Tax Boy: According to Miller, only nouns have legal authority.

"Detain him"
"Demolish that structure"
"Confiscate those papers"
"Hold you in contempt"

Hmm, looks like lots of verbs with authority to me.

My two favorite claims that sovereign citizens make are where they say they can take over a courtroom when the judge leaves by storming the bench and yelling "The captain has abandoned ship!" and therefore have full authority, and that they say that when handed a receipt if you write the correct magic words (cant recall what they are right now) on it at a 45 degree angle then it's automagically paid off by your secret government account that if you didn't use the government would get to use as collateral for a loan or something.

These guys are nuts.

JohnnyC: 6. That rocks and magnets under his pillow will protect him from EMF.

Unbelievable.

In 2006, Hemet, California physician Jerome Mueller was jailed for tax evasion: "Part of a loose-knit group calling themselves 'freemen' and 'patriots,' Mueller is an adherent of 'truth language.' Developed by self-professed genius David Wynn Miller, of Milwaukee, truth language is based on mathematics and purports to be the only correct way of interpreting English. A major tenet, according to interviews with Miller published on the Internet, is that maritime law is the only worldwide governing authority because the Earth is a vessel in a sea of space. The U.S. government, however, contends in everyday English that Mueller owes income taxes back to 1993." 

turbocucumber: :David-Wynn: Miller is still one of the funniest of the lot.

QUANTUM-LANGUAGE-PARSE-SYNTAX-GRAMMAR FTW

Oh god this guy.

Many years ago, I represented the United States in a tax case brought by one of his "students" and the complaint was written in that crazy-ass style all in caps with colons everywhere and numbers hand-written over each word that (I guess) meant something "important" to these people.

So I filed a motion to dismiss. It began with "Plaintiff has got to be joking."

nobody yet?

Magorn: This is what I never understood about these "sovereign citizen" nutballs (and their African-American counterparts the "Moorish Constitution" wierdos) First how can they possibly believe that the law works like this? That if they simply say some magic words they can not be bound by the rules all the other suckers in the world are following?

They buy books and/or read web sites telling them they can do exactly this, and it sounds plausible, so they try it out. They succeed what the article calls "paper terrorism" by tying up the legal system with useless claims, thinking they can outlast the government's lawyers. This is because they don't know anything about lawyers.

silly season: JohnnyC: I know a guy who is all into that nonsense. He believes a lot of stupid things though... examples:

1. Planes leave "Chem-Trails" in some vast conspiracy for no apparent reason.
2. Hollywood actresses are all sex slaves.
3. That he can pay any bill by writing "Accepted for value" on it.
4. UFO's are not only visiting us, but doing so on a regular basis.
5. Cancer is cured by eating specific diets.
6. That rocks and magnets under his pillow will protect him from EMF.
7. Perpetual motion machines exist and "they" are just keeping the machines secret.

He listens to a lot of "American Freedom Radio",,, his brain is broken. Generally a pretty nice guy... just believes a lot of crazy stuff.

That's... an interesting take on things.

/Dibs on Jessica Alba!


I would think that all the A-list actresses would have a waiting list a mile long. Better to go for some smoking-hot, relatively-unknown "C-lister" - after all, it's not her acting talent you're interested in.

I know a guy who is all into that nonsense. He believes a lot of stupid things though... examples:

1. Planes leave "Chem-Trails" in some vast conspiracy for no apparent reason.
2. Hollywood actresses are all sex slaves.
3. That he can pay any bill by writing "Accepted for value" on it.
4. UFO's are not only visiting us, but doing so on a regular basis.
5. Cancer is cured by eating specific diets.
6. That rocks and magnets under his pillow will protect him from EMF.
7. Perpetual motion machines exist and "they" are just keeping the machines secret.

He listens to a lot of "American Freedom Radio",,, his brain is broken. Generally a pretty nice guy... just believes a lot of crazy stuff.

Cyno01: Why are these sovereign citizen assholes, who typically deify the founding fathers (the parts they like anyway), always all about english common law? Didnt their heroes fight a war about that?

The revolution notwithstanding, we actually did adapt a lot of English ideas, customs and laws into our own. See the Magna Carta, English common law, the writings of Locke and Hobbs, and Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England" as some examples.

I remember seeing one of these letters years ago when I first started my current job with the state. Everyone in my department laughed about it. We didn't realize it was an entire movement; we just thought the guy was crazy and sent him some standard No-not-yours form letter in response.

Mr. Coffee Nerves: So these guys are pretty much like people who play Dungeons and Dragons going into town and demanding as a 24th level Elf Druid with Dragon Pants that all the maidens fair be brought to him for nether inspection?

That would be Epic!

Magorn: This is what I never understood about these "sovereign citizen" nutballs (and their African-American counterparts the "Moorish Constitution" wierdos) First how can they possibly believe that the law works like this? That if they simply say some magic words they can not be bound by the rules all the other suckers in the world are following?

My theory is that it comes from playing too much Mao as a child. You can never be sure you know all the rules, or that anyone else you're playing with does either, so eventually you learn to make crap up.

Second, who who ever want to live in a world that lives like that? Where any right they think they have, or any contract they think they've agreed to could be voided simply because the other side crosses their fingers and says "Mxyzptlk" in a room where a flag with a yellow fringe border is hung or some damn thing?

