Some More News - SMN: Catching Up On Justice and Injustices
Episode Date: January 11, 2022Hi. In today's we take a look at how justice has panned out or, ya know, failed over the past few months. Which monsters are staying in prison and which aren't, etc. Things like t...hat. Support SOME MORE NEWS: http://www.patreon.com/SomeMoreNews We now have a MERCH STORE! Check it out here: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/somemorenews Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/some-more-news/id1364825229 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ebqegozpFt9hY2WJ7TDiA?si=5keGjCe5SxejFN1XkQlZ3w&dl_branch=1 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/even-more-news Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/somemorenews Go to http://Brooklinen.com and use promo code MORENEWS for $20 off your purchase of $100 or more. Secure your online data TODAY by visiting http://expressvpn.com/somenews. That's http://expressvpn.com/somenews and you can get an extra three months FREE. Right now, get 15% off your Raycon order at http://BUYRAYCON.com/somenews ! Athletic Greens is going to give you an immune supporting FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase if you visit http://athleticgreens.com/morenews today. Again, simply visit http://athleticgreens.com/morenews to take control of your health and give AG1 a try. Executive Producer Katy Stoll (@KatyStoll). Written by David Christopher Bell (@moviehooligan). Directed by Will Gordh (@will_gordh). Edited by Gregg Meller. Graphics by F. Clint DeNisco. Head Writer - David Christopher Bell. Producer - Nick Mundy. Researcher - Marco Siler-Gonzales (@mijo_marco). Associate Producer - Quincy Tucker (@LTP313). Follow us on social media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/SomeMoreNews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SomeMoreNews/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomeMoreNews/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@somemorenewsSupport the show!: http://patreon.com.com/somemorenewsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
which leads him to admit he sabotaged the hover tank the night before and the colonel does not
like it not one bit so then major thorn gets sent back to greenland and surgeon bilko somehow sees
no consequences which honestly feels completely unrealistic it's like as long as someone gets
punished then bilko and his team get off completely free? That seems unfair.
Since Bilko is sort of, I don't know, responsible for the largest systemic failings of the base.
So, I don't know.
Maybe we can do an episode about that?
Something there?
What do you think?
I think I need to lay down for like a month.
No time for sass.
Sass pants.
We're doing an episode every week for at least the next few years
or until you die,
whatever comes first.
So I don't know,
drink a green tea or something.
Oh, also we need sassy pants
for our merch store.
So I'm going to need you
to shit out a new zany character
for the show.
Something pants friendly.
Can't we just do like a regular
episode? We just did a whole Marvel parody. Remember the Marvel parodies? Yeah, well,
we can't really stick Disney's Marvel's the Hulk on our sassy new pants, can we, Cody?
People are expecting us to ramp up the characters for the new year. So we have got to deliver on
that. Also, so you know, we're recording that
episode literally right this second. Also, remember, have fun, okay? Okay. Good meeting,
everyone. Happy 2022. We have got this. Woo! Boy, okay. Here is some news. It's 2022.
So happy that.
Congratulations to the concept of time as it continues to rocket forward
regardless of anyone's wishes.
And while at this point in the new year,
we tend to focus on looking ahead,
you know, most wrap-ups are reserved
for the end of the previous year
and not the start of the new one.
Well, we wanted to kick off 2022
by looking back on some
of the many legal scandals of 2021. You know, to see if, just see if some consequences still exist,
because I don't know about you, but it sure feels like these years are all bleeding together now.
And that's at least in part due to a perpetual feeling of irresolution due to a noticeable
shortage of justice in the world. Really makes time lose all meaning
when nothing seems to conclude.
Or maybe it's because I've been micro dosing.
I don't know, maybe it's a combination of the two,
but hey, remember all the bad things
the last president did that never got addressed?
Or when that condo collapsed in Miami
and killed a lot of people and then everyone moved on?
Or like how fucking years ago we learned
that every rich person in the world
was systematically avoiding taxes.
Or all of the politicians and business owners
who've been downplaying this deadly virus
to protect the economy,
or flat out made money from the pandemic.
There are just so many casual scandals, you know?
And compounded with the pandemic,
it just feels like we're still trying to process 2020,
let alone 2021,
which is why we wanted to look at
what has actually been done so far
in terms of finding justice for some of these past stories.
And we're gonna do that with a little help from, fuck.
Ink Ventura, pen detective.
All righty then.
Hey there, Ink.
How's about we lay down the law?
All righty then.
You just said that, but sure.
Catching up with Justice in 2022.
And that's a wrap on the pen character.
Stay tuned for some sassed up pants
with a fucking pen on them, I guess.
Okay, so now that we've referenced not one,
but two 1990s comedies,
I feel like we can probably get going
on the news part of the show,
starting with just one more reference to a 90s comedy.
