Harvard Political Review Writer Alex Koenig Reproaches The Sliming of Italy’s Justice System

Comments

You will see in the Comments there on the Political Review site that the conspiracy theorists have turned out in force and as things never go their way they are becoming even more rabid.

Some strong support for Alex Koenig seems called for.

One of the most confused, confusing and vicious commenters there, CD Host, posts misinformation now on his own site (Church Discipline) and on any website that will have him.

Our poster SomeAlibi addressed this message to him on PMF yesterday.

See my avatar? That’s in honour of your ludicrous claim on the Independent website that Amanda Knox was rabbit-punched in interview which put her life in danger. Amazing levels of horseshit that no-one has ever claimed in this case (not least Amanda who in her video testimony clearly mimics an open handed cuff over the head from the assailant she cannot identify from either of two alleged cuffs). Nor did you even know the basics about the length of interviews or when the statements were taken (you can see them here in the gallery with the times underlined in the original with Amanda’s signature) which you then base elaborate theories on, all of which are shown to be based on a foundation of sand.

But more than that, as to you, who referred to Meredith Kercher as “worm-food” on IMDB, once again, on behalf of myself and others: fuck off you loathsome inadequate. No wonder you were thrown out of your church. You lack the moral standing or intelligence to recognise that you have been expounding loudly on a case in which you are unversed in even the basics, just propaganda. You demean your own intelligence by spouting untruths as a lacky to those who can’t argue this case on the basis of the actual evidence but have to make things up to try to infuence public opinion. If you had a shred of decency, you would recognise you ought to have a very long look at yourself because you are a propaganda mouthpiece - a drone who is churning out the party line, based on the BS they told you, not the objective facts which you can verify yourself. What does that tell you about them or you?

Your permanent ban based on your callous comment about the victim of this murder is no doubt minutes away.

Peter,

It seems that a lot of young people nowadays know how to work computers but nothing else.

They are not knowledgeable, thoughtful, and objective, nor able to employ logic and reason. Instead their heads are receptacles for unfiltered pap and propaganda. Yes,I know that most are not like that but when you read the sort of comments that we’ve been reading it makes one despair.

Personally I have come to believe that taking them on is just playing into their hands. They are not interested and we are just pushing their buttons. They react like rabid pavlovian dogs.

Just let them show themselves up for what they are. Morons.

Hi James. Agreed on the depiction. A lot of corrections of their myriad “mistakes” by readers here have led more readers to PMF and TJMK where real facts allow them to make up their own minds.

James and Peter, I know you are discussing the commenters but Alex himself is a college student and a freshman at that! I am very impressed with his thoughtful reasoning. His writing is very clear and rational. Kudos to him for taking on such an inflammatory subject.

I suggest to read carefully “Mr.Marler”‘s posts. He seems very well informed.

I think the author of this article made some great points. As an American, I have never felt when traveling to Europe that there was the slightest anti-American sentiment in Italy and was always well treated. Of course, I feel much of how one is treated is based on how they act toward the natives.

I have always gotten this vibe that initially, the Italian authorities were shocked themselves that this seemingly innocent girl could have been capable of this crime and on some level were hoping through their investigation she was not guilty. They certainly didn’t hesitate to believe her hokey story that Patrick Lumumba was the “real” killer, at first anyway.

The only reason I wouldn’t want to be tried in Italy over the US for a crime that I knew I was guilty of would be due to the fact that the Italian prosecutors would be more meticulous not to get anything wrong when possibly sending an American to prison for a long time-(if I was deemed photogenic enough for the American press to create a controversy over my guilt of course) and for this reason, I would be very nervous.

1/19/11

The Stiffnecked Truth: leopard can’t change his spots

Alex Koenig unmasks the pro-Knox camp as the radical Me First thinkers they are. They credit the Italian justice authority with no rights or power in Italy. Uber-nationalism maybe, or a hissy fit because a friend of theirs disgraced herself and they can’t get her out. So they condemn her courts, judges, and police. Koenig’s falcon eye spotted their movements in the grass.

Koenig is castigated for his term “the sanctity” of judicial process. It’s better than mob rule. Maybe they learned their respect towards elected authority from the example of Judge Heavey, who seems to have learned his from the high school dropouts before his bench.

