Today I Learned

tl;dr - convicted Guilty by jury, then-Governor of NJ who was handing out pardons like candy immediately pardoned him via a pre-existing clemency request that went into public view on the nj.gov website while they were clearing the courtroom after the jury left. Rest of the article is word salad, probably AI.

Because fuck NYT

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/gov-murphy-pardons-son-of-nj-powerbroker-who-was-convicted-in-deadly-hit-and-run/4336762/

Unsurprisingly the same Governor that made plates and insurance mandatory for all e-bikes. Guy had a busy week as he was leaving office apparently.

Issuing this pardon before the jury had even rendered the verdict. Funny how mountains can be moved so expeditiously when it's for a friend.

Here's a similar story from a couple years ago about a racist piece of shit who shot and killed a protestor, was found guilty by a jury of peers, then governor and likely klan member Greg Abbott pardoned him.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/texas-gov-abbott-pardons-ex-army-sergeant-convicted-of-killing-black-lives-matter-protester-in-2020

Here's a quote from Daniel Perry on social media before he murdered someone at a BLM protest in cold blood:

"I might go to Dallas to shoot looters."

And

The friend replied to Perry, “Can you catch me a negro daddy", and Perry responded, “That is what I am hoping.”

Abbott pretended it was a self defense killing when Perry drove up, shot his victim who was pushing his girlfriend's wheelchair, the drove off. It didn't hold up in court so he lied about it in his pardon. Murderers and would-be slavers, Abbott and Perry deserve a long drop and a short rope. Pardons are a mockery of justice by jury decision.

I just realized that the knowledge I have from newspapers from my youth no longer applies. They no longer put the most pertinent info near the top, but at the bottom. Burying the lede is just the default nowadays.

The governor pardoned him almost immediately after the jury came back.

Pictures of the victim and his family/friends, no pictures of the dickhead or his piece of shit father in either article. Interesting.

Holy shit, that article is tedious to read. Nowadays "good writing" seems to mean "jump around in the timeline a lot and write a whole lot of irrelevant backstory".

Its clear pardons are a major component of institutionalized corruption and should have some kind of formal review process by legislative bodies.

The power of the pardon is so fucking stupid. Make prosecutors and cops and judges accountable for legal malpractice, and make legislators include negating convictions as part of legislation that changes a law.

We can not allow 2 justice systems to exit. If the law isnt equal for all, then what is it? What is the point?

The government wants our taxes, but refuses to represent us or protect us. Thats not what i signed up for. Thats not american. Thats not worth defending.

I just don't understand, are these politicians really that stupid? You do shit like this when the general public is more cognizant of distrust in government institutions, you start building factories for more Luigis. If your average normies are experiencing a noticeable and tangible decrease in standard of living, are personally and physically seeing more live protests, are constantly seeing a stream of authoritarian moves from the government, and you pile on this blatant miscarriage of justice seen from both major parties, where do you think people are gonna turn to for justice? And when you're this public and blatant about it, who's head is on the spike first, historically speaking? I really don't think everyone is prepared for the consequences of continuing down this road, because participation in the consequences will likely be much more mandatory than they have been historically.

Here is another case of a connected rich man killing a poor innocent, and going scot free. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FmbwU3J-2kk

Bob Dylan - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll 

It would been a shame if karma bite that guy in the ass and he got assaulted in the street and left for dead.

Should America be reformed, there should be a rule about pardons: A governor initiates the pardon, then 51% of all participating voters has to reject the pardon to prevent it. Further, the pardon's effect is restricted to their state. A presidential pardon is national, but again requires 51% of participating voters to deny it.

This form of cancelling vote allows decision makers to have reasonable autonomy, but if voters vote against it, the pardon is easily denied by the public. The voter pool is whoever sends in a vote of yay or nay. So if there are people dedicated to preventing a leader from making bad pardons, they can get out the word and swell the pool of rejection votes.

IMO, we should have open-sourced digital and standardized direct voting on all matters, with physical laminated printouts for verification against the digital votes. Everyone attached to a city can vote there, those who live in a state can vote on state matters, and occupants of the nation can do the same on that level. No gender or qualifications, beyond having a residence within the nation, and having citizenship - regardless of how it was obtained.

Vigilante justice. It doesn’t always work out. Occasionally it does. Just saying.

American justice. Best justice money can buy.

I hope that it haunts him every day and night. He should be put in prison, he fled the scene and killed someone. Prison.

I nominate this bastard as a potential resident of Luigi's mansion.

Awful article, its truly hard to read. Why is the entire backstory of the victim relevant? We shouldn't need to be told to have empathy for an innocent victim, that should be automatic. The driver deserves a sentence for second degree murder.

Testing the new lawlesness apparently.

And then they'll ask why people see Luigi as a hero.