Gaetz ethics report should stay sealed because he's a "private citizen," says House Speaker Johnson
Gaetz ethics report should stay sealed because he's a "private citizen," says House Speaker Johnson
Never believe that [fascists] are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The [fascists] have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
In the future, I highly recommend sourcing to Wikiquote instead. It's a sister project of Wikipedia which sources its quotes so they can be independently verified, whereas Goodreads just operates on an ad populum approach of upvotes. It also for this reason tends to be more robust to error, and many more prominent figures have specific sections both for popular quotes that are known to be misattributed and for ones that are dubious but not currently falsifiable.
Ok so how to handle it then
Good question. Best answer is building robust communities that can reject them and not allow them to gain footholds. “Fuck off loser” gives them no room to twist anything
The correct answer to that question would be removed
Justice dies in silence.
Did I miss something? Are private citizens who rape children immune to prosecution?
This is America.
Depends... mostly on party affiliation and bank account.
No see... he was a public representative, which means he's only accountable to the house ethics pannel and not local law enforcement.
It feels like watching those old Bonnie and Clyde and other famous historical criminals in the US that would say rob a bank, cops would be chasing them... and Oops they crossed state lines, I guess they get away this time.
Either:
Both options make Johnson a shitstain.
Nothing can make him a shitstain, as he already is. All we can do is increase size and smell.
Guy defends the pedo that got him his job. What's new with the Republican party?
"Public figures confused about what 'pivate citizen' means"
there I fixed the headline
_"speaker Johnson is a festering pile of diarrhea"
Is all I read.
But he wasn't a "private citizen" when he did the things you investigated, so release the fucking report.
Johnson: No.
Those checks and balances are just a myth at this point.
Not at all. Political enemies of the Trump clan will be checked and balanced at every turn.
Rules for thee but not for me.
People in power should learn that these social contracts and norms are a peacekeeping measure and violating every single one isn't a good way to keep the population peaceful.
Exactly. America was born as a nation because last time someone tried some bullshit like this we shot them all dead and moved out.
We've seen an awful lot of history repeating itself these days.
If they're smart they'll take the hint. But we all know how likely that is.
An extremely fragile democracy to say the least.
I can't believe that this whole time it was just "please play by the rules" and that it was basically only enforced via tradition.
Literally the only thing required to take down the American Empire: some orange turd saying "nuh uh"
Always have been.
Gaetz was a congressperson when it all took place. That report is government property, AKA it belongs to all Americans.
Or Biden releases it as a matter of national security? Dems have no balls.
Does Biden even have it? It was a house investigation.
Regardless, Dems have no balls.
Respect the norms!
Trump should be in prison now because he still is a 'normal citizen'.
He would if the justice department weren’t a bunch of wimps and if the judges weren’t bought and paid for.
This motherfucker has covered up some shit in his life. This is not far from the pastor telling the pedo he smoothed things over with the victims family and if we pray about it everything will be ok.
Remember, this is the same guy who still claims he doesn't have a bank account. By my mind that means he's lied on every disclosure and is likely hiding more than just a few bank accounts and investments.
This may be a hot take but PEDOPHILES ARE NOT ENTITLED TO PRIVACY
I disagree with that as a general principle but this report should be released
General principle - they use that excuse to spy on everyone
What if you were in the desert 🏜️ and a pedophile had the only source of water 🌊💦 and was also a politician but he had retired years ago and just wanted to be alone so he could have fun with his adult friends in the desert?
It has blood.
I'll slash its throat and drink that instead.
Who is applying for a different government job.
As an alternative argument, that report almost certainly shows evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and it'd be weird to shield private citizens like that.
It’s funny and a bit ironic how far Mr. Jesus (Johnson) has fallen since he took office. Going out of his way to protect pedophiles and rapists like Gaetz and Trump and doing nothing but looking after the interests of how much money his boss is going to be making.
_Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money._
Leak it...
How this doesn't just happen is beyond me. One would think one of the MANY staffers with access to this document would have leaked it by now.
People don't wanna lose their jobs or end up in jail.l
Next time I'm in legal trouble I'll just tell people that they can't look at the evidence because I"m a private citizen
He is Schrodingers citizen: both a public servant AND a private citizen whose waveform doesn't collapse until the investigations begin.
If the report was exonerating, they'd release. Therefore, drawing the adverse inference: holy shit, trump nominated a child rapist to the justice department.
I saw a comment earlier I thought was interesting, this may be a way of forcing everyone to bend the knee, make them complicit
We all knows Gaetz is a kiddy diddler
Trump knew when we nominated him
Now everyone in congress knows. And they’ll allow it, because otherwise trump will turn on them
A sitting representative just needs to read it into the Congressional Record.
If he's representing me, then I have a right to see it. Period.
I swear, these conservatives now lack any kind of moral standard.
“Now”
If you're looking for the most morally reprehensible person in the room, just seek out the one who can't stop injecting their religion into every unrelated conversation.
Says the guy watching pornos with his son
Now that's just some good ol' fashioned father son bonding time down in ol' Louisiana
To be fair... IMO I think that idea is mislabeled and misunderstood.
Now the idea of opposing porn is just plain stupid. I'd expect any teenager to get their hands on porn and going against that is nonsense. But I'd say the labeling saying that it's watching porn with your son, is very misleading.
The point of it is, it's just a porn blocker with a detection switch, it's not so you and your son can brag to each-other over what porn you are into. It's made basically a switch to rat you out if you tried to bypass it.
IE that would be like if an alcoholic had a device that sends his wife an alert any time he tries to get an alcoholic drink. It's made to discourage you from trying because you'd be caught.
Again I fully disagree with that software because, I don't see porn itself as inherently harmful, but if you accept the idea that porn is harmful, I see it as a reasonable method to try and discourage yourself from accessing it.
It’s funny that you are saying all of this considering we are both discussing facts about the current leader of the house of representatives in the USA
The 'don't go fishing with just one mormon/evangelical/etc.' argument.
The accountability partner being his son (over whom he has some power) kinda nullifies the concept.
Except thats bullshit because house reports have been released after members resigned in the past.
Can someone just fucking leak it already
He almost turns me into a believer because it seems the only place these fuckers might face any consequences would be hell itself.
Blatant disregard for anything in the way of violently grabbing power. This guy is gross.
Bitch please
What a feckless piece of shit
Once again the wee widdle wanker warps reality for his Masters
They wouldn't show restraint for a Democrat. These are empty words
They literally showed pictures of hunter bidens Wang on Cspan and he was a private citizen. So spare me the theater.
Yeah, pretty sure the report about Al Franken still got released despite him resigning months earlier.
That's DIFFERENT! That was a Private Citizens PENIS NOT Underage Sex Trafficking and Rape Testimonies! THOSE things are PRIVATE!
-Republicans who believe Pizzagate!