Continuation Part 21: Amanda Knox/Raffaele Sollecito

[Numbers]

I don't know about NYPD Blue.

Reread Sollecito's account of his own interrogation. "Why are protecting that vache?" The whole reported behaviour of the cops in relation to him signals a breakdown. They had his shoes and all they could say about him, in Knox's 5:45 am memorale is that no one knows how he fits in.

There was a failure by the police and prosecutor to follow the law and to respect defense rights. Is that what you mean by a failure of command?

You are aware the VQA Giobbi, the Special Ops commander from Rome, whose rank was the same as that of Perugia's chief of police, testified in praise of Raffaele that he took the interrogation as a gentleman, but that Amanda broke down and cried and screamed, and he was able to hear that from the room in the station where he was monitoring the interrogation, with Profazio (IIRC; could have be de Felice)?

The ultimate commander in a police investigation in Italy, according to Italian law, is the prosecutor. And the prosecutor came to the police station and also violated Italian law, in his method of interrogating Amanda.

So one could say that there was improper command or a command which encouraged breaking procedural laws and violating defense rights. But I would not call that a break-down in command; that term suggests to me that there was a miscommunication between one or more commanders and those carrying out the mission.

The police and prosecutor may not have been very effective in getting a consistent frame around Amanda and Raffaele, but that may be because they were confident that the Italian courts would support the prosecution over anything the defense might claim. That was a feature of the old inquisitorial system of Italian law, which was only changed starting in 1988 and was not fully accepted by many prosecutors and judges. The concept that an accused is to be convicted only if found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt was resisted in Italy, and only became law in 2006.

So where you see a break-down in command, I see that the command is committed to "old school" authoritarian policing, a feature of the inquisitional judicial system that the parliament in Italy has been trying to change into an adversarial system were there are defense rights.

 

[Bill Williams]

There was a failure by the police and prosecutor to follow the law and to respect defense rights. Is that what you mean by a failure of command?

Not really. I think all that you say is true and demonstrably true, but there was no sense that any one person, really, was giving directives. The clue to this is that as the night turned into morning, as much needed undoing as anything else.

The fact the Mignini felt a need to do what he did following the 1:45 am "confession" is a case in point. If Ficarra in Knox's room and Chiacchiera in Sollecito's room had had really tight coordination (Napoleoni going between the two rooms) there wouldn't have been a need for Mignini to offer to act "as if a notary", and continue encouraging (his point of view) Knox to make further spontaneous statements.

The 2 am to 5:45 am interrogation was a do-over; and implicit acknowledgement that whatever the 11:30 pm to 1:45 am interrogation was; it simply did not produce anything usable.

That points to a lack of competent leadership - preparatory leadership. In fact, the cops DID act in the old way, with that sense of bullying-entitlement where they believed there'd be no consequences. Their superiors who let them believe that there would be no future calling to account, failed them as subordinates.

The ultimate commander in a police investigation in Italy, according to Italian law, is the prosecutor. And the prosecutor came to the police station and also violated Italian law, in his method of interrogating Amanda.

..... and more than this. He actually tried to correct the mistakes of the first interrogation.

So one could say that there was improper command or a command which encouraged breaking procedural laws and violating defense rights. But I would not call that a break-down in command; that term suggests to me that there was a miscommunication between one or more commanders and those carrying out the mission.

I think both are true. Break-down and miscommunication, as well as improper command.

The police and prosecutor may not have been very effective in getting a consistent frame around Amanda and Raffaele, but that may be because they were confident that the Italian courts would support the prosecution over anything the defense might claim. That was a feature of the old inquisitorial system of Italian law, which was only changed starting in 1988 and was not fully accepted by many prosecutors and judges. The concept that an accused is to be convicted only if found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt was resisted in Italy, and only became law in 2006.

So where you see a break-down in command, I see that the command is committed to "old school" authoritarian policing, a feature of the inquisitional judicial system that the parliament in Italy has been trying to change into an adversarial system were there are defense rights.

All true.

 

[toto]

I suggest that some of the ISF posters who claimed expertise in Italian law or ECHR were not correct in the statements they posted about those topics.

