Um, Free Speech Eh?
The Market Ticker ® - Commentary on The Capital Markets
Posted 2012-03-12 22:01
by Karl Denninger
in Editorial
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Um, Free Speech Eh?
 

Well well look who could get hoisted on their petard?

But look at what is happening now to Fran Townsend and many of her fellow political elites. In August of last year, The Christian Science Monitor‘s Scott Peterson published a detailed exposé about “a high-powered array of former top American officials” who have received “tens of thousands of dollars” from a designated Terrorist organization – the Iranian dissident group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) — and then met with its leaders, attended its meetings, and/or publicly advocated on its behalf. That group includes Rudy Giuliani, Howard Dean, Michael Mukasey, Ed Rendell, Andy Card, Lee Hamilton, Tom Ridge, Bill Richardson, Wesley Clark, Michael Hayden, John Bolton, Louis Freeh — and Fran Townsend.

Well well look at the bipartisan group of.... terrorists?

Maybe.

Even for official Washington, where elite crimes are tolerated as a matter of course, this level of what appears to be overt criminality — taking large amounts of money from a designated Terrorist group, appearing before its meetings, meeting with its leaders, then advocating on its behalf — is too much to completely overlook. The Washington Timesreported on Friday that the Treasury Department’s counter-Terrorism division is investigating speaking fees paid to former Gov. Rendell, who, the article notes, has “become among [MEK's] most vocal advocates.” According to Rendell, “investigators have subpoenaed records related to payments he has accepted for public speaking engagements” for MEK. As the article put it, ”some observers have raised questions about the legality of accepting payment in exchange for providing assistance or services to a listed terrorist group.” Beyond the “material support” crime, engaging in such transactions with designated Terrorist groups is independently prohibited by federal law:

Oops.

The irony, incidentally, is found in the article itself.  See, some of these very elites supported the law that the US Supreme Court recently upheld criminalizing mere speech that in no way implied or advocated violence or anything of the sort -- if "coordinated with" a terrorist organization.

While the outrage should be obvious in using the First Amendment for toilet paper, what's amusing is who appears to be on the list to get it up the ass with laws they love and that the reaming will be bipartisan.

Read the entire article.  Your jaw will be on the floor, as was mine.

 

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User Info Um, Free Speech Eh? in forum [Market-Ticker]
Tsherry
Posts: 193
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Spokane WA
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I'd be lying if I said I was surprised.

I said quite a while ago, "It's all a lie. Every damned bit of it." It's still true.

Asimov
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The first step is to make everybody a criminal.

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It's justifiably immoral to deal morally with an immoral entity.
If you trade based on what other people say, you will lose money. Especially what I say. I won't be held responsible. Festina lente.
Kylafoon
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Zombie Portal Lookout
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The vast majority of Muslims prefer payment in goat.
This is no different..

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"I found a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works." - Alan Greenspan, October 2008
Howie
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Rendell is a criminal. While he was a DA in Philadelphia he knowingly put an innocent man on death row for a murder he did not commit.

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-a....


John Guinther, 1927-2004
It was Guinther vs. Rendell, and guess who won?

By Dan Rottenberg Add Comment
|
Posted Sep. 8, 2004 ..
In 1981 a mobster named Steve Booras and a female companion were executed gangland-style in a South Philadelphia restaurant. A great outcry arose to find the killer and bring him to justice.

In theory, taxpayers hire police and prosecutors to perform these functions. But in practice, police and prosecutors often make mistakes, especially when they're under pressure. So instead of finding the killer, Philadelphia's justice system found and prosecuted a wimpy furniture salesman named Neil Ferber, who had no record of violent crime and no particular motive for the killing.

The cornerstone of district attorney Ed Rendell's case against Ferber was the testimony of a convicted criminal named Jerry Jordan, who apparently testified for the prosecution in the hope that Rendell's office would help reduce his prison sentence. When Jordan flunked a lie- detector test, Rendell's office, rather than acknowledging its error, made no effort to divulge this tidbit. The lie-detector test wasn't discovered until nearly three years later by Ferber's posttrial attorney.

As a result, Ferber was convicted, sentenced to die, sent to death row and nearly executed for a crime he almost certainly didn't commit, while the real killer of Steve Booras remained at large, immune from prosecution.

