Jussie Smollet - Horrible Hate Crime or Horrible Case of TDS?

[AirPoh]

Since you guys are crying about it for so long,

Well, you progressives have been crying about the acquittal in the Trayvon Martin case for 6 years.

He killed a kid because he is a pussy, and got away with it because he's a pussy and FL thinks that's okay.

 

[ronburgundy]

This case is likely not over. This prosecutor will likely be investigated for corruption.

The prosecutor has a personal relationship with Smollett's family and the police had already filed a complaint with the US DA about her efforts to tamper with their investigation.

By the prosecutor's own admission, there was nothing wrong with basis for the initial charges or the evidence supporting his guilt. Rather she chose to drop the charges b/c Smollet gave money and supposed "public service", and b/c she doesn't think his crimes are important enough to prosecute.

The States Attorney recused herself from the case once Smollet became a suspect because she had had contact with his family. This was the supposed decision of the deputy, some guy named Joe Magats.

I guess we will see from Mr. Magats’ near term career trajectory whether he is someone’s loyal soldier or whether he is someone who made an innocent mistake because he lacks the judgement not to piss off the police, the mayor, and all the people who find Smollett’s acts very wrong and very serious.

Magats was appointed by and is the #1 deputy of Foxx, who is the head of the County State's Attorney's Office.

BTW, it is a hilarious coincidence that his name is MAGAts.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

To the thread title, what does "TDS" mean?

 

[dismal]

Trump Derangement Syndrome.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Does that mean Trump himself, his deranged followers, or his deranged opponents, or all three?

 

[dismal]

Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Does that mean Trump himself, his deranged followers, or his deranged opponents, or all three?

People suffering from TDS have lost their tether to sanity due to the existence of Trump.

So, in this case it would seem to refer to Smollet making the whole thing up.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Does that mean Trump himself, his deranged followers, or his deranged opponents, or all three?

People suffering from TDS have lost their tether to sanity due to the existence of Trump.

That can include all three. If so, I'm impressed that a non-partisan term like that could be coined in this political climate. I have no knowledge or comment on this particular case. Was just curious about the term.

 

[dismal]

People suffering from TDS have lost their tether to sanity due to the existence of Trump.

That can include all three. If so, I'm impressed that a non-partisan term like that could be coined in this political climate. I have no knowledge or comment on this particular case. Was just curious about the term.

The term is traditionally used to describe Trump opponents who are driven crazy by Trump. It was really coined as Bush Derangement Syndrome back in the day.

 

[Derec]

Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Does that mean Trump himself, his deranged followers, or his deranged opponents, or all three?

"X derangement syndrome" refers to crazy and unhinged opponents and was first coined as "Bush derangement syndrome" by Charles Kraauthammer, but it can equally apply to Clinton, Thatcher (both retroactively), Obama and, now, Trump.

The Delusional Dean

It has been 25 years since I discovered a psychiatric syndrome (for the record: "Secondary Mania," Archives of General Psychiatry, November 1978), and in the interim I haven't been looking for new ones. But it's time to don the white coat again. A plague is abroad in the land.

Bush Derangement Syndrome: the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush.

 

[Derec]

Chicago police release files on Jussie Smollett investigation, showing behind-the-scenes maneuvers

“You know, I think that there is a lot of confusion,” Foxx said, according to a transcript on the station’s website. “For people who do this work every day, who recognize what the charges are—this is a Class 4 felony— for people who are in the weeds of this, we recognize that the likelihood that someone would get a prison sentence for a Class 4 felony is slim.”

Foxx also said she recognized that “there's a lot of emotion” surrounding the case right now but people might see it differently once the dust has settled.

“I wholeheartedly believe in our line of work we cannot be driven by emotion,” Foxx was quoted as saying. “We have to be driven by facts."

Asked whether her office should have pushed for Smollett to admit guilt in a more traditional plea deal, Foxx said that was “(Smollett’s) choice to make.”

“And should we have said nothing and allowed him to go to trial and also have the possibility that he's found not guilty?” Foxx said, according to the transcript. “Not every case that goes to trial has a finding of guilt. .. The presumption that if we had taken this case to trial that he would have been found guilty and therefore the justice would have been served — what happens to those who are found not guilty?”

Kim Foxx is full of shit! Even misdemeanors are frequently prosecuted, so the charges being low-level felonies is not the reason to just dismiss them.

And there is more than enough evidence here to take it to trial with pretty good confidence of a conviction. Therefore, if a plea deal is pursued, it should have been a real plea deal with a guilty plea, conviction on record and some real penalty. 100 official community service hours, not 2 unofficial ones, for example. And $10,000 forfeit bail is a joke for a rich actor too.

 

[Toni]

Chicago police release files on Jussie Smollett investigation, showing behind-the-scenes maneuvers

“You know, I think that there is a lot of confusion,” Foxx said, according to a transcript on the station’s website. “For people who do this work every day, who recognize what the charges are—this is a Class 4 felony— for people who are in the weeds of this, we recognize that the likelihood that someone would get a prison sentence for a Class 4 felony is slim.”

