Anarcho-Activist Adam Kokesh Held Without Bond for Filming Himself Performing an Utterly Harmless "Crime"

Anarcho-activist Adam Kokesh was ordered held without bond on charges of loading a forbidden shotgun in D.C. (an act he filmed as deliberate political theater), reports radio station WTOP in D.C.

From their report:

A D.C. Superior Court judge has ordered a veteran and activist accused of openly carrying a shotgun in D.C.'s Freedom Plaza held without bond.

During a preliminary hearing Monday, an attorney representing Adam Kokesh argued that the stunt -- filmed and posted on YouTube -- was nothing more than political theater.

The judge disagreed, ordering that Kokesh be held until his next court appearance.

"I consider your client to be a very dangerous man," the judge said. "This is not a political statement."

Kokesh next court date is scheduled for Aug. 13.

I see the reasoning---God forbid this man be free to once again commit an act of journalism/activism involving a completely harmless "crime" (loading a banned weapon in a forbidden place--a weapon perfectly legal to use in many other places in the United States with little to no harm to anyone.)

His real crime of course is his claim that he has the right to perform harmless acts the state forbids. That's very difficult for agents of the state to forgive.

Mike Riggs on the pointlessly excessive assault on Kokesh's home for this "crime." Me on the theater of phony consent in his trial.

Comments

[Emmerson Biggins]

Are we going to get to see an argument that the law is invalid because it isn't uniformly applied (David Gregory?)

[A Serious Man]

Are we going to get to see an argument that the law is invalid because it isn't uniformly applied (David Gregory?)

Judge: David Gregory is a Serious Media Type. He's a member of the journalist class that's protected by the first.

Adam Kokesh is a deranged individual, possibly mentally ill and I'm doing him and the District a favor by locking him up and removing him from the society he hates.

[JohnTheRevelator]

I wouldn't hold out much hope that he wins with that, but I sure hope he tries.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I wasn't implying that it has any hope of working. Just would like to at least hear it said out loud once somewhere besides here.

[some guy]

In D.C. double standards are equally and fairly applied to everyone. These cases will be no different.

[Dweebston]

+2 standards

[Warrren]

Hmmmm...McDouble Standards!

[Mad Scientist]

I can see the arrest (even if I think it's beyond stupid that what he did is illegal) but the held without bond thing is absurd. If he's that dangerous, why screw around with the local holding cell when he clearly belongs at Gitmo?

[A Serious Man]

His real crime of course is his claim that he has the right to perform harmless acts the state forbids. That's very difficult for agents of the state to forgive.

This whole case is bullshit, but include me among the libertarians who thinks that Kokesh is a needlessly bellicose jackass that makes the rest of us look bad. Does he really think stunts like this are going to change anything?

[califernian]

He is awesome. That is all.

[John C. Randolph]

Why didn't Rosa Parks just move to the back of the damn bus?

-jcr

[MJGreen]

Does this kind of act really push people away from libertarianism? At least push more away than draw in?

I don't see why it shouldn't be tried. It's a clear cut case of the state punishing someone for no good reason. People who won't change their minds will react with the standard, "Well, he was asking for this." Hopefully some others will react appropriately and be a little more skeptical of state power. And maybe a very few will look at Kokesh's stuff and get into the wider liberty movement.

[Robert]

I'm beyond "skeptical of" state power, but isn't it manifestly clear to anyone that he was asking for that? So everybody else is just playing their parts as scripted.

[PS wanders the Wasteland]

The judge is right. Hasn't Benghazi taught us how very dangerous posting YouTube videos can be?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I was really hoping this was going to have been actually filmed in front of a green screen at his home.

[PS wanders the Wasteland]

That would be pretty awesome. Still would get ten years for making govnmt look silly.

[db]

That would be a great mass protest: thousands of people posting videos of themselves loading all sorts of weaponry at Freedom Plaza -- all, of course, done with green screen and a solid alibi (I can show I was in Texas at the time, your Honor).

[Killazontherun]

That would have been the greatest stunt ever, Pull out the fact in mid trial and the prosecutor is made to look like Geraldo standing in front of Capone's empty vault.

[ThatsOutrageous]

No agenda to see here. Move along.

[GPZsug]

His real crime of course is his claim that he has the right to perform harmless acts the state forbids. That's very difficult for agents of the state to forgive.