Celebrity-ish, Justice-ish.
Mighty Ducks star, Jussie Smollett,
was recently found guilty of five counts
of disorderly conduct after making false reports
of a hate crime back in 2019.
And well, that was a shitty thing for him to do.
You know, faking a terrible crime
in order to presumably boost his career,
wasting a lot of emotions and effort.
It's not cool, Jussie.
Dare I say, it's bad, but also possibly, maybe,
not like the scariest crime imaginable.
And while normally I probably wouldn't qualify a crime
by saying that, this particular story briefly
made the right side of the wing go hilariously wild.
And now all of a sudden the defense
that Justice Smollett is presenting is that
one of the attackers was actually a gay lover of Jussie and this may be some sort of payback to Jussie Smollett.
What do you make of all this, sir?
Eric, it's absolute nonsense.
I mean, I don't think that there's anything that any American could despise more than a hate crime.
A hate crime against somebody racially, a hate crime against somebody for their sexuality
or their gender.
The only thing worse than a hate crime
is faking a hate crime.
Yeah, settle down Newsmax.
I'm no crime expert, criminometer, crimshawist.
I'm no crime smart man,
but if it's between faking a crime
and the actual crime happening,
I sure think the actual crime is the worst thing.
That said, it was Smollett who originally blamed the attack
on Trump supporters, so I at least understand
why his base is peeved about this story.
It is, for a lot of them at this particular time,
the closest thing they have to a story of vindication.
You know, what with that attempted coup
and all the other stories of actual hate crimes
that were happening in relation
to our very bad former president,
which actually makes a Smollett story even more shitty
since he was likely trying to benefit
from actual stories of hate affecting the country.
But ultimately there isn't much more to say about this,
or I don't know, I guess it's a media conspiracy
to downplay this horrendous crime of lying.
Again, not cool Jussie,
but also not sure what else there is to say here.
He lied and then got punished and ridiculed for it.
And now it's over.
I've certainly seen a lot of people on the right
call out Biden and Harris for condemning
what they thought was a real crime at the time it happened.
You know, without mentioning that Trump
did the exact same thing.
But I'm just not sure what the alternative was at the time.
Because when a person says they got attacked,
it's statistically better to believe
and then help that person.
A statement that I have to assume isn't controversial.
And yet when the news of
this hoax originally came out, one of the more, let's call it evil responses, was to use this
as a jumping point for think pieces about how perhaps crimes of hate are actually not so bad
after all. Specifically, this think piece published by two different major news sites
by a guy named Wilfred Riley,
floating the idea that hate crime hoaxes
are actually way more common than you think.
And who by amazing coincidence happened to have a book
coming out called Hate Crime Hoax,
How the Left is Selling a Fake Race War.
And while I don't want to spend too much time
on this crusty wad,
it's worth noting that his conclusion,
as described in this other opinion piece he wrote,
is based on finding 400 cases of false hate crimes
between 2010 and 2017,
which he claims makes it clear that, quote,
hate crime hoaxes is indisputably large,
which is kind of strange because I went ahead
and looked at the FBI hate crime statistics
for all of those years and found that the number
of hate crimes reported by law enforcement
between 2010 and 2017 totals to roughly 49,200.
And the number 400 is 0.8% of 49,200,
or as Wilfred Riley would like it to be,
indisputably large. 8% of 49,200, or as Wilfred Riley would like it to be,
indisputably large. And yet, I'm pretty sure I just disputed it
and won that dispute.
So I don't know, guys, I don't want to jump to conclusions,
but it seems like this Wilfred Riley fellow
is a pile of lying trash.
And so maybe we should just continue trusting people
and investigate their claims,
even though they might occasionally be lying
because doing otherwise is to forfeit our humanity
and give in to fear mongering and distrust.
And perhaps it's wrong and bad to obsess
over the premise of a false hate crime,
unless you're specifically trying to push that narrative
to further a political agenda or terrible pundit career,
because compassion and togetherness is perhaps better.
As the Bible says,
"'When the wind blows hard and the sky is black,
"'ducks fly together.'"
Quack, quack.
All right, so we covered Jussie Smollett
and managed to reference the Mighty Ducks multiple times.
Any other 90 celebrities business to get through?
There's official, the conservatorship
of Britney Spears has returned.
Victory for Britney Spears.
Late 90s, early 2000s still counts.
Listen, I'm very happy for Britney Spears.
We're all very, very happy about this.
Her conservatorship, which started as a temporary one
back in 2008, gave her father complete control
over all of her financial assets and career decisions.
This led to a situation where well over a decade later,
the singer was being forced to take medications
and perform against her will,
as well as having her reproductive rights
taken away from her.
