Legal Schnauzer -- journalist friend of Gov. Don Siegelman -- STILL IN JAIL!

[Octafish]

Unbelievable, Roger Shuler -- the journalist who helped keep Don Siegelman in the public eye when Corporate McPravda wouldn't -- is still in jail on trumped up charges.

Let Roger Shuler Go Before Christmas -- The Only Journalist Held Indefinitely In The US

By Jill Simpson and Jim March
OpEdNews Op Eds 12/23/2013 at 07:59:56

The Committee to Protect Journalists who are defending journalists worldwide recently announced their 2013 list of reporters imprisoned illegally around the world. As to be expected Turkey, Iran and China were at the top of the list but shamefully this time the USofA made the list as well due to the jailing of an Internet blogger named Roger Shuler in the state of Alabama.

Roger has been a key documenter of corruption in the United States since he took on the Don Siegelman story in 2007 and he has never let up. Roger has recently vowed from his jail cell that he will not retract the statements he has made about Rob Riley, son of recent former Governor Bob Riley. So what we are left with in America is a journalist indefinitely incarcerated by a specially appointed retired judge not duly elected to decide this case who was appointed by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore known famously as the "10 Commandments" judge who was removed from the bench due to his mixture of church and state but re-elected by popular vote.

SNIP...

What concerns me about Roger Shuler's case is how they are indefinitely holding him. Clearly, if they want to punish Roger they should give him a sentence but instead it appears that in America these days we can now hold people for any amount of time if they do not do as the court wishes. So Roger sits in a jail cell in Shelby County Alabama with no knowledge of when he is to get out. Journalists all over the world are beginning to pick up his story as it appears this is the first time we have seen a journalist in the United States be treated like a Guantanamo Bay alleged terrorist. It is very Kafka-esque because we have a specially appointed non-elected judge, a secret hearing and sealed records. This is a nightmare for Roger Shuler's wife Carol and I'm sure any assistance anyone can give her would be welcome during this holiday season while her husband is indefinitely incarcerated in these United States because he refuses to take down a story he swears is true.

If we as citizens allow this to stand then we cannot complain about getting subverted media in the US. It is my request that everyone who reads this asks 100 friends to write and call Chief Justice Roy Moore at 334-229-0700 (address listed below) and ask him to show the Christian mercy he professes all over Alabama towards the only imprisoned journalist in the US, Roger Shuler.

As for Rob Riley, his attempt to suppress Roger's stories whether true or not has made him worldwide infamous for being the first to succeed at jailing an opposition journalist in the United States. It is frightening to think about Riley running for congress given this situation and Riley's questionable actions on the rights of journalists.

CONTINUED...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Let-Roger-Shuler-Go-Before-by-JillSimpson-JimMar-Journalists-Detained_Journalists-Embedded_Journalists-Journalism_Roger-Shuler-131223-26.html

Anybody remember Don Siegelman?

Anybody remember Justice?

[Octafish]

1. Think Progress: Top Travesty of Justice 2013

1. An Alabama blogger is still sitting in a jail cell for exercising his First Amendment rights

Blogger Roger Shuler drew the ire of the powers that be when he continued to write about the alleged extramarital affair of a prominent lawyer rumored to be running for Congress. The lawyer and son of former Alabama governor Bob Riley, Robert Riley, Jr., won a temporary restraining order that prohibited Shuler from writing anything about Riley’s alleged extramarital affair and other related stories. The order itself was almost certainly a violation of First Amendment law. But Alabama officials took the dispute a step further when they pursued him for a traffic stop and arrested him for contempt. In spite of advocacy from the ACLU and others, Shuler has now been in a jail cell for two months for his journalism.

SOURCE w links: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/12/23/3099651/great-travesties-justice-2013/#

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. A definite "first they came for" moment.

We have seen Reich wing states do crap that no one could have imagined 20 years ago.

[Octafish]

7. What's next? Secretly labeling Americans as terrorists and executing them without due process?

Oh.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/tag/targeted-killings

[Coyotl]

39. Remember, Alabama Republicans stole the election from Siegelman. No going back w/o jail for them.

The Alabama Republican Party is in a real pickle. They are involved in a criminal conspiracy the stems from the theft of a governor's election. A whole lot of these boys will be jailed if the feds ever intervene and restore justice.