At one point I recall a number of ISF posters doubted that Amanda Knox had submitted an application to the ECHR, even though she claimed she had on her blog. And it seems some of these posters had not read the ECHR information on what is required to have an admissible application. The 6 month time limit is based upon the publication date of the final motivation report, for example, not that of the final short-form verdict. In some cases applicable to certain types or circumstance of violations of rights, the 6 month limit does not even apply. Also, applications to ECHR are by mail only; the geographic locations of the applicant and the lawyers are totally irrelevant (except that they should have mail service available).

Yes, but I was struck by the phrase "the claim about an ECHR submission is a lie", which goes beyond doubt.

 

[Kauffer]

The fact the Mignini felt a need to do what he did following the 1:45 am "confession" is a case in point. If Ficarra in Knox's room and Chiacchiera in Sollecito's room had had really tight coordination (Napoleoni going between the two rooms) there wouldn't have been a need for Mignini to offer to act "as if a notary", and continue encouraging (his point of view) Knox to make further spontaneous statements.

The 2 am to 5:45 am interrogation was a do-over; and implicit acknowledgement that whatever the 11:30 pm to 1:45 am interrogation was; it simply did not produce anything usable.

Well, not usable for the murder, but later usable for callunia, which meant usable for the murder because it's not really possible to restrict its use. I grant you Mignini could not have known this at the time. Perhaps he already had a strategy in mind with regard to the 'spontaneous' claim for 5:45 already worked out though also determined 'unusable', so he was wrong about that. What he couldn't have known anything about was the 1st memoriale and that unpredictably is freely usable for murder and refers to all the interrogation products.

I'm sure he had a plan; it's rational to think so. How could he not have one? There's no convincing alternative explanation for what we know about his conduct that night, when he's told the 'witness' has no alibi. The only competent response to this if he's acting in good faith, is that Knox is now a suspect and has rights. He ignores this. How could he not know the law? He is the embodiment of the law!

And what else do we know? Senior cops in the control room working through the night; Raffaelle summoned late at night. Giobbi says he ordered Knox to be taken too and de Felice says they knew the truth all along and that Knox buckled and told them what they knew.

So, we cannot be sure of the extent or coherence of what they 'knew' to be true. But with certainty Knox was the target of a criminal investigation in connection with the murder and Raffaelle was thought, minimally, to be knowledgeable about her involvement. But, perhaps, too, they 'knew' that Lumumba was also involved, before the interrogation began. Or perhaps not. It was, nevertheless, a modern day witch hunt.

There was a plan, conscious, deliberate and illegal, to deprive Amanda and Raffaelle of their rights. This is not about the incompetence of the individuals involved, of unfortunate mistakes or lack of co-ordination. This was intentional. Its roots lie in the thickets of Italian legal culture built on centuries of inquisitional religiosity and moral authority. And Mignini's perspective was sustained intact, at least until Hellmann allowed science into his courtroom. It's taken five years, since then, to remove him from the wheelhouse and turn the ship around. Yet, these matters may still take another five years finally to resolve, before the ship finally docks.

 

[Numbers]

Yes, but I was struck by the phrase "the claim about an ECHR submission is a lie", which goes beyond doubt.

The basis for this absolutist statement was, IIUC, that the guilter(s) who made it considered a priori that everything Amanda Knox stated was a lie. Thus, her claim of an ECHR submission was a lie. Then the facts must be twisted to support the proposition that the ECHR submission is a lie. For example, one should now use the fact that the lawyers were not in Strasbourg on the relevant date, to "prove" that there was no submission, without determining that there was no need for the lawyers to be at the ECHR, since delivery of the application is required to be by mail.

It's the same kind of irrational, nonsensical presumption of guilt which has characterized this case from the beginniing.

 

[Numbers]

Well, not usable for the murder, but later usable for callunia, which meant usable for the murder because it's not really possible to restrict its use. I grant you Mignini could not have known this at the time. Perhaps he already had a strategy in mind with regard to the 'spontaneous' claim for 5:45 already worked out though also determined 'unusable', so he was wrong about that. What he couldn't have known anything about was the 1st memoriale and that unpredictably is freely usable for murder and refers to all the interrogation products.

I'm sure he had a plan; it's rational to think so. How could he not have one? There's no convincing alternative explanation for what we know about his conduct that night, when he's told the 'witness' has no alibi. The only competent response to this if he's acting in good faith, is that Knox is now a suspect and has rights. He ignores this. How could he not know the law? He is the embodiment of the law!

