#two-tiered system of justice

[justbeingnamaste]

"I don't think that things can go too much further with the view that law enforcement, particularly the FBI or Department of Justice, runs a two-tiered system of justice. The nation can't stand under those circumstances." —Special Counsel John Durham, 6/21/23

[originalleftist]

Trump's sentencing in his New York felony conviction has been delayed until after the election

This is likely at least in part a political decision, not one based on law- ie it is being done out of fear that if Trump is imprisoned, it will affect the election or be seen as "election interference".

But after the election, if he wins, it will be too late. Thanks to the Presidential immunity bestowed by his lapdogs in SCOTUS, and the blueprint for swiftly seizing total control of the government laid out in Project 2025, he will be-as he has said-"a dictator on day one". And effectively impossible to arrest.

If you ever want Trump to be accountable, if you want it to be even possible for Trump to be held accountable, then there is only one way to make that happen.

Vote Blue.

[tomorrowusa]

Three of Trump's rivals for the GOP nomination say they would pardon Trump for his crimes if they get elected president.

The leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination faces 91 criminal charges, nearly half of which are at the federal level. And yet his two main GOP rivals have said they would pardon him if they’re elected. [ ... ] While campaigning in the days leading up to the first votes of 2024’s Republican primary elections, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have both signalled they would grant clemency to the former president because it would be in the nation’s “interest” to do so. [ ... ] Republican officials and Mr Trump’s GOP rivals for the 2024 nomination have largely rushed to his defence after his indictments. Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to pardon Mr Trump shortly after he was federally indicted in the Mar-a-Lago case. [ ... ] Pardoning him would merely prove that the US does have “two systems of justice,” GOP rival Chris Christie told supporters in New Hampshire last week. But not the kind that Mr Trump believes. “One for all of us and one for the most powerful,” Mr Christie said. “If we allow that to happen as a country, we would be no better – no better – than a lot of these tin-pot democracies around the world who treat the privileged different than they treat everyday citizens.”

Asa Hutchinson, who is technically still in the race, reasserted that he would not pardon Trump.

Republican Asa Hutchinson won't pardon Trump if he's convicted

So here's the GOP Trump pardon scoreboard...

It's worth noting that President Gerald Ford gave a full pardon to Richard Nixon a month after he succeeded the disgraced Nixon. The pardon was highly unpopular and was likely a factor in Ford's narrow defeat by Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election.

Pardons for Trump might play well with the MAGA base but would be much less popular with the broader public.

[lasseling]

Oldie but goody about the “two-tiered Justice System”.

[agentfascinateur]

France arrests a Gaza nurse but fails to prosecute an Israeli-French war criminal

The allegations were based on a video, dated January but shared on social media in March, purportedly posted by the soldier in question.

#banana republic

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/nothing-will-stop-me-from-supporting-palestine-french-nurse-defiant-after-paris-arrest/3326648

[hurricaneself]

The justice system in America is an absolute joke. I find it utterly ridiculous that women have to literally fight to get the protection of the law from their abusers. That their abusers, who have threatened their lives and are multiple charged violent criminals with a history of said abuse, are so easily released from the incarceration the abused fought for if they have the ability to pay for their freedom. Sorry but if someone’s a legit threat to the public, they ought not be allowed to walk free just because they could afford to pay some fee that allows them some semblance of freedom until their court dates. Freedoms they can and will use to abuse either their already victims or new victims and/or utilize to flee the law completely.

Then while living through such a hell, being witness to the ridiculousness of the fact that famous rich people get to walk free while charged by the federal government for espionage (that’s likely cost many American agents across the globe their lives) and attend their court proceedings like a civil proceeding only reminds me that this system is 100% corrupt and 100% flawed.

Those who deserve to be behind bars get to waltz free to cause more harm if they have the money to do so. While those who broke tiny laws that do not necessarily mean they ought to be behind bars are kept behind bars if they cannot pay for their freedom. This is absolutely a two-tiered justice system, but it’s not what far-right conspiracy believers think it to be, it is a two-tiered justice system that favors those with money while punishing & enslaving those without money. Just like everything else in the capitalist hellhole that is America, absolutely every fucking thing is geared to the favor of the rich. I cannot be proud of this country and it’s corrupt systems, I can only be enraged and ashamed of it, as we all should be.

America is a withering failure of a democracy and the law is an absolute joke.

Thank you for reading this rant of mine, I have been forced to give up all my other social media accounts in attempts to save myself from the wrath of the abuser I escaped; so the only place I have to vent is here and if you actually took the time to read this, I greatly appreciate you as I don’t truly expect anyone to do so.

[bouncinghedgehog]

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

Incredible

[pomeraniandancer]

I feel like there should be some kind of "enhancement"" for these labor violations, so that there is an enhancement to the penalties when there's a notable pattern to the violations in question. 766 labor violations applied to between 80 and 100 minor employees (as in employees who are minors, tbc) seems like a pretty clear pattern of behavior.

Granted, there were between 80 to 100 minors spread across 21 locations, which amounts to between 3 to 5 minors per location on average. That seems like a pretty high number, since as far as I recall there are generally between 15 and 20 people on shift at any given time in fast food restaurants. That's anywhere between 15 and 33% of your staff experiencing child labor violations at any given time.

