What does a BIDEN Presidency look like?

[Admiral Yi]

I'm talking about legal system in general, I just gave an example that was civil.  Cops can likewise use the power of the state to fuck with you, if that's what they choose to do.  Some traffic offenses, over which cops have great discretion, can still cost you a pretty penny to defend yourself against, with serious consequences if you don't.

I've mentioned before I enjoy watching cop cams.  I watch them a lot.  A lot of them start with something innocuous like window tint or a busted tail light.  The escalation inevitably is initiated by the driver's refusal to hand over an ID or roll down the window.  I have never seen a video in which I judged the driver was cuffed an processed because the cop was on a power trip.

[Sheilbh]

That even a "good side" POTUS has publicly written off the US justice system says a lot.

Yeah. If you can't trust your legal system to protect someone like Fauci you've got a problem no pardon will solve.

Also Biden in 2020 on Trump possibly pardoning his kids: "It concerns me, in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice...in terms of the pardons, you're not going to see, in our administration, that kind of approach to pardons."

This after the many denials he'd pardon Hunter.

This stuff is profoundly corrosive.

[DGuller]

I'm talking about legal system in general, I just gave an example that was civil.  Cops can likewise use the power of the state to fuck with you, if that's what they choose to do.  Some traffic offenses, over which cops have great discretion, can still cost you a pretty penny to defend yourself against, with serious consequences if you don't.

I've mentioned before I enjoy watching cop cams.  I watch them a lot.  A lot of them start with something innocuous like window tint or a busted tail light.  The escalation inevitably is initiated by the driver's refusal to hand over an ID or roll down the window.  I have never seen a video in which I judged the driver was cuffed an processed because the cop was on a power trip.

I don't know how representative the sample of Youtube videos is, but I think that's beside the point regardless.  What started this conversation is that cops say "don't argue on the side of the road, argue in court", which I said diminishes the strain of even getting to court.  If you're charged with DUI because the officer thinks you were impaired (it's not just blowing above 0.08 that can get you one), it will take thousands of dollars and a lot of time to deal with it.

[DGuller]

That even a "good side" POTUS has publicly written off the US justice system says a lot.

Yeah. If you can't trust your legal system to protect someone like Fauci you've got a problem no pardon will solve.

Also Biden in 2020 on Trump possibly pardoning his kids: "It concerns me, in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice...in terms of the pardons, you're not going to see, in our administration, that kind of approach to pardons."

This after the many denials he'd pardon Hunter.

This stuff is profoundly corrosive.

Democrats are in a no win situation.  When they go high, Republicans take advantage of them, because Republicans are willing to break the norms that Democrats aren't, and thus they're scooping all the zero day wins from it.  When they go pragmatic and decide they can't unilaterally disarm, they lose the moral high ground, even though their pragmatic choice was forced and not their preferred option.

[PJL]

At the end of the day the voters don't care about that sort of thing, so the Democrats might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

[Admiral Yi]

which I said diminishes the strain of even getting to court.

I don't know what this means.

[mongers]

Sounds like you need to stop speeding

But to be fair to DG, he sometimes has to so he can then factor in lots of time if he needs to stop and change a tire.

[mongers]

That even a "good side" POTUS has publicly written off the US justice system says a lot.

Yeah. If you can't trust your legal system to protect someone like Fauci you've got a problem no pardon will solve.

Exactly.

[DGuller]

The only traffic violation I have on my file is a red light camera ticket from a funeral procession, which I just gave up fighting because the city of New York just made it too onerous.

[mongers]

The only traffic violation I have on my file is a red light camera ticket from a funeral procession, which I just gave up fighting because the city of New York just made it too onerous.

So despite protestations, it really was your funeral. 

[DGuller]

No, it actually was for someone else.

[Sheilbh]

At the end of the day the voters don't care about that sort of thing, so the Democrats might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

Maybe - but I saw the poll reported on CNN that the approval rating of the Democrats is at its lowest level since that question's been asked in 1992. There needs to be some self examination.

I can't help but think of Branko Milanovic's peroration on the "neo-liberal" moment (I would say it's not warm on Trump who is pitched as "global Caesarism"):

By its bareness and freshness, it is a break from the ideology that reigned supreme for forty years: the threadbare rule of plutocrats that pretended to be poverty-fighters. Neoliberalism was not an ideology of blood and soil but it managed to kill many. It leaves the scene with a scent of falsehood and dishonesty. Not often has an ideology been so mendacious: it called for equality while generating historically unprecedented increases in inequality; it called for democracy while sowing anarchy, discord and chaos; it spoke against ruling classes while creating a new aristocracy of wealth and power; it called for rules while breaking them all; it funded a system of schooled mendacity that tried to erect half-lies as truths.