Foxx also said she recognized that “there's a lot of emotion” surrounding the case right now but people might see it differently once the dust has settled.

“I wholeheartedly believe in our line of work we cannot be driven by emotion,” Foxx was quoted as saying. “We have to be driven by facts."

Asked whether her office should have pushed for Smollett to admit guilt in a more traditional plea deal, Foxx said that was “(Smollett’s) choice to make.”

“And should we have said nothing and allowed him to go to trial and also have the possibility that he's found not guilty?” Foxx said, according to the transcript. “Not every case that goes to trial has a finding of guilt. .. The presumption that if we had taken this case to trial that he would have been found guilty and therefore the justice would have been served — what happens to those who are found not guilty?”

Kim Foxx is full of shit! Even misdemeanors are frequently prosecuted, so the charges being low-level felonies is not the reason to just dismiss them.

And there is more than enough evidence here to take it to trial with pretty good confidence of a conviction. Therefore, if a plea deal is pursued, it should have been a real plea deal with a guilty plea, conviction on record and some real penalty. 100 official community service hours, not 2 unofficial ones, for example. And $10,000 forfeit bail is a joke for a rich actor too.

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

But that's a bullshit rationale. It basically means that anytime a famous person gets caught for an obvious crime, they can't be charged for that crime. It's just one more example of the elite having a separate system of justice from the poor.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

Sure, but they couldn't get a plea deal? Usually there is a plea deal. Smollet didn't plea to anything... he just walks away from this, completely untouched... legally. Worse yet, he is out there acting like he is still a victim in all this.

 

[dismal]

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

But that's a bullshit rationale. It basically means that anytime a famous person gets caught for an obvious crime, they can't be charged for that crime. It's just one more example of the elite having a separate system of justice from the poor.

I dunno, what better way to stand up for criminal justice budgets being limited and resources being precious than to take a guy who wasted 1000s of hours of police and prosecutor time and just let him go.

 

[laughing dog]

Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Does that mean Trump himself, his deranged followers, or his deranged opponents, or all three?

Depending on the context, it can mean any of those.

 

[Toni]

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

But that's a bullshit rationale. It basically means that anytime a famous person gets caught for an obvious crime, they can't be charged for that crime. It's just one more example of the elite having a separate system of justice from the poor.

I think there is ample evidence that if one is rich enough or famous enough, one can get by with quite a lot for quite a long time. Even when the crimes are well known, they are often overlooked and excused and called by different names.

The truth is that in every town and city in my country and probably yours, prosecutors make judgments about which cases they are likely to win convictions and which they are not —and then make decisions.

If he weren't (semi) famous, we would probably never have heard about this case at all.

 

[TSwizzle]

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

But that's a bullshit rationale. It basically means that anytime a famous person gets caught for an obvious crime, they can't be charged for that crime. It's just one more example of the elite having a separate system of justice from the poor.

I am pretty sure that the "not getting a fair trial" excuse is not what happened in the Smollett case getting dismissed but in general, when the chief of police and mayor go on national television telling us all how guilty the person is, it would be a problem trying to pick a jury at the very least.

 

[dismal]

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

But that's a bullshit rationale. It basically means that anytime a famous person gets caught for an obvious crime, they can't be charged for that crime. It's just one more example of the elite having a separate system of justice from the poor.

I am pretty sure that the "not getting a fair trial" excuse is not what happened in the Smollett case getting dismissed but in general, when the chief of police and mayor go on national television telling us all how guilty the person is, it would be a problem trying to pick a jury at the very least.

In every case the police/prosecution are required to list exactly what they think the person they charged did, so at best you have a quibble about the guy's language not containing enough weasel words like "we believe" or "we allege".

 

[TSwizzle]

I am pretty sure that the "not getting a fair trial" excuse is not what happened in the Smollett case getting dismissed but in general, when the chief of police and mayor go on national television telling us all how guilty the person is, it would be a problem trying to pick a jury at the very least.

In every case the police/prosecution are required to list exactly what they think the person they charged did, so at best you have a quibble about the guy's language not containing enough weasel words like "we believe" or "we allege".

No, I don't have a quibble about language. But in any event, not many cases get the national coverage Smollett did and for the police and mayor to speak about the case the way they did, on national TV, I think may cause a problem picking a jury in that county at least.

 

[Toni]

I’m not that sure that they could seat a fair and inbiased jury in this particular case, given the type and level of publicity this has received. Which means that if he was convicted, there would be ample grounds for appeal. Trials are expensive and budgets are limited.

Sure, but they couldn't get a plea deal? Usually there is a plea deal. Smollet didn't plea to anything... he just walks away from this, completely untouched... legally. Worse yet, he is out there acting like he is still a victim in all this.

This is really just wild peculation on my part but I suspect there ma be an element of serious mental illness at play here. If my guess is correct, all the better reason from a monetary standpoint of finding a way to dispose of the case quickly. Again: what I wrote is purely speculation. Also a plea deal means he acknowledges wrong doing. He seems unwilling to do that.