COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Who is Christopher Tappin and what does it say about US law?







Christopher Tappin refused bail by American court


Independent

The wife of a retired British businessman extradited to the United States has said it is “heartbreaking” that he will be kept behind bars while he awaits trial on arms dealing charges.

Elaine Tappin said it was an “outrage” that her 65-year-old husband Christopher was denied bail last night in El Paso, Texas.

Judge Robert Castaneda ruled Tappin must remain in custody after US prosecutors told the federal court in El Paso, Texas, he may be a “danger to the community” if released.

He agreed that measures could be imposed to ensure Tappin is monitored if released, but said a discrepancy in Tappin's financial statement led to him being denied bail.

Daryl Fields, a spokesman for the US Attorney's office in the western district of Texas, added that Tappin was denied bail because he “posed a flight risk”.

Tappin, who faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted of trying to sell batteries for surface-to-air missiles to Iran, has spent 23 hours a day locked in his cell at the Otero County detention centre in New Mexico.

Mrs Tappin, 62, of Orpington, Kent, said: “This is an outrage. God only knows how he'll bear up. It's heartbreaking.

“I am shocked and deeply disappointed,” she said.

“He's a man of his word and is certainly not at risk of fleeing - where would he go?

“He doesn't have his passport or access to money.

“Why has the British Government allowed him to be incarcerated in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day before he's even been tried?

“Tony Blair helped the NatWest Three, why can't David Cameron help Chris?”

Mrs Tappin went on: “He's not a danger to anyone - he's a 65-year-old granddad.

“How is he supposed to prepare a proper defence when he's only been allowed to communicate with his lawyers from behind a plastic screen?”

Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who has known Tappin for almost 40 years, added he was “absolutely appalled” that he had been denied bail, “but even more so that the Home Secretary has done absolutely nothing to help the situation”.

In a brief telephone conversation with his wife on Sunday night, Tappin told her he was shackled and confined in a cage for five hours before his bail hearing on Friday, a family spokeswoman said.

The president of the Kent Golf Union was escorted into the courtroom wearing an orange-red prison jumpsuit, with his feet and one hand shackled.

US marshals allowed the other hand to remain free so he could use a cane he needs to walk.

Assistant US attorney Greg McDonald asked the judge to keep Tappin in jail for the remainder of the proceedings.

“The risk is not that he'll punch somebody in the face, but through the use of a computer and the knowledge he has, he might pose a danger to the community,” Mr McDonald said.

Tappin has no ties to the US and failed to disclose to court officials his frequent travels to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, he added.

But Kent Schaffer, representing Tappin, said if released, his client would have complied with any restrictions imposed by the court and his family was ready to post bail of 50,000 dollars (£31,600).

His trial will take place before US District Judge David Briones in El Paso, but no date has been set.

The case has fuelled the row over the fairness of the extradition treaty between the UK and the US.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC said Tappin's extradition highlighted problems with the treaty which were not “readily curable”, warning that many Britons were left uneasy when faced with the seemingly harsh and disproportionate sentences in the American justice system.

Other critics of the 2003 treaty, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, have described it as “one-sided”, but an independent review by retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Scott Baker last year found it was both balanced and fair.

Tappin's extradition follows an investigation which started in 2005 when US agents asked technology providers about buyers who might have raised red flags.

Those customers were then approached by undercover companies set up by government agencies.

Briton Robert Gibson, an associate of Tappin who agreed to co-operate, was jailed for 24 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to export defence articles.

Gibson provided ICE agents with about 16,000 computer files and emails indicating that he and Tappin had long-standing commercial ties with Iranian customers.

American Robert Caldwell was also found guilty of aiding and abetting the illegal transport of defence articles and served 20 months in prison.

Mr Schaffer told BBC Radio 5 Live an appeal against the decision not to grant his client bail will now be launched.

“We expect that it (the appeal) will be filed some time this week and we will then get a hearing date to go back before a different judge,” he said.

