ChiGoose

The traditional reading of the First Amendment on religion is that it is both freedom OF and freedom FROM religion. We have both the Establishment Clause, and the Free Exercise Clause for this. Essentially, you are free to practice the religion of your choice and that government can not establish a national religion, enact laws to preference one religion over another, or preference religion over non-religion or vice versa. Of course, it has been a recent trend in SCOTUS to weaken or even do away with the Establishment Clause, so I think we can expect more cases and rulings allowing for government endorsement or religion despite the text and original meaning of the Constitution.

(Citation needed)

Just wait. It's coming. INB4: The small technical amendments that required the re-vote created a slush fund for reverse vampire pedophiles

Bingo. GOP Senators were ok with the marriage bill and the PACT Act only on the condition that the Dems didn't do a reconciliation bill. The Dems managed to get a proposal for a reconciliation bill, so now the GOP senators are going to tank two unrelated bills.

In 2019, the pretrial release rate was 42% Turns out you're right. They aren't treated like average defendants. They're being treated much better, with 90% being given pre-trial release instead of just 42%.

I quoted multiple sources that show that only 10% of the Jan 6th defendants remain in pre-trial detention. Do you have evidence to the contrary?

Just in case anybody is wondering, this is almost entirely false, and the Jan 6 rioters are being treated about the same as most criminals. Hundreds of Jan 6th defendants were released while awaiting trial and Dem Senators opposed any defendants being placed into solitary confinement. As of September of 2021, only 40 of the 600 people arrested remained in jail awaiting trial As of March 2022, only about 10% of the 775 people arrested for Jan 6 remain in pretrial detention Of the ~850 people arrested, 325 have already plead guilty. Delays in Jan 6 prosecutions due to volume of evidence, numbers of defendants, and fallout from COIVD Far from the "DC Gulag" of political prisoners, what we have here is 90% of the Jan 6 rioters being released pre-trial while only 10% remain in detention. The delays in trials are from the obvious fallout from arresting so many people in such a short period of time, in conjunction with the already existing problems with our court system.

There is no DC gulag. They are getting the same treatment as the average criminal. If you don’t like it, I’d be happy to agree on reforms to the judicial system.

So what are your thoughts on IVF? It involves the freezing and destruction of fertilized embryos.

Do you believe that life begins at conception?

No idea on whether this can pass, but I'm glad they're at least trying. In my old job, I was restricted from trading individual stocks. It's insane that members of Congress can do it.

It was essentially the same bill they already approved. It was only up for another vote for technical corrections. They most likely changed their mind because the Dems are pursuing an unrelated reconciliation bill.

From Military Times: "The Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — better known as the PACT Act — had been up for a procedural vote in the chamber with an expectation of final passage before the end of the week. The measure is the culmination of years of work by advocates to improve health care and benefits for veterans suffering injuries from burn pit smoke, Agent Orange spraying and other military contaminant exposure. It has been widely celebrated as a potential landmark legislative victory in veterans policy. The measure passed the Senate by a comfortable 84-14 vote in early June, and by a 342-88 vote in the House two weeks ago with significant Republican support. But on Wednesday, after technical corrections sent the measure back to the Senate for another procedural vote, 41 Senate Republicans blocked the measure, leaving its future uncertain." The bill was good enough for the GOP last month, but suddenly providing benefits to our veteran's is no longer acceptable.

Post-Roe, many autoimmune patients lose access to ‘gold standard’ drug 25. Pharmacist denied medication to 8 year old with juvenile arthritis because she was of "child bearing potential" As abortion ban is reinstated, doctors describe 'chilling effect' on women's care 26. Pharmacy denied prescription to assist with IUD insertion Because of Texas abortion law, her wanted pregnancy became a medical nightmare 27. Patient's water broke at 18 weeks and they began experiencing cramps, vomiting, and passing clots of blood and discharge. The pregnancy was given a 0% chance of viability but she was denied an abortion. The patient had to wait until the symptoms got worse before the hospital would induce her so she could deliver stillborn College-shopping students have a new query: Is abortion legal there? 28. High school students are changing where they apply to college to ensure access to abortion while in college Women with chronic conditions struggle to find medications after abortion laws limit access 29. Insurance company told patient they would no longer cover her medicine for Crohn's disease because it might be used for an abortion 30. Pharmacy stops prescription for patient with rheumatoid arthritis because it could be used for abortion 31. Pennsylvania doctor has had multiple patients who were unable to get refills of their rheumatoid arthritis medication Texan has out-of-state abortion to end heartbreaking and dangerous pregnancy, she says 32. Patient whose pregnancy was nonviable and could put her at serious risk had to travel out of state for an abortion ‘A scary time’: Fear of prosecution forces doctors to choose between protecting themselves or their patients 33. Doctor had to delay care and go to an ethics board for approval to treat an ectopic pregnancy 34. Doctors have been told to wait until patients with ectopic pregnancies are unstable before treating them

