notyourmoderate

[notyourmoderate]

Do not let them erase this. Do not let them tell you he meant "my heart goes out for you."

This man is the grandson of a Canadian Nazi sympathizer who moved to South Africa BECAUSE he thought the apartheid was just the coolest.

He has a gaggle of kids specifically because he believes his genes are superior and need to be spread to improve humanity.

He has thrown his support behind the neonazi party in Germany and the far right party in the UK, not to mention how far he's wormed up the ass of the Republican party.

He threw two sieg heil salutes back to back at the inauguration of the president of the United States and is trying to scrub the evidence off the internet.

Elon Reeve Musk is a fucking Nazi.

[notyourmoderate]

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An empire in decline.

[notyourmoderate]

Bezos and Zuckerberg going full Musk.

[notyourmoderate]

Going a bit further: Notice those three ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY AND SUPERFLUOUS cops that are looming directly over them, with the clear indication to be intrusive and intimidating, IN ADDITION to the actual court bailiff in the white shirt in the back over there.

Keeping order and peace in the court is the bailiffs' jobs, and they're doing it. They have a procedure they're observing. Those three cops lurking right in their personal space are not bailiffs and they are not doing a necessary or valuable job here.

They are ordinary bullies with official sanction and that is their entire purpose in this clip.

"I’m very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial in this case.  He’s being prejudiced by some statements that are being made by government officials. Like every other defendant, he’s entitled to a presumption of innocence. But unfortunately the way this has been handled so far his rights are being violated. And as you know, Your Honor, there’s a wealth of case law guaranteeing his rights to a fair trial, but none of the safeguards have been put in place yet here — in fact it’s just the opposite of what’s been happening. 

He’s a young man, and he is being treated like a human pingpong ball between two warring jurisdictions here.

These federal and state prosecutors are coordinating with one another at the expense of him. They have conflicting theories in their indictment, and they are literally treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, like some sort of spectacle. 

He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest staged perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career. It was absolutely unnecessary. He’s been cooperative with law enforcement. He’d been in custody for over a week. He waived extradition. He was cooperative at all accounts. There was no reason for the NYPD and everybody to have these big assault rifles — that frankly I had no idea it was in their arsenal — and to have all the press there the media there. It was perfectly choreographed. 

And what was the New York City Mayor doing at this press conference, Your Honor? That just made it utterly political. And as your honor knows under Loro v. Charles, the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has held it to be clearly established that these staged perp walks to the media unrelated to a legitimate law enforcement objective is unconstitutional. And I submit that there was zero law enforcement objective to do that sort of perp walk. There’s absolutely no need for that whatsoever. 

And frankly, Your Honor, the mayor should know more than anyone about the presumption of innocence that he, too, is afforded dealing with his own issues. And, frankly, I submit that he was just trying to detract from those issues by making a spectacle of Mr. Mangione. 

And there are consequences to this. 

He has a right to a fair trial. And I just want to put on the record statements that the mayor made publicly about my client. Nothing saying “alleged” for example. And he said “I wanted to send a strong message with the police commissioner that we’re leading from the front. I’m not just going to allow him to come into our city. I wanted to look him in the eye and state ‘You carried out this terrorist act in my city, the city of New York that I love.’” And he wanted to show symbolism. 

Your Honor, he’s not a symbol. He’s somebody who is afforded the right to a fair trial. He’s innocent until proven guilty. And the mayor was talking to jurors — future potential jurors that elected him. Those are the people that elected him that he is talking to and calling this man a terrorist.

So, Your Honor, I just want to make a record of this and put everyone on notice that this has to stop, and my client is entitled to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence."

[notyourmoderate]

An interaction with the court is an interaction with law enforcement. The usual rules apply.

In any interaction with law enforcement, under any circumstances, your most important right is the right to your silence.

Your ability to interact with the law via jury nullification is only one of many ways that this remains true.

I know this isn't gonna help anyone on the Luigi Mangione jury, but I feel like I see a lot of people throw around "Jury Nullification" without actually understanding the responsibility it entails.

Jury Nullification is NOT your explicit right. It is a legal gray area that rides on the back of your explicit rights. Specifically, a jury has the right to

Return any verdict it sees fit.

