that hasn’t stopped the city from closing down businesses as “nuisances” for similar activity in the past – Natalia’s Bar and Grill in the Superblock area comes quickly to mind.

Natalia’s was closed down by the city in December 2016 as a nuisance for activities such as drug sales that occurred outside the building but in the near vicinity. One month later, the city owned the property.

Where is Fourth of July Spirit?

In case you forgot, today is the Fourth of July, which is also known as Independence Day.
You remember that holiday, don’t you? It’s the day when Libertarians, Democrats, Republicans and Independents all shoot off fireworks, beat our chests about how we are devout lovers of the Declaration of Independence and talk about all the great works that our Founding Fathers did in 1775 and 1776 to put a new country on the path to being great.

However, this July 4th, I have to admit, I feel more like Frederick Douglass did in 1852 when he spoke about what July 4th means to the Negro in Rochester, New York, than I do of a proud American. I know, I shouldn’t find myself asking questions like: “Is this the land your Fathers loved, The freedom which they toiled to win? Is this the earth whereon they moved? Are these the graves they slumber in?”

I know I shouldn’t be wondering what to the American slave is your Fourth of July. I know I should be jumping for joy that (at least in the minds of a few), America is the super power nation that doesn’t take any crap from anyone, including one of its own citizens who released information.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act

One more nail in the coffin of liberty is being prepared in Washington as Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy’s rewrite of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is scheduled for a vote next week.

Despite the misleading name, the rewritten bill would allow 22 federal agencies unlimited access to email accounts without a search warrant and without notifying either the account owner or a judge.

This is just another example of how the federal government is solidifying its position as the ever watchful ‘Big Brother.’

The rewritten bill will not be as egregious as other federal government initiatives since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.