Tag: court

Elitetorrents Operator Gets Jail Time

Elitetorrents was shutdown over a year ago. Grant Stanley, age 23, was the main operator of Elitetorrents. Elitetorrents was one of the most popular private BitTorrent trackers a couple years back. Unfortunately, it was based out of the United States.

Anyway, Grant has been sentenced to 5 months in prison, and 5 months of home detention on top of that. He also has to pay a $3000 fine for his involvement with Elitetorrents.

Torrentfreak has more on this story. Here’s a bit from their article:

This ruling is the first BitTorrent related conviction in the US. Stanley pleaded guilty earlier this year to “conspiracy to commit copyright infringement” and “criminal copyright infringement”. He is one of the three defendants in the Elitetorrents operation better known as “Operation D-Elite”.

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Valerie Plame Suing Rove, Libby, & Cheney

Valerie Plame has filed a lawsuit against Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. She and husband Joe Wilson are claiming their exposure was intentional and malicious, and was done in an attempt to destroy their careers. Here’s a bit from the article at CNN:

The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children’s lives at risk by exposing Plame.

“This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of … (Plame), whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country,” the Wilsons’ lawyers said in the lawsuit.

Libby is the only administration official charged in connection with the leak investigation. He faces trial in January on perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges, accused of lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about when he learned Plame’s identity and what he subsequently told reporters.

There’s already lots of discussion on this:
Wizbang
Stop the ACLU
Outside The Beltway
bRight & Early
Hot Air

All those sites have all the details, I won’t bother re-stating the facts. I’m not really sure how I feel about this, but it seems like something Valerie and Joe wouldn’t want to get themselves into voluntarily. Won’t this additional attention just put them and their family at greater risk?

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Moussaoui Gets Off

A jury decided yesterday that Zacarias Moussaoui doesn’t deserve death for the hand he played in the 9/11 attacks. How the fuck did they come to that conclusion? They should have killed him.

The jurors deliberated for 41 hours over a seven day period before they came to the life sentence verdict. Quite the waste of time I’d say. I really can’t understand how these jurors decided to not kill this guy off.

This guy played a hand in killing 3000+ people. There’s people sitting on death-row right now that have committed crimes far less heinous than those commited by Moussaoui. And some of those people are probably on death-row for crimes they didn’t commit. Moussaoui clearly played a role and he gets life in prison, not death. I’d say he got a pretty sweet deal.

But knowing these religious fanatic types, he’d rather die than be in prison for the rest of his life. So maybe life in prison is a better punishment for this guy. To give him death would be to let him off the hook.

Moussaoui’s mother is blaming “racist american” for the conviction of her son. How fucking silly is that? The dude had a goal of killing Americans. We have every right to convict him, and much worse really.

James Joyner made a really good point saying:

“If Moussaoui doesn’t deserve to die for his crimes, almost no one currently on death row does. Those who argue that the current system of capital punishment is arbitrary and capricious have much more ammunition now.”

There’s already been lots of coverage on this topic, so I’ll just throw you over to those who already have a good amount of content. The Political Pit Bull has a huge post with many updates including reaction from bloggers and quotes. Stop the ACLU has a nice round of quotes along with a whole bunch of related posts.

Also, WizBang notes “Moussaoui’s final outburst”.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) – A defiant Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, one day after a jury spared his life and rejected U.S. government arguments that the September 11 conspirator should be executed.

“God curse America,” Moussaoui shouted right before U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema imposed the sentence. “God save Osama bin Laden. You’ll never get him.”

heh, now that’s funny. Have a good ole time in federal-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison there Moussaoui. Maybe one day Osama will be able to wear your ass on his head as a turbin. After it’s all gaping and droopy and shit from the pounding of course…

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Hey, Detainee! Gimme Those Rights!

The Senate has voted 49 to 42 on an amendment to a military budget bill that will strip some rights currently retained by detainees. These detainees are detainees for a reason, they shouldn’t get rights the average prisoner gets. From the NYT:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 – The Senate voted Thursday to strip captured “enemy combatants” at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, of the principal legal tool given to them last year by the Supreme Court when it allowed them to challenge their detentions in United States courts.

The vote, 49 to 42, on an amendment to a military budget bill by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, comes at a time of intense debate over the government’s treatment of prisoners in American custody worldwide, and just days after the Senate passed a measure by Senator John McCain banning abusive treatment of them.

If approved in its current form by both the Senate and the House, which has not yet considered the measure but where passage is considered likely, the law would nullify a June 2004 Supreme Court opinion that detainees at Guantánamo Bay had a right to challenge their detentions in court.


What the hell? It’s more upsetting to me that these criminals have these sorts of rights. Gotta love sucking up to the enemy. And from WAPO:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he also faces some resistance from Senate colleagues and the White House as he considers whether to try attaching his proposal to a defense bill the Senate is debating this week. Senators could vote on the proposal as early as Thursday.

“What I object to is criminalizing the war. Enemy combatants, POWs have never had access to federal court before,” said Graham, a 20-year Air Force lawyer.

Well put Senator Graham. It only makes sense that we shouldn’t allow the enemy access to our federal court system. They have no place being there, their place is in prison. No doubt the ACLU will throw a fit. Many liberal bloggers are already whining and crying for the rights of these criminals and murders. Before we know it we’ll be forced to grant these people citizenship within the United States. I’m sure the ACLU would be happy with that.

We’re at war. Allowing prisoners, who are fighting for the opposing side, to appeal their cases is totally bogus and goes against all basic logic.

Others blogging:
Michelle Malkin
Stop the ACLU
Say Anything

Linked at The Political Teen and Mudville Gazette.

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Saddam on Trial

His trial has begun, and the first part has ended. It will resume on Nov. 28 per Saddams request. In this first round, Saddam pleaded not guilty to murder and torture charges coming from a massacre in 1982.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The first session of Saddam Hussein’s trial has ended. It will resume on Nov. 28.

Saddam pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges including murder and torture in a 1982 massacre.

Saddam Hussein still insists he is president of Iraq, as trial began on charges that could lead to his execution.

He was in a defiant mood Wednesday.

The toppled Iraqi leader stood and asked the presiding judge: “Who are you? I want to know who you are.” Then he declared himself the president of Iraq.

When the Kurdish judge tried to get Saddam to formally identify himself, Saddam refused. He said: “I do not recognize the body that has authorized you and I don’t recognize this aggression.”

He went on to say: “I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect.”

The presiding judge read Saddam’s name, calling him the “former president of Iraq.” But Saddam protested, insisting he still is president.

That’s all fine and dandy. He can claim whatever he wants, everyone living in reality knows it’s not true. You can get some background info on the 1982 massacre over at the Boston Globe.

Brent, over at NewsBusters has a nice piece discussing a lot of Saddam-friendly news reporting coming from the major news networks. I wish they’d just shut up, of course he’s not going to get a fair trial. He murdered thousands of people, he doesn’t deserve a fair trial. He doesn’t even deserve a trial.

Matt from Blogs for Bush wonders if Saddam is ” the Left’s new Mumia.” Michelle Malkin covers pretty much every angle, as expected. UrbanGrounds speaks of loony liberals and their willingness to believe anything anti-america related. Chad Evans (In The Bullpen) has a great overall analysis. Outside The Beltway discusses Saddams little scuffle with the guards. The Political Teen has some video .

Other coverage coming from bRight & Early, Sister Toldjah, Don Surber, and California Conservative.

Linked @ Mudville Gazette.

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