See how nobody is calling you a sausage? That’s probably because you are not a sausage.
People don’t even realize what they are doing when they make these statements. It’s become so natural to them. It’s not about what things are. It’s about what you call them.
It was not a sham trial. Trump’s trial was not a sham trial either. Each deserved the guilty plea.
But in today’s politics, we’re always seeking equivalent where none is required.
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“Thirty-seven felonies!” people say with big, round eyes.
“What were they?” I ask innocently.
“Well, you know,” they say. “I’m not sure but FELONIES.”
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If we would like for criminal trials not to be itemized in such a way as to maximize the penalty, then we should make that case. I always found it ridiculous that prosecutors would often deliberately break crimes into little pieces and charge them independently. With Trump, he had 37 felonies because he had 37 checks written to cover his hush money scheme (set up to prevent him from losing the election). Why not just charge him with that one crime? There were even conversations in the media about whether he’d be convicted only for the ones he signed, and acquitted on the others. In the end, he was guilty of all.
It’s ridiculous, but not because it’s Trump. It’s ridiculous, period. And plenty activists for criminal reform have mentioned this for years, and no one said or did anything about it. But all of a sudden, because Trump got caught in it, now it’s no longer fair. That’s also ridiculous. Like everyone else, he’d have a chance to appeal, and if something is wrong, it will be overturned.
Now, let’s change the ridiculous law, and free the many thousands of people it has wrongly sent to jail. And if it covers Trump too, let him benefit.
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Stacking charges might be a problem, not taking a position on that.
But the objection is not that the charges were split, it is that there wasn’t an identified crime. Paying blackmail (hush money if you like) is not a crime.
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As most legal folks have explained, it becomes a felony if it was done in service of another crime. And the crime here was an unreported in-kind political donation to his campaign above the threshold. As I understand it, it’s not just the hush money he and Cohen schemed, but also the one he did with National Enquirer just so the bad information isn’t public. If Biden had falsified business records to keep Hunter Biden’s laptop story away from the media, that would have been a felony too.
It’s actually not that hard to understand for those who want to know.
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Things are not a sham just because we disagree with it or can’t understand it.
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Sure. But that’s not Clarissa’s position.
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Right, so … rhyming Britslang time!
Bangers and mash? CASH!
And “not a sausage”?
Used to mean only being broke, somewhere over the years became synonymous with having nothing of any kind, not just cash.
The same concept in Yankslang is now “nothingburger”, which is considerably more recent.
As for some journos jumping on these visuals?
Yeah, nothingburger, it’s not only that there’s no story, but also that there’s no news.
Oh, but I’m supposed to feel something for this bullshit?
Yeah, right in the Chevy Chase!
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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