Mike Pence's counsel testified under oath that Eastman told Trump that the plan was illegal at a meeting. Additionally, there is an email from Eastman stating that there is no legal support for the plan to have Pence reject certification. https://time.com/6188491/john-eastman-jan-6-testimony-trump/ However, the decision to actually do anything about this lies with the DoJ, not the Jan 6 committee.

I agree that he is delusional and honestly believes that he won. That makes proving intent very difficult. However, for conspiracy to defraud the United States, prosecutors can show evidence (that we have already seen) of advisors like Eastman telling him that their scheme was illegal and Trump deciding to move forward with it anyway. That's a pretty strong piece of evidence of intent to commit fraud, regardless of whether or not he believes he won the election.

“Jim Jordan covered up sexual abuse and is somehow incapable of wearing a suit coat, but he’s a totally trusty source whenever his lunatic rantings match my conspiracy of the moment” -Idiots.

The idea that 2020 was the same as what the Democrats did in 2016 is just false and relies on a misunderstanding of the facts. 2016: Some Democrats call for "faithless electors" which are duly elected electors to choose someone other than the winner of the popular vote in the state. 2020: Trump engages in a conspiracy to replace the duly elected electors with a slate of electors of his choosing. One of the purposes of the electoral college is so that it could act as an intermediate body to prevent a dangerous candidate from being elected. The founders were concerned that a candidate might whip up the masses and wanted the electors as a check against that. Had Trump tried to convince the actual electors to change their votes to him, that would have been similar to 2016. Instead, he and/or his advisors had them create fraudulent documents in an attempt to overthrow the election.

I don't think people should be charged with crimes without evidence. Thankfully, that's not what happened here. So, while the system is definitely in need of reform, the DoJ is not making things up to get political actors.

The charges were reduced because he's pleading guilty... That is pretty standard. DoJ charges person with crime. Person negotiates to plead to lesser crime. DoJ agrees, expensive trial is avoided, case closed. I think there are fair critiques to this process, but this is all in alignment with how things work across the country and his treatment is no different.

The average length of pretrial detention is 50-200 days: (from page 7) "Most directly, the amount of time that a person is detained if they are unable to afford bail is substantial, ranging from 50 to 200 days, depending on the felony offense. The pretrial detention period is also growing, compounding the costs to those who cannot afford bail." These guys were arrested on March 14th, which was 135 days ago. They are still within the average length for pretrial detention. It's not a political gulag, this is just how our system "works". Also, given the sheer number of people who were arrested in DC in conjunction with January 6th, it's likely that the volumes are overwhelming the system, leading to delays in hearings. If you want to argue that this is not how justice should work in America, that maybe we should have fewer people in pre-trial detention and maybe we should properly resource our courts to avoid lengthy delays for cases to be heard, then I think you'd find a lot of agreement from those on the political left.

I think we have enough evidence to charge several people close to Trump, and Trump himself, with conspiracy to defraud the United States. If a jury acquits him, then we *have* to accept that. Whether or not Garland has the stones to actually do it, remains another question.

The fake electors signed documents that they were the true electors and transmitted those documents to the national archive. That is fraud. There is no legal justification for their actions. Where the conspiracy to defraud comes into play is that some of Trump's advisors wanted the fake electors to take those actions so that when Pence rejects the certification, they can have Congress vote on which slates of electors to accept, hoping they would select the fake electors and overturn the election. Here is a timeline of the scheme: https://www.justsecurity.org/81939/timeline-false-alternate-slate-of-electors-scheme-donald-trump-and-his-close-associates/

I understand why everyone focuses on the violence of January 6th, but a charge under 18 U.S. Code § 2384 is probably the least likely charge due to the difficulty in proving intent. If Trump himself actually faces a charge, it is far more likely to be either 18 U.S. Code § 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States or 18 U.S. Code § 1505 - Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees. Given what we've seen in the reporting, it seems the DoJ is very interested in the fake electors scheme, which would likely fall under conspiracy to defraud the United States. All of that being said, I am skeptical that Merrick Garland would approve an indictment of Trump himself, even if it ends up being a slam dunk case.