Another thing I found out is that these fines and violations are being executed under the Pennsylvania Child Labor Act of 2023. This makes me curious to learn whether this new act is a weakening or strengthening of the prior laws covering child labor, and what criticisms have been leveled against the act in defense of minor employees.

It's also possible that the franchise had some pretty good lawyers defending them against the violations, which only goes to reinforce @liberalsarecool's point about white supremacy and US prison policy going hand in hand.

I have a lot of other stuff I need to get done today, so I don't really have the time atm to go down that rabbit hole, but I thought these points were worth raising.

They're hardly encouraging or reassuring points, but I think they're worth keeping in mind just in terms of how insane $300,000 for violating your minor employees' labor rights on an apparently consistent basis is. I have no idea how profitable a 21-location Wendy's franchise would be in any state, but I hope this goes some way towards chastising them, if not driving them out of business. And I hope the owner of the franchise gets bought out, and whomever was in direct oversight of employee management at these locations gets booted as well.

White supremacy and US prison policy go hand in hand.

[ivovynckier]

The people who first put "Great" in front of "Britain" meant it as a joke.

[justbeingnamaste]

At least 8 million people have invaded our country since the illegitimate Biden regime took office in Jan 2021.

To put this in perspective this is equal to the populations of:

Wyoming

Vermont

Alaska

North Dakota

South Dakota

Delaware

Rhode Island

Montana

Maine

COMBINED.

[scottguy]

True dat.

[robertreich]

5 Facts About Trump’s Indictments

Trump’s defenders are still lying about his indictments. Here are 5 crucial facts you can share with whoever in your life needs to hear them.

1. President Biden did not indict Trump.

Four different grand juries — made up of ordinary citizens — indicted Trump after being presented with evidence they found compelling enough to warrant criminal prosecution.

The reason we have grand juries is specifically to help make sure no one gets prosecuted out of a personal vendetta.

2. This isn’t about “free speech”

In all four cases, Trump has been indicted because of what he allegedly did, not what he said. Lots of crimes involve speech, but that doesn’t stop them from being crimes. Even Trump’s hand-picked attorney general, Bill Barr, recognizes this defense is nonsense.

3. It doesn’t matter whether Trump believed the election was stolen

There’s plenty of evidence that Trump knew he lost the election fair and square. His claims of massive fraud were rejected by his own campaign manager, White House lawyers, and his hand-picked Justice Department officials. 

And privately, Trump seemed to admit that he either knew or didn’t care that his claims were false, allegedly criticizing VP Pence for being “too honest,” and allegedly admitting to his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that he lost and wanted to cover it up.

But even if Trump really did believe the election was stolen, that doesn’t give him the right to allegedly commit a criminal conspiracy to try to steal it back.

4. Trump has received preferential treatment because of who he is.

Trump’s defenders complain about a two-tiered justice system.

They’re right about that, but not in the way they claim. Trump has been given special privileges most criminal defendants would never get.

In all four criminal cases, he has been released without bail. He has repeatedly been spared the indignity of a mugshot. He has not had his passport suspended or had limits placed on his ability to travel — even though two of his criminal cases involve direct threats to national security, and even though he has used social media to issue insults and threats against potential witnesses, behavior that would cause many criminal defendants to be held without bail pending trial.

5. Trump was in legal trouble long before entering politics

Some of Trump’s defenders claim the sheer number of criminal charges and civil suits he’s now facing is proof that he’s being targeted for political reasons. But you have to remember that Trump was the subject of about 4,000 legal actions before ever running for president. From his fraudulent Trump University scam to federal lawsuits over racist housing discrimination, Trump has spent his life in court because of his own shady behavior.

Trump is being prosecuted now because, as four grand juries have found, the strength of the evidence against him merits it. If we fail to hold him fully accountable under the law, the precedent will embolden future presidents to break the law, jeopardize national security, incite insurrections, and possibly even overturn an election.

The principle that no one is above the law is only true if we make it so.

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

Disgrace

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

Vice President Kamala Harris 

President Joe Biden

President Jimmy Carter

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 

Rep. Jerry Nadler

Former Rep. John Lewis

Sen. Dianne Feinstein

Biden HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge

Rep. Jamie Raskin

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Rep. Barbara Lee

Former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz 

Rep. Ted Lieu

Rep. Raul Grijalva

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre 

Former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe

Former Vice President Al Gore 

Rep. Corrine Brown

Rep. Maxine Waters

Former Rep. Alcee Hastings

President Bill Clinton 

Former Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson

President Barack Obama

Former Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Sen. Sherrod Brown

Sen. Debbie Stabenow

Rep. Danny Davis

Former Sen. Ted Kennedy

Biden Climate Czar John Kerry 

Teresa Heinz (John Kerry’s wife) 

Former Rep. Stephanie Tubbs

Sen. Bernie Sanders

Rep. Lacy Clay

Former DNC Chair Howard Dean

Sen. Dick Durbin

Former Sen. Harry Reid

Georgia Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams 

Sen. Corey Booker

These are all the democrats who openly and repeatedly denied election results between 2000 and 2018. I've yet to see any of them indicted for "conspiracy" or "obstruction."