And what else do we know? Senior cops in the control room working through the night; Raffaelle summoned late at night. Giobbi says he ordered Knox to be taken too and de Felice says they knew the truth all along and that Knox buckled and told them what they knew.

So, we cannot be sure of the extent or coherence of what they 'knew' to be true. But with certainty Knox was the target of a criminal investigation in connection with the murder and Raffaelle was thought, minimally, to be knowledgeable about her involvement. But, perhaps, too, they 'knew' that Lumumba was also involved, before the interrogation began. Or perhaps not. It was, nevertheless, a modern day witch hunt.

There was a plan, conscious, deliberate and illegal, to deprive Amanda and Raffaelle of their rights. This is not about the incompetence of the individuals involved, of unfortunate mistakes or lack of co-ordination. This was intentional. Its roots lie in the thickets of Italian legal culture built on centuries of inquisitional religiosity and moral authority. And Mignini's perspective was sustained intact, at least until Hellmann allowed science into his courtroom. It's taken five years, since then, to remove him from the wheelhouse and turn the ship around. Yet, these matters may still take another five years finally to resolve, before the ship finally docks.

This is indisputable, in my view.

 

[Kauffer]

And then...... the police/PM learned that Knox's mother was en route to Perugia, and was due to arrive on 6th November. The police and PM were suddenly placed under huge time pressure, since at that point they had no mechanism to compel Knox to remain in Italy, and they were pretty certain that Knox's mother would be taking her back to Seattle as soon as possible, maybe even leaving on 6th November.

This is an essential point. Knox would have been gone, perhaps even as early as the 6th or the 7th, to Germany and on to Seattle, probably. But, minimally, she would have a lawyer and that would be the end of the interrogations.

Whatever Mignini's plan had been, it was adapted quickly or his big fish would have wriggled off the hook.

As always, your contributions to this subject have great clarity, insight and intelligent rationalisation.

 

[Vixen]

This is an essential point. Knox would have been gone, perhaps even as early as the 6th or the 7th, to Germany and on to Seattle, probably. But, minimally, she would have a lawyer and that would be the end of the interrogations.

Whatever Mignini's plan had been, it was adapted quickly or his big fish would have wriggled off the hook.

As always, your contributions to this subject have great clarity, insight and intelligent rationalisation low intellectual content, misinformation and obfuscation.

FIFY.

 

[Vixen]

Not really. I think all that you say is true and demonstrably true, but there was no sense that any one person, really, was giving directives. The clue to this is that as the night turned into morning, as much needed undoing as anything else.

The fact the Mignini felt a need to do what he did following the 1:45 am "confession" is a case in point. If Ficarra in Knox's room and Chiacchiera in Sollecito's room had had really tight coordination (Napoleoni going between the two rooms) there wouldn't have been a need for Mignini to offer to act "as if a notary", and continue encouraging (his point of view) Knox to make further spontaneous statements.

The 2 am to 5:45 am interrogation was a do-over; and implicit acknowledgement that whatever the 11:30 pm to 1:45 am interrogation was; it simply did not produce anything usable.

That points to a lack of competent leadership - preparatory leadership. In fact, the cops DID act in the old way, with that sense of bullying-entitlement where they believed there'd be no consequences. Their superiors who let them believe that there would be no future calling to account, failed them as subordinates.


..... and more than this. He actually tried to correct the mistakes of the first interrogation.


I think both are true. Break-down and miscommunication, as well as improper command.



All true.

What a load of bull ****** There was no 2:00-5:45 ' interrogation', you naughty boy, mustn't tell lies.

 

[Kauffer]

What a load of bull ****** There was no 2:00-5:45 ' interrogation', you naughty boy, mustn't tell lies.

Of course there wasn't and Amanda had been appraised of her rights and provided with a lawyer as the court said she should have been....wasn't she? Um...

Nope. That's why, as the Bonsegna court observed, the Gemelli court "deemed as not usable the 1:45 am and 5:45 am statements of 06-Nov-2007, since they had been collected “without the guarantees of the law from a person who had already formally assumed the status of a person under investigation”)."

So it doesn't matter at all how you want to characterise the period between 1:45 and 5:45. It has no bearing on the matter, .."because the girl should have been heard with the guarantees reserved for persons under investigation from the beginning, and so not as a simple witness.."

