This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Legal

  • Nah, don’t worry about Marc Hall

    Last month I wrote about newly-minted IVAW member Marc Hall who was “stop lossed” in the Age of Obama at Fort Stewart, GA so retaliated by writing a violent rap song – which in turn got him tossed in the hoosegow by the Army. The Stars and Stripes reprints the violent verses;

    “[Expletive] you colonels, captains, E-7 and above
    You think you so much bigger than I am? …
    I’m gonna round them up all eventually, easily, walk right up peacefully
    And surprise them all, yes, yes, y’all, up against the wall, turn around
    I got a [expletive] magazine with 30 rounds, on a three-round burst, ready to fire down
    Still against the wall, I grab my M-4, spray and watch all the bodies hit the floor
    I bet you never stop-loss nobody no more.”

    Pretty explicit about his intentions. The Army explains why they locked him up;

    “The chain of command has a legal obligation to the citizens of the United States to investigate and deal fairly with SPC Hall’s alleged misconduct,” Kevin Larson, a spokesman at Fort Stewart, said in an e-mail. “Anything less would be irresponsible to our citizens and soldiers.”

    Of course they have a legal obligation to protect soldiers and their families from crack pots. But Hall’s lawyer, James Klimaski, doesn’t see it that way;

    Hall’s song is just a song and should not be taken literally, the lawyer said.

    “Listen to rap songs,” Klimaski said. “I mean there are a whole bunch of rap songs talking about killing people all the time. Nobody gets killed from them.”

    Klimaski also downplayed the allegations that Hall made additional threats.

    “The problem with threats is they can’t be contingent,” he said. “ ‘I will do this if …’ Well that’s not a threat because if ‘if’ doesn’t happen, then there’s no threat. Like, let’s say, ‘I’m going to shoot the battalion commander if I’m deployed.’ Well he’s not been deployed, so he’s not going to shoot the battalion commander, so there’s no threat.”

    Klimaski also said the definition of rampage means to run around like a crazy person. “That’s not a threat,” he said.

    Yeah, all you hep cats get with it – rap is cool. It’s just art and no one ever gets killed because of it. Well, except all of those rappers and people who attend rap concerts and rap promoters. And Hall won’t shoot his battalion commander if the commander doesn’t send him Afghanistan – problem solved. Of course, that wouldn’t have any long term effect on the military, will it?

    “Maj. Hasan didn’t run around and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to blow people away at the hospital, or the infirmary today.’ Or the bomber going into Detroit says, ‘Oh, I should tell everyone I’m on this plane and blow the plane up,’” he said.

    So people who make wild-assed statements can now be ignored and we start worrying about people who DON’T communicate threats. That sounds feasible.

    I thought about making a threat here on the life of James Klimaski, but then I realized, he might not think of threats against his life the same way he thinks about threats against the lives of military people.

    But then again, if I make a threat against his life, that would make me less likely to actually do anything against him…this is all so confusing. We should hire James Branum to take Klimaski to court and make Klimaski give us all classes on how not to be perceived as a threat to other people.

  • “…Not only stupid, it’s not worth a peace prize”

    Twelve Republican congresspeople held a press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court this morning to protest sending Kalid Sheik Muhammad to New York City for trial. They were Congressman Steve King (R-IA), Andrew McCarthy (Former Federal Prosecutor), Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Charles Stimson (Former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary For Detainee Affairs), Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R-NC), Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ), Frank Gaffney (President, Center For Security Policy), Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO), Congressman John Fleming, M.D. (R-LA), Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ).

    Here’s the video of some clips from the Washington News Observer;

    Uncle Jimbo of Blackfive was there, too;

    The press conference for H.R. 4127 that would amend the Military Commissions Act of 2009 to make it mandatory that all alien unprivileged enemy belligerents stand trial in a constitutionally established military commission rather than a civilian court, was this morning at the Supreme Court.

    Go see Jimbo’s video of Cully Stimson.

    Fat chance that it’ll pass, but your congressman needs to know how you feel about it so he knows why he won’t get your vote next year.

  • Obama DOJ subpoenaed

    black-panthers

    The Washington Times reports that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is sick of pussy-footing around with DoJ lawyers and has decided to subpoena them to answer questions about the New Black Panther Party case;

    David P. Blackwood, the commission’s general counsel, said Tuesday in a letter to the Justice Department that efforts since June to obtain an explanation had proceeded “without any success” and the “dearth of cooperation” had prompted the commission to issue subpoenas.

    “We are both mindful of the sensitivity of the subject matter involved and aware that, in response to similar requests, the department has raised various concerns and matters of privilege,” Mr. Blackwood said. “While such considerations carry weight, cooperation with commission investigations is a mandatory statutory obligation.

