Outpost of Freedom blog

Freedom of the Press #18
The Big Guns

Gary Hunt
Outpost of Freedom
August 10, 2017

August 8, 2017, was the date set for the government to file their response.  They did so in the Government’s Reply to Respondent’s Opposition to Government’s Memorandum in Support of Civil Contempt.  That will be the subject of this article, however the recent background, since the May 9, 2017, Jurisdiction Hearing.

As a result of that Hearing, the government first filed the Government’s Memorandum in Support of Civil Contempt (June 12, 2017).  That was the subject “Freedom of the Press #16 – Jurisdiction Hearing“.  It appears that since January, when the government sought to have me held in Contempt of Court, they have yet to come up with a case citation that supports their position.

My response was filed as Memorandum of Law in Opposition to the Government’s Memorandum in Support of Civil Contempt (July 21, 2017).  This Memorandum increases the burden on the government, separating articles published before the “Supplemental Protective Order” and the one article published after that Order.  The government has yet to meet any standard of proof with regard to their legal responsibility to do so.

So, the current government Reply endeavors to regurgitate some of the same arguments that the government has relied upon, through the course of this ordeal.  For example, they have, from the beginning, relied upon Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53 (1957), when they state, “The substantial government interest in protecting confidential sources is long established.”  Where they fail in Roviaro, is that the protection is afforded by allowing the government to protect the identity of the informant.  In the words of the Roviaro decision, “What is usually referred to as the informer’s privilege is, in reality, the Government’s privilege to withhold from disclosure the identity of persons…”  What it does not do is to extend any criminal liability to those that disclose an informant’s identity.  It simply gives the government the right to try to protect the identity.

In the current matter, that was done to the extent that the law allows, the Protective Order that sanctioned those who were given certain information from disclosing that information.  It is only that person, whether a defendant, defendant’s counsel, or even government employee, was subject to the Court’s order not to divulge the identity of the informants.

The government did so even prior to the Discovery being given to the defendants, when they redacted what they believed to be any information that would tend to expose the informants.  The informant’s names were redacted as where many hundreds of words that the government felt would identify the informants.  The government keeping that information away from the defendants (the identification of informants) was their exercise of the protection of the informants, as per Roviaro.

The government continues to persist in stating, rightfully, “this Court had the authority to issue the orders and that it continues to have the authority to enforce the orders.”  However, they have yet to address the relevant aspect of jurisdiction.  To put this in context, if a judge in Mexico issues an order, he has such authority.  He also has the right to enforce that order.  However, does he have the jurisdiction to first, apply that order to someone not within his jurisdiction?  And, second, the authority to enforce the order against someone not within his jurisdiction?

The government wants to spin the context of what I said into a confession that is very, very far from my belief and honest admission as to the authority of the judge.

As the government continues, they make this rather curious assertion:

“When Hunt complains that this Court’s orders “prohibit” him from publishing “certain investigative pieces,” his factual premise is simply inaccurate.  Second, the justification for the original Protective Order continues because there is an ongoing need to protect cooperating witnesses regardless of the status of the trial.”

So, let’s break this down.  I have never complained about anything, except the fact that I was arrested by the government, similar to this current contempt situation, wrongfully applying a statute that did not apply to me, resulting in my spending a week in the Sacramento County Jail.  It would have been substantially longer had not Judge Brown seen through the deceitful tactic of the government in attempting to punish me, by simply lying to have a warrant issued for my arrest.  See Freedom of the Press #17 – Is This Legal?

Then, the government shysters endeavored to make a point:

“We are not asking this Court to restrain Hunt’s ability generally to write about the case — or even the informants — we only want him to observe this Court’s Order, which means that he cannot publish the discovery material subject to the Court’s Order.”

How nice of them to say that they don’t have a problem with me writing “about the case — or even the informants.”  How gracious.  However, these shysters are supposed to present facts.  My reputation as a journalist (not a blogger) is based on presenting facts.  Let’s suppose that I wrote about the informants, but failed to justify my conclusions without facts to back up those conclusions.  Well, then, I might just be a blogger.  However, as facts are a requisite in our judicial system, they are also a matter of principle to a good journalist.  To make accusations without presenting the facts makes a mockery of journalism, as it would of the judicial system.

