What an absolute waste of public resources. Somehow, cases should be weighed for public benefit rather than political gain. Idk how we can do this, but maybe open online referendum on the public desire to prosecute, with a mandate to heavily consider but not necessarily follow the public opinion?
Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
171–180 of 229 posts
Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they described the situation fairly? The folks who legislate against sex work tend to tick most of those boxes.
To be fair, there is real shade to throw at traditional neoliberal uppercase Democrats of the 90's-10's too: copying features of conservatism but then putting off most of the country with bicoastal elitism. The Clintons and Reagans were both out of touch and announced policy on issues without much community engagement. Sex work is legal and more-or-less regulated in most of the UK and Europe even where Le Pen-flavor…
>>The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing didn't happen in a vacuum. It was 100% homegrown terrorism that thrived and came to pass in a culture of government conspiracy theories, Waco, white nationalism, and failure to care for and reintegrate Gulf War vets. Chris Hedges wrote a book on the topic: American Fascists (2008). Excluding Jan 6th as different kind of event, that there hasn't been another domestic terrorism mass casualty event due to diligent work by law enforcement combined with a tinge of dumb luck.
There was also Ruby Ridge, which was absolutely disgusting policing.
And most of the "domestic terrorism" today involves FBI agents trying to bait people into committing offences such as in the Whitmer "kidnapping".
Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
“libertarian” is as much of a slant as left or right is; that its largely orthogonal to the left/right axis, and lots of people think only in terms of that axis (on which Reason is clearly on the right, but not as far from center on that axis as it is on the libertarian one) doesn't change that.
There's about a 50/50 split in the libertarian party so it really isn't. Actually, I would say most of the people there lean left, or center.
Oh, come on. Face it: The US Libertarian party has been totally been taken over by far right wing racist populist LINO assholes who like to snort coke and bang underage hookers and are embarrassed to call themselves Republican but always vote that way just to stay in power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz
>Gaetz has self-identified as a "libertarian populist".[102] Observers have described his views as far right.[2] Gaetz was an early supporter of Donald Trump and his appeal to the Republican Party base, echoing his talking points. In several commercials during his 2016 congressional campaign, Gaetz promised to "kill Muslim terrorists and build the wall".[103]
Trouble for Matt Gaetz: Witness Says She Was Paid for Sex Parties With Him:
https://newrepublic.com/post/179070/matt-gaetz-witness-house...
>The House Ethics Committee is now weighing that evidence to determine whether or not the MAGA politician paid for sex with women and an underage teenager.
Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
> evangelical Christian white supremacists Ah yes, the ol' reliable 'everyone who disagrees with me is a Nazi' approach
I think they described the situation fairly? The folks who legislate against sex work tend to tick most of those boxes.
There is a feminist case against prostitution as well. EG https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/june-2022/women-should-not-be...
Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#175Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is because we would rather have many guilty people go free than send an innocent person to prison No we wouldn't. Or we wouldn't utilize the plea deal in 93% of criminal cases. And we use it with little-to-no oversight. Unless what a prosecutor offers is so -utterly egregiously inappropriate- that it causes a judge to double take, they can pretty much do as they like. Which is why we use it more than 60x more…
> Oof. Not only is it "possible" you're not actually innocent, your attitude is "it doesn't even make sense to assume that". Screw it, why do we need a justice system? You were arrested, let's just take you straight to prison. Of course it's possible. But if someone is charged with 5 crimes and convicted of 4, why should we reimburse their legal fees? That is what GP proposed, and it would be nuts. If the prosecution…
Pro-rate it. If the prosecution loses 1/5 counts, the defendant is reimbursed 1/5 of their total legal expenditure.
Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is one of those things that sounds good in theory, but is terrible in practice. It would incentivize prosecution to avoid court at all costs. Which means de facto immunity for wealthy people who can easily afford to go to court. And it will probably make law enforcement even worse about railroading people who can't afford any legal representation.
> It would incentivize prosecution to avoid court at all costs. Their job is to prosecute. Their only option is to pick cases that can be won. Which isn't hard, as the average person who is charged with some criminal act is not only guilty, but clearly guilty. > Which means de facto immunity for wealthy people who can easily afford to go to court. Money can't make a guilty man innocent. If you've actually done someth…
> as the average person who is charged with some criminal act is not only guilty, but clearly guilty.
I don’t even know why we have all this stuff like lawyers judges, prosecutors, hierarchy of courts, appeals. It could all be automated with kiosk at the police station.
I am not sure you are not just trolling :)
Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#178Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#179Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Money laundering laws doesn't require that the money be proceeds of crime. It only requires that you do things in an attempt to obscure the source of the money. For example structuring cash deposits. If you have a pile of legitimate cash, say through a cash business (you pay all taxes), but you intentionally make multiple $9,000 deposits to avoid generating a CTR (currency transaction report for cash deposits over $1…
So out of curiosity, what if you run a business that just happens to generate $9K of cash regularly, for any reason? Are you supposed to risk keeping it on premises until enough adds up, or you should tell the bank to file a CTR, or something else?
You’re at risk of some over zealous prosecutor accusing you of structuring.