    “Moreover, due to the unique investigative role of the commission – akin to that of a congressional committee – disclosure to the commission of the information sought is both proper and required,” he added.

    It’s amazing to me that such a blatant case of voter intimidation is so completely ignored by the media and by the Justice Department, especially.

    loretta-kingjpg

    The department’s Voting Rights Section was in the final stages of seeking the judgments when Loretta King, who was serving as acting assistant attorney general, ordered a delay.

    She issued the delay after meeting with Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the department’s No. 3 political appointee, who approved the dismissal, according to interviews with department officials who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

    Yeah, the DOJ seems so interested in the rights of terrorists, but screw our voting rights.

  • Not so reasonable argument

    Last week, dicksmith at VoteVets joined with Jerry “The Waddler” Nadler in defending Attorney General Holder’s decision to try Guantanamo detaineees in New York City instead of by military tribunal;

    Watch as Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) uses facts and reason to rebut Congressman Dan Lungren’s (R-CA) points on trying Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian courts:

    I think reason won the day over Rep. Lungren’s clear disdain for the rule of law.

    Dicksmith inserted this video from HardLeftBall;

    What dicksmith and Nadler consider “reasonable” is that under a military tribunal, those five terrorists (Nadler calls them “alleged terrorists”) won’t get any justice befitting the American people. Another shot at the military, of course. Good place for dicksmith to come down on this – a pro-military organization taking cheap shots at the integrity of the military.

    But, to kind of stick a finger in the eye of Holder’s supporters, yesterday the lawyer representing Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali announced that, even though his client is guilty, he’ll plead not guilty in New York City;

    Attorney Scott Fenstermaker says his client Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and the others will not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but will tell the jury “why they did it.”

    He says the men will explain “their assessment of American foreign policy.”

    Fenstermaker met with Ali last week at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. He says the men, including professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have discussed the trial among themselves.

    Yes, Holder and Nadler and dicksmith are playing right into the hands of these thugs by allowing them a forum in which they can “explain their assessment of American foreign policy.” I wonder if the victims of 9/11 will get the opportunity to explain their assessment of terrorism to the jury.

  • Purple Heart for Fort Hood Victims?

    You may have heard that Representative John Carter of Texas, the Congressman of the Fort Hood district has introduced a bill to Congress which would award the Purple Heart to the victims of Major Hasan’s shooting spree a few weeks ago. The bill reads;

    For purposes of the laws specified below, a member of the Armed Forces or civilian employee of the Department of Defense who was killed or wounded by gunfire in the shootings that occurred at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009, shall be deemed—

    (1) in the case of a member, to have been killed or wounded in a combat zone as the result of an act of an enemy of the United States; and

    (2) in the case of a civilian employee of the Department of Defense, to have been killed or wounded while serving with the Armed Forces in a contingency operation or to have been killed or wounded in a terrorist attack.

    Covered Laws

    1) Would make the military service members injured by gunfire on November 5, 2009 eligible for the award of the Purple Heart (Executive Order 11016).

    Well, some guy named MOTHAX at The Burn Pit has too much time on his hands and explored the legal issues involved in honoring those casualties. I personally believe that they should be awarded the Purple Heart because it’s becoming more clear with every moment that the shooting was related to the war on terror.

    However, it is my considered opinion that Representative Carter should include Privates William Long and Quinton Ezeagwula who were victims of a similar crime outside of a Little Rock recruiting station on June 1st in his bill.

  • Then why have a trial?

    Now I’ve been told for years that actually trying the terrorists we’re holding in Guantanamo will improve the world’s perception of our justice system. That the world now thinks we’re a cruel nation and unless we have a fair trial, the world thinks we’re hypocrites.

    How does our national leader declaring a defendant guilty and predicting his death penalty conviction improve the perception of our justice system?

    ksm-conviction

    Don’t get me wrong, I think KSM is guilty and deserves the death penalty – but I’m a lowly blogger, not a Harvard-trained, uber-smart lawyer who leads the country.

  • The Mojave Cross Memorial

    A few months back, we expressed our support for the Mojave Cross Memorial that is being threatened by one clown who never sees it and the ACLU, who probably hasn’t seen it either.

    Today, the Liberty Legal Institute released this video in which several veterans express their support for saving the memorial along with a bit of the history of the memorial and the court case to have it removed;

  • Common sense replaced by federal law

    How many of you think that texting while driving your car is a good idea. Raise your hands. That’s what I thought…none of you. There are sufficient local laws that make it it illegal to talk to talk on your cell phone and text while you’re driving. Have any of you seen less incidents of people phoning and driving? Of course not. Mostly because we know that the government doesn’t really intend to enforce those laws. it’s just their way of trying to convince us that bureaucrats care about us.

    That’s why the President is initiating a dialogue about texting and driving according to Fox News;
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