It's also very difficult for most Americans to forgive. Agents of the state *are* evil, but the fundamental problem lies with average Americans who'd argue that breaking the law is wrong. Go tell your mother, brother, cousin or boss about Kokesh's imprisonment and note how little sympathy you find.

[Thane of Whiterun]

"I consider your client to be a very dangerous man," the judge said. "This is not a political statement."

Does the judge not even know the basic facts of the case? Purely for the sake of argument I'll concede to him that Kokesh is "a very dangerous man." But not a political statement? Seriously?

[pmains]

You don't actually have to consider what "political expression" means in order to make this sort of argument. In fact, it helps if you don't. Instead, you start with a gut feeling that what Adam did is wrong. Therefore, what he did is not protected. But, political expression is protected by the 1st Amendment. Therefore, this is not political expression.

If you haven't convinced your audience by that point, you can fall back on these stand-bys. Surely, the framers of the Bill of Rights did not anticipate somebody making a statement like this. Also, that type of gun didn't even exist at the time of the founding.

[R C Dean]

Surely, the framers of the Bill of Rights did not anticipate somebody making a statement like this.

As I recall, the Founders were rather fond of making political statements with guns in their hands.

[Warty]

He meant that it's not a valid political statement, and thus not a political statement at all. To the mind of the statist, only political statements that agree with the supremacy of the state are valid.

[MappRapp]

Wow man, I never even thought about it liek that.

http://www.Global-Anon.com

[Jeff]

That's because you're an inferior bot. WomSom would have thought about it liek that.

[wef]

Anarcho-masochist Adam Kokesh is going to have a hard time. I am pessimistic about this. He has accumulated a critical mass of thug-state functionaries carrying a grudge, certainly from the Philadelphia smoke-down and the resulting arrest-and-release nonsense, and from other in-your-face slights to multiple officious flunky louts.

[Dave Krueger]

"I consider your client to be a very dangerous man," the judge said. "This is not a political statement."

No, it's the statement of a man with zero critical thinking skills. But, he is not alone. I noticed that some of the 2016 republicans presidential hopefuls are also declaring libertarians to be "dangerous".

As I've always said, the government will leave libertarians alone until people start listening to them. Well, here we are.

[alan_s]

Yes, judge. Someone is a dangerous man in all this, and it's not the defendant.

[Andrew S.]

He committed an aggravated act of making the state look stupid. I'm kind of surprised he wasn't "accidentally" shot while being taken into custody.

[Raston Bot]

That's a laughably petty reaction to someone questioning your authoritah.

[Andrew S.]

Which is, of course, par for the course.

[sloopyinca]

Kokesh will hopefully get the support of the ACLU and SAF on this one and the idiotic gun laws of DC will be further beaten with the Supreme Court stick.

[A Mathematician]

ACLU doesn't do gun cases

[Paul.]

I think Kokesh is twisting in the wind, and about to lose his 2nd amendment rights.

[T]

I would love to see how the state proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that what is depicted in the YouTube video is an actual firearm. That's how I'd run were I Kokesh's defense attorney. If all you have is a YouTube video, I'll eviscerate everybody involved on the stand.

[sloopyinca]

Well, Kokesh saying it was a real gun is admissable. And they can subpoena the cameraman and any witnesses to testify whether or not they thought/knew it to be a real gun. I like what you're thinking, but I think it's easy for the prosecution to overcome.

Kokesh's best defense is to talk up jury nullification and hypocrisy in the Gregory case, thereby making this a politically-motivated prosecution. But the judge will probably not allow it. He's likely to end up convicted and this matter will eventually end up before the Supreme Court.

[Paul.]

If the Obama Supreme court even decides to hear the case.

[db]

"This is not a political statement" is like "this is none of my business." It is a statement uttered to excuse exactly the denied behavior.

[Paul.]

During a preliminary hearing Monday, an attorney representing Adam Kokesh argued that the stunt -- filmed and posted on YouTube -- was nothing more than political theater.

That's nice.

*gavel crack*

Guilty.

[Robert]

He got the result he wanted, didn't he? So what's his complaint?

[darius404]

You enjoy being deliberately obtuse, don't you?

[Libertarius]

To hell with half-baked anarchy theories, you rationalistic hippy nihilists are a liability to serious, principled advocates of individual rights.

Anarchy is not freedom, and it sure as hell isn't capitalism. Anarchy is a vacuum, a zero, nothing; a philosophy about anarchy is a philosophy about nothing, a pointless exercise in rationalistic wanking.