[Octafish]

40. Good luck with that one!

Elena Kagan - Willing Accomplice

By Michael Collins

EXCERPT...

Then, when Siegelman appealed his case to the Supreme Court in 2009, President Obama's Attorney General dispatched Solicitor General Elena Kagan to argue against the appeal in November.

Before accepting the case, Elena Kagan knew or should have known: that the U.S. Attorney who began the Siegelman investigation was closely tied to Karl Rove; that Siegelman never benefited personally from the contribution to an education funding initiative; that the case was so outrageous, forty-four attorneys general petitioned Congress; and, that the presiding judge in the case owned a major interest in a defense firm that received a $178 million federal contract between Siegelman's indictment and trial, a massive conflict of interest.

Most revealing, before her argument against the former governor's appeal, Kagan knew or should have known the following. After two charges had been dropped in a 2009 appeal, Justice Department attorneys recommended a twenty year sentence instead of the seven years already rendered. Fewer offenses for sentencing meant thirteen additional years by the strange logic of federal justice.

Kagan knew or should have known all this and more. That didn't stop her from arguing that Don Siegelman should be kept in jail. ...

That judgment is that Elena Kagan was a willing accomplice in one of the most outrageous political prosecutions of our time. Why should anyone ever trust her?

CONTINUED...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Elena-Kagan--Willing-Acco-by-Michael-Collins-100622-971.html

Then-Solicitor General Kagan's brief: http://www.scribd.com/doc/23440615/Siegelman-Case-Elena-Kagan-Reply-Brief

[hootinholler]

3. The fucking Alabama courts are contemptable

How they can charge anyone with contempt is beyond the capabilities of my synapses.

Neither of these men belong in jail!

Thank you Der Fishie! I did not know that the schnauzer was still in jail.

[Octafish]

9. Contemptible Courts

Today, a journalist in the United States of America -- or any blogger, citizen, human -- be locked away for telling the truth. That is as un-American as it gets.

Bah, humbug! I say to Alabama politics

by Bob Morgan
GulfCoastToday.com Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2013

EXCERPT...

Shuler’s in jail in Shelby County right now for alleging that a trio of Alabama power brokers — Rob Riley, son of former Gov. Bob Riley, Atty. Gen. Luther Strange and federal judge Bill Pryor, all notable “family values” types — have been involved in certain indiscretions that don’t exactly spell out “f-a-m-i-l-y-v-a-l-u-e-s”. Personally, I don’t know if Shuler is on target with his allegations or not, but several things about Shuler’s jailing make me say, “Bah, humbug!”

To begin with, Shuler was arrested at his home in Shelby County on Oct. 23 and his mugshot shows him with a black, swollen eye. A retired judge was brought out of moth balls and charged Shuler with contempt of court. The judge sealed the court record at Rob Riley’s request and ordered Shuler to take down all blogs pertaining to the alleged “family values” trio. Of course, Shuler can’t do that from jail. “That’s your problem,” the judge is alleged to have told Shuler in open court. Thus, Roger Shuler could be in jail in Shelby County until the cows come home.

What’s happened to Shuler is called “prior restraint” and it’s unconstitutional according to the U.S. Supreme Court. After years of watching “Perry Mason,” here’s how I think the case should have been handled. Rob Riley brings a defamation lawsuit against Roger Shuler. Everybody involved swears to tell the truth and nothing but the truth and the court decides, after hearing everyone’s testimony, if Shuler defamed Riley and the others. (Seriously, it’s legally difficult to defame a politician for obvious reasons.) If Shuler is found guilty, then he’s ordered to take down the blogs and suffers whatever other reprisals the court decides.

Naturally, we’re all aghast here in Alabama that Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” got his hand spanked for speaking out against gay sex. “First Amendment right, First Amendment right!” we’re screeching. But how many Alabamians even know about the Shuler situation and its ramifications for free speech and a free press? Few, no doubt, since the case has been woefully neglected by state media even though it’s getting national attention. Shuler’s wife has been locked inside their house in Birmingham since he was arrested. She’s also named in Rob Riley’s permanent injunction and she’s scared and has a right to be.

