The Problem
Decades of unbalanced coverage and a profound misunderstanding of the job of media has finally come home to roost. As you’ve probably heard by now, Donald Trump has been indicted again. I won’t belabor that point specifically as we have covered this over and over again, That’s a large part of the problem. What we have is an intersection of lack of proportion with a steady diet of misinformation to create what apparently appears to be our collective decent into nihilism.
Those are big words. That’s also part of the problem. Conservative America and conservative media have managed to pull off a dumbing down of society in general which has led to a whole separate universe. So, the House of Representatives continues to go after Hunter Biden and Joe Biden. Hunter Biden has almost certainly taken short cuts in life and traded on his name to get ahead. Of course, that pales in comparison with what the Trump children have done, but that is an example of the problem we will get to. Did Joe Biden use his influence to help his son? Perhaps he did and if he did that’s a bad thing, but we certainly haven’t seen proof of it yet.
Let’s compare that with a president that literally committed treason. Let’s compare that with his children that made money hand over fist from foreign governments while actually working in the White House. Let’s compare that with a president that has now been found liable for rape, indicted for paying off a porn star to keep the story from impacting the election, been indicted for illegally possessing documents in his bathroom, hiding it from the authorities, and apparently showing them off to any Tom, Dick, and Harry that came to see him in his office.
Anyone other than someone like Trump would be standing before a firing squad. This is not hyperbole. This is literally true. We haven’t even gotten to his efforts to subvert the election and end our democracy. We haven’t gotten to him being on voice mail openly asking the Secretary of State in Georgia to find him enough votes to win. He will literally be indicted in four different jurisdictions and will be held civilly liable for defamation in another one.
The problem is perfectly plain. We do not live in a balanced world. There is no “well your guy did some stuff so it is okay for my guy to do stuff.” Even if that were remotely true, there is no comparison between the two things. They want you to believe it. They want you to believe that all politicians are overwhelmingly corrupt. They want you to understand that Biden has committed impeachable offenses. They aren’t quite sure what yet. They can’t prove it and they’ve spent the better part of a year trying, but by God it’s true.
The problem is that it all sounds like a fantastical conspiracy theory. It sounds similar to the yarns that are spun on the right. So, it all becomes political theatre, They say stupid stuff without any facts to back it up, so the seemingly bizarre truth that happened before our very eyes has to be equally nuts. Except it isn’t. We saw it with our very eyes. We heard it plainly with our ears. We aren’t stupid. Except maybe we are. Sometimes some things are so over the top and so up front that it is nearly impossible to believe. Would someone really be that stupid to do something that blatant? Well, the answer is yes.
“Anyone other than someone like Trump would be standing before a firing squad.”
Now that’s an exaggeration, Nick. We’d be facing a needle in the arm at the fed prison in Danville. I think it’s only Nebraska that has a firing squad option.
As for your real topic here, I agree. A recent meme says it succintly: “Democrats: we’re not perfect, but they’re nuts.”
1I have said this previously: Of all the bad players involved leading up to this moment, first among equals is rupert “joseph goebbels” murdoch. Yet he is allowed to skate. Why?
2It would be a generalization to say that the repugnantican party is part of a cult, but certainly they are controlled by a cult and its leader, one Donald Trump. It doesn’t matter how compelling the evidence against their leader is because it is a cult. They have shown they will ignore the truth and just bow down to their leader. The nominee for the GOP is highly likely to be a multi indicted felon, and they will send him money and vote for him. Bizarre times we live in.
3Steve from Beaverton@3
Indeed, they are a cult.
I listened to one of tfg rally goers say he’d have no problem with Trump shooting someone from the WH steps. He said ” I just like the guy”.
Now these people hate the ones who brought them to the party.
4Fox. Go figure and of course.
TFG has pushed the envelope for his own benefit for more years than I have been alive… and it has apparently worked for him. He cannot believe he finally hit a wall.
I hope this all leads to him being disqualified to run in 2024. But then Ramaswamy waits in the shadows to step out & into Drumpf’s shoes.
We’ve got to vote… in every election!
5Fox News didn’t even want Trump as President back in the 2016 primaries.
As Warren Buffet’s business partner Charlie Munger famously said, “When you mix raisins and turds, you’ve still got turds.”
Christians got an abortion raisin.
The wealthy took a handful of tax break raisins.
Racists got their raisin.
Everyone of us has had to live through a big steaming pile of Trump.
6I duh ho has the firing squad.