59 comments:

  1. Tappin surrendered to US marshals and was escorted to El Paso, Texas, last week after fighting extradition from the United Kingdom for two years.
    He's accused of trying to buy batteries for surface-to-air missiles from undercover American agents with the intention of exporting them to Iran.
    Two other men have been convicted in the case.

    I have no idea about the merits of the case against him but there are some very troubling aspects about the case and current US legal procedures in place since the “war on terror” began.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah, I know one turd that should be in prison.

    Let's see, Oh, HERE IT IS

    I posted this before, but it fits the theme.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds to me like the asshole did the crime, and now he's whining about "doing the time."

    Fuck him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am not so sure. Batteries can be used for almost anything. They are easily copied and substituted.

    Anything around Iran is politically toxic. The US Justice Department is as political as any in history. Eric Holder and Barack Obama?

    No bail? This guy is hardly a flight risk.

    I have seen the US Justice Dept go after a farmer in South Jersey for dumping glass to fill gullies on his own land. He was forced to take a plea bargain or lose the farm fighting DOJ lawyers.

    Since 911, too many Americans are too docile in giving up their rights.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Perhaps you and McCain are at one, as it were.

    SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A cybersecurity bill introduced by Republican Senator John McCain could dramatically expand the domestic reach of U.S. intelligence agencies and potentially give them massive troves of emails, civil liberties advocates said.
    "This is a privacy nightmare that will eventually result in the military substantially monitoring the domestic, civilian Internet," said Michelle Richardson of the American Civil Liberties Union.
    Unlike the Democratic-led alternative supported by Majority Leader Harry Reid, the McCain bill stresses voluntary information sharing instead of regulation of critical industries by the Department of Homeland Security. McCain's bill was introduced last week.
    But the types of information that could be shared are broad, and the data would go to "cybersecurity centers" that specifically include the National Security Agency's Threat Operations Center and the U.S. Cyber Command Joint Operations Center.
    McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said such concerns were both overblown and premature.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The guy's an international arms dealer - sounds like a "flight risk" to me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm not sure selling batteries for anti-aircraft systems to Iran, and farmers dumping glass bottles, and cybersecurity are the same thing, Deuce.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I left out some details on the farmer burying broken glass. It was political.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jeez, Gasoline Demand, on a four-week, YOY basis, Down 7.8%.

    Even Diesel/Distillate Down 7.6%.

    ReplyDelete
  10. At our Peak we Imported, Net, just shy of 14 Million Barrels of Oil, and Products per day.

    Our latest number was just shy of 8 Million Barrels/Day.

    That's a Decrease of 6 Million Barrels/Day.

    Increased Oil Production can account for about 0.7 mbpd of this.

    The Rest is all Demand Destruction (changing behavior, buying more efficient vehicles, etc.)

    Oh, and a Million Barrels/Day of Biofuels.

    ReplyDelete
  11. .

    On cars, some are predicting the US will never get back to the 17 million sales level again, that even in the good years, sales will peak around 14 million.

    They cite trends in young people who have less of an affection with cars other than as basic transportation and the fact that in the big population areas people are using alternate means of transportation to get around.

    Don't know if they are right.


    Does anyone else notice that Blogger's new 'comments' section is a pain in the ass. The preview format doesn't even make sense.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't use "preview." What I types is what you gets. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Everyone is always talking about Saudi "Production," but what they are overlooking is that while Oil Prices were doubling Saudi "Exports" Were Falling from about 9.1 mbpd to 7.8 mbpd

    It's All About Exports, not production.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Man what a trip to Dc...

    I met with X

    I met with y

    I met with z

    they said a,b, c

    Best trip ever...

    To bad I just dont want to share.

    ReplyDelete
  15. .

    You beat me to it, Ruf.

    I was going to say, "Thank God for small favors."


    :)


    .

    ReplyDelete
  16. "Great Minds . . . . ," and all that





    or, just too easy to miss. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. .

    Does anyone want to bet that he eventually "shares'?


    .

    ReplyDelete
  18. .