It took a series of high profile stories,
including but not limited to her father
experiencing a spontaneously ruptured colon,
fun, and a possible hostage situation, to get the public's attention and start wondering just
what the heck is happening with her. After that came the Free Britney movement, supported by a
whole slew of celebrities, all on top of Britney's own effort to end her conservatorship and a two
year legal battle. From all of this, we got a happy ending. But I sure need to point out
the ridiculous amount of effort here
because it's not like Britney Spears
is the only person in the world with a conservatorship.
And it turns out that these situations
can be extremely insidious.
Unlike a guardianship, a conservatorship
is specifically appointed
to manage a person's financial affairs
if the court deems them unable to do so themselves.
This often happens if a person becomes too old
to take care of themselves.
Maybe they start telling extended stories
about the Titanic and dropping diamonds
into the ocean or something.
And so a lot of the time, it's very necessary
for another party to take control over their money decisions.
Other times, however, maybe not.
And so the process of undoing a conservatorship
requires the conservatee to bring the case to court
for an extremely drawn out process.
This requires attorneys for all the parties involved,
as well as experts who can testify
as to the condition of the conservatee,
often in the form of caregivers.
And while that sure sounds reasonable,
the monumental problem is that literally all of these people
are making money from the conservatorship.
After all, how can you pay for an attorney
with finances you're currently fighting for control of?
And so more often than not,
the court will appoint you a lawyer
who in turn bills your estate.
In the case of Brittany,
the court deemed her incapable of hiring her own counsel
and then appointed a lawyer named Samuel D. Ingham,
who had been working on her case since 2008.
In that time, Ingham billed a total of $3 million
to the Spears estate and coincidentally,
has also advised his client
not to challenge the conservatorship.
You know, the one that was making him millions.
And so on top of the fact that these cases
get tied up in the courts for years,
literally no one involved is financially incentivized to actually help the person in question. It's fucking wild. Made even wilder by the fact that the United States doesn't even
keep track of how many conservatorships are happening. To quote a report by the Government
Accountability Office, the extent of elder abuse by guardians nationally is unknown due to the limited data
on the numbers of guardians serving older adults.
So yeah, congrats to Brittany.
Congrats to Brittany.
You super deserve this,
and I hope you spend the rest of your life
not having to do shit for anyone.
I also hope that the paparazzi maybe learned a lesson
about hounding her wherever she goes,
and oh wait, nevermind, sorry.
But I sure hope we don't all just move on from this subject
now that one high profile case has been resolved.
Because boy, sure seems like this is a system
just begging for reform.
Really, really wet for reform, you know?
All right, geez.
Any lighter news we can transition into.
Josh Duggar has been found guilty
on two charges of child pornography.
Today, it's my honor and privilege to join in this announcement of a guilty verdict in the
case of United States versus Josh Duggar. So that's a no then. Just going to get darker
and darker as we go. Well, it's on brand. Hey, circling back to Jussie Smollett and all the
victory lap tweets mocking the people who defended him. Here's a specific one for Mike Huckabee
saying that Smollett made a lot of politicians
look like chumps.
Just wanted to point this tweet out.
Weird.
I wonder why I would show this tweet
at this particular moment in the video.
What's my game here?
Why show this tweet and then show this headline
about the time Mike Huckabee repeatedly defended
Josh Duggar during his not first,
but second round of molestation accusations back in 2015.
Why would I do that just now?
Because hey, here's some not at all news.
People have known about and defended this guy's
absolutely horrifying history since 2002.
Specifically, five separate incidences of Duggar molesting children, or rather,
five instances where he was officially accused of molesting children. And to really look at the
timeline, it's like a crash course in white privileged creeps being allowed to victimize
people in the name of religious family values. He is, for starters, the son of a Republican
politician who in turn went into politics himself.
And so he was propped up and protected by just the most predictable people you can imagine.
And back in 2003, when his politician father learned what he did, he waited more than a year to tell the police about it, opting instead to consult their church officials who also didn't tell the cops.
You know, because he's a good, he's good, God-fearing boy.
And he learned his lesson,
which is why when a cop finally did get involved,
he reportedly gave Josh a quote, very stern talk,
instead of taking any, you know, cop-like action.
Long story short,
by the time anyone thought to do anything about this,
these reports had exceeded the statute of limitations.
Later, the police just straight up destroyed the records because he was sorry, I guess.
My goodness, I think my stomach just crawled out of my anus.
All I see is red blurs, a whining, high-pitched scream, and red blurs.
I'm pretty sure I can kill with my mind now actually,
which is pretty cool,
but not great for all the other reasons.
Anyway, despite everyone's best efforts to keep him free,
he's finally in jail for child pornography.
And that's just super,
but notice how he's not in jail
for molesting those children.
But boy, he really had to work hard
for that conviction,
didn't he?