 

[Vixen]

The World According to the PIP

The World According to the PIP


In the case of a brutal murder of a beautiful English Anglo-Indian girl involving a doctor's son and ugly American abroad, the Italians recognise they are an inferior race to the Germans, as they assume Amanda is, from her background.

They have a great inferiority complex to the American girl and instead of pinning the murder and rape on the African ragazzo this backward race persecuted this poor wilting violet, who only ever wanted to study hard and act as a diplomat for Americans abroad.

They witnessed her hit herself on the head, so her amnesia caused by the realisation the Italian cops were suspicious of her caused her to accuse the cops of hitting her, in revenge for the humiliation of their witnessing her crazy antics.

This wonderful example of American pie womanhood isn't even heterosexual or Christian, but we'll gloss that over quickly. Those backward Eye-ties couldn't take her sleeping with every Giuseppe, Luigi and Raffaele and wanted to witch hunt her for corrupting the mortal soul of their virgin youth, who only ever wanted to drop acid, snort coke, listen to Marilyn Manson, fantasise over violent manga porn and go to church on Sunday to pray for strength to carry on on Monday.

The bloody backward dagos failed to top up the vending machine with Hershey Bars and there was no Reese Peanut Butter Cups in stock. They fed her poncy Italian ciabattas instead of the refined haute-cuisine of the USA. Her poor beleagured parents had to smuggle Hamburger Helpers into the country, somehow evading the security alarms that failed to go off: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP ATTENTION ATTENTION AMERICAN HAMBURGERS BEING SMUGGLED IN and the sniffer dogs were fast asleep at the time.

So what if she stabbed her roommate viciously in the neck for daring to be more popular? Doncha know Amanda was Miss Congeniality at school and her teacher fondly recalls her skipping down the corridors singing, 'we're off to see the wizard!'

Who cares if the Brit was left in a pool of blood and Italian youf left debauched? How dare those cops even begin to ask our Homecoming Queen to recollect the events of the murder weekend without an attorney present? What were they thinking asking her for the murder victim's known list of acquaintances at a late hour instead of letting the Little Princess have a long lie in on a feather mattress bed first so that she could get her alibi straight she was refreshed and relaxed, instead of screaming like a brat.

The ECHR ought to recognise that the Eye-ties cannot treat our American broads like that. You've got the black guy, why can't you just accept he did it all. Bloody Africans. Coming to Italy to rape and murder.

It's a wonder they didn't boil up a cauldron of water and dance a pow-wow around the pot, before pushing her in.

 

[Kauffer]

FIFY.

Yes well your rudeness in tampering with my words is appalling but typical (it reminds us of what happened in the lab of the not-a-real-scientist Stefanoni with the evidence). Outside of some of the direct participants in these trials, LJ is one of a small handful of people who has pushed forward the understanding of this case, with accurate and insightful observation and analysis of complex material and procedure together with an uncanny predictive ability. His view has prevailed in this matter, while you and others like you attacked, sneered, misrepresented, misinterpreted and worse. We wonder what satisfaction you derived and still derive from this extraordinary behaviour, which, ultimately, in feeding into the general ignorance, served to deprive Meredith Kercher's family of the peace they so richly deserve in knowing the truth about their daughter's murder and that the guilty have been punished and the innocent rightly set free.

You are accountable to them..and to your own conscience.

 

[acbytesla]

The World According to the PIP


In the case of a brutal murder of a beautiful English Anglo-Indian girl involving a doctor's son and ugly American abroad, the Italians recognise they are an inferior race to the Germans, as they assume Amanda is, from her background.

They have a great inferiority complex to the American girl and instead of pinning the murder and rape on the African ragazzo this backward race persecuted this poor wilting violet, who only ever wanted to study hard and act as a diplomat for Americans abroad.

They witnessed her hit herself on the head, so her amnesia caused by the realisation the Italian cops were suspicious of her caused her to accuse the cops of hitting her, in revenge for the humiliation of their witnessing her crazy antics.

This wonderful example of American pie womanhood isn't even heterosexual or Christian, but we'll gloss that over quickly. Those backward Eye-ties couldn't take her sleeping with every Giuseppe, Luigi and Raffaele and wanted to witch hunt her for corrupting the mortal soul of their virgin youth, who only ever wanted to drop acid, snort coke, listen to Marilyn Manson, fantasise over violent manga porn and go to church on Sunday to pray for strength to carry on on Monday.