7linda, I stand corrected. My knowledge of death methods is from the 70s, back when Gary Gilmore chose the squad. But that was in Utah, not Nebraska. Nebraska apparently throws corn cobs at you until you expire.
Several amazingly enlightened states allow firing squads: Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, South Carolina, and now Idaho. I’m sure Texas and Florida would be on the list but they’re waiting on some “businessman” to make a juicy offer for supplying bullets,etc.
BTW, the article https://apnews.com/article/death-penalty-executions-firing-squads-idaho-74803c0de8a50a512bdb52dae4974570 has a photo of the set up for it. The black sandbags around the chair are a tasteful touch.
8Maybe for certain MAGA folk they can bring back being drawn and quartered. In all seriousness, I’m anti death penalty so I need to be consistent. I’d take Gitmo or Elba.
9Just to be certain about this, what DJT and his cohorts have done meets the Federal definition of Treason, and the penalty upon conviction can be Death:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_laws_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Three_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Section_3:_Treason
The only Federal site for executions is the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute.
But a Federal prosecution can also choose to have the death penalty executed by a state of their choosing, and a few states still have as alternate methods, firing squad and hanging.
So, may he end up in the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, and get a transfer…
.
“Definition: In Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, treason is specifically limited to levying war against the U.S., or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.[2]
Penalty: Under U.S. Code Title 18, the penalty is death,[4] or not less than five years’ imprisonment (with a minimum fine of $10,000, if not sentenced to death). Any person convicted of treason against the United States also forfeits the right to hold public office in the United States.[5]
The terms used in the definition derive from English legal tradition, specifically the Treason Act 1351.
[ed– particularly note this:] —Levying war means the assembly of armed people to overthrow the government or to resist its laws.—
Enemies are subjects of a foreign government that is in open hostility with the United States.[6] Treason does not distinguish between participants and accessories; all persons who rebel or intentionally give aid to hostilities are subject to the same charge.[7] ”
And from Article III of the Constitution:
“In Ex Parte Bollman, 8 U.S. 75 (1807), the Supreme Court ruled that “there must be an actual assembling of men, for the treasonable purpose, to constitute a levying of war.”[18]”.
Which we have DJT actually doing and speechifying about on January 6th, assembling, motivating, and instructing his mob. On video in front of OUR White House.
10This man has been an ulcer on our backside long enough. His lying, cheating, and conniving started long ago and he is only now understanding that the law is applied equally. Like Nick, I’m against the death penalty, so may I recommend a lovely Texas prison with no A/C and a couple of baloney sandwiches a day?
11When I googled whether any states allow hanging for executions, the answer was: New Hampshire is currently the only state that allows hanging as a means of execution. Maybe Mike Pencive would find that as an appropriate penalty for trumpf.
12Note that the cite that I gave about “armed people” was actually noted and verified, by press, Secret Service, and others at the time.
When DJT gave his January 6th exhortation about his mob marching down to and assaulting Congress in pursuit of his desired coup d’etat, the entrance screening process left the armed people outside the immediate grounds, while the unarmed people were allowed closer proximity to DJT’s podium.
De facto proof of “the assembly of armed people to overthrow the government or to resist its laws.”; summoned and incited by Trump.
There is no doubt that this was a treasonous act, performed by the then acting President himself.
Nothing else in our nation’s history is more deserving of the death penalty! [sorry, you guys against it]
From my above comment @10:
13“[ed– particularly note this:] —Levying war means the assembly of armed people to overthrow the government or to resist its laws.—”
Steve from Beaverton @12, The references I gave above @10, outlined the death penalty options [with a lot of digging], with NH’s hanging and several others allowing a firing squad.
Of particular note is that in a Federal case, upon that penalty being awarded, the Federal prosecutor can re-assign the execution from the FCC in Terra Haute, to some ‘state’ of their choosing, of the ones with a death penalty.
So such a means of execution is certainly within the realm of possibility in a Federal treason case.
[I’d eagerly volunteer for that squad…]
14Thanks Sandridge. I should have read your attachments but I was in a hurry and I was being facetious (about hanging the bastard). But on a serious note, I’m pretty sure we’re going to see the worst of the law profession on trial as well as defending what should be indefensible. I can’t help myself to believe that the cases against trumpf won’t be resolved before the election and a complete shit show will be the headline for 2024.
15BTW, if anyone starts up with the “Trump was only exercising his free speech” bullshit, remind them that Charles Manson served life in prison for talking, not for killing. I don’t remember anyone complaining about THAT sentence.
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