After so many second and third chances,
dude had to practically scream his guilt to the heavens.
And while I don't normally like to associate
a person's politics with their random crimes,
there's really something to be said about the systemic way
the religious conservatives worked feverishly
to protect this obvious sex criminal from going to jail.
And maybe we should explore this across the board,
how a person's political team will often work
to shield them from consequences
and how while that applies to the entire ideological spectrum,
religious conservatism seems to be
a particularly effective hiding place
for some grade A monsters.
I don't know, maybe you could say the same for shitty men
hiding behind feminist ideals as well.
Maybe it's not exclusive to a political party
so much as the systematic way in which the country is built
to protect shitty sex criminals from consequences.
Just as long as they have money and power.
Boy, what a bummer.
You got anything fun to say, Ink Ventura?
Nah, you're just a stupid pen.
Didn't even put a little face on it or anything.
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Except Angelina.
She looked great in that film.
Okay, we are back from ads. We got a new pen character, Except Angelina, she looked great in that film.
Okay, we are back from ads. We got a new pen character
and we're talking about how if you're rich enough,
you can get away with monstrous acts of sex abuse.
It was a real fucking stick in the nads,
but we're done now.
We can move on to different news.
Like, we're apparently cool with rich sex criminals again.
Oh, oopsies.
I'm so sorry folks,
but it's hard to do a video about justice
without talking about all the sex crimes that have happened.
Maybe we could do it in a silly voice.
Yeah, sex crime, that's not gonna work.
Anyway, I promise we'll get to lighter news
like the attempted coup and stuff.
But honestly, this isn't even the last sex crime section.
We're gonna do like a sex crime sandwich
where we start with justice being served
like the Josh Duggar story,
then a depressing series of sex crime news as the meat,
followed by a sort of more positive example of justice
for the second sex crime bread,
and a side of fries about how it's all just not good enough.
Anyway, the point is that I'm sorry for a lot of things,
but it turns out that while we saw some justice,
2021 was largely a good year if you're a sex criminal.
Don't know what that's about.
Maybe we should look into that.
For starters, Bill Cosby was released from prison
on a goddamn technicality.
Specifically, the former America's dad
turned America's uncle
that we don't talk about was sprung because of a statement
by the district attorney in 2005,
who had issued a news release saying
that he was declining to charge Cosby over his many crimes
in exchange for a deposition in a separate lawsuit
where the actor admitted to drugging women
in order to have sex with them.
That lawsuit was later settled,
but then a second district attorney reversed the promise
by the first deciding to charge Bill Cosby
using these depositions.
In other words, the DA promised
that he wouldn't press charges against someone
in exchange for a confession in a separate trial.
That person gave the confession
and was subsequently charged by the DA after all.
And so the court later reversed this decision,
citing the fact that the DA went back
on a publicly made promise.
And I guess what's extremely fucked up about all of this
is that legally speaking,
they were technically right to free him,
despite the fact that he is ridiculously guilty of rape.
After all, what the DA did was wrong
and we wouldn't want to convict crimes
by lying to people in order to get confessions,
but also fuck Bill Cosby
and double fuck the district attorney
for dropping the entire ball on his conviction
and triple fuck Bill Cosby.
See, what's frustrating about this
is that since we've known that he did these crimes,
the prosecution pushed for a hasty conclusion,
their efforts ultimately proving to be too sloppy
to keep him in jail.
For someone with the right legal resources,
they can poke at these technicalities
despite being so obviously guilty.
And this, this is where I bring up Harvey Weinstein.
And judges in the Harvey Weinstein's appeal case
are slamming some of the decisions made
during the former media mogul's rape trial.
A panel of judges for the New York State of Appeals Court
are now calling into question Weinstein's conviction,
saying testimony from women
who were not part of the criminal charges
could have jeopardized the case.
Again, so sorry.
This is, it's just the worst way to start the new year.
I thought we were fresh and fun.
But yeah, it turns out that during Harvey Weinstein's trial for sexual assaults,
that he definitely did,
the prosecution used a lot of testimony from people with allegations against him
that were completely unrelated to the specific charges.
Some of these allegations weren't even about illegal actions,
but rather times in which Weinstein simply acted like a premium grade asshole.
And while I can't stress enough that he should be in jail for rape,
legally speaking, it's an extremely bad precedent to allow prosecutors to call witnesses
whose only purpose is to make the jury dislike the defendant for, like, rudeness.
And so once again, this complete and utter monster might walk free
because a bunch of lawyer types fail to do their fucking jobs.
Man, I bet you had a really good holiday, too.
Got to watch us do those Marvel videos and that one about good news.
Maybe you saw that new Matrix movie and liked it or didn't like it but still had fun watching it.