    Of course, if he ever did 'name names' he might have to kill us all.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  19. All I can say is, "Take a Number, Bro." :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Goddammit, Bob. You wasted Two Seconds of my life.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Holy Shit! Bob's post just disappeared.

    Bing. Gone.

    Without a Trace


    Blogger might be alright, after all.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Motherfuck it's like living in some police state all of a sudden you are just gone.

    ReplyDelete
  23. .

    Could be because I reported him for felony foolishness and serial silliness, Ruf.


    But heck, that was a couple weeks ago. Maybe Blogger is just now catching up.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  24. .

    Say, I never mentioned it before,Bob, but I like the picture of the horse. But wouldn't it be more appropriate to have it facing the other way.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hey Breitbart video of Obama coming tonight!

    And, Quirk's favorite candidate, Denis Kucinich, is beaten.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hey Breitbart video of Obama coming tonight!

    And, Quirk's favorite candidate, Denis Kucinich, is beaten.

    ReplyDelete
  27. .

    You're stuttering again, Bob.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  28. Quirk said...
    .

    Does anyone want to bet that he eventually "shares'?


    Not a chance asshole.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I think that Jew Jesus said something about pearls before swine...

    and several of you?

    are swine...

    no sense telling you what I learned, who I spoke to or what was discussed.

    Your ignorant comments are way to predictable..

    ReplyDelete
  30. Rufus II said...
    Maybe there Is a God.



    Not for you... as you have told us repeatedly...

    ReplyDelete
  31. Quirk said...
    .

    Say, I never mentioned it before,Bob, but I like the picture of the horse. But wouldn't it be more appropriate to have it facing the other way.



    I think you are projecting there QUirk, but dont you mean Jackass?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Rufus II said...
    Goddammit, Bob. You wasted Two Seconds of my life.

    Wed Mar 07, 01:18:00 PM EST



    And that's worth?

    absolutely nothing...

    ReplyDelete
  33. I will share about this...

    DC?

    getting quite ghetto..

    I guess it's always been ghetto...

    But even more than before...

    ReplyDelete
  34. Why do young black men wear their pants below their balls?

    then clutch their britches?

    Is it cool?

    Why do young women piece every nose, eyebrow and ears space possible? (and tongue)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Metro still was a decent deal... Just a few bucks from DCA to downtown...

    ReplyDelete
  36. .

    Not a chance asshole.


    Sure, you will, eventually. You won't be able to help yourself.


    :)


    .

    ReplyDelete
  37. .

    DC?

    getting quite ghetto..




    Getting getto? Actually, I understand it's starting to become more and more gentrified. The D.C. area has the highest per capita income in the US.

    You need to hang out in better neighborhoods, WiO.

    :)

    .

    ReplyDelete
  38. Quirk said...
    .

    Not a chance asshole.


    Sure, you will, eventually. You won't be able to help yourself.


    :)



    You dont know me very well...

    ReplyDelete
  39. Quirk said...

    I understand it's starting to become more and more gentrified. The D.C. area has the highest per capita income in the US.


    That's what is wrong with so many people, they trust what they "read" or "understand" without any 1st hand experience.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Not all the region's economies are in the same boat, however. Bank of Thailand Gov. Prasarn Trairatvorakul said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week that after cutting interest rates twice to help the Thai economy to recover from last year's debilitating floods, the central bank will likely keep its main policy rate at 3.0% until the third quarter.

    Mr. Prasarn stressed, though, that he was ready to further cut rates or raise them if the external economic situation requires it.

    "We can't tell what will happen, so we have to be flexible," he said.

    ReplyDelete
  41. When one tries to do delegate projections, assuming that current voting patterns continue and taking into account various Santorum ballot access problems, one finds that Romney will probably continue to hover at a bit over 50 percent of the delegates chosen. He'll clearly be in the lead.

    But it's hard to see him amassing so insurmountable a lead by mid-May so as to be able to discourage Santorum from hoping to be able to catch him at the end with a huge victory in Texas on May 29, and then big upsets in California and New Jersey on June 5.

