Crime and Punishment

What you watch on TV or dream about at night is not representative of how the law actually works. Please post these Jury instructions you keep going on about.
 
Oath Keeper Gets Over 4 Years in Prison

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group who was part of a security detail for former President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone before storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Thursday to more than four years in prison.

Roberto Minuta, who was seen on video guarding Stone hours before the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was among six Oath Keeper members convicted by jurors of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors said was a violent plot to stop the transfer of power from Trump to President Biden after the 2020 election.

AP
 
Microsoft stashes nearly half a billion in case LinkedIn data drama hits

Microsoft has warned investors about a "non-public" draft decision by Irish regulators against LinkedIn for allegedly dodgy ad data practices, explaining it had set aside some cash to pay off any potential fine.

How much? Oh, a mere $425 million. Pocket change really. The software giant said the funds were connected to a 2018 investigation by the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) looking into whether LinkedIn's targeted advertising practices violated the the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

At the time of the complaint [PDF], the 2016 law had been recently implemented and the watchdog was just settling into its role as EU overlord of judging data practices of the tech giants.

Microsoft denies it broke any GDPR rules and said it "intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter."

It said the IDPC had allowed LinkedIn to have a look at "a non-public Preliminary Draft Decision that proposed a fine" in April this year. It added: "After review and analysis, the company will increase its existing reserve for the matter and, based on current exchange rates take a charge of approximately $425 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023."

The invitation previously allowed for the syncing of the address books of its European members, according to the IDPC, but the Facebook-for-suits outfit then "removed this feature in Europe." The IDPC said at the time that it viewed this as "a positive step taken by LinkedIn Ireland in meeting its GDPR requirements, particularly for the processing of non-user data."
 
Clashes in Leipzig over jail term for woman who attacked neo-Nazis

Left-wing protesters and police have clashed for a second night over a jail term given to a woman convicted of vigilante attacks on neo-Nazis.

Demonstrators in the eastern city of Leipzig set up road blocks, lit fires and threw stones at officers, police said.

Lina E was sentenced to five years in jail, but released pending an appeal as she had been detained since 2020.

The protest in the city, where Lina E had studied, had earlier been banned.

A police spokesman said around 1,500 people turned up anyway, claiming around a third of those were "prone to violence", the Reuters news agency reports.

Saturday's violence followed similar scenes the previous night, when several hundred people lit bonfires in the street and thrown stones from buildings onto police vehicles.

Lina E was regarded as a leader of a far-left group responsible for carrying out a brutal campaign of violence against the extreme right over several years, including attacks with hammers, iron bars and baseball.

After Lina E was found guilty, there were far-left protests in several cities and police were targeted with bottles and firework and baseball bats.

Three men convicted with alongside her - criminal defendants' second names are not made public - were also given jail sentences on Wednesday.

Other Germans were angered by the decision to release Lina E, after two-and-a-half years in custody - believing the decision implies violence against the extreme right is acceptable.

She is said to be unwell and has had to hand in her identity card and passport while she waits for the result of her appeal.

From wikipedia:

Lina E. is a 28-year old student from Kassel, who was studying social work in Leipzig, in eastern Germany, with a focus on preventing far-right radicalisation among youth. According to Deutsche Welle, she had become politicised following the National Socialist Underground murders in the 2000s and the subsequent trial, which had sparked significant controversy surrounding links between German intelligence services and the far-right. Her group was accused of carrying out six attacks against far-right targets in Saxony and Thuringia between 2018 and 2020. Lina was determined to be the head of the group, which the court ruled to be a "criminal organization".

The attacks were highly organized. The group used fake IDs, wigs, stolen equipment, and burner phones to evade capture. The violence included two attacks against Leon Ringl, a known far-right extremist. Ringl was attacked first in late 2019 at an Eisenach pub known to be frequented by neo-Nazis. He was beaten with hammers and batons, and was attacked again weeks later near his car. In January 2021, the same pub was attacked again using an explosive device, which resulted in no injuries. The pub's facade was sprayed with graffiti saying, in English, "Fight Nazis every Day". Ringl replaced the graffiti with another saying "We're staying here!" (German: Wir bleiben!).