Maybe you ate some ham or some leafy ham if you care about the cute little piggies, etc.
But you flew too close to the sun and we just had to drag you right back down.
I'm so sorry, but at least you didn't burn up
when you were by the sun.
So you're welcome.
You know, I was gonna talk about how both Marilyn Manson
and Louis C.K. have been nominated for Grammys,
but I think I've punished you all enough.
On to greener pastures.
Ghislaine Maxwell, guilty of sex trafficking.
Less brown pastures,
because of the sex crime sandwich I mentioned before.
You got the Josh Duggar bread and the Bill Cosby meat,
and now this, not a yummy sandwich.
Anyway, so the runner up to Jeffrey Epstein's
horrific crimes was convicted right at the end of 2021.
Ghislaine Maxwell now faces a maximum of 65 years in prison for such crimes as conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking of an individual under 18.
Her lawyers have expressed plans to appeal the verdict, which I'm sure is going to be a whole other fucking thing.
And gee, I guess now that she's in jail, that just that well, that just about settles everything.
Clapping my hands as to dust them off after a job well done. Case closed. No more need to look into
this. Now let's go to our trial expert, Alan Dershowitz, for more analysis.
Well, I think the most important thing, particularly for British lawyers, is that the
government was very careful who it uses witnesses. It did not use as a witness
the woman who accused Prince Andrew, accused me, accused many other people,
because the government didn't believe she was telling the truth. In fact, she, Virginia Goufray,
was mentioned in the trial as somebody who brought young people to Epstein for him to abuse.
Thanks, Alan.
Great point about how the woman who specifically accused you of rape via Epstein sex trafficking
wasn't used as a witness, but also was implemented as someone who aided him.
And that somehow absolves you from suspicion.
Also, I'm now being told that we didn't personally get Alan Dershowitz for this show,
but rather it was a clip from the BBC who made the absolutely, maybe not very wise decision
to feature him on their trial coverage.
Anywho, I believe I was saying that the case
has been closed on the massive pedophilia ring
that has implicated scores of extremely famous
and powerful people, including but not limited
to Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew,
Bill Gates, and Chris Tucker.
Last one less powerful,
although he does have Jackie Chan's ear
and can presumably have anyone beaten up
with whatever you have lying around the house.
Or wait, maybe the case isn't closed?
Hmm, ah, wild idea,
but perhaps there's more to this story
about the powerful sex trafficker
who was found dead in his prison cell.
It's just, ah, it's a little bit fishy,
I guess. Going back to how a lot of these sex criminals seem to be leveraging legal loopholes
instead of contesting their innocence. We're seeing the same thing with people like Prince
Andrew, who both denies allegations against him by Epstein accuser Virginia Jufri, while at the
same time doing everything they can to avoid an actual court case.
Like, if Prince Andrew was innocent, you'd think he wouldn't need to try and use a 2009 settlement
agreement with Epstein to absolve himself from liability. Sure, weird to say I'm innocent, but
also, as an aside, this legal loophole prevents me from being held accountable in the event that I'm
not actually innocent, which I totally am. I don't know, man. Seems like you did a sex crime. Seems like this massive sex trafficking ring must have had some
customers, right? And while I'm sure not everyone he associated with is guilty, at least some of
them definitely are. And yet I can't help but to feel like we're never going to actually know who,
or rather we do know who in many cases, but it won't go further
than that, justice-wise. You might be thinking that Maxwell's conviction somehow sets her up to
point fingers at others, but as I mentioned before, her lawyers plan to appeal the charges,
which you can't do if you offer up knowledge of criminal wrongdoing. She is, as of now,
still claiming her innocence and not taking any plea deals. Not to
mention that legal experts seem to think that had there been enough evidence to convict any of
Epstein's clients, the U.S. would have done that already. Hopefully. Maybe? Probably? I don't know.
In short, this is probably as good as it gets in terms of finding justice. A monster dead in jail,
another monster probably going to jail maybe, but their
monster clients not so much. The worst they'll probably see is more people knowing what they've
probably definitely done, despite no material consequences coming their way. That is, unless
some of these powerful people involved get implicated in additional crimes along the way.
Like, say if one of them was extremely bad
and obvious at doing crimes
and amassed hundreds of lawsuits and accusations,
well, then you'd imagine those crimes
would eventually catch up with them,
especially if they briefly became
the president of the United States
and was also really bad at that
before losing the reelection
and then throwing a fit and lightly pushing for a coup.
But before we get to all of that fun and good and totally normal stuff, did you know about
money?
It's fake.
But we need it.
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Super cool how we're back from those ads.
No more ads for the rest of the video
so we can really get into the hardcore shit.
The sopping wet news about ongoing legal disputes happening in America.
You're so horny for this.
You sick freak, you.
Hey, Ink, are you horny for the news?
