Agreed. And, respectfully, I’d GTFO if there was any way I could.
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The size or severity of the crime has little baring on whether it is a criminal or civil trial. Very few of these types of crimes are charged criminally as the bar for that requires demonstration of conscious calculated malfeasance. That is a bar that is not necessary to meet to demonstrate that financial crimes have been made and so it generally isn’t worth an AG’s time to pursue them. But there still has to be a deterrent and that is why the civil statutes are written in a way that makes the fines so potentially big.
Any complaint that he was only targeted because he was a political opponent may seem intuitively reasonable, but is a perspective belied by the strength of the actual case that was prosecuted.
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I hear you! It’s a tricky one. I could go back to the UK, as that’s where I grew up, but I’m not altogether sure I fancy that either.
I don’t know if it’s middle age and a sense of laziness, or entropy, or just ‘settling’ for what you have. I am 53 years old, married (to an American - she went to Uni in the UK and that’s when we met and got married). We had our two kids in the UK but then moved here when they were little, mostly to be closer to my wife’s family. Our kids are now age 20 and 17. Their life is here, but if my wife and I moved they would probably come with us, but I don’t know for sure, and I don’t know how disruptive that would be for them.
I can’t stand America, politically, and the country obviously has its problems. The lucky thing for us is the place where we live is regularly voted as one of the best places to live in the country, based on cost of living, jobs, crime, education, amenities, etc. So there’s a sense in which I live in a bubble in the suburbs.
I hear you though. Watching what is happening in the leadership of the country makes me wonder about where our lives are planted.
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The story of America, a lunatic asylum with pockets scattered all over the country that allow people there to have a happy life.
I have long felt the same about Orlando, but honestly the general Florida stuff is increasingly penetrating that bubble and raising the prospect of us moving. I think I’ve mentioned before my partner is ethnically Korean and so there has always been this fact of her life where people feel the need to make sure she understands that she is different, but it is far more part of our life today than she’s ever experienced before. We just cannot come up with a good option for where to go though.
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Being honest I don’t know. I find the whole US legal system to be an open shit show. Trump has also been convicted of sex offenses but not criminally. I find that bizarre at best. Same with a certain member of the UK royal family. To me it’s completely crazy that you can be convicted of a serious crime in one court but get let off in another.
Then go after his accountant? Someone inflated the size of his assets. It didn’t, couldn’t happen by “accident” could it?
Sorry read the rest of your post after this
That is not accurate though. The E Jean Carroll cases were defamation cases (hence civil). Within the first of those trials though the judge took the procedural step of evaluating the evidence of the assault and affirming that it was well enough supported to treat them as true for the purposes of the defamation case (later, cases). This was relevant to both the lines of defense available to Trump and the breadth of the civil charges that could be brought against him, but it does not amount to a criminal judgement on whether he is a rapist. Understandably, criminal charges against a 30 year old accusation are near impossible to demonstrate even without consideration of the SoL.
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His CFO has gone to jail and is now returning to jail for perjury.
This is another demonstration of the lack of need to pursue criminal charges for these offenses, because the likelihood of these people committing provable crimes in the act of trying to cover their tracks once they realize they are in trouble makes getting a conviction of those things really high
That is a simple matter of the burden of proof. The law school example these days is OJ Simpson. The whole damn world knew he was guilty, but the critical evidence for a criminal conviction was thrown out, and he was found Not Guilty. That is not the same as being innocent, and the lower burden of proof for a civil trial meant he was found responsible for the wrongful death.
Yeah, but that is only because Johnnie Cochran used the Chewbacca Defence.
I don’t get any of this, I’ll leave America if XYZ becomes president, it’s insane, and there are quite a few people with egg on their face after stating publicly they will 100% leave, have the financial mean, then backtrack. I know some people in the public eye that say it for the sake of making a point, but there are some other’s …. no backbone.
The president is 4 years if they do a shit job (across divides). The president can not do a huge amount without the senate, house etc, can’t destroy the constitution, can’t destroy the way of life in your state.
As Bill Burr says, nothing will change, did he put a sandwich on your table? You do that. I know it’s a comedy bit, but there is however a level of truth to it.
I put a huge distinction on sexual assault vs rape. The Carroll accusation was sexual assault. The reason I differentiate is that sexual assault can range from “minor” to more extreme assaults.
NY law requires “rape” be penis in vagina, which is pretty clearly an very misguided view of what rape means and even who can be raped. But it is because of this writing of the law and the fact that EJC could not say if she was penetrated by his fingers or his penis^ that they went ahead with the judgement of sexual assault rather than rape.
It is a difference that can have a real substantive meaning, but in this case it is a pedantic legalistic one.
^
I shouldn’t laugh, but appreciate the gag.
Bill Burr is a self admitted idiot who makes a living saying things that people find funny, not for his insight into civics or how government works. A president can and has caused enormous damage to the ability for government to function and to the country as a whole even without a fully compliant congress.
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Honestly, EJC is a classy lady but even she has given a wink and a nod to it
From where I sit, it is not the damage Trump will do per se (although I shudder to think of how emboldened he will be and how he will use what he learned the first time around), it is the damage done by the hyenas who trail behind him…
He does not give two fucks and the very worst of us will have free reign to do whatever the hell they want.
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Yip, even an idiot is right twice a day. As I said, a comedy bit, it’s not supposed to be taken literally. He’s obviously referring to all manufacturers of dairy products.
Actually I stand corrected, she did accuse him of actual rape.
But he’s not right. Or he’s only right from the perspective of an idiot who doesnt understand how the executive branch of government works - they are not responsible for putting sandwiches on my table. They are responsible though for for having a functioning state department (as one of Trump’s generals reminded people in his time in office, one good diplomat is worth more than 1 million rounds of ammo), or a coherent workable attitude towards regulation.