Acorn 'Exposer' Looking at 10 yrs for Criminal Activity

Politics International Politics
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But was he alone? No. This time 3 men, also radically leaning. James was allegedly secretly videotaping, being deceptive, facilitating guerrilla tactics, per MO. And the story about dodging mad callers… that’s a laugh. Of course the conspirators were going to video record themselves looking in the cable room in another office, even on another floor, as evidence to a theory to embarrass a key opposition senator. Right.

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Retraction Request: MSNBC’s David Shuster

Its always better to have the facts before you post. Blog rumors are rarely as credible as going to the original source.[/quote]
Fantastic point. Facts first. But ummmmm, TC, your link refers to Breitbart not having paid O’Keefe before the Acorn sting. Breitbart apparently confirms employing O’Keefe since Acorn. So I asked a simple question (“Wasn’t pimp James O’Keefe’s salary paid in part by Breitbart?”), the answer we should reasonably accept as true is YES.

Don’t mind if I do, thank you.
Did I quote a summary of government issues at risk? Yes.
Maybe you’d consider checking Senator Landrieu’s Committee Assignments for yourself, then perhaps glancing over the responsibilities of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, then, for yourself sir, may answer your own question.

By the way, I’d put big odds on duff over the krauthammer duking it out. Besides, duff doesn’t justify torture as a moral obligation like the krauthammer does, and duff served our country. Sorry if you’re really that sore about my position on the krauthammer. Did you even know krauthammer considered torture a moral privilege - even mandate before you posted a thread dedicated to listening to him speak for an hour? I’m sure many people didn’t.

Bail was already posted, correct? Feb 12 we’ll hear more?

One early source of the bugging allegation was Breitbart himself. He obviously heard about Dai’s involvement.

Don’t you wonder how authorities found Dai in a car blocks away?
Its not possible one of these solid young republican leaders turned him in, is it?

YOU AND I may not think so differently after all.

How often are accused suspects convicted in the media before evidence ever sees the inside of a courtroom?
(5) Consistently (4) Often (3) Sometimes (2) Infrequently (1) Almost never
FOX is particularly experienced in this game… public presumption (aka myth) versus facts, evidence, sworn testimony.
Facts? Who needs 'em, right? Presumption through media has given us two wars and an unpatriot act.
Of course FOX knows that presumption can trump fact if repeated loudly, and repeated loudly again, and again.
So keep an eye on FOX’s position on this.

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But was he alone? No. This time 3 men, also radically leaning. James was allegedly secretly videotaping, being deceptive, facilitating guerrilla tactics, per MO. And the story about dodging mad callers… that’s a laugh. Of course the conspirators were going to video record themselves looking in the cable room in another office, even on another floor, as evidence to a theory to embarrass a key opposition senator. Right.
[/quote]

O’Keefe has never worked alone. He had Hannah Giles with him for the ACORN story. This time he had 2 men with him, instead of a woman, and one guy in a car. How do you know that they are “radically leaning”? Just because they wrote for conservative college newspapers makes them “radically leaning”?

I also don’t get where you come off assuming conspiracy to steal documents when the guy’s style has been to embarrass the opposition. If they really wanted to tap the phone, and Stan Dai really was some secret CIA operative, why wouldn’t they bribe a guard, go in at night and install it? You know, the way a real operation works. Not in the middle of the damn day. Also, why would you film an operation like that? What purpose would it be to have evidence of yourself installing the phone tap when what you want is deniability?

The answer is you wouldn’t. You’d film what you were doing to be able to show it on the evening news and embarrass the Senator. You wouldn’t need to film a secret op because you’d have the tap in place and know it was working. The film’s only value would be the “gotcha” stuff, hoping a staffer would say something incriminating.

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Compared to the outspoken voter, bumper sticker activist (lol), town hall attendee, or die-hard party liner (not to mention the average Mr and Mrs Couch Potato), how could O’Keefe’s past antics NOT be considered radically leaning? If their hidden hooker mic/cams hadn’t been celebrated, would acorn still have fed funding? I don’t care to argue pro/con acorn, but to have directly instigated the damage to acorn’s sustenance and status, his past actions can be considered subversive… maybe even borderline extreme and fanatical. Such propensity, regardless of who cheered the acorn pimped outcome, appears to have clearly and seriously overstepped boundaries of legality, and potentially - national security.