On 31 May 2023, the last day of the trial Hans Schlüter-Staats, the Higher Regional Court of Dresden judge overseeing the trial, stated that "opposing right-wing extremists is a respectable motive" and that there had been "deplorable" deficiencies in recent trials of far-right extremists, but that she has still committed serious crimes and that the legitimate monopoly on violence belonged to the state, not to private individuals.

_129965000_lina.jpg.webp
 
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Family demands arrest of white woman after Black mother shot in alleged dispute over her kids​

Witness says shooter would often say 'nasty' things to the victims' children as they played nearby​

Authorities came under intense pressure Tuesday to arrest and charge a white woman who killed a Black neighbour on her front doorstep in a case that has put Florida's divisive "stand your ground" law back in the spotlight.

About three dozen mostly Black protesters gathered outside the Marion County Judicial Center to demand that the shooter be arrested in the country's latest flashpoint over race and gun violence.

A 35-year-old mother of four, Ajike Owens, was killed in the Friday night shooting that Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said was the culmination of a 2½--year feud between neighbours.

The women lived in a neighbourhood in north Florida, in the rolling hills south of Ocala, known as the state's horse country. On Tuesday, a stuffed teddy bear and bouquets of flowers marked the area near where Owens was shot.

Nearby, children were riding bikes and scooters, and playing basketball. Protesters chanted "No justice, no peace" and "A.J. A.J. A.J" using Owens' nickname. They carried signs saying: "Say her name Ajike Owens" and "It's about us." There was no violence during the protest, which included a number of small children.

Racial slurs​

The sheriff said Owens was shot moments after going to the apartment of her neighbour, who had yelled at Owens' children as they played in a nearby lot. He also said a neighbour had thrown a pair of skates that hit one of the children.

Deputies responding to a trespassing call at the apartment Friday night found Owens suffering from gunshot wounds. She later died at a hospital in Ocala.

Before the confrontation, the shooter had been yelling racial slurs at the children, according to a statement from civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Owens' family — and represented Trayvon Martin's family in 2012. The sheriff's office hasn't confirmed there were slurs uttered or said whether race was a factor in the shooting.

Lauren Smith, 40, lives across the street from where the shooting happened. She was on her porch that day and saw one of the Owens' young sons pacing, and yelling, "They shot my mama, they shot my mama."

She ran toward the house, and started chest compressions until a rescue crew arrived. She said there wasn't an altercation and that Owens didn't have a weapon.

"[The shooter] was angry all the time that the children were playing out there," Smith said. "She would say nasty things to them. Just nasty."

Smith, who is white, said the neighbourhood is "family-friendly" and the fact that the shooter is claiming self-defence is "outrageous."

"I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands," the sheriff said Monday. "I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today."

'So senseless'​

The sheriff said that since January 2021, deputies responded at least a half-dozen times in connection with the feuding between Owens and the woman who shot her.

"I'm absolutely heartbroken," Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, told The Associated Press. She described the fatal shooting as "so senseless."

Ferrell-Zabala said "stand your ground" cases, which she refers to as "shoot first laws," are deemed justifiable five times more frequently when a white shooter kills a Black victim.

"We've seen this again and again across this country," she said, adding that "it's really because of lax gun laws and a culture of shoot first."

In fact, "stand your ground" and "castle doctrine" cases — which allow residents to defend themselves either by law or court precedent when threatened — have sparked outrage amid a spate of shootings across the country.

In April, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a white man, shot and injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who rang his doorbell in Kansas City after mistakenly showing up at the wrong house to pick up his younger siblings.

Lester faces charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action; at trial, he may argue that he thought someone was trying to break into his house, as he told police.

