fridi: (Default)
[personal profile] fridi
Bold (and possibly foolish) prediction: Seeing Trump treated as an ordinary criminal will break the hold he has on the remaining center-leaning independents. Jack Smith and Alvin Bragg providing Trump with the due respect of an ex-President even as they indicted him afforded him the imprimatur of his former office. Watching him fingerprinted and photographed just as any mugger or meth dealer would be sort of breaks that image.

Trump and co-defendants expected to be booked at Fulton County jail, sheriff says

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said arrest warrants have been issued and set an Aug. 25 deadline for all defendants to surrender voluntarily

Sounds like a nice jail. 1.5 rating.
luzribeiro: (Default)
[personal profile] luzribeiro
Foreign leaders and media outlets began to react Tuesday evening to former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s conviction on three counts in the killing of George Floyd, a case that sparked an international reckoning and has grasped the attention of observers around the world.

It's about damn time cops started going to jail for exceeding their authority.

Politicians need to start going to jail too.

About as open and shut case as ever was out there.

Problem with police is, they are a fraternity that protects their own, right and wrong.

Chauvon was a dirty cop with a reputation for bigotry, and got away with stuff like this for 19-some years. There were three other cops right there with him, and none of them stepped in to stop his actions. Why? Cops all know the dirty cops, and refuse to report them, confusing silence with integrity.

This is the brightest action taken against rogue cops in ages, doesn't make a bit of difference what city it occurs in. Kudos to the jury, maybe some of these cops will stand up and take notice that the uniform doesn't give them the right to commit criminal acts, and it might solve some of the animosity among police and the citizenry, particularly the Black community.
mahnmut: (WTF-E?)
[personal profile] mahnmut
'I’m facing a prison sentence': US Capitol rioters plead with Trump for pardons

"Ryan said she had been “displaying my patriotism”, adding: “I listen to my president who told me to go to the Capitol.”"

But, but, he had nothing to do with it! Right?

In any case, don't worry dear rebels/patriots/real-Amurkins. Daddy Don has your backs... right? Oh wait.

Per himself from half a year ago:

"“Anarchists, Agitators or Protestors who vandalize or damage our Federal Courthouse in Portland, or any Federal Buildings in any of our Cities or States, will be prosecuted under our recently re-enacted Statues & Monuments Act. MINIMUM TEN YEARS IN PRISON. Don’t do it!"

Wait... what? Oh I get it. I guess the above only applies to anyone who doesn't worship him. These people here were true American heroes trying to save the Constitution (by revolting against it). Gawd. I'm loving this.

That said, IMO current and future Presidential pardons need to be reviewed by a bi-partisan group or by the Supreme Court. Anyone with me?
luzribeiro: (Default)
[personal profile] luzribeiro
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited to United States, UK judge rules

This is a surprise though it has to be said the judge ruled that what he did was more than investigative journalism. She also said she believed he would get a fair trial in the US. However she has ruled against extradition because it is believed that Assange who is apparently clinically depressed would commit suicide if he was to be extradited to the US.

The US is going to appeal. There will be a hearing this week to discuss the possibility of bail.

Some compare the judge in this case to Cruella DeVille, if I'm spelling that right.

She made the right decision, but for the wrong reasons. She does not seem interested at all in First Amendment principles, but she did the right thing.

Hopefully he will be enjoying freedom and family soon!
luzribeiro: (Default)
[personal profile] luzribeiro
What an absolute joke this president is. The hits just keep coming and coming. Roger Stone is an absolute nutcase. The rest are just criminals/thugs.

Trump Gives Clemency to More Allies, Including Manafort, Stone and Charles Kushner

I'll wager he doesn't pardon Jared Kushner. Jared has too much dirt on the Donald and would be compelled to testify against him. On the other hand, I'm sure the state of New York would be quite interested in speaking with Jared. Who knows, he may flip on Trump to save his own arse?

If nothing else, his pardons cement his place as the most corrupt President in American history. Presidents always go through a vetting process using the DOJ to investigate and make recommendations. Trump? Zero input from the DOJ. This is an abuse of power. Quid Pro Quo, anyone? Sad. "Very saaad."
nairiporter: (Default)
[personal profile] nairiporter
There are numerous accounts in the media right now that the president is considering granting pardons to himself, Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka and Jared Kushner and Rudy Giuliani. The question I have is, wouldn't you only grant pardons if you knew they had all committed crimes for which they could all incur legal criminal punishment?

Can he even issue a pre-emptive pardon? Doesn't it have to be for something specific that already happened? Otherwise, the person with the pardon could go on a wild crime spree without consequence. I am not an expert, so please enlighten me on this.

Read more... )
luzribeiro: (Default)
[personal profile] luzribeiro
Man, when I heard Trump was gonna pardon a turkey I didn't think it was gonna be that turkey.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1331706255212228608
"It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to [profile] genflynn
and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!"