For a bit or irony, using FOX and Breitbart’s own reporting strategies, the NY Times wrote that O’Keefe was said to have been inspired by “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky.

Oh, but maybe you meant the other three need not be considered “radically leaning.” As soon as they began conspiring ‘whatever’ involving secretly infiltrating any government office for whatever purpose, Rush, OReilly, Maulkin, FOX and of course war hawks would certainly have already called them enemies of the American government, not robin hoods fighting ‘rampant’ corruption. It’s refreshing if not amazing that we haven’t heard of knee-jerk tightening ‘homeland’ security control resolutions and screams for military response (retaliation).

Kindly go back 2 pages, where I wrote “”.

MSNBC’s Buchanan was quoted trying to flippantly dismiss the seriousness of the crimes they got caught doing.

Why does anyone pretend that a crime of entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony is nothing more than stupidity and incompetence?
Maybe fear of embarrassment by association or support? - not meaning you personally, but I don’t know to whom that quote is attributed.

Maybe it was only a matter of time before political “terror” definition starts backfiring domestically.
Karma perhaps?

lbksig - do you find the sensitivities of potentially compromised intel insignificant? Why?
Do 4 suspects caught red-handed constitute a “conspiracy”?

And sorry about this, but O’Keefe’s past pretend pimping or lucky charm “style” provides AT BEST a flimsy defense, imo.
And O’Keefe’s past has NOTHING to do with the fact that he is only 1/4 of the suspects caught.

By the way, here are the 32 House Republicans who pushed H. Res. 809 to honor O’Keefe (and Giles) :
Todd Akin [R-MO2], Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD6], Joe Barton [R-TX6], Rob Bishop [R-UT1], Jo Bonner [R-AL1], John Boozman [R-AR3], Paul Broun [R-GA10], Henry Brown [R-SC1], John Campbell [R-CA48], John Carter [R-TX31], Howard Coble [R-NC6], Tom Cole [R-OK4], Michael Conaway [R-TX11], John Culberson [R-TX7], Mary Fallin [R-OK5], Trent Franks [R-AZ2], Louis Gohmert [R-TX1], Kay Granger [R-TX12], Ralph Hall [R-TX4], Jim Jordan [R-OH4], Steve King [R-IA5], John Kline [R-MN2], Doug Lamborn [R-CO5], Blaine Luetkemeyer [R-MO9], Daniel Lungren [R-CA3], Kenny Marchant [R-TX24], Rep. Pete Olson [R-TX22], Joseph Pitts [R-PA16], Bill Posey [R-FL15], Phil Roe [R-TN1], Jean Schmidt [R-OH2], John Shadegg [R-AZ3].

The resolution is supposedly still in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Any chances it may still get passed?
If this Landrieu case gets thick and constituents publicly ask about this, we may see one or more of these officials forced to make statements.

One last thing… for fun… lbksig - how would you guess authorities found Stan Dai in a car “blocks” away?
Would you guess maybe one of the others (or maybe all three) turned him in?

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Compared to the outspoken voter, bumper sticker activist (lol), town hall attendee, or die-hard party liner (not to mention the average Mr and Mrs Couch Potato), how could O’Keefe’s past antics NOT be considered radically leaning? If their hidden hooker mic/cams hadn’t been celebrated, would acorn still have fed funding? I don’t care to argue pro/con acorn, but to have directly instigated the damage to acorn’s sustenance and status, his past actions can be considered subversive… maybe even borderline extreme and fanatical. Such propensity, regardless of who cheered the acorn pimped outcome, appears to have clearly and seriously overstepped boundaries of legality, and potentially - national security.
[/quote]

I’m not sure how his actions can be considered subversive unless you’re willing to stipulate that each and every investigative reporter for major newspapers is also subversive, borderline extreme, etc. He was using the methods that investigative reporters use constantly when they are trying to dig up a story. I don’t understand why it is you think he damaged ACORN’s sustenance and status rather than their actions, once made known to the public, being the cause of the damage. ACORN as an organization doesn’t have a right to federal funding, and if they are misusing the funds given to them, then they should be stripped of said funds.

