Politics And Current Events

[MR25]

Maybe it's responsible for the conspiracy theories

[Gaucho]

Elizabeth Vargas: "Did Mike Pence do the right thing or the wrong thing on Jan 6?"

Kristi Noem: "I don't answer hypothetical questions."

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

what I imagine RFK’s worm looks like

[Shyster]

I’m confident a person like Jack Smith should be able to navigate any f*ckery that is going on. It’s frustrating to the general public but this is the legal system the country has built.

I’d also add that I wish Americans had the nerves of French citizens. Maybe our “leaders” would actually be held accountable and corporations wouldn’t run everything… but I digress.

The Trump prosecutions are not remarkable because Trump is getting preferential treatment. They are remarkable because it's basically impossible to railroad Trump by coercive plea bargaining and overcharging, which means that the government actually has to do its job.

[Pavel Bure]

I’m confident a person like Jack Smith should be able to navigate any f*ckery that is going on. It’s frustrating to the general public but this is the legal system the country has built.

I’d also add that I wish Americans had the nerves of French citizens. Maybe our “leaders” would actually be held accountable and corporations wouldn’t run everything… but I digress.

The Trump prosecutions are not remarkable because Trump is getting preferential treatment. They are remarkable because it's basically impossible to railroad Trump by coercive plea bargaining and overcharging, which means that the government actually has to do its job.

Makes sense. They can’t do the typical stack charges and then say “hey we’ll throw out X, Y, and Z if you plead guilt to 1, 2, and 3.”

[Gaucho]

[NTP66]

[Gaucho]

dude

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

man that is hilarious but probably not the smartest for a politician to make it lol

[tifosi77]

If you are a billionaire media personality and former president, you too can benefit from the 'adequate' administration of justice.

[Rylan]

Ah yes, just be wealthy and white to get the proper constitutional treatment. cause that makes it better.

[Shyster]

Ah yes, just be wealthy and white to get the proper constitutional treatment. cause that makes it better.

It's not a matter of being wealthy and white, although those certainly don't hurt. Plenty of wealthy, white defendants have pleaded guilty in the face of coercive plea bargaining. Let's say the government has brought charges that, although you think they are totally specious, carry mandatory-minimum sentences that would last decades. Or let's say the government, in addition to charging you with crimes, is seeking to forfeit literally everything you own—your house, car, bank accounts, the whole shebang—which would leave your spouse and children homeless and broke. When the prosecutors offer to forget all that if you just plead guilty to these lesser charges here and take a lesser sentence, a whole lot of people accept rather than risk a jury trial and the potential of being slammed with everything, even if they are in fact innocent.

What makes Trump unique is not that he is wealthy and white, but that he is impervious to being coerced. He wants to be president again more than anything. Pleading guilty would almost certainly negate that. There is nothing that prosecutors can threaten him with that will make him accept a plea agreement.

[Gaucho]

[count2infinity]

Elizabeth Vargas: "Did Mike Pence do the right thing or the wrong thing on Jan 6?"

Kristi Noem: "I don't answer hypothetical questions."

I thought for sure that this was stretching the truth on what she said...





I'm curious as to what she means with "law's been changed" to make it so that Jan 6th would never happen again.

[Shyster]

I'm curious as to what she means with "law's been changed" to make it so that Jan 6th would never happen again.

The question was specifically as to Mike Pence's actions on that day. Recall there was an assertion that the VP had the ability to reject electroral votes while presiding over the official opening and counting of electoral votes. Congress in 2022 passed an amendment to 3 U.S.C. § 15, which governs the counting of electoral votes. I believe the amendment either added or modified subsection (b)(3), which now says:

(2)Powers explicitly denied.—
The President of the Senate shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.

Thus, the law has been changed as to whether Mike Pence acted correctly because the law now clarifies that the VP has no authority to determine, accept, or reject any votes. Governor Noem is correct that the specific question that she was asked has now been mooted.

I gotta give her credit. Ms. Noem is not a lawyer, but that was a great "lawyer" answer to a question. Answer only the question asked and decline to answer a moot issue. Perfect answer.

[count2infinity]

That may be a great lawyer answer, but it's 100% a politician trying to not say the wrong thing and make their base angry answer. The "correct" answer is "Yes, Mike Pence did the right thing. In fact, the very idea that he may not have done what he did caused a law to be written so that what Pence did is now the only legal thing a person in that situation could do."

[count2infinity]

Plus... hold on a second. She didn't "Answer only the question asked". The question is whether Mike Pence did the right thing or the wrong thing on Jan. 6th. The fact that he doesn't have a choice in the future because a law has been written about it doesn't make it a hypothetical question. At the time, it was vague/unclear and he had a decision to make. She's asking for opinion on whether that decision at the time was the correct decision in her opinion. There's nothing hypothetical about it. Now, were she to ask, "Do you think if you were in Mike Pence's shoes, you'd have done the same?" or "If you are Trump's VP and a democrat wins the 2028 election, would you consider not certifying the vote?" Those are hypotheticals...

[faftorial]

I'm curious as to what she means with "law's been changed" to make it so that Jan 6th would never happen again.

The question was specifically as to Mike Pence's actions on that day. Recall there was an assertion that the VP had the ability to reject electroral votes while presiding over the official opening and counting of electoral votes. Congress in 2022 passed an amendment to 3 U.S.C. § 15, which governs the counting of electoral votes. I believe the amendment either added or modified subsection (b)(3), which now says:

(2)Powers explicitly denied.—
The President of the Senate shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.

Thus, the law has been changed as to whether Mike Pence acted correctly because the law now clarifies that the VP has no authority to determine, accept, or reject any votes. Governor Noem is correct that the specific question that she was asked has now been mooted.

I gotta give her credit. Ms. Noem is not a lawyer, but that was a great "lawyer" answer to a question. Answer only the question asked and decline to answer a moot issue. Perfect answer.

Perfect post to point out why people hate attorneys.

[Shyster]

I think she misstated "hypothetical" when she likely meant "moot." Something that will never happen again is moot.

I didn't say the answer wasn't weaseley. I said it was a lawyer answer. Lawyer answers are practically weaseley by definition.

[Troy Loney]

lol

https://x.com/carlquintanilla/status/17 ... 33675?s=46

[dodint]

Adoption of EVs is already failing, hah.

[Shyster]

I agree with Toyota (which has been very hesitant to do full electrics) that the current sweet spot for vehicles is the plug-in hybrid, especially if companies get the range on PHEVs up to at least 40-50 miles per charge. Most people on average drive less than 40 miles per day, so a PHEV with that range would handle the majority of daily-driving duties while still having a gas engine to fire up for longer trips while not being beholden to a charging network. Plus, the number of batteries you need for a full EV can make multiple PHEVs, which matters given that materials like lithium are finite resources.

[dodint]

My PHEV, a 2017 Chevy Volt, gets 58 miles of electric before the gas kicks in. It's not a difficult goal to achieve. We're getting over 2000 miles to an 8 gallon tank.

But nobody makes that style of PHEV right now except for, I believe, the Toyota RAV4 Prime.

[count2infinity]

PHEV is what I wanted, but I just couldn't get one for a non 10K mark up at the time. Oh well, maybe for my next car.

[MR25]

Yeah, I hope Toyota continues to make a hybrid Camry. Kinda kicking myself for not going that route when I bought my car 2.5 years ago, but something to keep in mind for next time.