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finance records this wasn t a one off as of this writing i have three active defamation lawsuits pending in indiana courts one stems from a false accusation of perjury another from claims i committed criminal campaign violations the third from the same defendant who decided on his way to prison to repeat the original slander online so i sued again some people call that petty i call it precedent this isn t about ego it s about the rule of law because too many people have come to believe that free speech includes the right to defame harass and destroy reputations with zero consequence it doesn t under indiana law defamation particularly defamation per se remains a viable tort with teeth and indiana trial rule 55 allows litigants to seek default judgment when defendants fail to answer i ve already used it once and i m prepared to use it again there s also the modern wrinkle judgment enforcement is evolving platforms like judgment marketplace now allow plaintiffs to monetize court judgments by selling them to third party collectors these firms buy judgments often for 10 to 15 cents on the dollar and pursue enforcement through garnishments liens and long term asset monitoring it s not personal it s procedural and it s working there s a broader point here for the legal community we cannot allow the boundaries between protected speech and actionable defamation to dissolve in the name of digital convenience or political theater lawyers journalists public servants we re all increasingly vulnerable to targeted misinformation if we don t enforce the line we lose it the law is still a shield but sometimes it needs to be a sword this is what accountability looks like posted on august 2nd 2025 no comments parental advocacy first amendment retaliation and the emerging liability for indiana schools by abdul hakim shabazz whitley county consolidated schools may have inadvertently opened themselves up to a civil rights lawsuit and if they re not careful they ll lose after a student reported inappropriate conduct by a bus driver the district failed to inform her mother the mother later recorded a meeting with school administrators without their permission that action was entirely lawful under indiana s one party consent statute ind code 35 33 5 1 5 yet the district banned her from school grounds and events the goldwater institute has alleged a violation of her first amendment rights and rightly so the district s actions raise several red flags first amendment retaliation 42 u s c 1983 recording school officials to raise safety concerns about a child arguably constitutes protected speech or expressive conduct retaliating against that activity is actionable if it meets the three prong test from mt healthy city sch dist bd of educ v doyle 429 u s 274 1977 the parent engaged in protected conduct the school took an adverse action that would deter a person of ordinary firmness and the conduct was a motivating factor that s textbook retaliation facial overbreadth of policy any district policy that prohibits lawful recording risks being declared unconstitutional for overbreadth if applied to parents who record their own interactions the district may be suppressing core political speech and expression courts have not looked kindly on that especially post packingham v north carolina 137 s ct 1730 2017 procedural due process banning a parent from public property or school sponsored events without a hearing or opportunity to contest the decision raises due process concerns under the fourteenth amendment when coupled with protected conduct this ban looks less like discipline and more like punishment for speaking up recommended reforms immediately rescind the ban to mitigate exposure and invite resolution revise internal policies to comply with indiana s recording laws and federal constitutional norms adopt a parental rights charter informed by recent case law and best practices mandate reporting protocols for employee misconduct complaints involving minors train staff annually on first amendment civil liability and section 1983 jurisprudence public schools are not above the constitution they are bound by it if districts do not modernize their practices plaintiffs attorneys will do it for them one civil rights complaint at a time posted on july 21st 2025 no comments the ballad of david waters 0 for 14 and still swinging by abdul hakim shabazz by abdul hakim shabazz let me introduce you to david waters a political activist with a growing track record of failure and a troubling habit of turning public processes into personal crusades waters has run for public office twice he lost both times in 2023 he challenged brian mowery in the gop primary for indianapolis city county council district 25 he lost 62 to 38 in 2024 he ran in the republican primary for indiana house district 90 and finished dead last with just 5 8 of the vote that s 0 2 at the ballot box undeterred waters shifted tactics instead of campaigning he began filing campaign finance complaints lots of them at the july 19 marion county election board hearing 13 complaints were dismissed eleven of them were filed by waters none had merit not a single one led to enforcement or corrective action the board found his complaints lacking in both legal standing and factual substance that brings his current public record to 0 13 unfortunately it doesn t stop there despite his long losing streak waters decided to escalate he filed a verified petition for writ of mandamus accusing me of campaign finance violations allegations that had already been reviewed and resolved this wasn t just political theater it crossed the line into defamation accusing someone of criminal wrongdoing in a court filing especially when those accusations are knowingly false opens the door to serious legal consequences that s why i ve filed a defamation lawsuit because enough is enough to be clear this isn t about revenge this is about accountability if we allow individuals to misuse the legal system to harass and defame others without consequence we undermine public trust in those institutions for context i ve been a political commentator and attorney in indiana for more than two decades i ve run for office once i lost i learned from it and while i ve been approached about running again due to recent events in indianapolis my standard reply is get permission from the lovely mrs shabazz and find me 5 million though lately 3 million might be enough but even if the money showed up convincing my wife would be the real uphill battle back to mr waters his campaign complaints weren t good faith concerns about transparency or ethics they were part of a pattern using public processes to settle personal scores that strategy failed him at the ballot box it failed him at the election board and it s likely to fail him in court and let s not forget he has also filed legal actions against the marion county fair board if the pattern holds and i believe it will those cases will join the rest in the procedural trash bin there comes a point where persistent failure stops being admirable and starts being reckless we are well past that point david waters isn t holding power to account he s abusing public systems for private feuds and if no one else is willing to say that plainly i will accountability is coming and this time it won t be in the form of a hearing or a ballot it will be a courtroom posted on july 19th 2025 no comments economic empowerment zones smart