Missouri and Florida are among about 30 states that have "stand your ground" laws.

One of the most well-known examples of the "stand your ground" argument came up in the trial of George Zimmerman, a white man who fatally shot Florida teenager Trayvon Martin in February 2012.

Zimmerman, who had a white father and Hispanic mother, told police that Martin, who was Black, attacked him, forcing him to use his gun in self-defence. He was allowed to go free, but was arrested about six weeks later, after Martin's parents questioned his version of events and then-governor Rick Scott appointed a special prosecutor.

Before trial, Zimmerman's attorneys chose not to pursue a "stand your ground" claim, which could have resulted in the dismissal of murder changes as well as immunity from prosecution. But during the trial, the law was essentially used as part of his self-defence argument. Jurors found him not guilty.

Since Zimmerman's trial, Crump has become outspoken on cases of gun violence.

The sheriff was joined at his news conference by community leaders and a local attorney retained by the family, Anthony Thomas. Their singular message was a call for patience while the sheriff's office conducted its investigation.

Police haven't interviewed Owens' children, two of whom witnessed the shooting, because investigators first want child therapists to work with them. Most of the information the deputies have is coming from the shooter, the sheriff said.

"There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth," the sheriff said the shooter told investigators. "Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door."

At a vigil with the family later Monday, Thomas said the sheriff had promised him the most professional service that he and his deputies could provide, and Thomas plans to hold the agency to that.

During the same gathering, Owens' mother, Pamela Dias, said that she was seeking justice for her daughter and her grandchildren.

"My daughter, my grandchildren's mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her," Dias said. "She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/florida-black-woman-shot-white-neighbour-1.6867522
 
Samson said:
Demonstrators in the eastern city of Leipzig set up road blocks, lit fires and threw stones at officers, police said.
Click to expand...
those are rioters, not protestors.

Broken_Erika said:
Authorities came under intense pressure Tuesday to arrest and charge a white woman who killed a Black neighbour on her front doorstep in a case that has put Florida's divisive "stand your ground" law back in the spotlight.
Click to expand...
i don't see how this puts "stand your ground" in the spotlight at all? the investigation is ongoing, but it seems like the shooter is claiming that she fired at the victim through the door. i also don't see anything about the victim being armed or any evidence that could otherwise justify a threat of "imminent death or severe harm". unless there are crucial details that are just not being mentioned, it sounds like even the shooter's own story amounts to 2nd degree murder at minimum, and i can see a reasonable case for 1st degree here.
 
Who is actually entitled to the law’s protection?

Professor Patricia S. Churchland blends philosophy with neuroscience. “The mind is just the brain,” her website declares. Her book “Braintrust” contains thought-provoking speculations about the origins of our sense of right and wrong. All animals have an instinct toward self-preservation, she writes. In animals that take care of their young, a category that includes all mammals and many birds, the “golden circle of me” extends to offspring. Mothers, and sometimes fathers as well, protect their young almost as ferociously as themselves. That’s a kind of proto-morality.

In social animals, the golden circle extends beyond the nest or den. It includes the herd, the flock or — in one particular social animal — the clan, the village, and even people we’ve never met but for whom we feel an important connection, such as our fellow Americans. Churchland’s theory may or may not be an accurate description of evolution, but it works just fine as metaphor.

Much of American legal history can be thought of as an expanding or contracting golden circle. We usually frame the issue abstractly, in terms of civil rights. But it can also be thought of as powerful people defining a core group of “us” who are fully within the golden circle, entitled to all the privileges of membership, surrounded by concentric circles of other people existing in what Churchland is far too dignified to call the silver and bronze rings. Most legal rulings by most courts, most of the time, cannot meaningfully be classified as either liberal or conservative. This point may not be self-evident to consumers of the news, because the court cases that get the most ink and airtime are precisely those that deal with political issues. But for every court below the U.S. Supreme Court, such cases constitute a miniscule fraction of the caseload.