I can see how he overstepped the boundaries of legality, but I still fail to see the national security angle. Given his past history and motivations, what would the point be of trying to get classified data from that office? I find it more likely he would want to embarrass the Senator over the termed “Louisiana Purchase” instead of him wanting to imitate Ethan Hawke.

Kindly go back 2 pages, where I wrote “”.

MSNBC’s Buchanan was quoted trying to flippantly dismiss the seriousness of the crimes they got caught doing. [/quote]

I saw your post on the intel that the Senator has privy to, but I still don’t see why they would want it. Why was the intent to gain access to classified intelligence rather than to gain potentially embarrassing evidence to blast on Fox News?

That quote was an unnamed one I pulled from a website full of quotes. It isn’t from anyone in particular, just to remind of us Occam’s razor. The simplest solution is often the correct one. Which in this case, that O’Keefe was trying to get a video to embarrass the senator.

To answer your question though, yes it is a conspiracy because there is more than one person involved. Is it a conspiracy to get intelligence? I don’t believe so. The phone that they tampered with was the one at the reception desk, as per the FBI affidavit. They tried calling it with their cell phones to see if it would ring through, which it didn’t. If they were trying to install a wiretap or listening device to get classified information, why not go in the middle of the night when no one is around. Why try and install a device in the middle of the day when there are people around. That theory just doesn’t make sense.

[quote=“j.scholl”]
One last thing… for fun… lbksig - how would you guess authorities found Stan Dai in a car “blocks” away?
Would you guess maybe one of the others (or maybe all three) turned him in?[/quote]

Of course they did. Just like they told the FBI what their intentions were when they were arrested. “Subsequently, FLANAGAN and BASEL have admitted to federal agents that they were not telephone repairmen and that they entered the office of Senator Landrieu under false pretenses.” They spilled their guts to the FBI and that’s how the feds knew where to find Dai.

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Those guys might have blown up 911 too.

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I agree Okeefe via fox and breitbart are trying to sell this theme as his defense. In okeefe’s pampered hanity interview, I was waiting to hear okeefe admit he was the video king ringleader to explain the roles of the other 3 arrested. But he didn’t.

Okeefe comes across more as a spoof guerrilla vlogger with hard-core politically-inspired missions, despite calling himself an investigative journalist.

His 3 partners though? Same brittle defense? They were Go on the mission.
But the question remains, “What mission exactly?”. Illegal bugging - video surveillance has not been ruled out.
The risk to the sensitive intel of their target location also remains a serious subject.

Have you seen the other 3 offer any media-stunts like okeefe’s?
Will they (the other 3) claim to be actors in okeefe’s stealth senator sting,
as if to become overnight far-right video celebrity hot-shot?
. . . reasonably doubtful.

But to your suggestion, NO, I would not classify EVERY investigative journalist
who HAS NOT conspired and illegally entered federal facilities with intent to
commit felony as “radical, subversive, extremists, politically fanatical”.
If they ever did such, well then, yes, they would be.

.

PS Dr. McCoy - Only if you think they sunk the titanic.
Hooray for trekkie style!

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“hooray for peace activism trekkie style…”

Okay… what is “peace activism?” Where are our peace activists most “active?” in countries where the Taliban is present? in Sudan where the militias are active? in Somalia where the Islamist extremists and pirates are most active? in North Korea where the entire population is enslaved? No… they are “active” in Western nations which score highest on any scale of human rights, civic and political freedom… now one wonders why that is… or is it because the worthless and contemptible activists cannot stomach true confrontation with truly evil paramilitaries and the like? Perhaps… but one should applaud their activism nonetheless because… it is so … er… brave? So sign me up for the admiration that the Noam Chomsky clutching sophomores gather because I do, too, want to be so cool… attitude is all… knowledge? why bother? and then let’s wonder why even a degree even from a famous university leads only to an English teaching job in Taiwan… more evidence of “exploitation.” Surely? Yes? Must be?