sentencing real accountability and yes some tough love by abdul hakim shabazz public safety is the foundational promise of government and right now indianapolis is struggling to deliver the recent uptick in juvenile violence particularly high profile shootings involving minors demands more than press conferences and positive vibes it demands a reset one that combines judicial discretion community reinvestment and family accountability in a unified strategy to the city s credit some progress is already underway we ve seen renewed investment in community based violence reduction expanded support for youth programs and more robust enforcement of the juvenile curfew these efforts deserve recognition but they re incomplete what s missing is a willingness to confront the harder truths especially around consequences not just for young offenders but for the adults who ve abdicated responsibility let s also not pretend kids are just out wandering the streets at 2 a m by accident they re out because the parent or more likely the single parent isn t checking in isn t present or is overwhelmed and disconnected we also can t ignore the 3 p m to 7 p m window that after school stretch is prime time for bad decisions when structure disappears supervision vanishes and temptation thrives that s where the business faith based and educational communities must step in houses of worship can open their doors for programming college students can serve as mentors and the business sector it should underwrite the costs as part of a long term investment in safer streets and a better workforce pipeline enter the economic empowerment zone this approach targets neighborhoods that have suffered from chronic disinvestment and disproportionate violence through clear criteria census data income levels crime rates these areas would be designated zones where judges have the discretion to apply sentencing enhancements for violent crimes this isn t about mandatory minimums it s about acknowledging the deeper harm done when crime hits already vulnerable communities and yes this policy framework can withstand constitutional scrutiny it uses neutral data driven criteria to define zones avoids mandatory sentencing and maintains full judicial discretion in other words it does exactly what sentencing guidelines are meant to do calibrate justice to context so to the usual crowd gearing up for some performative legal pearl clutching i say please cite case law not cable news and yes we understand why youth carry guns protection fear status trauma we ve heard the stories we ve read the social worker reports but understanding the psychological backstory doesn t negate the reality of bullets flying through downtown compassion doesn t mean consequences vanish this isn t theoretical it s grounded in decades of criminological science focused deterrence reentry programming place based sentencing enhancements all proven tools layered with targeted investment and responsible oversight this is a policy package that works on the street and in the courtroom governor mike braun has a moment here by backing this proposal he doesn t just help the capital city he aligns with his opportunity agenda restores credibility to his party in marion county and demonstrates that law and order and economic development aren t mutually exclusive if it succeeds he looks like a leader if it draws partisan criticism he gets to ask a simple question what s your plan and yes national gun violence is rising but as i used to tell my son when he bombed a test and said everyone else failed too that s not an excuse that s a problem if the whole class failed maybe someone needs to change the lesson plan and let s be blunt silence in the face of community decay is not compassion it s complicity refusing to act because it might be politically uncomfortable or ideologically messy is no longer acceptable one might even say this has the makings of a serious public safety platform the kind you d want from someone ready to step up and offer real solutions at city hall abdul hakim shabazz is an attorney political commentator and publisher of indianabarrister com he has covered indiana politics law and public policy for more than two decades he is available to speak on this or other pressing issues for media appearances panels or events reach out and let s work something out posted on july 13th 2025 no comments the silence is deafening and dangerous by abdul hakim shabazz we ve seen this before a public tragedy a downtown shooting lives lost outrage sparked headlines written city leaders make statements police hold a presser and then silence shrug reset rinse and repeat on july 4 chaos erupted downtown two teenagers dead five others shot all within blocks of where we roll out the red carpet for tourists conventions and college recruiters it happened near the heart of our city s brand and just steps from where we pretend downtown is back you d think this would be the moment for the downtown business community to step forward loudly clearly forcefully but instead crickets you could hear a pin drop on georgia street if it weren t for the sirens let s be blunt downtown indianapolis is not okay between the shootings the unchecked homelessness the wave of youth violence and a sexual harassment scandal at the top levels of city government we are one bad headline away from turning circle city into crisis city and no amount of instagrammable murals or pedestrian plazas is going to change that if people don t feel safe coming downtown after dark or even during the day but let s not pretend the business community is powerless here you ve stepped up before remember rfra when the state tried to pass off discrimination as religious freedom it was indy s business and civic leadership that stood up pushed back and forced change remember mass transit you helped lead the charge you ve flexed your voice before when the stakes were high so where are you now this isn t just about civic pride or quality of life this is about the economic health of the city if downtown dies the rest of the city doesn t get to pretend it s fine the circle is still the beating heart of indy s brand and right now it s showing symptoms of something serious and let s be honest it s a hell of a look when two kids get gunned down on washington street and the city s response is mild discomfort and a curfew meanwhile the mayor s office is still dealing with the fallout from a sex scandal involving his former chief of staff who apparently had a habit of mixing romance with contracts and city money the young woman at the center of it still getting paid by the city and somehow there s no public plan no internal reckoning no reform agenda let me be clear i m not telling the business community to demand the mayor s resignation that s not the ask but given everything the shootings the scandal the homelessness the overall public confidence nosedive it is more than fair to publicly ask is joe hogsett still the right person to lead us forward and if he is then what s the plan where s the urgency where s the leadership at the very least he should be asking himself that question and there s nothing wrong nothing radical about the business community saying out loud what a lot of folks are whispering privately and if you re worried about retaliation for speaking out here s my advice they can t retaliate against all of you especially not if your names are eli lilly cummins salesforce or anthem there is safety in numbers and power in coordin...