It was the first official event hosted by the Free State Project after the February 3 announcement that the group had reached it’s goal of 20,000 signers on the statement of intent to move to New Hampshire to “exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of individuals’ rights to life, liberty, and property.” Liberty Forum 2016 was part celebration of all that has been accomplished over the past 15 years by the nearly 2,000 early movers, i.e. people who made the move to New Hampshire for the Free State Project prior to the move being triggered, and part conference on how to move forward.
Among the more popular topics of discussion at Liberty Forum 2016 was privacy. This was highlighted by Edward Snowden during his Saturday morning keynote speech from Moscow to a standing room only crowd in one conference room and an overflow crowd in another. When asked what would need to happen for him to return to the United States, Snowden responded, “I’ve told the government I would return if they would guarantee a fair trial where I can make a public interest defense of why this was done and allow a jury to decide.” The government responded, he said, by telling him he would not be tortured.
The government response of “you won’t be tortured” should be enough to cause anyone to take a closer look at the so-called justice system. One could certainly look at the large number of people who have been exonerated in the United States and see that official misconduct, a guilty plea, and/or false confession were involved in the vast majority of exoneration cases. This goes to show that the judicial system is more concerned with a conviction than justice.
One of the more high profile cases highlighting this infatuation with conviction over justice, is the case of Ross Ulbright, sentenced life in prison in 2015 for having created and operated the Silk Road online marketplace. The Silk Road was a revolutionary free market website where people could buy and sell almost anything, including illicit drugs, false identification documents and even books; however, there was a prohibition on anything that was meant to harm innocent people. Ulbricht, whose mother also spoke at the Liberty Forum, is now appealing his conviction.
Ulbricht’s attorneys filed an appeal last month, and in all caps highlight some of the ways that Ross was denied a fair trial: “THE COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AND DENIED ULBRICHT HIS FIFTH AND SIXTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO DUE PROCESS, THE RIGHT TO PRESENT A DEFENSE, AND A FAIR TRIAL BY (A) PRECLUDING THE DEFENSE FROM USING AT TRIAL THE EVIDENCE RELATING TO DEA SPECIAL AGENT CARL FORCE’S CORRUPTION; (B) REFUSING TO ORDER THE GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY AND BRADY MATERIAL REGARDING CORRUPTION; AND (C) DENYING ULBRICHT’S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL BASED ON ADDITIONAL POST-TRIAL DISCLOSURES REGARDING FORCE AND ANOTHER CORRUPT LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT INVOLVED IN THE SILK ROAD INVESTIGATION.”
The corruption involved in putting Ross Ulbricht behind bars is astounding, but not surprising, and should be closely watched by anyone demanding Edward Snowden “come home and face trial.” A judicial system that is less concerned with justice than obtaining a conviction can not and will not be able to ever ensure a fair trial, and will only be able to guarantee “you won’t be tortured.”
*yawn*
Get those goddamn teeth fixed, Darryl; you look like an extra from the movie Deliverance.
While there are most assuredly dental procedures that can fix Darryl’s teeth, I’m not aware of any medical therapies that can cure the intellectual deficiencies you suffer from. I guess that means that being a moron is a permanent condition for you, eh JJ?
Snowden is a traitor, and Ulbricht was selling drugs and other illegal activity on the deep web using bitcoin. It would seem freekeeners heroes are typical criminals.
There goes draccc vermin picking on people and again not staying on topic.
Draccc, do you have anything worthwhile to talk about, or are you out of intellectual things to say, yah know seeing your sooooo smart?
I’m surprised at you, Shylock! How is it that you’re so dull-witted that you’ve still not grasped exactly what’s going on here? Haven’t you figured out that you’re just a pet? I have no interest in coaxing any intelligent thoughts from you! Why bother? You respond best to scratches behind your ears and swats with a folded newspaper when you’re misbehaving! Now why don’t you perform some tricks for me now so I can feed you a treat? What do you say, Shylock? You really want that treat, don’t you boy?
There goes draccc vermin picking on people and NOT staying on topic. It’s almost too easy.
You can “swat me with a newspaper ” but uhhhhhh I’m not going anywhere.
It’s obvious that reading doesn’t come very easy to you, Shylock. Isn’t that why you recycle the exact same criticisms for every article over and over again? That way you never have expend any effort into reading them!
You’re exactly correct, Shylock! You aren’t going anywhere at all! It’s gratifying to see that you’re finally catching on to that!
What a waste of time, eh draccc?
How is this a waste of time, Shylock? You’ve continued to perform the same tricks for me over and over again and with only the most elementary of enticements. And you just keep coming back for more! You’ve never even once broken stride! It’s absolutely amazing to me how stupid you are. It’s also terribly entertaining. I don’t think I’ll ever have enough of it!
Here is draccc again not keeping on topic here, just picking on people posting here. So I’m stupid? Look in the mirror yah old washed up Romanian.
Yes, Shylock. You’re very stupid. Your continued clicking of that “Reply” button is very compelling evidence. I can’t wait to see what tricks you’ll perform for me next! I wonder if you’ll stop if I withhold your treat?
Like shooting fish in a barrel.