The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Shorter Jeremy Hammond: ‘Blame Bush!’

Posted on | November 16, 2013 | 64 Comments

First, from the Justice Department Web site:

Jeremy Hammond Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For
Hacking Into The Stratfor Website And Other Company,
Federal, State, And Local Government Websites
Defendant and Others Disclosed Sensitive Information
About Thousands of Innocent Individuals

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that JEREMY HAMMOND, a/k/a “Anarchaos,” was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 10 years in prison in connection with his role in, among other hacks, the December 2011 hack of Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (“Stratfor”), a global intelligence firm in Austin, Texas, that affected hundreds of thousands of victims, including employees and subscribers. HAMMOND was also sentenced in connection with his involvement in multiple additional hacks, including computer intrusions into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Virtual Academy, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, and the Jefferson County, Alabama, Sheriff’s Office. HAMMOND pled guilty in May 2013, and was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska. . . .

Seems straightforward enough, right? Hammond had a previous federal conviction for hacking the site of Protest Warrior and, because this exploit with “Anonymous” was therefore his second conviction, he was obviously going to do some serious time.

But it was for The Cause, which means that the  criminal had to strike a pose as a Heroic Victim and, at his sentencing hearing Friday, Hammond delivered a lecture to the court that included this:

The acts of civil disobedience and direct action that I am being sentenced for today are in line with the principles of community and equality that have guided my life. I hacked into dozens of high profile corporations and government institutions, understanding very clearly that what I was doing was against the law, and that my actions could land me back in federal prison. But I felt that I had an obligation to use my skills to expose and confront injustice — and to bring the truth to light. . . .
My introduction to politics was when George W. Bush stole the Presidential election in 2000, then took advantage of the waves of racism and patriotism after 9/11 to launch unprovoked imperialist wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. I took to the streets in protest naively believing our voices would be heard in Washington and we could stop the war. Instead, we were labeled as traitors, beaten, and arrested. . . .

There you go, the criminal’s creed: Blame Bush!

 

Category: Crime

Comments

64 Responses to “Shorter Jeremy Hammond: ‘Blame Bush!’”

  1. Adjoran
    November 16th, 2013 @ 4:53 pm

    Hope he found his little tirade satisfying. Now he gets to serve his 10 year sentence.

  2. scarymatt
    November 16th, 2013 @ 4:54 pm

    No, people don’t hate conservatives. Liberals hate conservatives. Because liberals are GOOD at hate. It warms my heart to see such awful people spew their venom at me, because I must be doing something right.

    I feel really bad for people who think they need to mutilate their bodies like that. They are at least correct that there is something wrong with them. I suspect we need new words for what to call them, because using the words we have is just confusing.

    Maybe if Manning didn’t do the stuff he did, he would be able to get surgery to appease his issues for a while (I’m not sure if you don’t know that he hasn’t had surgery or if you don’t care enough about what’s actually true when you’re getting angry on the Internet). I doubt it will help him (I understand people continue to have a lot of issues post surgery), but for now he has a few decades to reflect on his life.

  3. scarymatt
    November 16th, 2013 @ 4:56 pm

    This is your best argument yet! Keep it coming.

  4. Adjoran
    November 16th, 2013 @ 4:56 pm

    I’ve always opposed the “catch and release” policy for illegal protests. The whole POINT of “civil disobedience” is for the disobeyer to serve time. Gandhi and King did serve time, their protests therefore at least meant something. All these who get a ride to the police station and are released ROR and perhaps given probation are NOT practicing real “civil disobedience.”

    For that, I give Hammond credit. For the fact he’ll have to do eight years at least, I give the Truth in Sentencing Act credit.

  5. Dana
    November 16th, 2013 @ 5:26 pm

    I’m guessing that this is a joke comment; it’s way too pat of a statement to have had any thought put behind it.

    Oh, wait, that would describe a liberal, wouldn’t it? 🙂

    However, if recognizing that a person born with with XY chromosomes, a penis and testicles is not a girl is the hallmark of ” a rigid, petty narrow mindedness,” then then I will admit to being proudly narrow minded. If believing that a person born with with XY chromosomes, a penis and testicles actually can be a girl is an example of open mindedness, then open mindedness is clearly a synonym for stupidity.

  6. Finrod Felagund
    November 16th, 2013 @ 5:28 pm

    Nearly 13 years have elapsed and they’re still Sore Losermen.

  7. scarymatt
    November 16th, 2013 @ 5:29 pm

    Yes, my first thought was that it was a joke (I often make joke comments indistinguishable). But other comments showed it was meant to be taken seriously. Or a troll. I feel kinda bad for feeding it.

  8. scarymatt
    November 16th, 2013 @ 5:31 pm

    Not only that, they don’t even realize that all of the recounts done after the fiasco showed that Gore lost. Of course, vote suppression by exit polling in the panhandle never gets brought up, either.

    It’s hard to argue with people who live in their own fantasy world, oblivious to reality.

  9. Dana
    November 16th, 2013 @ 5:31 pm

    eieio asked:

    Again are you really so petty that if someone has sexual reassignment surgery and now want’s to live as a woman you’ll keep calling them a man? Did you really leave your brain back in the high school locker room?

    No, of course I wouldn’t call such a person a man; I would call him,a castrated male, because that is exactly what he would be.

    We possess just enough medical skill to mutilate a person, and then construct pseudo-penii or vaginas, to make people so mutilated sort of look like the sex opposite from what they are, but that’s it, that’s as far as we can go. We cannot actually turn a male into a female or a female into a male.

  10. robcrawford2
    November 16th, 2013 @ 6:20 pm

    It’s a troll.

  11. SDN
    November 17th, 2013 @ 1:26 am

    No the opinion is that we’re discriminating against anyone. Facts don’t discriminate.

  12. SDN
    November 17th, 2013 @ 1:27 am

    Do not reward the monkey.

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    November 18th, 2013 @ 4:47 pm

    […] when I saw Anonymous hacker Jeremy Hammond’s courtroom statement, my reaction was a shrug of resignation: Of course he blames Bush. Of course his “political” rationalizations are a bunch of […]

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