Riddle's gone over the edge

[lilpup]

He's starting to hiss and spit like a cornered feral cat.

Riddle disses feds, Stinger, judge

[Retroit]

Oh brother, he's playing the "race card" too. Riddle, you're a joke.

...or a riddle.

[LodgeDodger]

He had nothing to lose.

[eno]

Does anyone see visions of Bobby Seale dancing in Sam Riddle's head? He's trying to portray himself as some sort of martyr when, in reality, he's a shakedown artist for local politicos. Let's see if he dares to exercise his free speech on the witness stand.

[Zacha341]

LOL! That's an image! A hissing cat with a laptop... which he will indeed miss if he goes to jail or do they allow internet? Hah!

He's starting to hiss and spit like a cornered feral cat.

Riddle disses feds, Stinger, judge

[Brittz]

Sam is absolutely correct. Since when did he give up his legal rights??? What is next for the OLD need to be at home sucking his dinner through a straw judge going to attempt to do to Sam? Tell him to stop breathing!!!!
As long as Sam is not posting about his legal issues he should be free to post about whatever he so desires just like the rest of us.

[Stosh]

Sam is absolutely correct. Since when did he give up his legal rights??? What is next for the OLD need to be at home sucking his dinner through a straw judge going to attempt to do to Sam? Tell him to stop breathing!!!!
As long as Sam is not posting about his legal issues he should be free to post about whatever he so desires just like the rest of us.

Ah, but he is. Therein lies the problem.

[eno]

Sam is absolutely correct. Since when did he give up his legal rights??? What is next for the OLD need to be at home sucking his dinner through a straw judge going to attempt to do to Sam? Tell him to stop breathing!!!!
As long as Sam is not posting about his legal issues he should be free to post about whatever he so desires just like the rest of us.

Then you're in agreement with Judge Cohn. He doesn't want Sam Riddle to taint the jury pool by talking about the facts of the case. When Sam talks about himself being an independent contractor for his clients, he is talking about his case in the press and violating the terms of the judge's gag order. As stated by a previous post, Riddle is projecting himself as a martyr for free speech as a distraction to the facts of the case, in the hopes that, he may get a nullification judgment by a sympathetic jury.

[Ravine]

I completely agree with those of you who state that Riddle is attempting to portray himself as something much more than he is. In my view, he's a two-bit hustler who sounds pretty good and looks pretty good but is pretty much no good. If he was a homely slob with below-average speaking skills, the Sam Riddle Show never would have had so much as a pilot episode.

But, Sam seems to be working overtime in an effort to relieve the citizenry of any illusions which may have prevented folks from realizing what a bullshitting jackass he really is.

A portion of a song lyric came to my mind while I was thinking of Sam:


"When the end comes I know
they'll say just a gigolo
as life goes on
without me"

[Brittz]

Hey guys, I don't want Sam posting about his legal issues. I have not read any legal ramblings posted by him lately. I just did not like the judge telling to stay off the web sites. Caution really should be exercised to it's fullest by Sam.

[gnome]

Taint the jury pool? You ever see a jury? Retirees coupled with a few folks who are either unemployed or work for the government. What you will rarely see are Twittering Facebookers with a penchant for dreaming in binary code.

Sam is doing the modern-day version of a man in a sandwich board sign. His reach is limited to those that might see his "sign" or read his posts. The broader populace [[read jury pool) is oblivious to anything he writes.

However, by causing a stink, Judge Cohn, has given Sam a platform he didn't have before. Before he was an unemploible political consultant. Now he is a cause celeb who has wrapped himself in the flag of freedom. Cohn ain't winning that battle. It will bring down the ACLU with side motions and special pleadings, it will delay the trial, divert the rule of law and give Sam a reason for Appeal.

Perfect. Just what a guy with no money needs.

Sam has a long long loooong history in making something out of nothing. With weaving gold from straw. His 1984 hijinks at the democratic caucus is all the proof you need to see that Sam is a champion at sleight of hand. And why not? Why shouldn't he use every tool availble to him to defend himself against the full weight and power of the U.S. Government?