Besides, such accusations are prolific in the patriot community.  They tend to lack any substance and are often made over a simple disagreement between two people.  Should some rely upon simply my word that so and so is an informant, the informant would simply accuse the accuser of being an informant.  And, the louder voice would probably prevail.  Surely, the government shysters would love to see an expansion of the “he said; she said” sort of rhetoric in the community.

As we continue through the Reply, we find this rather subjective statement of ‘facts’:

“[T]he government’s interests far outweigh any First Amendment interest Hunt may assert.  First, we need to protect our confidential sources for all of the valid reasons identified in Roviaro.  Second, the Court has a significant interest in enforcing the terms of its own Protective Orders.  Without enforcement, Hunt’s defiance threatens to undermine our ability to exchange discovery in future criminal cases.”

Now, the first point has already been addressed, with regard to the government’s right to endeavor to protect their sources — which they did by denying the defendants the right to call the witnesses against them (6th Amendment).  Second, the Court wrote the Protective Order and subjected those identified as subject to that Protective Order.  Daniel Ellsberg was the criminal in the “Pentagon Papers”.  The New York Times was not.  Finally, and the most laughable, is that the government feels that the exchange of discovery might be undermined.  Well, there is little doubt that the shysters want to keep as many secrets as they can from the defense.  However, in an effort to attempt to maintain their unscrupulous cadre of spies amongst us, they would willingly subvert the Constitution.

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Wolf Trap – The Entrapment

Gary Hunt
Outpost of Freedom
September 3, 2015

We first looked into the Setup of William Wolf (Wolf Trap – The Setup), this past April, when this whole exercise in injustice began. At that time, we could only speculate as to the motivation that led the government to entrap Wolf on manufactured (yes, manufactured, and that will be discussed) charges. What seemed most likely was that they didn’t like what Wolf was saying, whether talking about Committees of Safety (http://www.committee.org), an historical aspect of our foundation which without we would not have cast off the yoke of (British) government oppression, or when Wolf went even further by blaspheming the federal government, a current yoke that which operates outside of the constraints of the Constitution.

So, let’s look into what we have learned about this whole situation. To do so, we will be required to ask a number of questions. Additionally, we will be required to seek the most logical answers to those questions.

First, Wolf is not an advocate of violence, unless absolutely necessary, and only in defense of our constitutionally protected rights. Was this what motivated to government to identify, secure an informant, manipulate the situation, whereby Wolf pursued legal purchase of a legal shotgun, through private (legal) purchase, and then switched by the government agents to an illegal shotgun, at the last moment, in an effort to utilize gun laws to silence the outspoken patriot?

To answer this, we need simply look, not at the evidence since it is not yet available, but at the magnitude of evidence that lead to the eventual “illegal act” that has put Wolf in federal custody, for these past six months.

From the “Unopposed Motion To Continue Trial For 60 Days“, we find Wolf’s attorney, Mark S. Werner, inundated with evidence that cannot possibly be reviewed and gone over with Wolf to understand just what lay behind the charges being brought against him, within the current schedule. From that Motion:

2. Defendant and counsel have been making their way through the 524 pages of written discovery plus the 17 DVD’s relating to recorded conversations and podcasts concerning the Defendant. In addition, there are text messages and phone logs. It is necessary to thoroughly review all of this discovery as the Defendant is in need of knowing what, out of the entire amount, will and should be, introduced at trial.

So, there are 524 pages of written discovery (notes, FBI forms, etc., perhaps some emails are online discussions. Then we have 17 DVD’s. The lowest capacity of a standard DVD is 4.7 gigabytes. It is safe to calculate that each DVD could hold 6 hours of video or 72 hours of audio, or all 17 DVDs could hold 102 hours of video (2 1/2 work weeks), 1224 hours of audio (over 30 work weeks), or a combination thereof.

Then we have text messages and phone logs. Well, if we have audio on the DVD and text messages that show both parties and when the messages were made, why would they want phone logs? Would that be an effort to broaden the net and show some sort of conspiracy? So, in that event, what does the purchase of a shotgun have to do with, let’s call it, “nefarious criminal activity”, which is the only object that would justify such an intrusive and voluminous gathering of evidence? Could it possibly take that much effort, time, and expense to the taxpayers, to prove that he bought a shotgun? I’m pretty sure they even have audio and video of the purchase, as well as any relevant conversations.

