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You may recall Adam Kokesh as the Marine-turned-anti-war-activist who YouTubed himself [illegally] loading a shotgun in D.C. “I didn’t kill anybody,” he told a reporter. “I didn’t drone any children. I didn’t steal any children’s future. I didn’t sell this country into debt. I didn’t do any of the crimes that the man two blocks over at the White House is responsible for.” Mr. Kokesh was SWAtted, arrested and jailed for his trouble. And the magic mushrooms found in his domicile. In an email blast [full text after the jump] we learn that Judge Loraine Nordlund slapped the Jew-turned-atheist-anarchist with a three-month suspended sentence, no probation. Although Adam claims to “matured in ways I didn’t think were possible” anyone who thinks he’ll ape 60’s activists and start selling insurance is likely to be sadly (happily?) disappointed. Watch this space . . .

Dear ROBERT,

I’m not going back to jail!

On Friday I had my final sentencing hearing in VA stemming from the video I made last Independence Day and the raid on my home. Since then, my life has taken many interesting twists and turns and it’s been an incredible honor have had so many of you by my side during the challenging times.

Judge Loraine Nordlund heard the case at the plea hearing almost three months ago as well as for this most recent sentencing hearing. She seemed to have completely reversed her attitude since then. As I told The Washington Post reporter who was there covering the hearing, Justiin Jouvenal, when I was in jail, I told every guard I came into contact with, “You’re a free, beautiful, independent human being, and you should never let anyone tell you otherwise.” Of all the virtues of civil disobedience, having a chance to bring the message to those who would never hear it otherwise, is the most satisfying.

I got the feeling from Judge Nordlund that she had spent a good part of her time since the last hearing considering the case, my activism, the political implications of what the Park Police did, if not actually watching a good chunk of our YouTube videos! At times I felt I was talking to a fan! In the end, she sentenced me to three months completely suspended and no probation, which was a pleasant surprise. The last word we got from the prosecutor was that he was going to be seeking a year of actual jail time, but even he seemed to have dramatically backed down Friday. My attorney, Graziella Bianchi did an incredible job and I would recommend her if you ever have criminal issues in Virginia.

I’ve learned a lot from the last year and a half and even matured in ways I didn’t think were possible, most importantly, in my attitude towards activism. I hope you know that we have released the book I began writing in jail, FREEDOM!, which you can get for free in every digital format including audiobook and order in print at our new website: thefreedomline.com. I wrote it to be the ultimate way to share the message in a way that will grow the movement. If we want to achieve a free society, we must be ruthless in our efficiency at changing the way people fundamentally think. I’ve made some adjustments based on this principle, and have a major announcement coming on the 15th I think you’ll like.

Liberated,

Adam

PS Please support our sponsor, Amagi Metals, who has stood by us recently and makes The FREEDOM! Line possible by going to them for all your precious metals needs. Every time I mention them, I hear rave reviews from fans. amagimetals.com

PPS As you might have noticed, we’re having party to celebrate and we’re giving away free books! Details here.

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59 COMMENTS

  1. Can we get an update on the legal status and current whereabouts of Leonard Embody. He is that Nashville guy that got arrested in July 2013 for walking around Downtown Nashville with a silenced AR in a homemade Kydex case.

  2. “I didn’t kill anybody,” he told a reporter. “I didn’t drone any children. I didn’t steal any children’s future. I didn’t sell this country into debt. I didn’t do any of the crimes that the man two blocks over at the White House is responsible for.”

    Sometimes it’s the wonkiest amongst us who have the most extreme moments of clarity.

    • The truth is a bitch and boils down to what’s your castle, how you make your coin, and where you park your conscience.

    • It’s one of those comments which is semi-satisfying at first blush, but is just babble if you think about it for more than a second or two. By his logic, there’s not a single criminal in the US who has committed as heinous crimes as Obama (or Bush, or Clinton, or Bush, or Reagan, or ….). That logic only applies to a junior criminal complaining that his boss the senior criminal got off. It would only apply to Kokesh if he had done his act at the behest of Obama.

  3. He might be half a bubble off level, but (just my opinion) it’s on the “good” side and not the evil dark side. I hope the guy does well and stays out of trouble.

  4. And, of course, if you simply read the 2A … Suddenly any outcome other than “case dismissed” seems rather harsh.

  5. Good for him. He made a political statement that injured nobody, inconvenienced nobody and frightened nobody at the time. He did not deserve jail time.

  6. What about that D.C. guy they want to give the death penalty to (exaggerated for effect) for having a ftf shotgun shell?

  10. Well, next time he decides to try a “civil disobedience” stunt in an area where the powers that be would love nothing more than to have your head on a pike, maybe he’ll be smart enough to have his place wired so the audio and video of the SWATting over-reaction can be leaked to friendly media to embarrass the heavy handed police and not have any drugs in the place either. His heart may be mostly in the right place, but he’s a dope, attention hound, or both, when it comes to his activism

    • “Swating” means something particular that you (and this article) seem to mistake for anytime the police show up.

        • He very much is an anarchist – a libertarian anarchist. He describes himself as a voluntaryist, which if you’re familiar with the term, is someone who believes that all initiation of force is immoral (defensive force is acceptable). The state uses force on people to collect funds (see what happens when you politely decline to pay your taxes), therefore the state violates the non-aggression principle and is illegitimate.

          If you could have a government that funded itself through voluntarily payment instead of compulsory taxation (ie: toll roads, court fees, etc.) that might be acceptable to a voluntaryist but no government in existence meets that criterion. So voluntaryists are anarchists.

