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Insomniac
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Re: Black news

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What a smeghead!
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Re: Black news

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I used to think Black was a pompous ass, but after viewing the video of his interview with Jeremy Paxman, I now think Black exhibits many of the characteristics of a psychopath. He seems to be devoid of feelings of guilt, remorse, or shame. He feels he is always right. You can see Black seething with anger when the interviewer dares to challenge his statements.
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Re: Black news

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The Great Bloviator's contemptuous bluster blackfires: Securities violations cost Conrad Black $6.1-million
Conrad Black’s scathing critique of the American justice system in his book A Matter of Principle has come back to haunt him in a Chicago court.

A U.S. federal judge has cited comments Lord Black made in the book in ordering the former media tycoon to pay $6.1-million in penalties for violating U.S. securities laws during his time at Chicago-based Hollinger International Inc.

“Black has advanced no reason to believe that he now has any respect for the securities laws or any regret for the losses or costs his violations have caused,” wrote Judge William T. Hart of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. “He is intransigent in his denunciation of the courts and the justice system. See Conrad Black, A Matter of Principle.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission also seized on Lord Black’s book, arguing in court filings that the comments were so outrageous he should be ordered to pay an additional $4.1-million in penalties, on top of the $6.1-million. “Impenitence of this magnitude is deserving of significant penalties,” the SEC argued, referring to the text that was published last year.
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Re: Black news

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And his day gets worse: Order of Canada panel does not have to give Conrad Black a hearing, court rules
The former media baron Conrad Black does not have the right to have an oral hearing before the panel that will decide whether he gets to remain a member of the Order of Canada, the Federal Court has ruled... “I fail to see how Mr. Black could use an oral hearing to establish that he did nothing wrong, legally or morally, without by necessity attempting to relitigate the decisions of the U.S. courts,” Mr. Justice Yves de Montigny said in his decision.
No doubt the OoC panelists are breathing sighs of relief now that they've dodged those bullshit bullets.
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Mike Schimek
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Re: Black news

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First time I see Black in an interview. I like the guy lol, he's a hard nosed businessman. Tough as nails and stands up for himself. The interviewer looks like peanut brain. It would be so cool to see Black take a swing at him and knock some teeth out of his mouth -) The interviewer sure went out of his way to piss him off.
“Black has advanced no reason to believe that he now has any respect for the securities laws or any regret for the losses or costs his violations have caused,”
Is that a crime
The Securities and Exchange Commission also seized on Lord Black’s book, arguing in court filings that the comments were so outrageous he should be ordered to pay an additional $4.1-million in penalties, on top of the $6.1-million. “Impenitence of this magnitude is deserving of significant penalties,” the SEC argued, referring to the text that was published last year.
I wonder what law he broke by expressing his opinion
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Re: Black news

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Arrogance wins no friends, and tips the odds against one, even in a court of law. IOW, shit in your own nest at your own peril.

When public sentiment has gone severely against you, know when to fold the tent and move on. Even Al Gore knew that one December day in the year 2000.
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kcowan
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Re: Black news

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I think he may have been mislead by the treatment he received by the MacLeans/NP sycophants. They do not represent the real world. He is at the bottom of the hole and digging furiously! Plus putting it all in print.
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Re: Black news

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So Lord Grouchy O.C. pro tem would rather pull a Groucho :shock: :roll:

Conrad Black will resign Order of Canada rather than have it terminated
I would not wait for giving these junior officials the evidently almost aphrodisiacal pleasure of throwing me out. I would withdraw. In fact, I wouldn’t be interested in serving.
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Re: Black news

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Bylo Selhi wrote:
I would not wait for giving these junior officials the evidently almost aphrodisiacal pleasure of throwing me out.
You have to admire the fellow's sincerity -- there's little point in narcissism if you don't get right down and roll around in it. :roll:
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Re: Black news

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How can you tell if someone is a psychopath? Not all are predators
Predatory violence is only one of a dozen character traits that inform the authentic psychopath. Among the others are ruthlessness, charm, focus, intelligence, grace under pressure, narcissism, appetite for risk, the need to control, emotional detachment and/or lack of conscience. Only in extreme cases is sadistic cruelty added to the list... The common denominator is high achievement. Their methods may not always pass the smell test. They may leave victims callously strewn in their wake...