Instead of trying to classify legal rulings on a political scale, it is often more helpful to ask two simple-sounding questions: First, who is required to obey the law? Second, who is entitled to its protection? In a perfect world, the answer to both questions would be “everyone.” But consider a lawsuit filed by New York City police officer Matthew Bianchi. According to a Fox News report, Bianchi alleges that the NYPD union issues laminated cards for officers to pass out to friends and family or in exchange for favors. When pulled over, recipients can flash the card and get out of any ticket — unless they’re stopped by a straight arrow like Bianchi. He claims he was retaliated against for refusing to go along with the system. Such a system, assuming it exists, exempts favored people from the application of the law, in this instance traffic laws. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott extended the same approach to a far more serious offense when he publicly declared his intention to pardon a convicted murderer. The murder victim, Garrett Foster, was a white military veteran and also, more to the point, a Black Lives Matter protester. A counter-protester shot him. Abbott’s declared intention to pardon the convicted killer is a pretty explicit statement that he believes Foster forfeited his right to the protection of the law by participating in a BLM protest, and that the convicted killer should accordingly be exempted from the law against murder.

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Another vivid example comes from San Francisco, where tech executive Bob Lee was stabbed to death on a city street in the middle of the night. Fellow tech bros lost no time blaming the city’s elected officials. As the New York Times reported, “Prominent tech executives including Elon Musk tore into the city’s leaders. Matt Ocko, a venture capitalist, said San Francisco officials had Mr. Lee’s ‘literal blood on their hands.’” Well, literal in the sense of figurative. But then, as it turned out, not even that. The person arrested for Lee’s killing was someone well known to him. Then the Wall Street Journal reported on Lee’s hard-partying lifestyle. According to the WSJ, Lee’s use of “ecstasy, ketamine [and] cocaine” was no secret among his contemporaries.

So when the tech bros condemned the city’s lawlessness, did they mean Lee should have been arrested for possession of controlled substances? Of course not. My impression is that they simply took for granted that Lee, a rich white man, was exempt from the drug laws that have put so many millions of less fortunate Americans in prison. But they evidently believed his status gave him an exalted claim to the law’s protection.

Once you get into the habit of asking those two deceptivelysimple questions — Who is entitled to the law’s protection? And, who is subject to its penalties? — many stories in the news begin to make sense in a new way.

Joel Jacobsen is an author who in 2015 retired from a 29-year legal career. If there are topics you would like to see covered in future columns, please write him at legal. column.tips@gmail.com.
 
Birdjaguar said:
Instead of trying to classify legal rulings on a political scale, it is often more helpful to ask two simple-sounding questions: First, who is required to obey the law? Second, who is entitled to its protection? In a perfect world, the answer to both questions would be “everyone.” But consider a lawsuit filed by New York City police officer Matthew Bianchi. According to a Fox News report, Bianchi alleges that the NYPD union issues laminated cards for officers to pass out to friends and family or in exchange for favors. When pulled over, recipients can flash the card and get out of any ticket — unless they’re stopped by a straight arrow like Bianchi. He claims he was retaliated against for refusing to go along with the system. Such a system, assuming it exists,
Click to expand...

It exists alright, I've seen it firsthand :lol:
 
Lexicus said:
It exists alright, I've seen it firsthand :lol:
Click to expand...
The author of that article lives in NM and is just being careful about what he has heard. Such a system is new to me.
 
Birdjaguar said:
The author of that article lives in NM and is just being careful about what he has heard. Such a system is new to me.
Click to expand...

It's not a card limited to NYC, but NYC could have an 'unofficial' policy that gives those cards more weight than other places do.

www.vice.com

The Little Cards That Tell Police 'Let's Forget This Ever Happened'

Some cops give their friends and family union-issued "courtesy cards" to help get them out of minor infractions. The cards embody everything wrong with modern policing.
www.vice.com www.vice.com
traffictickets.com

Do PBA Cards Really Work? - Rosenblum Law

"PBA” stands for the Police Benevolent Association, and nearly every police officer in the United States is a member. Friends and family members of police officers are sometimes given a PBA Courtesy Card. A PBA card will usually have printed on it, “The bearer of this card is a supporter of the...
traffictickets.com traffictickets.com

Note: Both articles from before events in lawsuit happened, so they've been around awhile......who knows, maybe decades, I can find reddit posts from 2017 about them, maybe I could find from earlier if I dig harder.