Not sure pardoning an admitted criminal is an honor.

Let's be real. Trump just rewarded loyalty over character. Flynn is not some wrongly persecuted figure. He admitted his crimes and willingly pleaded guilty.

Let's go further. This is not a man who did his time and has since demonstrated that he is a changed character, nor has he atoned for his crimes in any way.

This is nothing more than a reward for keeping his mouth shut.

In my wise and generally correct opinion.

So basically Flynn got away with some shit. Congratulations to him and his family. Hopefully that dumbass stays out of public service now.
abomvubuso: (Groovy Kol)
[personal profile] abomvubuso
Russian MPs consider lifetime immunity for former presidents

Prosecuting former Russian presidents and members of their families will likely become virtually impossible in the near future, and the same applies to their detention, arrest, searches, interrogation, or any other such intervention by law enforcement. The above-mentioned bill was introduced in the Russian Duma earlier this month by two members of Putin's party.

Actually, a law that grants former presidents protection from judicial prosecution has been in place since 2001 in Russia. It makes them immune to penal and administrative responsibility, and stipulates a specific regime regulating potential lawsuits against them on heavier charges.

Read more... )
fridi: (Default)
[personal profile] fridi

Cuomo: Trump would need an army with him if he walked New York City's streets

Let's hope that army won't look like armed militia wearing red caps. But it's true, New Yorkers definitely don't want Trump to set foot back in their city ever again. Most of them hate him in their guts, and believe he's the biggest liar in the world.

Trump Tower at 5th Ave is now basically a no-go zone. But it's unlikely its owner would go back there any time soon. Especially now that he's about to lose his presidential immunity.

Read more... )
johnny9fingers: (Default)
[personal profile] johnny9fingers
As it unfolds...

www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-to-reduce-sentencing-recommendation-for-trump-associate-roger-stone-official-says-after-president-calls-it-unfair/2020/02/11/ad81fd36-4cf0-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html

www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/politics/roger-stone-sentencing.html

For the TL;DR folk - When A G Barr’s intervention in the Roger Stone case causes the prosecutors to quit, the US legal system looks to be in crisis.

Given this does the panel think this is a storm in a teacup or something more serious? It certainly appears to be important to lots of lawyers, who are quite excited about it in various ways.

As is I think that this is indicative of more to come. Time to reach for Oswald Spengler, I guess. The process of decline takes many forms; only a few of which need be catastrophic - and I’d say those were the ones to be avoided if possible.

But is this change in the DoJ catastrophic? Some lawyerly commentators seem to think so, but I’m sure Mr Barr would argue that they are merely maintaining an old-fashioned position in a world full of new, exciting possibilities of minimal sentences for chums, and a general license to get away with much more. It’s only another aspect of deregulation, after all.

fridi: (Default)
[personal profile] fridi
The European leaders tend to often fiercely criticize the US (at times for a good reason) for, let's put it mildly, their shady practices at Guantanamo, where folks accused of Al Qaeda affiliations have been held with no due process, outside any law or jurisdiction. Except today, when the EU is standing at the dilemma what to do with its own citizens who've gone to join Al Qaeda and Daesh, seem to have resorted to a similar tactic. Holding those fighters in detention camps far outside Europe.

Now three months after Daesh lost most of its controlled territories, about a couple thousand of their fighters are still stuck in Syrian and Iraqi jails - out of them, about 800 EU citizens. Not including their spouses and kids, some of whom remain with non-EU citizenship by the way.

The European leaders have done very little during these three months to retrieve their own citizens, even when the US and Kurdish forces who administer the jails in Syria insisted that the EU should come up with a strategy for getting those people back to their countries. Otherwise, the Kurds warn, those jails will be opened up and the Daesh fighters will be moved to other regions. There's no easy answer to this problem of course: if the EU doesn't get its citizens back, they'd sink somewhere in the sand waste of Syria and Iraq, possibly regroup in Africa, and help build the new Caliphate there. Conversely, if they're returned to Europe to stand trial, they could pose a new threat with their very presence, including through recruitment and radicalization of new fighters for their cause from among the prison population.

Read more... )
johnny9fingers: (Default)
[personal profile] johnny9fingers
So Robert Mueller wrote to William Barr.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mueller-complained-that-barrs-letter-did-not-capture-context-of-trump-probe/2019/04/30/d3c8fdb6-6b7b-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/30/robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-attorney-general

And now it appears that the Attorney General may have misled the American people. We have all seen the redacted report. We can all agree with Robert Mueller when he says that Barr “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the special counsel’s findings.

“There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation,” Mr Mueller added. “This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”

It really does look like almost anyone who does not have the sort of unimpeachable moral integrity that comes naturally to a saint (which is most of us) and who comes into contact with this present administration is tainted. It is as if everything touched by it turns to corruption.