    Unlikely? Sure. Impossible? I don't think so.

    ReplyDelete
  42. The candle - which will remain lit until the last member of the battalion returns home - was the idea of the wives and partners of the soldiers, to act as a vigil for their loved ones.

    Under the candle a text reads: "This flame serves to remind us of the commitment that the soldiers of this battalion are currently making on operations.

    "It will be extinguished when the last soldier of the battalion returns safely to this base."


    Afghan Attack

    ReplyDelete
  43. On this day:

    The U.S. Patent Office grants patent #174465 to Alexander Graham Bell, covering "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically."

    ReplyDelete
  44. .

    That's what is wrong with so many people, they trust what they "read" or "understand" without any 1st hand experience.


    Easy, WiO. Just jerking your chain.

    However, in this case you are right. Done a lot of travelling but never to D.C. I recall there was a class trip there during high school but couldn't afford it. It amazes me that these days class trips involve cruises or trips to Paris or Cancun.

    But with regard to D.C., I would be surprised if it is 'getting quite ghetto'. It may be ghetto now, but I would suspect that it is likely moving in the opposite direction.

    Do I "trust" what I read? In the case of D.C., yes. It only makes sense. One, there are numerous stories saying the same thing about the gentrification there. Two, there is no doubt that per capita imcomes in the D.C. area are up. It is, I'm pretty sure, the highest in the U.S.

    But three, D.C. is the black hole sucking up U.S. cash and influence. It's where the money is generated. It's where the largesse is handed out. It only makes sense the rich and beautiful or those hoping to be rich and beautiful would tend to be attracted to the place. As they move in, prices will be driven up, and those who can't afford the rent will be driven out.

    It's happened before in other places.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  45. Donald Rumsfeld once infamously described the war in Iraq as a “long, hard slog.” The GOP nomination is going in the “long, hard slog” direction.

    ...

    We could be headed to a Romney/Santorum ticket to unify the fractured field. Romney’s supporters won’t like that, and Santorum’s supporters won’t like it either.

    But it’s possible.

    ReplyDelete
  46. .

    You dont know me very well...


    We'll see.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  47. Quirk said...
    .

    You dont know me very well...


    We'll see.



    It's actually quite amusing...

    KNOWIng who I spoke to and where...

    What I and they spoke about...

    But better to watch ya'll talk about what you really dont know about...

    funny...

    But really who am I to know anything...

    lol

    oh yeah...

    I just met with x, y and z...

    and talked about a, b, and c....

    lol

    too fuckin funny...

    I will say this that ^&*R said that my question and point of view about #@#$ was dead on...

    And trust me, it felt good to be right...

    BTW, that subway train under the capital was really quite funny...

    dont understand why they need a subway..

    I did buy some nice Senate bookmarks, made in the USA of course...

    ReplyDelete
  48. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  49. quirk


    It's happened before in other places.


    DC is really a small place. the areas that surround the capital are surrounded by poor areas.

    just literally a few hundred feet from the convention center there is absolute slum...

    one street, million dollar brownstones, next street over? scary to walk by.

    and the population of "folk" out numbers the richy riches 1000 to one...

    ReplyDelete
  50. Online personas are quite the invented things really...

    For years everyone thought Ms t was a lesbian...

    then she tells us it was a fraud...

    For years people thought I was some candy man in cleveland...

    who knows?

    I will say that much of my day involves doing a lot of things never mentioned.

    nor will I start telling tales now...

    but let's just say I get a mild case of the giggles listening to ya'll....

    ReplyDelete
  51. He was born in Oklahoma,
    His wife's name's Betty Lou Thelma Liz
    And he's not responsible for what he's doing
    Cause his mother made him what he is.

    And it's up against the wall Redneck Mother,
    Mother, who has raised her son so well.
    He's thirty-four and drinking in a honky tonk.
    Just kicking hippies asses and raising hell.