Psychopathic traits
• Superficial charm
• Grandiosity
• Manipulation
• Con artistry
• Impulsivity
• Fabrication of stories
• Thrill-seeking
• Emotional coldness
Hmmm...
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Re: Black news

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Conrad Black loses bid to have remaining convictions dismissed - The Globe and Mail
Conrad Black has lost a bid to have his remaining convictions dismissed on the basis that prosecutors “intentionally deprived” the former media baron from hiring the defence lawyers he wanted.

The filing, made last year in a U.S. district court in Chicago, centred around claims that law enforcement’s seizure of $9-million (all figures U.S.) of proceeds from the sale of his New York apartment left Black without enough money to retain lawyers Brendan Sullivan and Gregory Craig, who both worked at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington.
Boo hoo hoo.
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Re: Black news

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It's kind of a strange defence for Black, he's not saying that his legal points were correct, but that he had the wrong lawyers. So he's admitting that his conviction was correct, but he needed better lawyers to get him off. Maybe he's also saying that his Canadian lawyer wasn't that great. Apparently his lawyer Eddie Greenspan came out screaming and yelling about a great injustice done to Black that put the jury off. Since Greenspan is one of Canada's top lawyers, footing the bill for 6-8 weeks in Chicago, in a high-profile case like that would probably be in the millions as well. It would have been a whole lot cheaper and smarter if he'd asked the American lawyers their opinion before he got in trouble.
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Re: Black news

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It's kind of a strange defence for Black, he's not saying that his legal points were correct, but that he had the wrong lawyers.
I think he's saying that they took his money and limited his financial resources to defend himself.
So he's admitting that his conviction was correct, but he needed better lawyers to get him off.
Sounds like you're doing a lot of gymnastics. Black never admitted guilt and has often stated his vehement disagreement with the conviction. Maybe you could dig up where he says his legal points are incorrect. Or does he have to make an official statement saying "I feel my legal points are correct", without which his legal points are automatically considered incorrect?

I'll venture to say you're doing pretty high flying mental gymnastics to turn something into something it isn't to be able to view it the way you want to view it.
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Re: Black news

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My question is: "Why did he not have the financial leverage to properly defend himself?" Sure they took away USD 9 million, but surely he had other resources he could lean on. I agree with the note above that he relied on Greenspan when he needed some local skill. An egregious error in judgement.
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Re: Black news

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kcowan wrote:I agree with the note above that he relied on Greenspan when he needed some local skill.
He was represented by an experienced and prominent Chicago criminal defence lawyer: Edward Genson.

In 2011 Greenspan wrote in the Globe:
Years later, Conrad got into the difficulties that ultimately resulted in his criminal trial in Chicago. Early on, he retained me as an adviser. I helped him find a U.S. criminal lawyer, the celebrated Brendan Sullivan, whom he hired. It was understood that if he was charged, Mr. Sullivan would be his lawyer. As that day approached, Mr. Sullivan told Conrad he needed $25-million in addition to the many millions he had already received. That was the first time in my life I ever regretted not being an American lawyer.

When Mr. Sullivan made his request, Conrad came to me and said, “I want you to be my lawyer in Chicago.” I'm Canadian; my practice is here. But Conrad pushed strenuously for me to take the matter on.

I took the case on the condition that I hire a very experienced American criminal lawyer to join the team, as I was not an expert in U.S. law, practice or procedure. In fact, there was a formal hearing in court where it was impressed upon Conrad that I would rely on my American counterpart for the law. That's how I got involved in the case.

<snip>
I hired quintessential Chicago criminal lawyers Eddie Genson and Marc Martin. They have been involved in some of the most important criminal cases in the federal courthouse in Chicago for 25 years. Recently, the former governor of Illinois hired Mr. Genson. He is a serious and formidable lawyer. Mr. Martin is rightfully regarded as one of the finest legal minds in criminal law.
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Re: Black news

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Thanks Bruce. That makes his appeal pure BS. Like most things.
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Re: Black news

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The shareholders got hosed by his and her extravagances that knew no bounds. But even in a kleptocracy CRA wants its share of the take. Conrad Black in multi-million dollar tax fight with CRA
It’s a complicated dispute that involves his residency status for tax purposes — he had homes in Canada and the United Kingdom — and whether the international tax treaty between those countries or the Income Tax Act should rule for his income...