Into this situation stepped John Guinther, a freelance journalist who worked alone out of a shabby office on Chestnut Street. Guinther got wind of the framing of Ferber in 1983, began investigating it, and determined to challenge the verdict.

On the surface, this notion was audacious: Then, as now, Rendell enjoyed tremendous popularity, not to mention the coercive power of the state, a huge staff and a budget in the millions. By contrast, Guinther--who died last week at 77--lacked a constituency, a budget or any major institutional connection.

But in retrospect, Guinther did indeed enjoy a few advantages, like truth, courage, persistence, an inquisitive mind, a talented typewriter and a rare ability to perceive the moral forest beyond the procedural trees.

Late in 1983 Guinther laid out the case for Ferber's innocence in an exhaustive article in Philadelphia magazine. When Rendell's office failed to respond, Guinther revisited the Ferber case four times over the next two years in columns he wrote for the Welcomat (now Philadelphia Weekly). Guinther pursued the Ferber case with such zeal that I suspect Rendell and his people were ultimately persuaded that this particular mistake couldn't be swept under the rug.

The last of these articles--"An Innocent Man on Death Row"--appeared Dec. 18, 1985--two weeks before Rendell left office. The next day WWDB radio talk show host Irv Homer read G uinther's entire article on the air. Eight days after that, Rendell's office administered a second lie detector test to its key witness, Jordan. When Jordan again flunked the test, Rendell asked the judge to overturn Ferber's conviction, and the judge did so.

Even after Ferber was set free, Guinther continued his campaign, calling on police to track down the real Booras killer, and even speculating in print about the true killer's identity. But no further arrest for the Booras killings was ever made.

Now it's possible that John Guinther's one-man crusade had nothing to do with Rendell's decision to seek a new trial for Neil Ferber. It's also possible that the Phillies will win the World Series this year. But let's consider the motivations that operated in this case.

Guinther was driven throughout the Ferber case by an abstract passion for justice. Rendell, by contrast, was motivated by public perceptions of him and his office. When it suited Rendell's political and bureaucratic interest to insist that Ferber was guilty, he did so; Rendell did not call for a new trial until that suited his political interest. And his interests changed largely because Guinther's writings made them change.

The Ferber case was merely the high point of a long career Guinther spent shining his spotlight on injustice. On at least two other occasions I know of, his writings helped free innocent men from life prison sentences.

His primary weapon was his keen perception that politicians don't fulfill the terms of their public contracts unless a squeaky wheel demands to be oiled. Anyone who believes a single ordinary private citizen can't make a difference in society never met a very squeaky and very talented wheel named John Guinther.
.

Read more: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-a....

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"Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs." - Thomas Jefferson
Pika-steph
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They all need to EABODADIAF!

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Uppity_peasant
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@ Howie: Fast Eddie Rendell is an authoritarian prick and a fascist's fascist. And a thug. Did I mention that he's a thug?

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If it's true that "assault weapons" are "weapons of war" and don't belong on the streets of America, why do the police need them? Who are the police at war with?
Crzymorse
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Rudy Giuliani, Howard Dean, Michael Mukasey, Ed Rendell, Andy Card, Lee Hamilton, Tom Ridge, Bill Richardson, Wesley Clark, Michael Hayden, John Bolton, Louis Freeh — and Fran Townsend....

Prominent men Homeland security identified enjoy pounding camels.... where's Bill Clinton?
Vernonb
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Seems like every time we turn around in PA, we find some scumbag raping kids or supporting terrorists.

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"The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”
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Vitchilo
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They are only terrorists if they don't lick the boots of the US government imperialism.

Lick the boots and kill women and children? Alrighty.

Don't lick the boots and oppose the FED and the wars and the corruption?? You are a terrorist.

It's all about licking the good pair of boots.

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"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -- H.L. Mencken

Bertdilbert
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MEK = good terrorist... Will be redefined as freedom fighters and it is all good ...

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Atlasrocked
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A real ABSCAM.
Bangkokian
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Bangkok
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How is this different from being allied with the enemy? Don't we throw people in Guantanamo for this? Isn't this subverting our national security? I believe there's a word for that and it begins with a "T".

