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After Anti-Donation Executive Order, Bitcoin Donations For Snowden Jump
ZDNet reports that after a recent executive order from President Obama "said to have made it illegal to donate to Edward Snowden's fund," anonymous donations to the fund have soared -- at least ones as anonymous as Bitcoin makes possible. From the article:
A new executive order signed into law this week by the president has one online community up in arms, after its loose wording effectively ruled out donating to Edward Snowden and others.
In a post on Reddit's Bitcoin subreddit, members pledged to donate to the whistleblower's relief fund, despite the wording of the new executive order suggesting that doing so was illegal.
In the new executive order, signed into law on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama declared cyber-threats aimed at the US a "national emergency." The order threatens sanctions against those (including US residents) who engage in cyberattacks and espionage activities that threaten US interests at home and abroad.
The wording of the order specifically addresses any person whose "property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States."
Redditors were quick to assume (likely correctly) that this includes Edward Snowden, who for more than a year-and-a-half has lived in Russia, evading US justice.
So... Release information that will incriminate Uncle Sam in support of U.S. foundational principle and law of the land is taboo. They'll still attack out of spite and to starve you. Still they say freedom in the U.S. is a big seller and better than any place else in the world. Gotta call BULLSHIT on that one. I'm thinking the powers that be are bent on Hitler's ways, and in a both feet sort of way. Germany has all that shit behind them, I'm thinking that one of the two is perceptive enough to learn, and certainly not capable of learning from another's mistakes. So, Obummer, when do we all get bar codes, oh wait I forgot about the Obummercare thing, and the FEMA camps are looking a bit baron without barbeques. So tell us, which race will it be this time?
I am also thinking of doing just that
What's the account number that I can donate to help out Mr. Snowden?
To /. pranksters: This is serious, so please, spare your pranks for the next victim
Thank you !
Fuck the executive order. This president has pushed the boundaries with his executive orders. He usurps the authority of congress with many of them, including his immigration/amnesty orders.
The President of the United States has ZERO authority to tell people how they can spend their money.
This is the same mouthy prick who told stay at home moms that he had no use for them. He doesn't WANT mothers caring for their children, or for their aging parents/grandparents. He wants them in the work force, so that they are paying SOMEONE ELSE to care for those children.
I kinda voted for Obama, in that I voted against Romney. But, Obama is as big a prick as any president has been. Liberal love him, but that doesn't make him a good president.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
It's much worse than that. The president, by himself, created and enacted a law which carries a criminal penalty.
I agree that is bad. I don't know if the alternative is worse though: Congress has effectively become completely useless, because no bill on any issue can ever get pushed through Congress these days without major blockades from the non-sponsoring side, and (usually last thing on a Friday afternoon) without large amounts of unrelated legislation (riders) being stuffed into the bill after hundreds of pages of fluff so the riders won't actually be read by anybody before they're signed into law.
contributing to a crook running for political office is legal !
if an executive order against that happens, we will get the political reform we need !
This is my opinion based on what little I know and understand of the rumors and lies Thanks, Randal
I wouldn't worry too much; giving away money is now a first amendment right as an expression of free speech. If there ever was a positive side to Citizen's United, this is it.
That degree depends a lot on what you know when doing so. It has to do with the "mens rea" or state of mind. For instance, donations to a "feed the children" charity or a legal defense fund for someone when used to render such aid would likely not show intent and couldn't be prosecuted outside of who misused the funding.
You don't know what mens rea means, so you should stop describing it wrongly to people. The act must have been deliberate (conscious). Not the intent, but the act. So giving $1 to "save the children" thinking it was UNICEF and having it be an IRA front is a crime that meets all the requirements of mens rea. You intended to do the act that someone else later thought illegal.
You needn't have any intent to break the law (ignorance of the law is no defense), nor do you need to have any intent to have the outcome. You must only have intended the precipitating event.
Example: you are cleaning a gun, and you accidentally snag the cleaning cloth on the trigger and the gun discharges, killing someone, there is no mens rea, because you didn't intend to pull the trigger. If you are cleaning the gun, and you want to clean the hammer, so you cock it, then later attempt to dry fire it, but there was one in the chamber, you meet the mens rea requirement because you intended to pull the trigger. That you didn't intend to fire a bullet, or strike a person with it is irrelevant. You intended the action that lead to an illegal result.
That may not be the Latin definition, nor the original or non-US definition, but in the US currently, mens rea is tied solely to the intent to commit an action, not any intent to commit a crime, nor any act after the last conscious one. It's a low standard, and the way it's applied now, is useless, aside from being the basis for insanity pleas, though those are rare, as they last longer than the penalty for the crime, and are generally served in worse conditions, unless the rare "temporary" condition can be argued. But that happens more in TV shows than real life.
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