Yeah, you're a pen, all right.
Just a pen I found that we're going to mark it on a shirt, probably.
Maybe a mug?
A mug of pen?
I don't know.
We'll see.
Am I stalling? Yeah, I'm probably
stalling because I don't want to talk about the next section. Hey, Inc., what are the odds that
I'm stalling right now because I don't want to talk about the next section? Not even gonna do
a voice for you again. No desire for that. Okay, well, here's the next section of our video.
The many stupid crimes of Donald Trump. A stupid person person Honestly, I don't know what's worse
Talking about Donald Trump or not talking about Donald Trump
Seems like after an entire year
We could shut the fuck up about him
But also, there was a time
Where we all kinda hoped he'd like
Go to jail
Remember that? For all the crimes
Remember the crimes
So as much as we don't want to start the new year by reminding everyone of the bad president
from more than a year ago, we should really be wondering what's going on with all of that
crime stuff.
And of course, it should be noted that Trump has so many lawsuits that you can find interactive
web pages guiding you through all of them.
A lot of it is your typical Trump crimes, like promoting a pyramid scheme and treating employees like garbage. So we might as well skip that and start with the
sexual assault allegation. You know how our former president sure seemed to have done a lot of sexual
assault stuff? Well, amazingly, only one of those incidents has resulted in a court case,
specifically from E. Jean Carroll, who in 2019 accused Trump of assaulting her back in the 90s.
When he was first confronted by this accusation,
then-President Trump put out an official big-boy super-smart statement saying,
and I'm quoting,
I've never met this person in my life.
Which is pretty funny considering the article that first broke the news
had posted a photograph of Trump and Jean Carroll together.
Having, you know, met.
Very smart stuff. Really good at crimes. Glad we made him president that one time.
Trump went on to deny the incident, took place, and call his accuser all kinds of names,
prompting Carroll to file a lawsuit for defamation.
This is the lawsuit that is continuing to this day, one where Trump is being asked to submit a DNA sample. The reasoning being that in order to prove defamation,
Carol will simply have to prove
that Trump was lying in his denial.
And so her lawyers want to match DNA on her dress
from the assault to Trump,
which will at least prove that they have met and interacted.
It's interesting, bipartisan pattern
of presidents and DNA and dresses.
Anyway, I wanted to lay this out
because as you might've figured, none of this would result in Trump pattern of presidents and DNA and dresses. Anyway, I wanted to lay this out because,
as you might have figured, none of this would result in Trump actually facing penalties for sexual assault, the thing he's done. The case is technically about defamation. And to continue our
extremely depressing pattern of powerful creeps using the law in their favor, it's possible that
Trump won't even be affected by that charge either. The Justice Department filing documents to represent President Trump in a defamation lawsuit.
Last year, advice columnist E. Jean Carroll accused the president of raping her at a New York City hotel back in the mid-90s.
Carroll filed the defamation suit in November after Trump denied her allegation.
Fucking what?
after Trump denied her allegation.
Fucking what?
So the DOJ, or more specifically,
the DOJ under current president Joe squint-faced Biden is making an effort to defend
former president Donald Trump in his defamation suit
concerning the rape he did.
The argument here being that
since Trump made the statements officially as the president,
he was actually representing the government
when he lied about having not met
E. Jean Carroll. Therefore, her case should be against the government and not the individual
of Donald Trump. And what makes that all even more fucked up, if the DOJ is allowed to do this,
then it will prevent Carroll's lawyers from obtaining a DNA sample. In fact,
it'll completely end her defamation case altogether. Because, and this is real life,
it turns out that you can't sue the government for defamation. No, really. It's why Trump was
able to use his presidency to harass and lie about the press all of the fucking time. It turns out
that back in 1946, when Congress created a law dealing with consequences for people injured by
our government, they completely skipped over acts of slander or libel
because they deemed it too complicated
to lump into claims of physical harm.
At the time, they assumed a second law
would then be made specifically for defamation,
which didn't happen, but still could, huh?
Let me check how Congress is doing.
Okay, so they're probably not gonna ever do that.
So yeah, everyone just forgot about it, creating this loophole that will now most likely shield our terrible former president from ever even a sliver of consequence for opening his idiot mouth whenever he liked.
And this is where we really hit the main theme of this episode, folks.
Huzzah!
Theme!
theme of this episode, folks. Huzzah! A theme! Specifically, the pattern of extremely bad people who have obviously done crimes somehow being immune to consequence, in part because of the
methods people are using to try and nail them. Because for some frustrating reason, they somehow
walk this line between being overt about their crimes, but not leaving enough evidence to actually
be put in jail. Meanwhile, they manage to continue having a baffling level of popularity
with the most denial prone members of our society.