The bloody backward dagos failed to top up the vending machine with Hershey Bars and there was no Reese Peanut Butter Cups in stock. They fed her poncy Italian ciabattas instead of the refined haute-cuisine of the USA. Her poor beleagured parents had to smuggle Hamburger Helpers into the country, somehow evading the security alarms that failed to go off: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP ATTENTION ATTENTION AMERICAN HAMBURGERS BEING SMUGGLED IN and the sniffer dogs were fast asleep at the time.

So what if she stabbed her roommate viciously in the neck for daring to be more popular? Doncha know Amanda was Miss Congeniality at school and her teacher fondly recalls her skipping down the corridors singing, 'we're off to see the wizard!'

Who cares if the Brit was left in a pool of blood and Italian youf left debauched? How dare those cops even begin to ask our Homecoming Queen to recollect the events of the murder weekend without an attorney present? What were they thinking asking her for the murder victim's known list of acquaintances at a late hour instead of letting the Little Princess have a long lie in on a feather mattress bed first so that she could get her alibi straight she was refreshed and relaxed, instead of screaming like a brat.

The ECHR ought to recognise that the Eye-ties cannot treat our American broads like that. You've got the black guy, why can't you just accept he did it all. Bloody Africans. Coming to Italy to rape and murder.

You have such a vivid imagination. Some might even say it's creative. Or inventive. Still others would say it is delusional and myopic.

The fact is whether you like it or not the tide has turned and the ECHR will rule exactly as Boninsegna ruled and that is that the rights of the suspect was violated and that Amanda only named Lumumba because she was under intolerable pressure and clearly that is who police wanted her to name.

 

[Vixen]

Yes well your rudeness in tampering with my words is appalling but typical (it reminds us of what happened in the lab of the not-a-real-scientist Stefanoni with the evidence). Outside of some of the direct participants in these trials, LJ is one of a small handful of people who has pushed forward the understanding of this case, with accurate and insightful observation and analysis of complex material and procedure together with an uncanny predictive ability. His view has prevailed in this matter, while you and others like you attacked, sneered, misrepresented, misinterpreted and worse. We wonder what satisfaction you derived and still derive from this extraordinary behaviour, which, ultimately, in feeding into the general ignorance, served to deprive Meredith Kercher's family of the peace they so richly deserve in knowing the truth about their daughter's murder and that the guilty have been punished and the innocent rightly set free.

You are accountable to them..and to your own conscience.

ROFL <sfx loud snorting noises>

 

[Bill Williams]

We wonder what satisfaction you derived and still derive from this extraordinary behaviour, which, ultimately, in feeding into the general ignorance, served to deprive Meredith Kercher's family of the peace they so richly deserve in knowing the truth about their daughter's murder and that the guilty have been punished and the innocent rightly set free.

You are accountable to them..and to your own conscience.

ROFL <sfx loud snorting noises>

One hopes that Vixen is not laughing at the Kerchers here.

Once again, Andrea Vogt herself chided the arm-chair detectives from the guilt side of things for continuing their efforts. The cited the lack of mercy shown to the victims themselves, for keeping a crusade going - now that Italy has definitively ruled.

 

[Diocletus]

The World According to the PIP


In the case of a brutal murder of a beautiful English Anglo-Indian girl involving a doctor's son and ugly American abroad, the Italians recognise they are an inferior race to the Germans, as they assume Amanda is, from her background.

They have a great inferiority complex to the American girl and instead of pinning the murder and rape on the African ragazzo this backward race persecuted this poor wilting violet, who only ever wanted to study hard and act as a diplomat for Americans abroad.

They witnessed her hit herself on the head, so her amnesia caused by the realisation the Italian cops were suspicious of her caused her to accuse the cops of hitting her, in revenge for the humiliation of their witnessing her crazy antics.

This wonderful example of American pie womanhood isn't even heterosexual or Christian, but we'll gloss that over quickly. Those backward Eye-ties couldn't take her sleeping with every Giuseppe, Luigi and Raffaele and wanted to witch hunt her for corrupting the mortal soul of their virgin youth, who only ever wanted to drop acid, snort coke, listen to Marilyn Manson, fantasise over violent manga porn and go to church on Sunday to pray for strength to carry on on Monday.