Everyone is entitled to that right. To defend themselves. Even charletons, swindlers and crooks...just like terrorists, mafiosos and junkies. The Constitution of the United State gives him that right and I am not one to think that the Constitution should be set aside just because an aging judical bully says so.

Subverting the jury Pool? Really? I don't think so.

[artds]

He had nothing to lose.

I disagree. Pissing off the federal judge who is going to be handing out your sentence later on in the year in the event that the jury comes back with a guilty verdict is never a good idea.

[gnome]

Goading Cohn into irrational actions [[something Cohn is known for) is the best way to get a new trial.

[bartock]

This is right on! Riddle doesn't care about tainting jury pools, human rights, race, or whatever garbage he's spewing. This is the hustle - self preservation; I believe the gag order played right into his strategy.

Taint the jury pool? You ever see a jury? Retirees coupled with a few folks who are either unemployed or work for the government. What you will rarely see are Twittering Facebookers with a penchant for dreaming in binary code.

Sam is doing the modern-day version of a man in a sandwich board sign. His reach is limited to those that might see his "sign" or read his posts. The broader populace [[read jury pool) is oblivious to anything he writes.

However, by causing a stink, Judge Cohn, has given Sam a platform he didn't have before. Before he was an unemploible political consultant. Now he is a cause celeb who has wrapped himself in the flag of freedom. Cohn ain't winning that battle. It will bring down the ACLU with side motions and special pleadings, it will delay the trial, divert the rule of law and give Sam a reason for Appeal.

Perfect. Just what a guy with no money needs.

Sam has a long long loooong history in making something out of nothing. With weaving gold from straw. His 1984 hijinks at the democratic caucus is all the proof you need to see that Sam is a champion at sleight of hand. And why not? Why shouldn't he use every tool availble to him to defend himself against the full weight and power of the U.S. Government?

Everyone is entitled to that right. To defend themselves. Even charletons, swindlers and crooks...just like terrorists, mafiosos and junkies. The Constitution of the United State gives him that right and I am not one to think that the Constitution should be set aside just because an aging judical bully says so.

Subverting the jury Pool? Really? I don't think so.

[kraig]

Gnome and Bartok, when you're right, you're right. Sam Riddle has everyone talking about everything. And no one is talking about the bribes that he took.

[Kevgoblue]

Sam Riddle has everyone talking about everything. And no one is talking about the bribes that he took.

You mean no one is talking about the bribes that he arranged [[with a little extra skinned off the top for himself).

While Sam is quite the blowhard, I totally agree that the focus should be much more on the indivuals offering and accepting those bribes.

[Ravine]

I am trying to convince myself that Gnome is being overly-cynical, and I'm wanting to say, "No, no, it ain't like alla that, now," but my attempt at self-persuasion is failing.

[pffft]

The outtakes in the City Hall Insider are even better:

"Fanchon Stinger was on Rayford like a diamond on somebody's finger, like a bracelet on somebody's wrist. I mean, she was a stone freak and she was with him because she was liking the freak assignment."

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/d...ider/index.php

[gnome]

Ravine-

I may think Sam is a crook, I may think he's just the kind of guy who works the edges of life, I may think he's a voice of clarity in the murky waters of D-town politics, I may think a lot of things; but what I know is that Sam is an indigent defendant with a court appointed lawyer and coming down on him is the entire Federal Government.

Like a rabbit in a raptor's talons, Sam is almost powerless to defend himself, and if he thinks that laying on his couch and tweeting is helping his defense, then so f-ing what. He has been tweeting and facebooking for months but no one paid attention until Judge Cohn decided to put the cabash on Sam's musings.

Sam has now been able to jujitsu Cohn's intended goal and turn it to a Freedom of Speech issue. Cohn's stated objection to Sam's tweets was that they were aimed at tainting the jury. In my previous post I said that those folks who are part of the jury pool are well beyond the Twitter demographic. Maybe I'm wrong about that, maybe the general populace is into tweets, but I like to see those numbers.