Next, does this suggest that there is more than just the purchase of a shotgun that the feds are concerned with? To begin to understand that this is a lot more than just about a shotgun, we can look to the “Notice of Attorney Appearance” of federal “co-counsel”. For the shotgun, they are not bringing on a BATF attorney, nor are they bringing on an FBI attorney versed in gun laws. Instead, they are bringing on “Kashyap P. Patel, Trial Attorney, Counterterrorism Section, National Security Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20530, telephone number (202) 353-0184, e-mail: Kashyap.Patel@usdoj.gov“.

They are sending someone versed in Counterterrorism, all of the way from Washington, D.C., to be co-counsel on a simple purchase of an “illegal” shotgun. This has to amount to an absurd degree of absurdity. I doubt that they have put that much effort on tracking, and maybe even trying to set up, Muslims on the federal watch list. Kinda makes you wonder just who the enemy really is.

Now, let’s move on to the real subject of this article — entrapment. There are two relevant Supreme Court decision on entrapment (Sorrells v US 287 US 435 (1932) and Sherman v United States 359 US 369 (1958)). From Sherman, citing a portion from Sorrells, they explain what is, and what is not, within the acceptable duties of law enforcement:

“The function of law enforcement is the prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals. Manifestly, that function does not include the manufacturing of crime. Criminal activity is such that stealth and strategy are necessary weapons in the arsenal of the police officer. However, “A different question is presented when the criminal design originates with the officials of the Government, and they implant in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense and induce its commission in order that they may prosecute.”

So, let’s weigh what happened in Wolf’s case verses the case law. Wolf, during a conversation with the informant, Ed Gray, stated that he wanted to buy a legal shotgun, preferably a Russian automatic shotgun (Note: Automatic, as in a handgun, is a self-feeding gun,). He wanted to buy it through a private sale rather than through a dealer, which is still legal in this country.

So, after some communication, Wolf is informed that a friend of Gray could get him the shotgun. The “friend” was really an FBI “UCE” (FBI undercover employee). The UCE said he knew a Class III dealer that could provide the shotgun. Well, if a Class III dealer is willing to sell the shotgun without a background check, it is no sweat for Wolf, as the dealer is the only one bound by the law. Wolf is dealing only with a private sale, though the private party just happened to be a Licensee.

When they met to make the private sale, Wolf was informed of an increase in price because the Licensee had modified the shotgun into full-auto, providing a video that showed the rate of fire. So, Wolf is in a parking lot with the CHS (Gray) and the UCE, making a gun deal. They have switched guns, and an additional cost for the conversion, so Wolf had little choice but to consummate the deal. Did he intend to violate any law? Or, was he, with fear that backing out of the deal at this late date (bait and switch) might have serious consequences, going along with the purchase because he feared for his life?

So, the inducement for Wolf to commit an illegal act, the possession of an automatic shotgun, resulted in law enforcement implanting “in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense and induce its commission in order that they may prosecute.”

Could there be any other justification for the massive amount of “evidence”, the extraordinary effort in inducing Wolf to buy a shotgun that was “switched” at the point of sale, and the inclusion of a “counterterrorism” attorney on the prosecuting team, then to silence his speaking out, as he was, when, obviously, what he had said when speaking could only be used to demonize him to the Jury, since that speech, itself, was not illegal?

In my article, “Vortex“, I refer to an IRS letter dated February 26, 1973. That letter shows us that over forty years ago, the government would, “Use all available federal, state, and local laws” to go after those who spoke out against the income tax system. It appears that this “cancer” in government has spread to include using whatever tools, laws, or chicanery, available, whether legal, or not, to get those who are within their constitutional rights of free speech, taken and imprisoned, so that others will no longer be able to listen to them.

This is what justice has become in our nation, created by a Constitution that was intended, more than anything else, to limit the power of government; not to grant it the poser to target people and use divisive means in an effort to take away their Liberty.