The bloody backward dagos failed to top up the vending machine with Hershey Bars and there was no Reese Peanut Butter Cups in stock. They fed her poncy Italian ciabattas instead of the refined haute-cuisine of the USA. Her poor beleagured parents had to smuggle Hamburger Helpers into the country, somehow evading the security alarms that failed to go off: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP ATTENTION ATTENTION AMERICAN HAMBURGERS BEING SMUGGLED IN and the sniffer dogs were fast asleep at the time.

So what if she stabbed her roommate viciously in the neck for daring to be more popular? Doncha know Amanda was Miss Congeniality at school and her teacher fondly recalls her skipping down the corridors singing, 'we're off to see the wizard!'

Who cares if the Brit was left in a pool of blood and Italian youf left debauched? How dare those cops even begin to ask our Homecoming Queen to recollect the events of the murder weekend without an attorney present? What were they thinking asking her for the murder victim's known list of acquaintances at a late hour instead of letting the Little Princess have a long lie in on a feather mattress bed first so that she could get her alibi straight she was refreshed and relaxed, instead of screaming like a brat.

The ECHR ought to recognise that the Eye-ties cannot treat our American broads like that. You've got the black guy, why can't you just accept he did it all. Bloody Africans. Coming to Italy to rape and murder.

It's a wonder they didn't boil up a cauldron of water and dance a pow-wow around the pot, before pushing her in.

Never heard of an "Eye-tie". Is that some sort of plastic tie that you can thread through an eye bolt?

 

[Diocletus]

Of course there wasn't and Amanda had been appraised of her rights and provided with a lawyer as the court said she should have been....wasn't she? Um...

Nope. That's why, as the Bonsegna court observed, the Gemelli court "deemed as not usable the 1:45 am and 5:45 am statements of 06-Nov-2007, since they had been collected “without the guarantees of the law from a person who had already formally assumed the status of a person under investigation”)."

So it doesn't matter at all how you want to characterise the period between 1:45 and 5:45. It has no bearing on the matter, .."because the girl should have been heard with the guarantees reserved for persons under investigation from the beginning, and so not as a simple witness.."

I'm guessing that the point of the post 1:45 interrogation and ensuing 5:45 declaration was to engender a new statement that Mignini would call "spontaneous". He was thinking that the 1:45 statement might be no good (because he knew her rights had been violated), and therefore trying to take advantage of a loophole in Italian law that would admit a "spontaneous statement" notwithstanding violation of rights. Unfortunately for Mignini, no one ever bought that the 5:45 statement was "spontaneous", and furthermore, this loophole doesn't exist under the ECHR, so Italian law on "spontaneous statements" is illegal. So basically, Mignini was illegally trying to take advantage of an illegal loophole. What a tool.

 

[LondonJohn]

Never heard of an "Eye-tie". Is that some sort of plastic tie that you can thread through an eye bolt?

It's really not worth engaging with that sort of ignorant, belligerent, low-intellect claptrap.

 

[Kauffer]

I'm guessing that the point of the post 1:45 interrogation and ensuing 5:45 declaration was to engender a new statement that Mignini would call "spontaneous". He was thinking that the 1:45 statement might be no good (because he knew her rights had been violated), and therefore trying to take advantage of a loophole in Italian law that would admit a "spontaneous statement" notwithstanding violation of rights. Unfortunately for Mignini, no one ever bought that the 5:45 statement was "spontaneous", and furthermore, this loophole doesn't exist under the ECHR, so Italian law on "spontaneous statements" is illegal. So basically, Mignini was illegally trying to take advantage of an illegal loophole. What a tool.

Yes, I agree with all this. I'm still smarting at the 11:30pm Profazio/Mignini 'She doesn't have an alibi' phone call. Did this come up earlier than the latest MR? Profazio's testimony in the main trial seems to be available only in Italian, but maybe it never came out then.

 

[Desert Fox]

It's really not worth engaging with that sort of ignorant, belligerent, low-intellect claptrap.

While I have Vixen on ignore, I can read messages which others can respond to.
I notice that Vixen seems worked up both that Amanda might be bisexual, which I did not get from her book but who cares, and that she is not a Christian. Seems like somebody is letting their prejudice through.