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Wanker. Your style is best summed up as “if I bleat it loud enough, then so it will be.” Alas, surprisingly few people actually fit the angry little boxes you have reserved for them in that busy little mind of yours.

This just happened to be a headline I was reading before flicking over to here.

[quote]Australian arrested in raid on West Bank
JERUSALEM: An Australian woman is one of two foreign activists arrested by Israel’s military in a pre-dawn raid in the occupied West Bank yesterday.

Soldiers raided an apartment in Ramallah about 3am and arrested Bridgette Chappell of Australia and Ariadna Jove Marti of Spain, according to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian group.

The soldiers also confiscated cameras, a computer, pro-Palestinian banners and ISM registration forms, according to Ryan Olander, a US activist at the home at the time of the raid.

The arrests, which the ISM said were aimed at intimidating protesters, follow a similar raid last month in which a Czech activist was detained and deported, and come amid heightened efforts to curtail Palestinian protests in the West Bank that are supported by foreigners and Israelis.[/quote]
HG

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Good Grief! Don’t these blithering fatcats have anything better to do?

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Hahahahhahahahaha… That was for Dr. McCoy poking out of his crack to spit an insult, and I was simply dodging with a laugh. At least follow the link “” so you don’t make the same mistake twice.

But you went on a rabid tangent about it anyway? Awesome!
hahahahhhahhahaaaahahahhaaaaaahaaaaaaaahaha…
Hoohoaaahahahheeehooohahahahhahaha! love it. HaaaaHAAA!

YES! YES! YES!
NOW you’re swinging like you wannabe a T-Ball champion!

fred smith, how long did you serve our beloved military, enduring physical and mental hardships, dedicated yourself to training, discipline and leadership, willing and eager to confront enemies, take their lives and possibly sacrifice yourself for other soldiers?

You remind me of that wheelchair neocon the krauthammer.
“Give me more war and I’ll cheer you on from my handicapped toilet seat.”

You (or he) calling anyone else worthless and contemptible is just flat out funny.
fred smith, let me guess your military participation… zero? Correct?
So, how are you not calling yourself worthless and contemptible?

And for your slam on the Chomsky fans teaching English? That’s seems even sillier
than you pretending to speak on behalf of our military like a high speed pimple.
Personally I don’t follow Chomsky, I think he has been quoted conflicting himself?
And picking on English teachers…I don’t get it. You wrote that at 1 pm,
probably sober? Some English teacher beat you recently?

But since you’re here, care to share your opinion on the ‘topic’?


If a team of radicals conspired and illegally entered federal facilities with intent to commit felony, but thankfully got caught beforehand, do you agree 10 years in prison is NOT enough punishment?

Remember, I’m not afraid to link past quotes whereby calling enemies evil makes murdering their countrymen and torturing for satisfactory confessions acceptable, nay morally compelling. Since 9/11 - National Security trumps all liberties, like fair trials and fact-based investigations, so maybe these fellow pimples can be chaff for the cause of fear-mongering, or is there something redeemable about them to wave punishment?

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Now reports of reduced charges with lighter sentences for the 4 wannabe vigilante spies…[quote]The conservative activist who in January had been accused of tampering with the telephone system of Senator Mary L. Landrieu - a felony - will instead face only misdemeanor charges in the case, federal prosecutors said Friday.

The charges against the activist, James O’Keefe III, and three other men were made public in a bill of information, which often indicates that a plea deal has been made.

The new charge of entering the senator’s office on false pretenses comes with a maximum of six months in prison and a fine of $5,000. The original felony charges could have resulted in up to 10 years of prison time.

Source: NY Times[/quote]
Why?
One reason could be Flanagan’s dad, Western Louisiana’s DA?

Just chalk it up to good 'ole boy nepotism?