I had grudgingly begun to respect Heavey after he was slapped on the wrist for illegal use of official letterhead which he used to send private opinions and interfering pleas to a distant prosecutor across the sea, based on his own prejudice planted by his young daughter. After a public outcry of foul play, he appeared to take his medicine like a man, seemed humbled and sorry, backed away from the poisoned swamp of Knox, and began living out a good example of learning from correction.

Now he’s right back in front of a Rotary Club pulpit expounding the same views as a private citizen. He’s technically within his rights, of course, but it reduced my admiration of him. He would have been wiser to stay silent a little longer and wait for Italian courts to decide the case to confirm at least by quiet self-restraint that Italian courts have the right to rule in this matter, not him.

Instead, he rails in a public venue against Prosecutor Mignini to whom he had at first written his embarrassing letters which got him censured.

Curt Knox has found a nice jacket to wear for Heavey at the local Rotary Club, but not for Mignini’s courtroom in the first years. Curt is sitting in the back of the Club smug and happy. Let me stop before I say something about this I’ll regret, a lesson I thought Judge Heavey was gallantly teaching me.

AK and RS dna evidence – contaminated

RG dna evidence – meticulously collected and valid

Antonio Coratolo’s memory – flawed and confused

AK’s memory – understandably flawed and confused (you’d be confused too after all that weed and blows to the head by someone or other)

RG’s knife carrying - evidence of homicidal tendencies

RS knife carrying – a harmless childhood hobby

Mignini’s eccentricities - signs of a damaged psyche

Amanda’s eccentricities - Amanda being AMANDA!!!!!!!

RG finger pointing – scurrilous lies

AK finger pointing – understandable under the crescendo of pressure

Witnesses for the prosecution – fame hungry liars

Witnesses for the defence – loyal, caring friends

American justice system – an example to the rest of the world (just look at those girl chain gangs!)

Italian justice – grindingly slow, corrupt, anti-American, Mediaeval, xenophobic, vibrator hating, misogynist

American press – unbiased and supportive

British press – tabloid gutter journalism

Meredith Kercher – sorry, who?

Amanda Knox – tragic modern heroine who foolishly remained in Perugia to help police with their enquiries and just look where that got her.

Like a rapier. Pensky you expose so much bluster in these sharp funny 2-line comparisons.

Hopeful, I could tell from Heavey’s non-apology apology to the State Ethics Board that he would be right out there again, as a “private citizen,” defending po’ li’l Amanda’s human rights.

I’m so sorry you got fooled. Hope you remember: Fulmewunz, shame on you, Fulmetwice, shame on me.

And Hopeful, as always, thanks for your sparkling writing. I especially loved this: “Koenig’s falcon eye spotted their movements in the grass.”

Thank you, Alex Koenig, for stating so well what so many of us have been thinking for the past few years. American exceptionalism has a long, proud, and sordid history. LOL

1/21/11

Judge Heavey is sliming Italy’s justice system. I wonder if he has violated his agreement with the Commission of Judicial Conduct that admonished him. (see Steve Shay’s link to the Judge Heavey story in West Seattle Herald)

“The Commission alleged that Respondent (Heavey) had violated the Code of Judicial Conduct by writing three letters on his judicial stationery to officials in Italy, including members of the Italian judicial system, on behalf of Amanda Knox…; and speaking publicly on several occasions about that same pending criminal case in an attempt to influence the proceeding.”

Judge Heavey said his compulsion to right what he perceived as a wrong overcame his better judgment. He signed the admonition on July 29, 2010 in which he agreed with the findings of the Commission that “By lending his prestige of office on behalf of a person’s private interest (Amanda Knox), Respondent has negatively affected the integrity of and respect for the judiciary.”

Is his podium at the Rotary Club in recent days not considered speaking out in a public manner? Wouldn’t he have been right to avoid the appearance of impropriety? At first I thought he was within his rights to speak out as a private citizen, but having re-read the Admonition Order filed September 24, 2010 by the Commission of Judicial Conduct, State of Washington, I wonder if he hasn’t shown contempt for the leniency of that body?

Earthling pointed out that his non-apology apology was shades of things to come. So right. I think he’s on a suicidal mission and has found the right cause for his purpose. I will sadly but angrily leave him to it.

Where next:

Or to next entry In The US Political Commutations Of Judicial Sentences Are Rarely Greeted With Public Approval

Or to previous entry From Shortly Before Last December’s Verdict: Our Poster Hopeful’s Moving Tribute To Italian Justice