Have at it.
Manning Update
According to his lawyer’s blog, PFC Bradley Manning’s case will finally get an Article 32 hearing. It is scheduled to start on the 16th of December and run for five days at Fort Meade, MD.
The Article 32 hearing for PFC Bradley Manning will begin on December 16, 2011 at Fort Meade, Maryland. The hearing is expected to last approximately five days. With the exception of those limited times where classified information is being discussed, the hearing will be open to the public.
Additionally, Mr. Coombs gives a pretty good description of what an Article 32 hearing is:
The primary purpose of the Article 32 hearing is to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of the government’s case as well as to provide the defense with an opportunity to obtain pretrial discovery. The defense is entitled to call witnesses during the hearing and to also cross examine the government’s witnesses. Each witness who testifies is placed under oath; their testimony can therefore be used during the trial for impeachment purposes or as prior testimony should the witness become unavailable.
This will not happen in front of a judge, and unlike a civilian Grand Jury, which the Article 32 process replaces, the prosecutor, called the Trial Counsel in military parlance, will not run the hearing. It will be presided over by an Investigating Officer. The IO will be a commissioned officer who is not JAG corps, but will have a legal advisor. The IO will prepare a report to the Convening Authority, the general officer under whose authority this case proceeds. The report will advise the CA as to which proffered charges should proceed to Court Martial, which ones should be dropped, and what level of Court Martial should be convened. The advisory capacity of the IO cannot be overstated. It is at the Convening Authority’s sole discretion as to whether or not to charge a Soldier under UCMJ. The CA can choose to not charge vice his IO’s report, but this is rare. Conversely, the CA can choose to charge even when the IO recommends against it. This happens frequently in sexual assault/rape charges and drug charges.
I am not a lawyer. I do know lawyers who are members of the military bar, however, and they tolerate my questions and try to answer in such a way that I can understand them. There are other sources of information about the process and events out there, and I encourage you all to go out and seek out knowledgeable sources.
NOTE–edited to change the title of the Article 32 IO from “Investing Officer” to “Investigating Officer”. Hat tip to commenter sherparick.
The authoritaritards
Remember that guy in Georgia who swore not to hire anyone as long as Obama stays in office? Some helpful context:
(1) Bill Looman is hardly some regular joe SBO (small business owner) who snapped. The guy has organized fringe militia gangs for quite some time. He had a recent chat with the Feds that might have to do with his links to more than one well-publicized domestic terrorism story, or it might concern his promise to join an armed rebellion if Obama wins another term. Could be both!
(2) His firm provides cranes and chain hoists that are useful, for example, in large factory operations. Anyone in Looman’s line of work would be less than thrilled about the NLRB and liberal gummint for trying to shutter a new Boeing plant after South Carolina spent $270 million on top of Boeing’s almost $1 billion to build it. Tack on Toyota’s recent recall issues and the region’s latent racial prejudice which, to put it generously, may have some indirect influence on Mr. Looman, and the main surprise is that he has not already gone redneck rambo on some local IRS office.
He Thought He Was the King of America
In Thailand, you get arrested and thrown in jail for disrespecting the royal family on Facebook. In Kansas your principal gets a call, you get bawled out, and you have to write a letter of apology if you disrespect the Governor on Twitter. I’m sure this is an oversight on Kansas’ part, and once they’re done prosecuting abortion providers, they’ll get around to passing their own set of lese-majeste laws.
Sunday Morning Open Thread
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Just made it home from the annual Thanksgiving excursion, the dogs are racing all around the house checking to be sure everything remains exactly where it was left three-and-a-half days ago, and I am soooooooo glad not to be spending another night in a Red Roof Inn.
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What’s on the agenda for the end of this particular long weekend?
Way I feel is, you don’t own a mixer
A few months ago, I became the proud, and slightly sheepish, owner of what must be the world’s most expensive food processor. The Thermomix costs about $1,500. It not only chops the food but weighs the ingredients and cooks them for you while stirring constantly. Perfect hollandaise and flawless béchamel can be produced in minutes with virtually no effort.
Front Pager behaving badly
Well, I fucked up. No two ways about it. I could try to explain what I was doing, what I was thinking, what I believed to be the case, but none of that sounds like anything other than petty blame shifting when I write it out in the face of what I actually did.
I check the mod filters every couple of hours or so, and I found something that looked like behavior that is typically frowned upon on the internet. I then posted in that information, including some identifying information in a comment in that thread, and deleted the posts from the moderation queue. I did not in this case, nor have I ever, in this forum or any other ever censor someone for the content of their comment. I have never advocated such action either.
Publishing personally identifiable information is wrong, regardless of the motivation. No matter what I thought I was doing, I didn’t have any right to do what I did, and certainly not on John’s blog. My response was way over the line and absolutely inappropriate. I can only offer a heartfelt apology to the commenter involved, to John, and to the entire community.