And what do we do with traitors again?

Richardebel
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It's about time this forum starts to recognize the truth. The "War on Terror" is a great Hoax designed to keep us involved in never ending wars. This is not news to me.
Checkthisout
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With all the anti-government sentiment I read around here and using a loose definition of terrorism, The Ticker could find itself on the terrorist group list.

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There are no gun free zones where free men tread.
Jymm
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Wisconsin
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The Patriot act, NDAA, SOPA, PIPA, insider trading. I have been trying to tell people forever that the real criminals are our government officials. I have also been trying to tell those I know that this is a bipartisan conspiracy. The Republicans are good at introducing, sponsoring and voting yes on these bills and then blaming the Democrats. The Democrats are complicit, so can hardly complain.

No I am not surprised, the assault on the constitution, bill of rights and the American citizen continues.

I agree Checkthisout, we all could find ourselves on the terrorist list, for posting the truth online.
Onelegged
Posts: 265
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NW Colorado
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This article brings back a little mothers' advice, something about "birds of a feather". There's no moral incentive here. Its just cockroaches scurrying to where the money is.

If any of us "little people" spoke out in favor of such a group we would risk the dragnet of NDAA. Cockroaches.

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The light at the end of this tunnel is a train.
Mannfm11
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What is a terrorist organization other than what is called a terrorist organization by the government? It appears the terrorists are in the government, doing the law enforcement.

Checkthisout, we are terrorists, terrifying those afraid of the truth. There is a FSA for the poor, a FSA for the 9 digit and up rich and a bunch of bull**** in between.

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The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.---John Kenneth Galbraith

Cobra2411
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Philly P.a.
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No crimes were committed speech in 3...2...1...

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To err is human. To really **** things up takes government.
Mannfm11
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DFW, Tx
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This looks more like MEK recognizing what these people are and merely finding the price. This group should be prosecuted for prostitution.

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The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.---John Kenneth Galbraith
Greendisease
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There was nothing more irritating than seeing "Fat Eddie" regularly appear on a sports analysis show while he was governor, disheveled and all. I would always think to myself, "Doesn't this clown have a state to run?" What a fraud.

And now, there's the horrifying prospect of him winning the bid on Philly's failing newspapers. What a sad state of affairs that would be: The birthplace of independence having its chief newspaper graced with Ed Rendell's propaganda, funded by terrorist dollars. Cover your eyes, Ben Franklin.

Not that the Inky is any good now, but still...
Captainkidd
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Pasadena, Texas
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Quote:
And what do we do with traitors again?


Our president appoints them to cabinet level positions.
We elect them to the highest level government offices.
We bail out their companies so they can get multi-million dollar bonuses.
We cover up their malfeasence with public monies.
We turn our heads and ignore their crimes.
We avert our eyes so that their corruption is not visible.

And then we watch Dancing with the Stars or American Idol so we don't hear anything else about it.

Hey, did you catch the finale of The Batchelor the other night????? (/sarcasm)

It won't end at the Ballot Box. It won't end with a pen, or a microphone. It won't end orderly, peacefully, or politically.

The coup has already happened here, and we have lost. And there's little to no will in the populace to fix anything. This is how it looks, and how it is. If you want to see how it will look, and how it will be, go to any number of third world countries and see where we are headed. Mexico comes to mine.

.GOV for sale to the highest bidding criminal. Inquire within.

If we ever see a democratic republic again on US soil, it will be after the tree of liberty has been watered liberally and generously.

***************************************

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A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns. --Mario Puzo

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. -- Henry Ford
Britishsteel
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Will not even waste the bandwitdh to pass this on. NO ONE ****ING CARES.

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One Ring to rule them all,One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all,and in the darkness bind them.
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Krzelune
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Just imagine how many people will go to jail when they designate the Boy Scouts of America a terrorist organization.

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The desire of millions, the inconvenience of millions, the suffering of millions, the death of millions, does not concern them because of the evolutionary humanist lens they peer through.
Vitchilo
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Krzelune : you're kidding? The boy scouts will be used as a stasi force.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsTPC-jIe....

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"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -- H.L. Mencken
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