After all, in case you forgot,
Donald Trump's successful election started with this.
And when you're a star, they let you do it.
You can do anything.
Whatever you want.
Grab them by the pussy.
And so ever since, there's been this continuous lust
for seeing this creep ass motherfucker in jail.
He represents, for a lot of people, the ultimate privileged white powerful man seemingly immune to actual justice.
And every time it seems like we might have him, he slips away.
And I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but that will probably also be the case when it comes to the January 6th insurrection.
Because let me tell you, they just do not have much on him so far.
Because let me tell you, they just do not have much on him so far.
And the attempts to nab him all seem to be reliant on obscure or low-level laws that could easily be fought against.
In D.C. specifically, they're looking to charge Trump with inciting people to commit violence,
a misdemeanor punishable by just six months in jail maximum.
Meanwhile, the NAACP are suing him for violating the Civil Rights Act of 1871,
a largely unused law that was created to prevent the KKK from intimidating members of Congress.
But these are all supplemental efforts,
garnishes to the treason salad
we so desperately want to force feed our former president,
presumably the first salad he will have ever eaten in his life.
Sorry, second salad.
So what of the main event, though?
As in the January 6th committee currently looking
at whether or not they will recommend that the DOJ pursue criminal cases against Donald Trump.
This is basically the promise ring of criminal investigations, as we are essentially 10 steps
behind any actual pursuit of justice for the obvious coup attempt made by our shit dick
former president. Except the word coup or treason or shit dick are
never going to actually touch Trump, because the specific charges they're looking into is simply
obstruction. Obstruction, along with witness tampering, are the current charges that have
been used against the individual insurrectionists who have been stuck in jail for the January 6th
riots. The obstruction charge comes with a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison,
which seems unlikely considering the lenient punishments we've seen so far.
And like even that seems excessive for the low level saps who are ostensibly in a cult of this guy who's just like hanging out places now.
Because while there are so many smoking guns, even documents and PowerPoints outlining the White House's plans to call the legitimacy of
the election into question, they're not linked directly to Trump. Although we now definitively
know, like with evidence, that Fox News functions explicitly as a propaganda tool for the right and
had been communicating directly with Trump. But I guess that's such a given that it's not even
shocking to hear. It's just weird that we've all sort of accepted that there's an entire news channel that openly does this.
Anyway, in the case of the PowerPoint, it is entirely framed as if they actually believe the election isn't legitimate.
What I mean is that they never explicitly say this is how we're going to do a coup, nor is there any evidence that it was shown to Trump or that Trump acted on
it. It is not a smoking gun. I'm sorry. It doesn't matter how many times the news frames it like it
is one. Well, and with evidence like that, like it's a powerful representation to do a coup.
And so what I'm getting at is that while we're seeing very swift acts of justice for all the
low-level rioters, that's because those people straight up did the fiscal crimes while on camera.
They were very, very high profile about their crimes
as they were doing them.
Very often, their crimes included stuff
like assaulting a police officer.
For Trump and others, this will prove very frustrating.
It's once again that theme of our episode, again,
where our justice system is throwing
all the low-level people in jail
as a sort of good enough version of justice,
much like how we're gonna settle for Ghislaine Maxwell,
who is a monster and helped facilitate monsters things, people in jail as a sort of good enough version of justice, much like how we're going to settle for Ghislaine Maxwell,
who is a monster and helped facilitate monsters things,
but we're not going to get any of the powerful clients.
We won't get Trump,
but at least at least a bunch of his base might go to jail after he misled
them into ruining their lives. Prison reform now. No, no, not for them.
For the people I like, but to top it all off,
the method for justice might prove to be its own undoing.
As some experts have pointed out,
using the obstruction charge against the rioters
might actually end up being too vague to stick.
And so once more, the need for quick justice
might ultimately bite justice itself on the ass.
It's sort of like, I don't know,
like if you were in the army
and there was this sergeant
who ran an underground casino right there on the base and did all of these obviously illegal schemes, and even though they were really blatant about it, they never got in trouble.
So in a fit of frustration, you sabotaged a tank they were working on and then accidentally confessed to it, and then you got in trouble instead of them.
And for some backwards-ass reason, your punishment was somehow enough to satisfy the need for justice.
And this sergeant just went free to do more zany schemes.
It's sort of like that, actually.
At least enough to justify that callback.
But maybe simply mentioning the film Sergeant Bilko isn't enough to cheer you up.
What with all the other stories about mishandlings of justice.
So I'm going to give you a bit of good news.
Trump still might go to jail.