Those items asserted by the CRA to be taxable include:
• $1.3 million for his allegedly personal use of a Hollinger Gulfstream IV jet for himself, his wife Barbara Amiel-Black and associates. It is alleged that almost half of the plane’s use was personal.
...

If the CRA succeeds, Black would owe roughly $3 million. But the daily-compounded interest on that total for a decade would probably double that figure to $6 million.
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Re: Black news

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I'd like to know how the CRA knows what flights are personal or not. Plenty of business people have cars provided by their company, I wonder if the CRA has information on whether they're trips are personal or not. Probably a large percentage aren't. It would be pretty hard to prove whether a trip was personal or not, since it would be mostly the CRA's opinion. When a person owns companies in England and North America, owns a jet, then he uses it to visit both countries, the CRA should stop wasting taxpayers money.
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Re: Black news

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dusty2 wrote:I'd like to know...
Bev Oda is that you? :shock: :lol:
how the CRA knows what flights are personal or not.
Maybe they read the transcripts of Conrad's various court appearances, including Babs' testimony about the vacation to Tahiti and the trip to the opera in Seattle, etc. all on the shareholders' dimes.
Plenty of business people have cars provided by their company, I wonder if the CRA has information on whether they're trips are personal or not...
Nothing wrong with that providing the taxpayer keeps records of what's business use and what's personal use. Business use is legitimate and deductible to the company. Personal use is also generally legitimate from a tax point of view providing the taxpayer declares it as a taxable benefit. After all if he paid for the trip on his own he'd have to do it with after-tax dollars.

That's the law for you and me.

It's also the law for Conrad as, hopefully, he'll soon find out.
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Re: Black news

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Slightly off topic.

Can Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce recover from their life-changing crime?

Other high-profile figures have been jailed. Some sought redemption, others faced down the world. There is a third way
Former Conservative deputy chairman Jeffrey Archer, jailed for four years for perjury in 2001 over money paid to a prostitute, did not respond to his period of incarceration by finding God, supporting Ukip or remarrying. As far as one can see, he just carried on being Jeffrey Archer. He wrote a play, which ran almost in parallel with his trial, produced three volumes of prison diaries, retained his peerage and has continued bringing out a book a year. Prison was just another chapter in his outrageous story. He is nothing if not indomitable, and it constitutes a triumph of sorts. One of his books after leaving prison was The Gospel According to Judas, which may be telling.

The Conrad Black approach – continuing to protest your innocence after being convicted of fraud, raging against his formerly beloved US for imprisoning him and condemning its penal system – is not open to Huhne, who eventually pleaded guilty, but may appeal to Pryce, who went through two trials to try to prove her innocence. Black out-Archers Archer in refusing to be cowed or changed by prison (and incidentally also got to keep his peerage). In his telling, he is a hero in a fallen world. Everyone is in the wrong except Lord Black.

Start again or be even more like your old selves seems to be the choice facing Huhne and Pryce.
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Re: Black news

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I watched the Conrad Black interview with Rob Ford here.

Nothing new that hasn't been said before.

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Re: Black news

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No, nothing new, but it appears that now that his Lordship has been knocked off his pedestal, he is more than willing to go downmarket. That he would countenance some of the more egregious ejaculations from a meretricious churl, rather than performing a precipitate defenestration, bespeaks a demotic equanimity that had hitherto never subtended his supercilious tergiversations and pharasiacal philippics.
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Re: Black news

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And since he isn't Canadian, he can't vote for Rob in next fall's election.
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Re: Black news

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I hear that Conrad's next guest will be Chris Mazza and the show will be titled "ORNGE is the new Black."
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Re: Black news

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That he would countenance some of the more egregious ejaculations from a meretricious churl, rather than performing a precipitate defenestration, bespeaks a demotic equanimity that had hitherto never subtended his supercilious tergiversations and pharasiacal philippics
It is nice to see that you can speak his language! Does going down market make him a less pompous ass?
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