CONTINUED...

http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/opinion/columnists/bob_morgan/article_df42e04c-6c19-11e3-bcef-001a4bcf887a.html

If the Bill of Rights are null and void, then these are NAZI times.

[RobertEarl]

4. Shuler must be a threat to someone important?

Why yes, he is. And it isn't just local criminals, it goes higher than local Alabama crooks. He is a threat to the Rove machine. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be in jail.

As long as you don't piss off the BFEE you'll be fine. But draw a little blood, and if they can corner you in some backasswards place like Alabama, and you are in trouble.

Keep safe, Octafish. And keep slashing at the BFEE. Your example of keeping after the criminals is to be commended. Screw the BFEE lovers!

[Octafish]

10. Shuler ticked off Karl Rove and the Alabama Branch of the BFEE.

Judge Mark E. Fuller is just one of the fetid turds who make money off war without end. Others, like the late U.S. Assistant Attorney John Atchison, once from Alabama, was a primo pervert of the first stank.

Thank you for the kind words, RobertEarl! People do like to suck up to power -- a certain class of people, that is.

[Coyotl]

41. Alabama Deputies Beat, Arrest Corruption-Fighting Reporter

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3923402

The prominent investigative blogger Roger Shuler was arrested and beaten by Shelby County sheriff's deputies at his Alabama garage upon returning home Oct. 23.

Shuler faces a resisting arrest charge stemming from his refusal to obey a judge's order to stop writing adversely about Robert Riley Jr., a well-connected attorney who is part of Alabama's most prominent political family.

Shuler, shown in a jail photos with a swollen face from his beating, was being held on a $1,000 bond on his resisting charge. But the judge has declined to set bond on two contempt of court charges, thereby enabling authorities to hold Shuler for an undetermined period that could be many months at the judge's discretion.


much more: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Alabama-Deputies-Beat-Arr-by-Andrew-Kreig-Arrest_Corruption_Justice_Political-131025-476.html

[starroute]

5. Barrett Brown is also sitting in jail

He's theoretically going to get a trial some time -- but meanwhile, it's been over a year on the flimsiest of charges.

[Octafish]

12. Thanks, starroute! I'd forgotten about him!

Barrett Brown Faces 105 Years in Jail

But no one can figure out what law he broke. Introducing America's least likely political prisoner

Alexander Zaitchik
Rolling Stone, September 5, 2013

The mid-June sun is setting on the Mansfield jail near Dallas when Barrett Brown, the former public face of Anonymous, shuffles into the visitors hall wearing a jumpsuit of blazing orange. Once the nattiest anarchist around, Brown now looks like every other inmate in the overcrowded North Texas facility, down to his state-issued faux-Crocs, the color of candy corn.

Who Are America's New Political Prisoners?

Brown sits down across from his co-counsel, a young civil-liberties lawyer named Ahmed Ghappour, and raises a triumphant fist holding several sheets of notebook paper. "Penned it out," he says. "After 10 months, I'm finally getting the hang of these archaic tools." He hands the article, titled "The Cyber-Intelligence Complex and Its Useful Idiots," to his lawyer with instructions to send it to his editor at The Guardian. Brown used to write for the British daily, but since he's been in prison, it's written about him and his strange legal ordeal that has had him locked up for nearly a year while he awaits trial next month. Should he be found guilty of all the charges the federal government is bringing against him – 17 counts, ranging from obstruction of justice to threatening a federal officer to identity fraud – he'll face more than 100 years in prison.

Given the serious nature of his predicament, Brown, 32, seems shockingly relaxed. "I'm not worried or panicked," he says. "It's not even clear to me that I've committed a crime." He describes his time here as a break from the drug-fueled mania of his prior life, a sort of digital and chemical fast in which he's kicked opiates and indulged his pre-cyber whims – hours spent on the role-playing game GURPS and tearing through the prison's collection of what he calls "English manor-house literature."

Brown has been called many things during his brief public career – satirist, journalist, author, Anonymous spokesman, atheist, "moral fag," "fame whore," scourge of the national surveillance state. His commitment to investigating the murky networks that make up America's post-9/11 intelligence establishment set in motion the chain of events that culminated in a guns-drawn raid of his Dallas apartment last September. "For a long time, the one thing I was happy not to see in here was a computer," says Brown. "It appears as though the Internet has gotten me into some trouble."

