Re: R.I.P Jim Bell

[frissell@panix.com]

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At 03:03 PM 7/21/97 -0700, Mike Duvos wrote:

>Perhaps.  But he would have been tried in the media, and would
>probably have been transformed into "Terrorist Jim Bell" at the
>hands of the spin masters.  In the end, even if he won in court,
>he would have been about as popular as OJ, 

He would have had support among his counter cultural group (us).  He wasn't 
accused of very serious acts like OJ.

>Tell that to Robert "ream me again, please" Thomas of Amateur
>Action BBS fame, who wasn't even accused of being a potential
>terrorist, much less of trying to overthrow the entire
>government.

All the sedition cases of the last 60 years (2) have been lost by the Feds.  
Sedition is really hard to win (and of course JB wasn't accused of same).

>Don't plead in political cases like Steve Jackson Games, PROMIS,
>Operation Sun Devil, etc...  On the other hand, if you are
>accused of being one of the actual Four Horsemen, and the feds
>are holding press conferences on every channel with inflammatory
>voice-over editorials describing the alleged contents of your
>dwelling, some capitulation to the Barbarians may be necessary.

The "911 Document" prosecutions that grew out of Operation Sun Devil were for 
one of the Four Horsemen: terrorists.  Evil Hackers who would destroy the 911 
system.  There were lots of inflammatory statements from the prosecutors but 
they really bit it when forced to go to trial.

DCF

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