Re: Antipersonnel infrastructure

On Wed, 12 Jun 2024 22:00:39 -0400, Radey Shouman
<shouman@comcast.net> wrote:

AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> writes:
>

On 6/10/2024 9:47 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sun, 9 Jun 2024 16:26:40 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
 

On 6/9/2024 3:57 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sun, 09 Jun 2024 18:28:36 GMT, Tom Kunich <cyclintom@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>

On Sun Jun 9 13:15:59 2024 AMuzi  wrote:

On 6/9/2024 12:12 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 6/9/2024 11:50 AM, Tom Kunich wrote:

On Sun Jun 9 09:59:54 2024 AMuzi

>
Here's an example. Ohio's latest utility scam sent several
people out of office and on their way to prison. The latest
Illinois caper (and the same scam is not unique to those two
States) which involved much higher amounts has lingered for
years with only a coupe of minor players prosecuted.
big players are known and have been for years in the papers.
And yet...

>
Elect a Democrat! Install criminals in office to really
make the kind of government that Americans deserve.

>
The Ohio utility scam was massively huge and involved
powerful politicians all the way up to (allegedly) the
governor, although so far he doesn't seem to have directly
profited.
>
All involved are Republicans.
>
(Or were. One died by suicide.)

>
Sam Randazzo was the chairman of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission
which is not a political position.  However, he was appointed by
Governor Mike DeWine, who is a Republican.  He also contributed
heavily to Republican organizations:
<https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/5698368/Samuel-Randazzo-campaign-contributions-to.pdf>
>
Note that he contributed mostly to Republican candidates, but also
contributed to a few Democrat candidates including Barack Obama and
Joe Biden:
<https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Samuel+Randazzo>
>

+1 to that.
There are no large groups without some thieves.

>
Of course that's true.  Big groups is where the big money lives.  It
doesn't make much sense to steal small money from small groups.
>

Am I surprised that Frank blames the acts of criminal felons on "Republicans" as if a man robbing you at gunpoint has the slightest interest in politics.

>
"Ohio nuclear bribery scandal"
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_nuclear_bribery_scandal>
>
"Ohio arrests bribery case: Who are Larry Householder, Matt Borges,
Generation Now, others charged"
<https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/21/ohio-bribery-fbi-larry-householder-matt-borges-jeff-longstreth-juan-cespedes-neil-clark/5479443002/>
>
I looked up everyone mentioned in the above articles which held
political office and which profited from the bribery scandal.  All
were either Republicans or worked for Republican causes.
>
There may have been a Democrat who was implicated but I couldn't find
one.
>
>
>

>
Right, which reflects contemporary government[R] in Ohio.
>
Illinois is the mirror image; same story, basically, with
Democrats:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/05/29/illinois-lawmakers-quietly-extend-cellular-law-part-of-att-michael-madigan-bribery-case/
>
With extra style points for extending the same crooked
regulation under an IL House bill titled, "Campground Hot
Tubs". Republicans do it, yes, but the Democrats just do it
better!
>
That's the telephone bribery affair. Illinois has a
concurrent ComEd electric utility bribery racket in court as
well:
https://www.nprillinois.org/illinois/2023-12-18/sentencing-delayed-for-comed-bribery-defendants-request-to-hold-up-madigan-case-also-expected
>
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2023/05/02/michael-madigan-comed-and-corruption-timeline-of-how-the-investigation-unfolded/
>
which started earlier and will go on for a very very long time.

Nice example.  However, one does not need to be politically
connected
to squander public funds for self-enrichment.  The McMartin preschool
trial of the 1980's had no partisan politics involved, yet made money
for all involved, except for the alleged victims (the children):
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial>
"The case lasted seven years and cost $15 million, the longest and
most expensive criminal case in the history of the United States legal
system, and ultimately resulted in no convictions."
I don't believe it's the longest criminal trial but at $15 million,
all at public expense, it is probably the most expensive criminal
case.
 

>
Yes, I followed it daily. A complete tragedy, which ruined the lives
of innocents (the McMartin extended family) where there was no initial
crime at all.
>
But doesn't that pertain more to prosecutorial errors* than to the
usual expected public contract corruption?
>
https://innocenceproject.org/exonerations-data/
>
*whether feckless or pernicious the result is the same for the wrongly
accused.

>
Could be worse, as in the Fells Acres case where the innocents were
convicted.

Given a choice between a court system so strict that it can convict
innocent people, and one lenient enough to allow an occasional
criminal act to go unpunished, I think I'd opt for the latter. An
innocent person in prison is that repulsive to me.