Encountering Barrett Brown's story in passing, it is tempting to group him with other Anonymous associates who have popped up in the news for cutting pleas and changing sides. Brown's case, however, is a thing apart. Although he knew some of those involved in high-profile "hacktivism," he is no hacker. His situation is closer to the runaway prosecution that destroyed Aaron Swartz, the programmer-activist who committed suicide in the face of criminal charges similar to those now being leveled at Brown. But unlike Swartz, who illegally downloaded a large cache of academic articles, Brown never broke into a server; he never even leaked a document. His primary laptop, sought in two armed FBI raids, was a miniature Sony netbook that he used for legal communication, research and an obscene amount of video-game playing. The most serious charges against him relate not to hacking or theft, but to copying and pasting a link to data that had been hacked and released by others.

"What is most concerning about Barrett's case is the disconnect between his conduct and the charged crime," says Ghappour. "He copy-pasted a publicly available link containing publicly available data that he was researching in his capacity as a journalist. The charges require twisting the relevant statutes beyond recognition and have serious implications for journalists as well as academics. Who's allowed to look at document dumps?"

Brown's case is a bellwether for press freedoms in the new century, where hacks and leaks provide some of our only glimpses into the technologies and policies of an increasingly privatized national security-and-surveillance state. What Brown did through his organization Project PM was attempt to expand these peepholes. He did this by leading group investigations into the world of private intelligence and cybersecurity contracting, a $56 billion industry that consumes 70 percent of the U.S. intelligence budget.

CONTINUED...

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/barrett-brown-faces-105-years-in-jail-20130905

Is this a super-duper superpower or what?

[Octafish]

15. Telling the truth -- even if just a link -- is dangerous these days.

Links for the brave from FreeBarrettBrown.org:

http://freebarrettbrown.org/links-and-articles/

[msanthrope]

32. Barret Brown threatened an FBI agent and his kids, posting the threats on YouTube. This, after

helping to publish hacked credit card account numbers.

Having read the relevant court documents, I would not call these charges flimsy.

[starroute]

34. Barrett Brown ranted on YouTube at a point when he was freaking out

He was stupid to do it, but there is no indication it was a serious threat.

And he shared a link in a chatroom to a massive file of hacked documents that were relevant to research and and his associates were doing. The documents also included some credit card numbers, but he did not "publish" those or have any interest in exploiting them. All he did was share a link to a publicly available file. Any of us could have done something similar here at DU.

If you've read the court documents, you only know the government case -- which is naturally drawn up to make him sound like a criminal. You need to go read the other side.

[msanthrope]

35. yeah..as a criminal defense attorney, I can tell you that the "I wasn't serious when I was strung

out on heroin and got on YouTube and threatened an FBI agent and his kids" defense isn't going to work in federal court. The "I was just passing publicly known hacked credit cards" defense isn't going to work either.

I suspect this homophobic ne'er do well will do real time...he probably won't get short time because he has nothing to sell.

[annabanana]

6. The whole situation is BEYOND disgusting.

I would call it "beyond BELIEF" if I hadn't been watching it unfold for all this time.

[Octafish]

13. What Legal Schnauzer said from jail...

In Jailhouse Interview, Alabama Blogger Says He Won’t Budge

By David J. Krajicek
WhoWhatWhy.com on Nov 25, 2013

Columbiana, Alabama—In his first interview since he was jailed last month for contempt of court, Alabama journalist Roger Shuler said he will stay behind bars indefinitely rather than comply with a judge’s “unlawful” order to scrub his blog of scandalous stories he posted about a powerful Alabama politician’s son.

“Free press, free speech, the First Amendment—none of this means anything to these people,” Shuler said. “I don’t see any reason I should remove the material. Is a person obliged to take an action based on a judge’s unlawful order?”

SNIP...

Affair and Abortion Alleged

The contempt citation that landed Shuler in jail without bail concerns his “Legal Schnauzer” blog posts earlier this year that alleged an affair between Liberty Duke, a lobbyist in Alabama, and Robert (Rob) Riley, Jr., a Birmingham attorney and namesake of a two-term Republican governor of Alabama.