When William Barr summarised the Mueller Report there were very few folk who could contradict him. He has now muddied the waters. We really deserve a good filtration system. So I have questions to put about William Barr:

Has he done a partisan hack-job with inaccurate spoilers on the Mueller Report to deliberately obfuscate matters?

And if so, is he compromised to the point where he can no longer function as Attorney General?

What does the panel think?


johnny9fingers: (Default)
[personal profile] johnny9fingers
..Pissed off the new regime in Ecuador and they invited the police in to the Embassy to take the chap away.

Now we have to work out if we should extradite him to the US or not. For a change, Jeremy Corbyn has come out with an opinion with which I agree; which is against extradition. I think maybe we should allow Julian to escape to Moscow after serving what amounts to a seven-year self-imposed sentence, but what do I know? Maybe we should fine him for his contempt of court and skipping bail, but he's already done his time, so to speak. If the lasses involved in the case don't want to bring charges any longer then contempt of court is basically our only point of contention with the chap.

And we all know what he did anyway. We were there when the strategically-timed releases happened. Among other things. Assange has defended himself using very questionable tactics but has been targeted by some folk (if nation-states can be considered to be people, much like companies) using equally questionable tactics.

I did think that after all the assistance that Julian gave the Trump campaign he would be safe from prosecution in the States. But maybe not. Trump's memory is so full of lacunae that I'd not really want to extradite anyone there ATM; it all depends who he has delegated the job to, I suppose. And I don't think, structurally speaking, Uncle Vlad would be pleased if the Donald threw Julian under a bus. Wikileaks may be a busted flush now, but it still has a brand name despite (or maybe because of) being a contested space between various agencies leaking this and that; alongside whistleblowers and folk trying to let other people know of bad things happeningTM.

Assange may find life as an asset rather trying, but there you go.

We haven't put Cameron in the Tower, despite his manifest fubars. Here's hoping we don't put Assange on a plane to Washington.

Can I has a "Free Association" tag, or maybe a "making-it-up-as-I-go-along" one? It is Friday after all.
luzribeiro: (Chococat)
[personal profile] luzribeiro
First Im'ma just throw this in, to get things going a bit:

Key US allies 'perplexed' as Trump treats friends like enemies

"President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his historic meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un left South Korea's President "perplexed" and sparked angry protests in Seoul. One sign read: "We condemn Trump. Welcome to life these days as a close US ally."

Then we proceed with this:

Trump Furious After Nobel Committee Gives Him Participation Trophy

Sorry Don, no Nobel for ya. Thanks Obama!

Then we get more serious )
[identity profile] dreamville-bg.livejournal.com
He's not free yet, but Assange is allowed a breath of fresh air... at least metaphorically.

Julian Assange: Sweden drops rape investigation

Watch the British police arrest him on the way to the airport. For what, you ask? For existing. Or more hilariously, for breaking bail on a non existent case. He has served a multi-year sentence. Even the cheapest lawyer would get him off the hook with ease. So that leaves extradition. I bet the US deep state still wants him to suffer an accident.

As for the so called other whistleblower... )
[identity profile] mahnmut.livejournal.com
Turns out, the war crime blame game is not so cut and dry, eh? The villain has turned out to be not-so-villainous, after all...

...And nobody cared. Still looking around the news-feeds and news aggregates, nobody is reporting on this essential news. Nobody anywhere near the top pages anyway. And the second-from-top pages. And third. It could be buried somewhere under heaps of useless stuff, granted, but it ain't where it ought to be. But that's not the point.

Why is this news "essential" - that's the point. Well, because it displays yet another example of the modern recipe of how to conquer a country. Create fake instability, mark a villain, send in "peace-keeping troops", and boom - you got yourself a country. Then build military bases while keeping control of leadership by placing a well-trained US-educated puppet in power. Then, after everyone has forgotten all about the evil dictator (preferably conveniently murdered in an "extrajudicial" assassination), you can safely apologize for having picked the wrong villain and being on the wrong side of history. Oops! Sorry. Did we do that again? But not to worry! You get to keep the military bases anyway, and the country will stay under your control. Can't let a good banana republic go to waste. Brilliant! World domination in a few simple steps, copy and repeat.

It`s probably not news because the scheme is actually pretty old )
[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com
Oklahoma actually indicted and convicted one Daniel Holtzclaw, serial rapist police officer, on the count of raping 18 women. Holtzclaw, in the process of his crimes, was known by the police of the city he was 'protecting' as a rapist before the final rapes he committed prior to his arrest:

cut for article links )
The way that I look at it, the conviction of Daniel Hotlzclaw proves that occasionally, when caught red-handed, even a society prone to drive rape victims out of town rather than punish the rapists and prone to  treat rapists as martyrs to injustice can in actual fact do the right thing in spite of itself. This society may burn down towns over the dismissal of someone who aids and abets pedophiles, but it at least won't tolerate this serial rapist with a badge, this time.
OSZAR »