Woman allegedly impersonated prosecutor, dropped charges against herself

Post by pbourke » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 4:03 AM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #239

joubert wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of sticking with the carbon credits analogy I'll articulate more directly what I understand from reading up on indulgences at https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm For a sin that has already been forgiven, an indulgence is associated payment you owe that if you didn't pay, you will spend more time in purgatory. If this is an accurate reading, does it not dilute the meaning of "forgiven"? Does it not amo…

You have some good points, maybe you should write them up and post them up where church-goers would see them, like a church door or something.

Post by eru » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 4:18 AM UTC

el_nahual wrote: post #229

mensetmanusman wrote: post #178

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That is a common misunderstanding of canonical Catholic teaching about "indulgentia a culpa et a poena". Keeping the carbon offset analogy, an indulgence in the Catholic sense would be more akin to first making sure you are carbon neutral (all parties are at peace and forgiven/reconciled), then you spend %10 of your salary to go beyond that and offset the carbon credits of the person you wronged.

An even bigger misconception is that indulgences were actually bought on behalf of _someone else_. They were meant to address a very real problem with catholic heaven/hell theology: What if I belong in heaven, but somene I love, who I can't possibly imagine spending eternity without, belongs in hell? Indulgences were originally meant to address this: the party that belonged in heaven could, through their sacrifice, g…

Post by eru » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 4:21 AM UTC

stubish wrote: post #221

kbenson wrote: post #167

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I've seen reports that it's somewhat common for the rich in China[1], so there might be some info on what it costs there, and maybe some extrapolation could be made. Either the "serve prison in lieu of me" or "say you were the one that committed the crime" version. There are weird perverse incentives at play in some of the laws of criminal justice system in China.[2] 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4339051 2:…

Not so long ago the heir to the Red Bull fortune was alleged to have driven his Ferrari through a police check point at speed, killing an officer. Since it was a police officer killed, the matter was investigated and the mangled Ferrari found on the estate. One of the house hold staff came forward, claiming he was the driver. Apparently this is somewhat expected in these situations. But it did ruffle lots of feathers…

Post by eru » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 4:24 AM UTC

warent wrote: post #160

drpgq wrote: post #149

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Jeez I’m wondering what the going price would be for that today.

Probably more of a price in terms of favors and relationships than money. e.g. If a mob could somehow bust you out then you belong to them for some percent of the prison time. Just a guess though.

Post by eru » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 4:31 AM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #212

ABCLAW wrote: post #187

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Part of my practice is financial fraud investigation. >One has to wonder what legal frauds, asset grabs, and impersonations have transpired that were never discovered. A lot. More than you'd expect. And by people and organizations you wouldn't expect. However, most people are objectively terrible at performing fraud. The things that ultimately lead to people being caught are so simple.

I wonder how many people get away with fraud because so many other people are so bad at it. Perhaps being just better than terrible is enough to not be found out because things are generally as they seem.