'Union-issued' card.......

Theoretically, no different than having a bumper sticker that says 'I support the police', that might improve chances of a cop going easy on you, but doesn't GUARANTEE you get out of a ticket....unless this lawsuit is correct in that officers were required/very strongly encouraged to accept those cards.

Edit: and stories of those cards being sold on Ebay, cops giving out those cards for discounts on stuff the cops are buying, etc. (corruption)
 
It is illegal to have good digital hygiene in France. I shall point out that "the main accused in solitary confinement for 16 months", and Solitary Confinement Is Torture.

From the google translate of https://www.laquadrature.net/2023/0...ations-assimile-a-un-comportement-terroriste/

“December 8” case 1 in which 7 people were indicted for “terrorist criminal association” in December 2020. Their trial is scheduled for October 2023 This will be the first anti -terrorism trial targeting the “ultra-left” since the Tarnac 2 fiasco.

The charge of terrorism is forcefully rejected by the accused. The latter denounces a political trial, an incriminating investigation and a lack of evidence. They point in particular to decontextualized remarks and the use of trivial facts (sports practices, digital practices, readings and music listened to, etc.) 3 . For their part, the police recognize that at the end of the investigation – and ten months of intensive surveillance – no “specific project” has been identified 4 .

The State has just been sentenced for keeping the main accused in solitary confinement for 16 months and from which he was only released after a 37-day hunger strike. A second complaint, pending judgment, has been filed against the illegal and repeated strip searches that an accused suffered in pre-trial detention 5 .

Many personalities, media and collectives have given them their support 6 .

It is in this context that we were alerted to the fact that, among the alleged facts (for an overall overview of the case, see the references in footnotes 7 ), the digital practices of the accused, at the first rank of which the use of encrypted messaging for the general public, are exploited as so many "proofs" of a so-called "clandestineness" which can only be explained by the existence of a terrorist project.

Here are some of the digital habits that are, in this case, exploited as so many "proofs" of the existence of a criminal project 12 :

– the use of applications such as Signal, WhatsApp, Wire, Silence or ProtonMail to encrypt communications;

– the use of tools to protect your privacy on the Internet such as a VPN, Tor or Tails;

– protecting ourselves against the exploitation of our personal data by GAFAM via services such as /e/OS, LineageOS, F-Droid;

– encryption of digital media;

– organization and participation in digital hygiene training sessions;

– the mere possession of technical documentation.

In this document, by which the DGSI requests the opening of a preliminary investigation, we can read: " All the members contacted adopted clandestine behavior, with increased security of the means of communication (encrypted applications, Tails operating system, TOR protocol allowing anonymous browsing on the internet and public wifi). »

This sentence will appear dozens of times in the file. Written by the DGSI, it will be taken up without any hindsight by the magistrates, in the first place of which the investigating judge but also the magistrates of the chamber of instruction and the judges of freedoms and detention.

After their arrests, the indicted are systematically questioned about their use of encryption tools and asked to justify themselves: “Do you use encrypted messaging (WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, ProtonMail)? », « For your personal data, do you use an encryption system? », « Why do you use this kind of encryption and anonymization applications on the internet? ". The supposed link between encryption and crime is clear: “ Have you done any illicit things in the past that required using these encryptions and protections? “, “ Are you looking to hide your activities or have better security? ». In total, there are more than 150 questions related to digital practices.