Shuler reported that Duke got pregnant, and “Republican insiders” paid her as much as $300,000 to have an abortion and to “stay quiet on the subject.” Both Riley and Duke were married to other people at the time. They denied the affair and filed a defamation lawsuit against Shuler.

The stakes are high for Rob Riley, whose name has been floated as a likely candidate for a soon-to-be-vacant U.S. congressional seat in the Birmingham area.

Shuler said he stands by his reporting, with sources that “go right up to the Riley family.”

CONTINUED...

http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/11/25/in-jailhouse-interview-alabama-blogger-says-he-wont-budge/

You are absolutely correct, annabanana! Unless we'd seen it with our own eyes, I'd never believed the United States of America would devolve into a police state where the NAZIs are on top.

[WillyT]

8. HUGE K & R !!!

[Octafish]

14. Alabama BFEE lost one of its own, a former US Assistant Attorney who also was a child predator...

Roy Atchison: On the Paper Trail of a Paedophile

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Margie Burns

This blog entry is the first of a series of articles on John David Roy Atchison. Atchison, anAssistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola office, was arrested in September 2007 on charges relating to pedophilia. He committed suicide in federal prison in October 2007. Arrest and suicide were not foregrounded by the Department of Justice in the Bush administration. The first articles, based largely on FBI material obtained under FOIA, will focus on the criminal acts and their context in 2007 in the Pensacola office.

This is not the story of a man who engaged in pedophilia for years or decades before being caught. It is the story of a man whipsawed by the strain of living up to a high-achieving family rooted in Birmingham, Ala., whose high-functioning connections assisted him for years in developing a career for which he turned out not to be suited. On Sept. 16, 2007, Assistant U.S. Attorney John David Roy Atchison, serving as a federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Florida, was arrested on credible charges of basically pedophilia. Atchison committed suicide in federal prison Oct. 5.

A dead pedophile might not sound like a tragedy. But Atchison was thought to be participating in a pedophile ring, and his death removed a useful informant from law enforcement resources. The question of how he was enabled to kill himself rather than being preserved for justice is one of the loose ends left hanging in his case. This article series will look at the case itself, at how Atchison attained his federal career, and at the easy prison suicide in 2007.

The legal case begins in August 2007, when an officer identified only as part of the Detroit Deputized Cyber Task Force, posing online as a divorced mother of two small children, was Instant Messengered by Yahoo! Member “fldaddy04.” As the Federal Bureau of Investigation notes, when the TFO [Task Force Officer, name redacted] added the user to her buddy list, the name “John Davidson” replaced “fldaddy04.” By Sept. 12, the FBI had determined that ‘Davidson” was actually Atchison, married since 1983, who lived with his wife, a high school teacher and cheerleading coach, in Gulf Breeze, Florida, and was president of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association as well as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

CONTINUED...

http://www.margieburns.com/2010/09/roy-atchison-on-the-paper-trail-of-a-pedophile-part-1/

THIS is what makes Karl Rove and the Alabama BFEE angry -- the truth.

[madfloridian]

11. Unbelievable!

Thanks for keeping up with this issue.

[Octafish]

16. Freedom of the Press now is against the law.

I mean, apart from the likkkes of Roger Ailes and his megaturd warmongering boss Rupert Murdoch.

For those interested in learning what ABCNNBCBSFakedNewsNutworks won't cover:

Roger Shuler Arrest Scene Photos and Video

[madfloridian]

17. I linked to your OP on twitter.

BTW I followed an Octafish there...looks like a new account? If it's not you I will unfollow.

[Octafish]

20. Thank you, madfloridian. No, I don't believe that's me.

I tried to set up an account there as Octafish, but was told it was taken (maybe by me when Twitter was new -- If so, I can't access the account). Then, I tried DU from Octafish...no joy, won't work. Perhaps one happy day, I'll have time to figure out how to tweet. A sample of what might be:

Good people jailed in Alabama: Don Siegelman, Roger Shuler. Details: http://free-don.org/.