My feeling is that Sam's internet musings are harmless to the Federal Government's case against him. But when a judicial bully decides to make those musings an issue, when he gets his back up and tries to stop a defendant from defending himself, it becomes more. More about Freedom of Speech, more about rushing justice, more about a lot of stuff that will give Sam grounds for Appeal.

Now, maybe I read Cohn all wrong. Maybe Cohn is really a Sam lackey and he's trying to give him an easy path to Appeal, but then again, maybe not.

And as far as being a cynic, ... guilty as charged.

[lilpup]

Sam is himself an attorney. If he's using a public defender it's probably because he knows more cases with public defenders result in grounds for appeal. His running commentary about the case and the court's regulation of it ARE NOT First Amendment issues. Riddle is not doing himself any favors with this behavior. He's even more stinky and dangerous than everyone else who's been taken down recently because he's more duplicitious and a better actor when covering his tracks. He can't disassociate himself from MonCon, no matter how hard he tries, and who knows how many others [[others smarter than MonCon who know to behave, keep quiet, and protect the game) he's assisted along the way. No wonder the Feds tried leaning on him - he can probably take down many, many more people if he wanted to.

As far as jury pools go [[having been called twice myself) - no, they aren't all retirees, unemployed, and technophobes.

[daddeeo]

Remember the song with the words "turn out the lights, the party's over?"
I'm thinking Sam is seeing a fat lady getting ready to sing.

[eno]

I'm thinking the Fat Lady singing will be our own Monica Conyers. I believe the Feds have flipped her. Let's see if Sam takes the stand to testify in his own behalf and practice his cherished right to free speech when it really matters. He's selling wolf tickets now.

[gnome]

Lilpup-
Everything you wrote is true. Sam is a lawyer and he may be building a case for appeal, but all that changed this afternoon when a little domestic dust-up ended with the police carting his boney ass off to the pokey.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009122...lleged-assault

Embattled political consultant Sam Riddle was arrested by Detroit Police today on a complaint of a domestic-related assault, a police spokesman has confirmed.

“Based on the preliminary information we took Mr. Riddle into custody,” said police spokesman John Roach, who did not know an exact time.

Riddle is facing unrelated federal charges in connection with the Synagro scandal and a Southfield bribery case. His attorney John Minock said that he had not yet heard any details regarding the arrest.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn ordered Riddle to stop posting comments about his criminal cases on social networking Web sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Riddle fired back outside the federal courthouse, challenging the judge's right to infringe on his free speech and saying that "maybe we need to revisit lifetime appointments" for federal judges.

Cohn said he would not delay the Jan. 5 jury selection date for Riddle's trial in connection with charges that he hand-delivered a bribe to former Detroit Councilwoman Monica Conyers for her vote on a billion-dollar Synagro Technologies sludge contract with the city. But he said he would consider pushing back the actual trial for a week after a jury is seated.

Riddle also faces a separate trial along with former State Rep. Mary Waters that they spread bribes to some Southfield officials to help a pawnshop win city approval to relocate there.

Roach would not immediately comment on whether the assault allegation was related to Waters.

Come back to freep.com for updates.

Staff writer M.L. Elrick contributed to this report.

One may assume any tight-lips on the part of his housemate, Mary Waters, have been loosened.

[sg9018]

Sam Riddle was JUST arrested in alleged domestic assault.
The Detroit Free Press has a update,

Embattled political consultant Sam Riddle was arrested by Detroit Police today on a complaint of a domestic-related assault, a police spokesman has confirmed.
“Based on the preliminary information we took Mr. Riddle into custody,” said police spokesman John Roach, who did not know an exact time.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009122...mestic-assault

[lilpup]

The smooth-talker shatters under pressure. Gotta give it to him, he played Gaddis like a piano.