Probably not. I mean, almost definitely not. But, but, but, but maybe he will. But he's probably
going to die happy and free and rich shitting himself to death. But, but, but people are trying
to put him in jail. Just not for the January 6th stuff. Because while the U.S. government doesn't
care much about sexual assaults or planned insurrections and subversions of elections, there is one thing that they simply
will not tolerate. The Trump organization's longtime CFO appearing in handcuffs indicted
tonight, along with the company that bears the former president's name, accused of what
prosecutors called a sweeping and audacious tax fraud scheme.
Can't fuck with the money. Sorry, bud. That's the line. Like, as an aside here,
another trial that just wrapped up was that Elizabeth Holmes case where her company defrauded
the public with a fake blood testing machine, something that costs patients both money and
hardships from false diagnoses. And while we didn't have time to really dig into that one,
one notable detail is that she was only found guilty of defrauding her investors and completely acquitted on the charges involving the patients.
Because you can hurt consumers all you want, so long as you don't fuck with the money, folks.
Anyway, back to Trump. Basically, the senior executives of the Trump organization have been systemically underreporting their earnings and accepting secret perks that didn't show up on their tax documents.
Allen H. Weisselberg, the top executive, is being accused of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in these perks and faces a decade in rich white guy prison.
Meanwhile, the prosecutors who have been specifically targeting Trump's taxes are now pressuring Weisselberg to give up information on our totally innocent business monster former president loser.
You see, it turns out that Trump greatly devalued certain properties when reporting to tax officers,
while then using extremely high estimates when applying for tax breaks. In other words,
he would value his property in whatever way most benefited him at the time, as well as lie to his
own accountants about how much he was worth, which is a crime.
And considering the severity of the charges against Weisselberg,
experts at places like the Brookings Institution have put Trump at a substantial risk. This is all very early and probably wouldn't put him in jail for very long unless they dig up more stuff.
But boy, how funny would it be that the thing that puts Donald Trump in prison is his big, dumb ego
and the fact that he loves to lie
about how much money he has.
It's just really perfect
that this gold-obsessed dildo of a man,
this classless wealth cosplayer
whose only real passion is to be respected in high society
would finally go down
because of his pathological need
to lie about how much money he has.
It is delicious.
I could slurp that down any day.
All we need now is for it to, you know, actually happen.
So I guess let's all cross those fingers because, come on, it probably ain't happening.
Anyway, hope!
It burns us.
It burns the flesh.
I know.
But it's important to have it every once in a while.
And if you want some sort of systemic justice, well, it's hard to come by.
But we can hope, can't we?
Can't we hope, Inkventura?
Oh, righty we can!
Not to mention that justice doesn't just define punishment for others,
but rather vindication and peace for victims,
and perhaps since so many of the criminals we talked about today are widely known for their misdeeds, it can
at least give an admittedly very little amount of solace to their victims.
But even then, it's important to continue seeking retribution through legal efforts.
Uh, yeah, also that.
Thanks, Ink.
And while 2021 wasn't a great overall year for justice,
one notable example of things going right
is that so many large companies are being held accountable for the opioid crisis.
For example, just before the new year,
the drug maker Tavor was held liable for contributing to fentanyl overdoses,
opening them up to endless lawsuits and charges.
Also, in December, a judge threw out a deal with Omega of OxyContin that had shielded
them from opioid lawsuits, and so, like Taylor, Purdue Pharma is now open for a flood of lawsuits,
much like many other companies the government is now holding responsible for the misleading
tactics that led to the opioid crisis.
Oh, wow.
That's really good news.
Thanks for that, Penn.
You're welcome, Father.
You know, even with the opioid stuff, it's the long road to complete justice.
A lot of these rulings could get overturned by appeal, and we're probably never gonna be fully satisfied,
but can at least take pleasure
in the small victories along the way,
and perhaps try and find peace within ourselves,
and prove ourselves,
and try to be good to others and our community.
Because while the larger system might fail,
even larger is our connection to one another,
and so we should never discount even the smallest of efforts.
Like puppeting a high-fast pen character you made up at the last moment in order to sell pints.
And so, when you're faced with the hole of despair, feeling as if justice has abandoned you and contemplating the step into the darkness, well...
Do not go in there! Woo! Like the darkness. Well, do not go in there.
Woo!
Like the movie.
All righty then.
Also, when you write with me, it feels really good.
Like sex.
Okay, well, we're done here.
Sliding that ink out of me, it makes me so hot.
Okay, throw in the pen.
Done with the pen forever.
Happy New Year, everybody.
Check out our merch store for some ink Ventura shirts, I guess.
Smoking.
Yeah, baby.
All right, do the thing.
Somebody bought me!
Nailed it.
Hey, thanks for watching the end of the video. Like and subscribe
and do the YouTube things, cause you
know to do that, or why did I even tell you to do that?
Leave a comment about how much you love our new character and his fun, consistent voice.
And we'll bring him back.
We promise.
Or maybe we won't.
No promises.
Promise.