Well, Roger Stone is pretty much guaranteed to have a best seller

[jberryhill]

And he thanks everyone for playing.

The final copy of his book was shipped before he had a gag order.

If the judge wants to lock him up for not retroactively stopping publication of his book, that’s fine, but that is not going to stop the book from being sold.

Just what is supposed to happen?

Is the judge supposed to order all booksellers (in the US) to stop selling it, or order the publisher to take it back?

Those things are not going to happen.

But the prospect of being able to sell a book “which a US judge is trying to ban”, is going to guarantee huge sales. There is nothing people like more than buying a “banned” book. God knows how many copies of Salman Rushdie’s novel, which really only resonated with a certain expat community, were bought up to gather dust when a fatwa was issued against him.

Even if she locks him up, Stone is going to love every second of this until he gets his pardon.

[romainetarra]

1. He's a real piece of work

or so I've been told and believe it.

[Sneederbunk]

2. Hard to do a book -signing tour from jail.

.

[jberryhill]

3. So what?

The absence of a tour is not going to hurt sales when he is getting free advertising in all media.

[pnwmom]

4. She addressed that in the document. She said he might have filed it for attention.

I don't think he will be feeling "so what?" if she does put him in jail.

[Mr. Ected]

5. I think the public has had a long time to gauge Stone's credibility - or lack thereof

Were he a sympathetic character, I would agree; the gag order and the timing of the release of the book would certainly enhance book sales. But this is Roger Stone. His target audience is identifiable and circumscribed. They may buy his book. They may not. But the general public will likely only buy it on the sale rack, long after the trial is over and Stone is rolled no mas.

[lunatica]

6. That's fine. His wife probably needs the money.

[PJMcK]

7. Two thoughts

First, doesn't the judge have a good point that Stone and his lawyers should have alerted the court that this book was about to be published? It strikes me that they withheld rather important information from the court and the prosecution. Don't you think that the judge will feel that Stone et al. misled the court?

Second, where do you get the idea that the judge would try to ban Stone's book? That seems far-fetched. If she's angry that Stone misled the court, that doesn't imply that she'll try to subvert the First Amendment. She could likely throw Stone's ass in the can!

A third thought: As an expression of support for a man under a fatwa, I bought Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" and I disagree with your assessment that its audience was limited to the expat community. It is, in fact, a fascinating story and portrait of a part of our world that I was unfamiliar with. Today, it probably does have some dust on it, though.

[jberryhill]

11. On your first point

She may very well lock him up. That will increase the cachet of the book.

However, if the book is going to be published anyway, then what does locking him up do? In other words, when was he supposed to breach his contract with the publisher and demand they not stop selling the book they had already shipped?

Lastly, at the time of Rushdie’s book, I shared and office with a fellow grad student from India, who has spent time working in Europe, who was intrigued by what, if anything, I was picking up in my read of it. The richness of the wordplay and many of the cultural references are pretty much lost on an American audience.

[lastlib]

14. I don't think the judge would try to ban sales of the book....

...but conservanuts are emphatically not above CLAIMING that she is! If they don't like the facts they see, they make up their own to fit their whiny narrative about persecution and suppression of their ideas. It's how they roll.

[Caliman73]

8. It won't sell well outside of the right wing readership.

Right wingers regularly pad their "best sellers" numbers by large quantity purchases by organizations. They want to create the illusion that 10 million copies have been sold to 10 million different people when in fact an organization is buying millions of copies and then trying to get rid of them.

I doubt Stone will care about that as he gets his money regardless. I also doubt that right wingers will really care because facts do not matter, but that is still not a big deal.

I think that the judge is working in a professional and intelligent matter, holding him to account, but not forcing the issue and acting without a judicial temperament. She is certainly allowing him to walk into a real charge (again, not that it will matter to right wingers) so that if and when he does end up behind bars, it will be solely of his own making.

[pwb]

9. Never cared what he said, still don't.

I may stop in a book store to turn his book over.

[diva77]

10. People can boycott bookstores that sell the book - probably lots more dems are readers than rethugs

[jberryhill]

12. Because boycotts of bookstores for selling a book are so popular

Perhaps we can have public libraries ban it, too.

[diva77]

13. perhaps - if people ask that a book by a criminal and liar trying to contaminate jury pool

not be purchased for public consumption

[bluestarone]

15. I don't suppose there is any way for the book profits

To be confiscated to pay lawyer fees?

[NCjack]

16. Jailbird Roger will write this book: "Stone behind Steel". nt