    Sure does like his Falstaff beer,
    Likes to chase it down with that Wild Turkey liquor;
    Drives a fifty-seven GMC pickup truck;
    He's got a gun rack; "Goat ropers need love, too" sticker

    And it's up against the wall Redneck Mother,
    Mother, who has raised her son so well.
    He's thirty-four and drinking in a honky tonk.
    Just kicking hippies asses and raising hell.

    Well,
    M is for the mudflaps you give me for my pickup truck
    O is for the Oil I put on my hair
    T is for T-bird
    H is for Haggard
    E is for eggs, and
    R is for REDNECK.

    Up against the wall Redneck Mother,
    Mother, who has raised her son so well.
    He's thirty-four and drinking in a honky tonk.
    Kicking hippies asses and raising hell.

    He's up against the wall Redneck Mother,
    Mother, who has raised her son so well.
    He's thirty-four and drinking in a honky tonk.
    Just kicking hippies asses and raising hell.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Well, a redneck nerd in a bowling shirt was a-guzzlin’ Lone
    Star beer
    Talking religion and-uh politics for all the world to hear.
    “They oughta send you back to Russia, boy, or New York City
    one
    You just want to doodle a Christian girl and you killed God’s
    only son.”

    I said, “Has it occurred to you, you nerd, that that’s not
    very nice,
    We Jews believe it was Santa Claus that killed Jesus Christ.”
    “You know, you don’t look Jewish,” he said, “near as I
    could figger
    I had you lamped for a slightly anemic, well-dressed country
    nigger.“

    No, they ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore,
    They don’t turn the other cheek the way they done before.
    He started in to shoutin’ and a-spittin’ on the floor,
    “Lord, they ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore.”

    He says, “I ain’t a racist but Aristitle Onassis is one
    Greek we don’t need
    And them niggers, Jews and Sigma Nus, all they ever do is breed.

    And wops ‘n micks ‘n slopes ‘n spics ‘n spooks are on my
    list
    And there’s one little hebe from the heart of Texas — is
    there anyone I missed ? ”

    Well, I hits him with everything I had right square between the
    eyes.
    I says, “I’m gonna gitcha, you son of a bitch ya, for
    spoutin’ that pack of lies.
    If there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s an ethnocentric
    racist;
    Now you take back that thing you said ‘bout Aristitle
    Onassis.”

    No, they ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore,
    We don’t turn the other cheek the way we done before.
    You could hear that honky holler as he hit that hardwood floor
    “Lord, they sho’ ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus
    anymore!”
    All right!

    No, they ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore,
    We don’t turn the other cheek the way they done before.
    You hear that honky holler as he hit that hardwood floor
    Lord, they ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore.

    Everybody!
    They ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore,
    They ain’t makin’ carpenters who know what nails are for.
    Well, the whole damn place was singin’ as I strolled right out
    the door
    “Lord, they ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore!”

    No, we ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore,
    We don’t turn the other cheek the way they done before.
    Well, the whole damn place was singin’ as I strolled right out
    the door
    “Lord, they ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore!”

    ReplyDelete
  53. Another “company man” in our midst.

    ReplyDelete
  54. .

    I will say that much of my day involves doing a lot of things never mentioned.


    And perhaps it's better that way.

    :)


    .

    ReplyDelete
  55. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Quirk said...
    .

    Let's just say I get a mild case of the giggles listening to ya'll....


    ;)



    Doesnt change the fact that I never claimed to be anything other short fat and bald...

    hmm...

    so I CLAIM to be short bald and fat....

    hmmm...

    yep

    ReplyDelete
  57. Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi, 50 years old, an editor of a New Delhi-based, Urdu-language news agency called Media Star News and Features, was picked up by Delhi police Tuesday for interrogation and his home was searched, Mr. Kazmi's family said. Police placed him under arrest the following day.

    ...

    Turab Ali Kazmi, Mr. Kazmi's son, said his father has previously worked as a journalist for Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency at its India bureau, and later worked out of London and Washington D.C. for several national and international news organizations.

    He said his father visited Iran several times as a journalist. "But that doesn't mean he is supporting terrorism," he said.

    ReplyDelete