Not be punished for the verdict it selects.

Not have their verdict challenged or directed.

For these reasons, you (as a Juror) and the people (as a Jury) have the right to vote whichever way they see fit for whatever reason they may choose. That includes voting "Not Guilty" in a situation where the defendant has broken the law, but the circumstances or law, itself, require an alternative verdict.

However.

Just like you have the right to return whatever verdict you choose, a judge has the right to remove you from the jury if they feel you are being deceptive about your impartiality. The point of a trial is to be as neutral and impartial as possible. After all, a trial with biases is not a "fair" trial. Jurors who have prior knowledge and opinions about a case and its circumstances must be removed from the case and relieved of their jury duty. Jurors who intent to disregard the letters of the law in favor of opinion, morality, whatever, must also be relieved of their jury duty and replaced. Therefore, if you approach your fellow jurors and tell them about Jury Nullification and your plans to utilize it, someone may very well tell on you to the judge. It is then that judge's obligation to remove you from the jury and replace you with a more impartial juror (one that may not know about Jury Nullification). Therefore, if you openly support Jury Nullification in a court room, you can (and will) be removed from it.

So, even if it means hanging the jury with a non-unanimous vote, you cannot inform others about your intentions, and you cannot encourage others to utilize Jury Nullification, too. It sucks, but it's reality. Court rooms are very disapproving of Jury Nullification to the point that they have (wrongly) charged individuals with Contempt of Court for telling jurors about it. Lawyers are even forbidden from telling juries they can use this right, in the first place. That's how disliked this ability is. So one more time:

If you intend on actually utilizing Jury Nullification, you have to be completely silent about it. Period. You cannot inform your fellow jurors about it, and you cannot inform anybody in the court room about your plans to utilize it. That is it. That is how things work, and you have to tread lightly and carefully.

[notyourmoderate]

Never underestimate the American craving for fascism. It had guided the destiny of that nation for literally centuries.

It's not even like we can sit here and be furious that he lost the popular vote and still got in. he has five fucking million more votes. even if we were only going off of popular vote he'd be fucking winning by five million votes. it's not even "the electoral college ruined this election" (fuck the electoral college) people genuinely voted for that fucking lunatic over her. fuck. fuck.

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United Health

Stumbled upon a great musician while scrolling, and felt I need to share

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[notyourmoderate]

Judge Merchan had the chance to prevent the Trump presidency from meaning anything. Chose not to.

It is literally crazy how many different people could have taken any kind of meaningful principled stand against Trump and never did.

Emily Singer at Daily Kos:

Donald Trump is officially an adjudicated convicted felon, after a judge in New York on Friday sentenced him Friday morning for the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records Trump was found guilty of in May. While Trump has already been convicted, his sentencing formalizes his criminal conviction. Trump, however, will face no jail time or any fines for his crimes of trying to cover up hush money payments he made to a Playboy model and a porn actress during the 2016 campaign, with Judge Juan Merchan sentencing him to "unconditional discharge." Merchan said it was the "only lawful sentence" he could impose after Trump won the election in November. Trump  spoke at his sentencing hearing, which he attended virtually, in which he whined about the case and took no responsibility for his actions. “This has been a very terrible experience,” Trump said. The fact that Trump is escaping pretty much unscathed from the legal jeopardy he found himself in is a miscarriage of justice. He was able to escape accountability both because of an unprecedented decision by the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court, which dragged its feet before ultimately ruling in July that Trump was immune from anything deemed an “official act” in office. 

10 days before he returns to the White House, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan handed down a sentence that permits felon-elect Donald Trump skip any penalties such as fines or jail time regarding his business records falsification crime as to his election interference payments to Stormy Daniels in 2016.

However, Trump will still have the words “convicted felon” attached to his name forever.

See Also:

The Guardian: Trump avoids punishment for hush-money conviction and calls case ‘terrible experience’

HuffPost: Donald Trump Sentenced In Historic New York Hush Money Trial

NBC News: Trump sentenced to penalty-free 'unconditional discharge' in hush money case

AP: Trump gets no-penalty sentence in his hush money case, while calling it ‘despicable’