I'm forced to admit that being able to play Calvinball with the law actually does sound kind of fun. I'm not saying it's worth the ramifications, of course, but it might be fun to dream about once in a while.

"notice of international commercial claim in admiralty administrative remedy,"

I know what all those words mean, but that quote makes no sense.

Corvus: Tax Boy: turbocucumber: :David-Wynn: Miller is still one of the funniest of the lot.

QUANTUM-LANGUAGE-PARSE-SYNTAX-GRAMMAR FTW

Oh god this guy.

Many years ago, I represented the United States in a tax case brought by one of his "students" and the complaint was written in that crazy-ass style all in caps with colons everywhere and numbers hand-written over each word that (I guess) meant something "important" to these people.

So I filed a motion to dismiss. It began with "Plaintiff has got to be joking."

HA!

So they wrote something that it looked like Charley Manson would write? Because colons and brackets somehow make you no longer an American citizen.

Hey he's wikipedia-worthy:

Miller lived in Ohio before moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and he describes himself as a "Plenipotentiary-Judge", an ambassador, banker, postmaster,[10] King of Hawaii, and a genius.[11][12][13]
On April 6, 1988, Miller invented what he calls the Mathematical Interface for Language or Quantum-Math-Communications and Language[14] or Correct-Language.[15] According to Miller, his language is "for the stopping-claims of the Theft, Cheating, Fraud, Slavery and War."[14] Miller's language uses sentences that begin with prepositional phrases, using the word For, are at least thirteen words long, and have many more nouns than verbs. According to Miller, only nouns have legal authority. The language has an abundance of punctuation. Miller explains:

FOR THE FORMS OF OUR PUNCTUATIONS ARE WITH THE CLAIM OF THE USE: FULL-COLON=POSITION-LODIO-FACTS, HYPHEN=COMPOUND-FACTS =KNOWN, PERIOD=END-THOUGHT, COMMA-PAUSE, AND LOCATION-TILDES WITH THE MEANINGS AND USES OF THE COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE FULL-COLON OF THE POSITION-LODIAL-FACT-PHRASE WITH THE FACT/KNOWN-TERM OF THE POSITIONAL-LODIO-FACT-PHRASE AND WITH THE VOID OF THE NOM-DE-GUERRE = DEAD-PERSON.[14]

According to Miller's teaching, the addition of hyphens and colons to one's name turns one from an ordinary, taxable human into a non-taxable "prepositional phrase." They are distinguished from the names listed at birth in all capital letters (as on a birth certificate), which he claims turns one into a taxable Person (Corporation). (e.g., DAVID WYNN MILLER as opposed to :David-Wynn: Miller.)."[16]

blazemongr: Magorn: This is what I never understood about these "sovereign citizen" nutballs (and their African-American counterparts the "Moorish Constitution" wierdos) First how can they possibly believe that the law works like this? That if they simply say some magic words they can not be bound by the rules all the other suckers in the world are following?

They buy books and/or read web sites telling them they can do exactly this, and it sounds plausible, so they try it out. They succeed what the article calls "paper terrorism" by tying up the legal system with useless claims, thinking they can outlast the government's lawyers. This is because they don't know anything about lawyers.

It's magical thinking, writ large.

Take the same magical thinking that powers pseudoscience, and fundamentalist religion, and apply that to law and government.

Sovereign citizens are to law as "Dr." Jenny McCarthy is to medicine and TimeCube Guy is to Physics.

Of course, the thing is, it's not a new scam. Judges know about it. Prosecutors know about it. Government attorneys know about it. Cops know about it. I know plenty of judges that just LOVE to put the smack-down on "sovereign citizens" for willful ignorance of the law. Some guy pulling this stunt gets a collective facepalm from cops, lawyers and judges of realizing this is going to be long and annoying. . .but nobody is afraid of it because they all know he's going to lose in the long run.

You can't just make up some nonsense about a court being a military court because the US flag has a gold fringe, or that you can just "opt out" of government and taxes by filing some kind of public notice in the newspaper, or that income taxes are inherently illegal because the IRS isn't a lawful part of the government (or is banned under the Constitution, or is secretly an arm of the British Crown, ect.). . .and expect it to work.

I've heard lots of this wackiness, and it's never worked. At most it ties up the courts for a few years and harasses the hell out of innocent people, but every single time, eventually, the legitimate law wins and the "sovereign citizen" loses.

:David-Wynn: Miller is still one of the funniest of the lot.

QUANTUM-LANGUAGE-PARSE-SYNTAX-GRAMMAR FTW

"Sovereign citizens" being a euphemism for a mentally challenged tax dodging numbskull.

blazemongr: Magorn: This is what I never understood about these "sovereign citizen" nutballs (and their African-American counterparts the "Moorish Constitution" wierdos) First how can they possibly believe that the law works like this? That if they simply say some magic words they can not be bound by the rules all the other suckers in the world are following?

They buy books and/or read web sites telling them they can do exactly this, and it sounds plausible, so they try it out. They succeed what the article calls "paper terrorism" by tying up the legal system with useless claims, thinking they can outlast the government's lawyers. This is because they don't know anything about lawyers.

BECAUSE I AM SMART AND I HAVE FIGURED IT ALL OUT! LANGUISH IN SLAVERY YOU SHEEPLE!!!

BooBoo23: Might want to taze him, just to be sure.