[madfloridian]

23. Try adding a letter or number to your username there

Maybe like Octafish2 or letters. Let me know if you do get one set up.

[madfloridian]

18. Those pics...that's horrible. Scary.

[Octafish]

21. Mrs. Shuler is home alone as criminals with badges intimidate her.

Since the coming of Reagan, it's been as if the Confederates won the Civil War.



It goes back much further, I know. They've been at it since Appomattox.

[bobthedrummer]

29. Along with many others journalists are targeted-and today freedom of the press is illegal, it has

been overtaken by "national security" that doesn't honor the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights or anything else. K&R#40.
Btw, here's an overlooked yet important article from American Forces Press Service member Cheryl Pellerin published 9-25-13 on the DoD News Page.

Cybercom Activates National Mission Force Headquarters
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=120854

Posted in memory of Michael Hastings and Anna Politkovskaya.

[Octafish]

30. My country, right or wrong and all that as much as the next guy -- but, really?

Protecting ARAMCO? Priorities, people. Here in Detroit, when we get a lump of coal in our Holiday Stocking, we celebrate. How about some Bitcoin cyberlove falling our way?

Cybercom Activates National Mission Force Headquarters

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

EXCERPT...

“Look at what’s happened in the past year,” Alexander said. “Over 300 distributed denial-of-service attacks on Wall Street. We saw destructive attacks in August 2012 against Saudi Aramco and RasGas (Co. Ltd.).”

There’ve also been “destructive” cyberattacks against South Korea, he added.

“What that says to me is that this is going to pick up. It’s going to get worse and we have to get a number of things done to protect this country,” Alexander said.

The top priority, he said, is a trained and ready force.

CONTINUED...

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=120854

You may not know this, bobthedrummer, but I really am a big fan of Troncomcon. In fact, Gen. Alexander is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life, and I'm not just saying that because the guy can put me on the to-drone list.

Most importantly: Merry Christmas and a peaceful, joyous and prosperous New Year to You and Yours, bobthedrummer! Same for Gen. Clapper and all the good men and women who stand watch to keep our nation free.

[Enthusiast]

19. Recommended 1000X and kicked too.

[Octafish]

22. Prior Restraint, Roger Shuler, and the Rileys of Alabama

Phoenix Woman
FireDogLake.com, Tuesday October 29, 2013 8:18 pm

Many FDL readers may know the posts of Roger Shuler, who writes at his Legal Schnauzer blog, he posted. Or at least, he did until last week, when he got beaten up and hauled off to jail:

The prominent investigative blogger Roger Shuler was arrested and beaten by Shelby County sheriff’s deputies in his Alabama garage upon returning home the evening of Oct. 23.

Shuler faces charges stemming from his refusal to obey a judge’s order to stop writing about an alleged affair involving Robert Riley Jr., an attorney who is part of Alabama’s most prominent political family.

Shuler at right shown in a jail mug shot photo with a swollen face after his beating and attack with MACE in his garage. Authorities in his county south of Birmingham held him on two contempt of court charges and one for resisting arrest. A judge refused to set bond on the contempt charges, thereby enabling authorities to hold Shuler for an undetermined period that could be many months at the judge’s discretion. His bond was $1,000 for the resisting arrest charge.

Update Oct. 29: As of this writing, Shuler remained in jail, his wife was barricaded in their home, and a news blackout remained through virtually all of the mainstream media, with only a few web-based media covering the story. OpEdNews editor Joan Brunwasser published an interview with me: Andrew Kreig: Alabama Journalist Roger Shuler Beaten and Arrested! A sympathetic reader of these reports dropped off enough food to last for several days, and more than $1,000 has been contributed to a fund for potential legal expenses.

Shuler remained in jail without bond on the morning of Oct. 29. This story passed 20,000 hits on this site. As far away as Moscow, the pro-privacy fighter Edward Snowden had reTweeted this column to his followers. The mainstream United States media maintained eerie silence. As so often said (most famously by Edward R. Murrow), a nation of sheep begets a government of wolves.

CONTINUED...

http://my.firedoglake.com/phoenix/2013/10/29/prior-restraint-roger-shuler-and-the-rileys-of-alabama/#more-80553

This news should be on the front page and lead the broadcasts, but it's not. Thanks for grokking, Enthusiast!