Let us simply quote this sentence: “ The protagonists of the case were all characterized by their cult of secrecy and the obsession with discretion both in their exchanges and in their browsing on the Internet. The encrypted signal application was used by all of the defendants, some of whom communicated exclusively [highlighted in the text] through this means. » .

Elsewhere, the DGSI will write that “[…] the presence of documents related to the encryption of computer or mobile data [in a seal] ” materialize “ a desire to communicate by clandestine means. » .

This is how they characterise teaching your family to use data hygiene tools:

Worse, the latter will go so far as to retain this training as one of the “ material facts ” characterizing “ the participation in a group formed […] with a view to the preparation of acts of terrorism ”, both for the person who organized it – “ by training them in secure means of communication and internet browsing ” – and for those who have followed it – “ by following training courses in secure internet communication and browsing ”.
 
I couldn't decide whether to put this here or in one of the Trump threads...

‘Huh?’ Trump reminded of Alice Johnson pardon during call to execute drug dealers​

Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, appeared confused when reminded that a convicted cocaine dealer he ordered released in 2018 would have been put to death under his latest proposal to execute drug dealers. “You’ve said you’d be in favor of the death penalty for drug dealers. Still the case?” asked Fox News “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier during an exchange with the 77-year-old that aired Tuesday. “That’s the only way you’re gonna stop it,” Trump declared, adding that “a drug dealer will kill approximately 500 people during the course of his or her life.” Baier then brought up Alice Johnson, a Tennessee grandmother who had served 21 years of a life sentence in connection with her non-violent involvement in a cocaine distribution ring. Trump commuted Johnson’s sentence during his second year in office and issued her and other drug convicts a full pardon in August 2020 after being lobbied by reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
Click to expand...
“I focused on non-violent crime,” Trump said, touting his First Step Act criminal justice reform bill, which allowed thousands of offenders to re-enter society.
“As an example, a woman who you know very well was in jail. She had 24 more years to serve, she served for 22 years. Alice,” the former president said.
“But she’d be killed under your plan,” Baier retorted, prompting Trump to reply, “Huh?”
Click to expand...
OMG *facepalm* Lmao :lol:
“As a drug dealer,” the anchor continued.
“No, no. No. Under my, oh, under that? Uhh, it would depend on the severity,” Trump improvised.
“She’s technically a former drug dealer. She had a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring,” Baier continued, noting that Johnson had appeared in a Super Bowl commercial meant to boost Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.
“Even Alice Johnson? In that ad?” the anchor pressed.
“She can’t do it, OK?” the former president said.
Click to expand...
https://nypost.com/2023/06/21/trump...renewing-his-call-for-executing-drug-dealers/

:confused: "She can't do it"?? Do what?? :dubious: :lol: I literally laughed out loud when I read that... just picturing him waving around his hands in his accordion-hands gesture, just saying whatever nonsensical gibberish that springs to mind.

Good job Brett Baier :lol:
 
Birdjaguar said:
Such a system, assuming it exists, exempts favored people from the application of the law, in this instance traffic laws. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott extended the same approach to a far more serious offense when he publicly declared his intention to pardon a convicted murderer. The murder victim, Garrett Foster, was a white military veteran and also, more to the point, a Black Lives Matter protester. A counter-protester shot him. Abbott’s declared intention to pardon the convicted killer is a pretty explicit statement that he believes Foster forfeited his right to the protection of the law by participating in a BLM protest, and that the convicted killer should accordingly be exempted from the law against murder.
Click to expand...
lol at asserting law should apply to everyone and then pretending self defense isn't a thing, that this "victim" didn't approach a blocked vehicle with a gun and lift his arm with it.

Birdjaguar said:
Another vivid example comes from San Francisco, where tech executive Bob Lee was stabbed to death on a city street in the middle of the night. Fellow tech bros lost no time blaming the city’s elected officials. As the New York Times reported, “Prominent tech executives including Elon Musk tore into the city’s leaders. Matt Ocko, a venture capitalist, said San Francisco officials had Mr. Lee’s ‘literal blood on their hands.’” Well, literal in the sense of figurative. But then, as it turned out, not even that. The person arrested for Lee’s killing was someone well known to him. Then the Wall Street Journal reported on Lee’s hard-partying lifestyle. According to the WSJ, Lee’s use of “ecstasy, ketamine [and] cocaine” was no secret among his contemporaries.