        • Lycurgus told those who proposed democracy, “Begin with your own family.” Kokesh apparently didn’t get the joke. From his e-book, page 72: “When parents say, ‘because I say so,’ they are conditioning their children to submit to authority and missing the most powerful opportunity to teach by example.”

          If you don’t believe in Authority, then you are a Leftist. This judge recognized Kokesh as a fellow-traveler in the Leftist quest to destroy civilization and let him off easy. What do you think he would have gotten if he had loaded a shotgun in DC and threatened to do something right-wing, like, say, restore the Confederacy, or reassert the Stuart line’s monarchy over the American colonies?

          • Leftists don’t believe in authority? In what alternate universe?

            Hey Mao, Stalin, hear that? You don’t believe in authority!

        • The Left, always and everywhere, is opposed to property, family and tradition. Or, in other words, Authority. This binds all Leftist movements everywhere, and is why all Leftists are kindred spirits in ways that those on the right are not. (There are many rights, but only one Left, because there are many possible orders, but any chaos will suffice for the Left.)

          Leftists, including Mao and Stalin always claim to rule in the name of “the people,” never authority. There’s a reason the Soviets always addressed their generals as “Comrade General.”

          Politics makes a lot more sense when you understand this. For instance, Nixon governed to the left of Kennedy, but Kennedy is revered by the Left and Nixon reviled. Why?

          • if you think Stalin and Mao did not exert totalitarian authority, you are smoking crack, leftists everywhere want to control the people, ” for their own good”.

            The idea that leftists oppose authority is ludicrous. unions are an authority. communist parties are an authority. reeducation camps are an authority.

            your view of the left is seriously incoherent. watch what they do, not what they sometimes say.

        • @Aaron: Where did Stalin and Mao say their power came from? God? Property rights? Tradition? Patrimony?

          Authority says, “I have power because I have power.” (Note the similarity to property rights claims. And parental authority claims.) Leftism says, “I have power because the People gave me power.” Now, of course, that’s hogwash, but it’s very convenient hogwash. It’s also deadly dangerous hogwash, which makes me very suspicious of those who seek to undermine Authority.

          And I’ll pass on crack tonight. Thanks, though.

          • so you admit that leftists such as Stalin and Mao had power, and therefore authority. Thanks.

            Leftists are NOT anti-authority – they just want to be the authority.

        • Yes, there is no question Stalin and Mao wielded power. But where did they say their power came from? Compare and contrast:
          “The State of monarchy is the supreme thing on Earth…….. As to dispute what God may do is blasphemy, so is it treason in subjects to dispute what a king may do…..” – James I of England/James VI of Scotland
          “Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” – Mao Tse-Tung

        • @John in Ohio: What would you do if someone failed to control himself such that he was led by his impulses to break into your home in the middle of the night, intending harm to you and your family? For me, I’d control him, probably with my Glock 20. And I’d have my wife call the cops so the cops could come control him. And I’d hope that our judges would control him such that they hand him over to the friendly corrections officers in my state to control him for a good long time. What’s your suggestion?

          Do you think that a society composed of a large number of people with poor impulse control might need different controls and standards than a society composed of people with good impulse control? Like, for instance, more cops on the beat?

  12. It’s funny, as much as popular sentiment in here today is running in this guy’s favor and regards any prosecution as a travesty, the mood in here was decidely different when it came to David Gregory last year. People in here then wanted blood, despite both men clearly having violated the law, on video, no less!

    Granted, the Gregory case was one of delicious irony and being hoisted on one’s own petard. Still. Are we in favor of firearms freedom, or only when it’s convenient, and never when it involves gun grabbing liberal journalists? Selective application of a principle is phony adherence to it.

    Hmmm….I wonder whether this about face is just the TTAG comments consensus, or if it’s a flip flop involving specific individuals? To the archives!

    • Yes, the mood on TTAG was against David Gregory because it was a clear case of hypocrisy and selective prosecution.

      If they’re going to prosecute a financial planner for having a shotgun shell, they should have gone after a journalist for having a 30-round magazine.

      Maybe they didn’t want the NRA coming to the defense of a journalist. Strange bedfellows and all that.

      MILLER: D.C. man on trial for one shotgun shell – wasn’t given David Gregory deal
      (Mark Witaschek is first known prosecution for inoperable, unregistered ammunition)
      http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/20/dc-businessman-trial-one-shotgun-shell-wasnt-given/

  13. The Mushrooms alone are a Federal felony, AND would be compounded into a heavier sentence in combination with possession of a weapon. For as bad as the Feds had it in for this guy, and considering how easy he got off…..I would wager that he probably cut some kind of deal with the feds.

    If I was any kind of political activist, Oath Keeper, or member of any kind of pro-Liberty group or club…..I certainly wouldn’t want this guy showing up to participate in your group. Not unless you like being set up.

  14. I am disappointed. Nothing would make me happier than to see this dirtbag in jail. Some will probably call me an enemy of liberty for having such a negative reaction to the guy but I simply don’t trust him and never will. To me, nothing he does will ever exonerate him from the low-life shit he pulled standing on the same side of the street as Code Pink and World Cant Wait yelling and screaming at our troops calling them babykillers, Bush’s henchmen, etc etc.

    Even if he is trying to be Pro-2nd Amendment I would never stand next to him in a demonstration. He is like the one asshole who goes to a tea party rally and starts making overtly racist comments right in front of the news camera and gives everyone there a bad rap.

    To the rest of the TTAG readers, I apologize for my vitriol, none of it is directed at you. Adam Kokesh, I sincerely hope you get hit by a bus.

    -Danny

    • Danny, you forget, he IS one of the troops. He served his country in combat, and if there is anyone that had a right to protest, it is him. The 1st Amendment is just as important as the 2nd.

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