[Enthusiast]

27. That's horrible!

Thanks for sharing that, I think. OMG! Imagine the worst with these miscreants.

[KoKo]

28. Awful... Thanks for heads up about this as terrible

and disturbing as it is. Hopefully with more attention he will get legal representation to take this up the chain...to the Supremes if necessary. If he is treated this way with little news coverage after all this time...then who could be next as our Press Freedoms take another blow in a series of reporter and whistleblowers who are now being threatened or locked away under serious charges and breaches of their rights.

[Snarkoleptic]

24. Roger's youtube channel has lots of interesting videos.

https://www.youtube.com/user/rshuler3156/videos

[Octafish]

25. Thank you, Snarkoleptic! The guy knows how to report the news.

If only Corporate McPravda would do its job, Roger Shuler wouldn't be in jail and America wouldn't be in a fascist mess.

BTW: The real estate agent really has no idea of what the First Amendment is about.

[Snarkoleptic]

26. Seems the Alabama regressive establishment doesn't like having it's misdeeds revealed.

The "Liberty Duke" stuff seems to be what pushed them over the edge.
I see on the legal schnauzer site that the aclu is now involved in this political prisoner saga.

[Octafish]

31. Consenting adults messing around is one thing. Messing with the First Amendment is another.

I really do feel sorry for the nice real estate agent. From her perspective -- the way she sees a journalist working to tell the truth -- is an "attack." Perhaps it seems that way to her clients, or just the wealthy GOP elite of Alabama, the truth is what they fear most.

Here's a bit of background for those new to the subject:

Gulag Justice? Alabama Blogger Jailed In Secretive Scandal

By David J. Krajicek
WhoWhatWhy.com on Nov 11, 2013

EXCERPT...

Blog Alleges Affair, Abortion

The case is rooted in Shuler’s allegations of an affair in about 2006 between a scion of one of Alabama’s elite political families, Robert Riley, Jr., and Liberty Duke, a registered lobbyist in Alabama. Riley is a Birmingham lawyer and son of Bob Riley, a nationally prominent Republican who served as governor of Alabama from 2002 to 2010.

Shuler reported on his “Legal Schnauzer” blog that Duke got pregnant, and “Republican insiders” paid her as much as $300,000 to have an abortion and to “stay quiet on the subject.” Both Riley and Duke were married with children at the time of the alleged affair, though Duke was soon sued for divorce by her husband.

SNIP...

In addition to the First Amendment ramifications, the case has implications beyond state borders. For two decades now, Alabama has been regarded as a kind of Shangri-La by the national Republican Party; it was the petri dish where Rove demonstrated that stealth micro-politics — the appointment of a particular partisan judge or prosecutor, for example – can pave the way to achieving broader political goals.

Shuler’s wife said Riley used his political connections to get special consideration from Judge Neilson. For example, the judge has sealed all records of the case and ordered Shuler to scrub the Internet of his stories about the affair—moves that the ACLU’s Marshall said are unprecedented.

The case does not appear under the normal search parameters—the names of plaintiffs and defendants–in the Alabama state court online database. When searched by its secret docket number, a blunt message appears: “This case is confidential.”

CONTINUED...

http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/11/11/gulag-justice-alabama-blogger-jailed-in-secretive-scandal/

Mrs. Shuler said, "We both got in this fight for justice, truth and the American way." Amen. Absolutely.

[msanthrope]

33. Has he hired an actual attorney yet? He really does need legal counsel, because his 'legal'

arguments are what is keeping him in jail. I wish him the best...but he really needs an attorney.

[Octafish]

36. That's classified.

Seriously, ACLU filed a friend of the court brief and it was immediately sealed from public view.

Gulag Justice? Alabama Blogger Jailed In Secretive Scandal

By David J. Krajicek
WhoWhatWhy.com on Nov 11, 2013

EXCERPT...

Shuler’s wife said Riley used his political connections to get special consideration from Judge Neilson. For example, the judge has sealed all records of the case and ordered Shuler to scrub the Internet of his stories about the affair—moves that the ACLU’s Marshall said are unprecedented.