So when the tech bros condemned the city’s lawlessness, did they mean Lee should have been arrested for possession of controlled substances? Of course not. My impression is that they simply took for granted that Lee, a rich white man, was exempt from the drug laws that have put so many millions of less fortunate Americans in prison. But they evidently believed his status gave him an exalted claim to the law’s protection.
Click to expand...
isn't this one of those cities that doesn't enforce law against thefts < $1,000 or some crap? sf memed itself. my only issue with is that people (reasonably) flee that city and then (unreasonably) vote for policy that resembles sf.

but yeah, rich executives, cops, and others should indeed be beholden to the same laws when they do criminal acts. and civil misdeeds too, such as pretending opening a laptop case or similar to report details about the issue somehow voids the warranty. there are fines on the books for misconduct. when small companies do them, they count. they need to count for everyone.

i admit i'm not particularly sympathetic to "tech bros", since they love acting like nice little government agents much of the time. it's amazing any common person backs their bullcrap. separating them from government influence seems like it should be bipartisan, if these weren't already a de facto arm of government in multiple cases. you can't call companies "private" with any shred of honesty when they repeatedly "work with the government", act at government's behest, tow government's line, and punish those who speak against it. in this sense, they resemble corrupt police institutions, albeit with somewhat less pretense.
Bamspeedy said:
Theoretically, no different than having a bumper sticker that says 'I support the police', that might improve chances of a cop going easy on you, but doesn't GUARANTEE you get out of a ticket....unless this lawsuit is correct in that officers were required/very strongly encouraged to accept those cards.
Click to expand...
if the officer in question was actually punished for not behaving in accordance to expectations wrt cards, if that assertion is true...how would it not imply criminal conspiracy?
Samson said:
Here are some of the digital habits that are, in this case, exploited as so many "proofs" of the existence of a criminal project 12 :
Click to expand...
yikes. the quotes are hard to read in parts. was this machine translated? it sounds pretty bad regardless. i guess it's not too surprising in a country that does crap like mostly banning paternity tests.
Sommerswerd said:
OMG *facepalm* Lmao :lol:
Click to expand...
that exchange also sounds like it was machine translated, what the heck trump lol. he would do better just backing off on death penalty generally. would cost him practically none of his base. desantis' polling/performance is junk, but would help distance him from that too. for both parties, any candidate who goes broadly anti-authoritarian w/o directly pissing off its base should be able to farm more votes. for stuff like death penalty, it would even be easy for both sides to cherry pick examples of the government handling it poorly. it's not like you have to look hard.

but for me to take trump more seriously, he'd have had to make different appointments, and prioritize pardoning snowden and assange over the people he did pardon. the main appeal he still has is that so many deep state/establishment people don't like him. for all he's done wrongly, those people hating him suggests he did some things right.
 
I'm really starting to understand a lot of people only think in "forward", and "forward" means "next move"
 
TheMeInTeam said:
those people hating him suggests he did some things right.
Click to expand...
This sure is some top notch critical thinking, here. "the people I don't like don't like him, ergo, he done (some) good". A twist on the enemy of my enemy, except it's invented "deep state" conspiracies all the way down.
 
the US survived a totally inexperienced statesmen at its helm intact.
perhaps there is an accomplishment there somewhere

I'd say whatever it is, it's still working under Joe Biden (as I have no doubt an 80-year-old is not actually "running" anything really...)
 
TheMeInTeam said:
that this "victim" didn't approach a blocked vehicle with a gun and lift his arm with it.
Click to expand...

Just noting again that witnesses testified and a jury unanimously ruled that he did not do this.
 
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