PRISM

[Undertoad]

If you anally* rape a 13-year-old, move to France and all will be forgiven because humiliating the US is game #1. And letting anal rapists hang out in your country is not at all humiliating.




*Wikipedia doesn't say so but yeah he got her in the butt. Everyone down with that?

ETA Wikipedia says so elsewhere.

[glatt]

Not too long ago, a bunch of Hollywood folks were openly sympathetic about him, making him seem like a victim of an unjust US. I forget when I saw that. Some awards ceremony.

[Clodfobble]

It was statutory rape, no doubt. But there are many who believed his side of the story, that it was consensual. The plea deal he agreed to involved no prison time, which was specifically approved and supported by the defense lawyers and the victim. Then the judge and the prosecutor attempted to give him jail time anyway after he'd already pleaded guilty, which is when he fled.

[Griff]

"Sulky Cultivator in the Woods" just saw that...

[glatt]

Yep. But fleeing is a crime itself. The guy needs to face the music or continue being a fugitive. It's unclear what would happen to him if he returned to the US. He might not even get jail time. Or they could throw the book at him.

[Undertoad]

It's game #1.

Originally Posted by Tisdale

Like too many American politicians, Kerry seems to believe "the law" is what the White House counsel and U.S. Justice Department deem it to be on any given day, and that this made-in-America "law" applies inexorably to every country and every corner of the world.

See, Tisdale writes that as if he didn't know that the countries signed extradition treaties. Snowden may merely head for a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US and be legally in the clear. Tisdale knows that but prefers to play game #1 with you, the reader. It's all in fun... unless you're the 13-year-old.

The White House is furious at the non-cooperation it has received. But has it occurred to them that maybe not just the Russians and the Chinese, but those soft, liberal Europeans and all the other neutrals also don't like the idea of being spied on by an out-of-control transnational agency beyond the reach of the law, any law, anywhere?

Physician, heal thyself: we are learning that the British version of PRISM is bigger than PRISM. But exposing that doesn't play game #1.

[Lamplighter]

Polanski was born in Paris, and so is/was a citizen of France.

The following is also in Wikipedia about Polanski...

On 11 March 1977, Polanski, then 43 years old, was arrested in Los Angeles
for the sexual assault of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer during
a photo shoot for French Vogue magazine.
Polanski was indicted on six counts of criminal behavior, including rape

Geimer's attorney next arranged a plea bargain in which five of the
six charges would be dismissed and Polanski accepted.[102]
Because Polanski fled the country before final sentencing,
the charges were not dismissed and still remain pending.

As a result of the plea bargain, Polanski pled guilty to the charge
of "Unlawful Sexual Intercourse with a minor,"[103][104]
and was ordered to undergo 90 days of psychiatric evaluation at Chino State Prison.[105]

On release from prison after 42 days, Polanski understood that
at the final sentencing he would be put on probation.
However, he learned that the judge was planning to renege on his promise
of no further jail time,[106] and might even deport him.[104][107]
Polanski's attorney suggested that despite the fact that the prosecuting attorneys
recommended probation, "the judge could no longer be trusted . . ."
and the judge's representations were "worthless."[108][/color]

Upon learning of the judge's plans, Polanski fled to France on
1 February 1978, just hours before sentencing.[109]
As a French citizen, he has been protected from extradition.
and has lived mostly in France since then.[110]

This sounds to me a bit like "humiliating the US is game #1" is in the eye of the beholder.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

But there are many who believed his side of the story, that it was consensual.

13-year-olds love Quaaludes and anal so I'm not surprised she was super into it. No actually 13-year-olds can't consent to anything, that's why the charge is statutory.

The plea deal he agreed to involved no prison time, which was specifically approved and supported by the defense lawyers and the victim. Then the judge and the prosecutor attempted to give him jail time anyway after he'd already pleaded guilty, which is when he fled.

If documented, that would be super easy to address on appeal.

[Undertoad]

Polanski was born in Paris, and so is/was a citizen of France.

"...and that's why it was perfectly OK for him to get away with the statutory anal rape of a 13-year-old."

However, he learned that the judge was planning to renege on his promise of no further jail time, and might even deport him.

"I'm leaving this country -- before it kicks me out!"

[Lamplighter]

No UT, his attorneys were advising him that...

...the judge was planning to renege on his promise of no further jail time...

...at least according to this page in Wikipedia.

[Undertoad]

"...and might even deport him," says the page that you quoted. Regardless, that would be super easy to address on appeal, if documented.

[Lamplighter]

-30-

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Undertoads

13-year-olds love Quaaludes and anal so I'm not surprised she was super into it. No actually 13-year-olds can't consent to anything, that's why the charge is statutory.

As the stepmother of a 15-year-old girl, I completely agree with you. I was just expounding on why several prominent people in Hollywood still support him, as glatt noted. He's an asshole, no doubt, but not a serial violent rapist. His own victim didn't want him to go to prison.

I agree that harboring a political fugitive like Snowden is largely about thumbing their nose the US, and trying to pretend that their own problems aren't at least as big if not bigger. Just like if Ai Weiwei ever got on US soil, we would not be giving him back to China either.

[Undertoad]

Yes, I might add that it's completely unfair for me to bring Polanski into it; because all I have to say is he gave her ludes and hit her in the pail, and I stake some kind of weird moral high ground that I'm not exactly entitled to.

[Lamplighter]

And the beat goes on...this time it's "DROPMIRE"

The Guardian
Ewen MacAskill
6/30/13

New NSA leaks show how US is bugging its European allies
Exclusive: Edward Snowden papers reveal 38 targets including EU, France and Italy

<snip>
One of the bugging methods mentioned is codenamed 'Dropmire',
which according to a 2007 document is "implanted on the Cryptofax at the EU embassy, DC"
– an apparent reference to a bug placed in a commercially
available encrypted fax machine used at the mission.
The NSA documents notes the machine is used to send cables back
to foreign affairs ministries in European capitals.<snip>

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported at the weekend that
some of the bugging operations in Brussels targeting the EU's Justus Lipsius building
– a venue for summit and ministerial meetings in the Belgian capital –
were directed from within Nato headquarters nearby.<snip>

The US intelligence service codename for the bugging operation
targeting the EU mission at the United Nations is 'Perdido'.
The operation against the French mission to the UN had the covername 'Blackfoot'
and the one against its embassy in Washington was 'Wabash'.
The Italian embassy in Washington was known to the NSA as both 'Bruneau' and 'Hemlock'.
The eavesdropping of the Greek UN mission was known as 'Powell"
and the operation against its embassy was referred to as 'Klondyke'.

Although the latest documents are part of an NSA haul leaked by Snowden,
it is not clear in each case whether the surveillance was being exclusively done by the NSA
– which is most probable as the embassies and missions are technically overseas –
or by the FBI or the CIA, or a combination of them.
The 2010 document describes the operation as "close access domestic collection".