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Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
21–30 of 62 posts
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#22I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…
His trial probably wouldn't be a proper venue for that. Those principles are that the laws he's accused of breaking shouldn't exist. This would be a very difficult defense to make in a criminal court, which both presupposes the credibility of the laws on the books and its own legitimate capacity to adjudicate them. The court of popular opinion seems to be edging ever so slightly in Ulbricht's favor. Morally and polit…
Haven't you ever seen the Fountainhead? :-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041386/
(or read it...)
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#23I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…
His trial probably wouldn't be a proper venue for that. Those principles are that the laws he's accused of breaking shouldn't exist. This would be a very difficult defense to make in a criminal court, which both presupposes the credibility of the laws on the books and its own legitimate capacity to adjudicate them. The court of popular opinion seems to be edging ever so slightly in Ulbricht's favor. Morally and polit…
> The court of popular opinion seems to be edging ever so slightly in Ulbricht's favor.
On what planet? Public opinion just shifted in favor of legalizing marijuana in 2013, but support for keeping everything else illegal is overwhelming: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/drug-legalization-p.... Around 10% of people support legalizing cocaine, crack, heroin, meth, or LSD. 80-85% oppose legalizing those drugs.
The transition in political thought doesn't seem to have been toward "people should be able to freely trade in whatever they want." It seems to have been a change in attitude towards the harmfulness of marijuana specifically.
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#24Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe they just need to convince the jury he didn't act alone? There is probably a decent amount of evidence to show he had help and maybe wasn't running the whole operation, but this seems like a defense approach that will make the jury very suspicious from the onset.
I think the strategy is to dazzle the jury with confusing uncertainty
Ah, the Chewbacca Defense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_defense
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
His trial probably wouldn't be a proper venue for that. Those principles are that the laws he's accused of breaking shouldn't exist. This would be a very difficult defense to make in a criminal court, which both presupposes the credibility of the laws on the books and its own legitimate capacity to adjudicate them. The court of popular opinion seems to be edging ever so slightly in Ulbricht's favor. Morally and polit…
> The court of popular opinion seems to be edging ever so slightly in Ulbricht's favor. On what planet? Public opinion just shifted in favor of legalizing marijuana in 2013, but support for keeping everything else illegal is overwhelming: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/drug-legalization-p... . Around 10% of people support legalizing cocaine, crack, heroin, meth, or LSD. 80-85% oppose legalizing those drugs.…
Methamphetamine is legal so long as you have a permission slip to buy it from an approved dealer (ask for your doctor for desoxyn).
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#26I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…
How about we wait for his defence to be tested in court before we pre-judge it as "doing whatever it takes to beat a charge"? Did you stop to think it might possibly be true before complaining that your own interests - having the trial be a showcase for libertarian ideals - may not end up being served by this particular man's prosecution?
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#27Wasn't Ulbricht logged into an administrator account of Silk Road when he was busted at the library? That would make it harder to claim you were "framed".
No, their genius leadership somehow got him to come back for... for whatever. Yes, people he doesn't really know doing illegal things that he didn't want to be a part of convinced him to go to a public space and get back into it just before he got caught. All because they are far to clever to get themselves caught, you see.
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#28It will be interesting to see this unfold. But I am inclined to believe Ulbricht here. My main reason for finding it immediately believable is that the name "Dread Pirate Roberts" is an obvious Princess Bride reference to a pirate who inherited his trade and occupation from another pirate. That combined with the fact that the name did not appear on the forums for the first few months leads me to believe that the name…
What 2013 quote?
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#29It will be interesting to see this unfold. But I am inclined to believe Ulbricht here. My main reason for finding it immediately believable is that the name "Dread Pirate Roberts" is an obvious Princess Bride reference to a pirate who inherited his trade and occupation from another pirate. That combined with the fact that the name did not appear on the forums for the first few months leads me to believe that the name…
He _did_ have a particular reason to lie about this in 2013, and to make his name Dread Pirate Roberts and spread rumors that he wasn't the first one. He could have been setting up just this kind of defense.
Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts
#30I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…
>the libertarian ideals that justify the existence of Silk Road should have their day in court
Real trials don't play out like they do in hollywood. You don't get to spend your time in court talking about your ideology and lobbying for better laws. The entire trial will be about whether or not he's guilty of breaking the laws that already exist.