The case does not appear under the normal search parameters—the names of plaintiffs and defendants–in the Alabama state court online database. When searched by its secret docket number, a blunt message appears: “This case is confidential.”

SNIP...

ACLU Files Brief; It’s Secret, Too

Two days later, the ACLU of Alabama asked the judge’s permission to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. That too is sealed, although the group’s Marshall said it appeared the brief would be accepted by Judge Neilson.

“The brief argues two things,” Marshall said. “First, we argued that the injunction (ordering Shuler to remove his stories about Riley and Duke) is a prior restraint and therefore runs afoul of the First Amendment as well as the Alabama Constitution and, second, that the sealing of the entire record is a violation of the First Amendment.”

“It’s just hard to fathom that the motion to seal and the order sealing them are both sealed themselves, so you have no idea what the court is doing in this case,” Marshall said. “There is nothing in that document that shouldn’t be available to the public.”

CONTINUED...

http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/11/11/gulag-justice-alabama-blogger-jailed-in-secretive-scandal/

You're an attorney, IIRC, msanthrope. What are your thoughts? What would you recommend Shuler do?

[msanthrope]

37. Here is what I think Shuler should do....hire an actual attorney. If the ACLU will represent

him, then he should do what they say.

And if I was his attorney, I'd start filing motions-- a hearing on the contempt, motions for recusal, motions for reconsideration, etc.

He needs legal counsel. And he needs to listen to that legal counsel.

[Coyotl]

42. Can You Help an Alabama Journalist / Political Prisoner / Don Siegelman Defender?

Can You Help an Alabama Journalist / Political Prisoner / Don Siegelman Defender?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023928067

Shuler, shown in a jail photos with a swollen face from his beating
The story is found here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023923402

Alabama Deputies Beat, Arrest Corruption-Fighting Reporter

The prominent investigative blogger Roger Shuler was arrested and beaten by Shelby County sheriff's deputies at his Alabama garage upon returning home Oct. 23.

Shuler faces a resisting arrest charge stemming from his refusal to obey a judge's order to stop writing adversely about Robert Riley Jr., a well-connected attorney who is part of Alabama's most prominent political family.

..... the judge has declined to set bond on two contempt of court charges, thereby enabling authorities to hold Shuler for an undetermined period that could be many months at the judge's discretion. .....

Paypal button for donations on Shuler's website, Legal Schnauzer.
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/

... (the) justice system poses a serious threat also to the Shulers, who have no funds for lawyers. Furthermore, lawyers in Alabama are severely limited in representation because bar rules prevent forbid any criticism of judges.

In the Shuler case, the retired circuit judge .... issued an injunction ordering the Shulers to remove from public view all columns regarding an alleged affair between lobbyist Liberty Duke and Riley, who is a rumored congressional candidate for 2014 and the son of former two-term Alabama governor Bob Riley. .... Nielson also forbade the Shulers from writing in the future about the case.

To ensure no one else does so, the judge also sealed the court file.

[msanthrope]

43. As I noted in the thread you posted, I was already aware of the story, from the prior DU thread.

Mr. Shuler needs to retain an attorney. He also needs to listen to that attorney. He should see about securing the ACLU, but he would have to abide by their legal strategy. After perusing his legal strategy on his website, I think Mr. Shuler should stop advising himself. I wish him the best.

[Coyotl]

38. I'm sure all the Duck Dynasty 1st Amendment supporters are going to be all over this.

NOT!

[Octafish]

44. Once upon a time, HUSTLER printed a story about Jerry Falwell and his mommy.

Personally, I would not have published the article, but fans of Duck Dynasty need to understand why Larry Flynt has the right to. What the rightwing just-us Rehnquist had to say, writing for SCOTUS:

The sort of robust political debate encouraged by the First Amendment is bound to produce speech that is critical of those who hold public office or those public figures who are "intimately involved in the resolution of important public questions or, by reason of their fame, shape events in areas of concern to society at large." Justice Frankfurter put it succinctly when he said that "one of the prerogatives of American citizenship is the right to criticize public men and measures." Such criticism, inevitably, will not always be reasoned or moderate; public figures as well as public officials will be subject to "vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks."

SOURCE: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/falwell/sctfalwellvflynt.html