I was asking. Notice that no one mentions whether or not a fine was paid in a the vast majority of cases?
The fund may be to "pay rent" but just wait until the local government figures out when it's grown large enough and starts slapping fines on everyone hoping something sticks.
I'm still looking for the increased freedom as a result of CD, so far it only seems to have gone the way. Evidence: the whole cameras in court thing.
Well I can admit that we often suffer from poor reporting and lacking in followup updates at FreeKeene. This is an organization issue I think ("oh, someone else will post that update."), and I'm often posting updates to court stories I wasn't even attending, just because I think they should be followed up on.
As for CD reducing freedom and encouraging crackdown, I was recently asked "So, have you guys made any progress in your activism?" and my answer was "Depends what you call progress. Was Ghandi making progress as he was beaten into the ground. It was a step along the way, but it probably didn't feel like progress at the time."
Ghandi was a racist, so I'm glad there isn't any Ghandi type progress. And that answer avoids the question. There has been no progress, it's been a regression. A temporary regression? Possibly. Still, I remember hearing that camera's were OK, then they weren't, then they were but you couldn't pan them, then they weren't again. The CD started to "bring down the man" and so far, it hasn't done anything. Rather it went from camera's in court are OK to getting arrested for being in a lobby.
Meanwhile, while people get bent out of shape over the actions of the police in the courthouse lobby, someone's house is being wrongfully raided and they're being terrorized for no good reason. The CD activists have obviously chosen to fight Camera-gate but won't do a damn thing about unlawful raids because, well, that's politics and politics is a waste of time.