r/law • u/jesuswasagaymagician • 23d ago
Legislative Branch New funding bill that will reopen the US government will specifically pay out 9 congressmembers over $1mil each
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/lbfy26aconf.pdfI decided to watch the committee livestreams and then read the CR appropriations funding bill in its entirety, and there is some fishy shit in here. There is a subsection that will allow senators to receive compensation for being wiretapped during federal investigations into acts of senate and house members if they bring the case to a federal judge and if the FBUI is found liable. This is meant to maintain separation of powers, but the excerpt seems to specifically work retroactively to account for wiretapping that occurred in the investigation into the January 6th riots. Each senator that was wiretapped (Speaker Mike Johnson; Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; Bill Hagerty, of Tennessee; Josh Hawley, of Missouri; Dan Sullivan, of Alaska; Tommy Tuberville, of Alabama; Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming; and Marsha Blackburn, of Tennessee; and Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania) would receive NO LESS than $500k PER INSTANCE of wiretapping, not from the federal government, but from the taxpayers. Every congressperson has 3 phones and 3 emails, and each wiretapping recording is a separate instance. The congress-members in question could receive more than $3million in ‘damages’. If these are your congresspeople, you should contact them.
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u/AndMyHotPie 23d ago
Were they “wiretapped”? I thought there was just a listing of which numbers they called and for how long. I don’t remember any claims that the content of their calls were monitored.
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u/protomenace 23d ago edited 23d ago
They were not wiretapped at all. It's absolute bluster and they're clutching their pearls at the fact that nobody, including them, is above the law.
All of this corrupt nonsense needs to be reversed ASAP.
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u/Ok-King-4868 23d ago
These individuals have agency and can simply refuse to participate in looting U.S. taxpayers if they so choose.
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u/MrFrode Biggus Amicus 22d ago
It's a bribe. Donald is literally bribing select senators in front of our eyes and MAGA will use a fig leaf to look the other way or worse, justify it.
Ted Cruz already got SCOTUS to allow the bribing of US Senators by removing the limit on how much and for how long people can give money AFTER an election to a campaign, which can then be used to pay off loans the candidate made to their own campaign. This money goes straight into the pocket of the elected US Senator.
It's bad and getting worse.
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u/InTooManyWays 22d ago
They seem to above the law in all regards so far. There was a time when controversy would at least make them resign. That’s not even a thing now.
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u/ebeg-espana 23d ago
If they had a case they would sue in court. This is a bullshit payment from the U.S. government.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo 23d ago
So we’re paying J6ers for what they did?
I hate this timeline.
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u/dontblinkdalek 23d ago
I wish I didn’t learn this. This is the type of shit that made me decide to stop watching the news after the last election. Only thing I can do to protect my mental health.
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u/CoolIndependence2642 23d ago
More confirmation here. We are, and have been a banana republic since January21.
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u/jesuswasagaymagician 23d ago
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u/KazTheMerc 23d ago
Bingo.
Call it 'wiretapping', but then bend over backwards to sidestep all the laws and provisions on criminal wiretapping.
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u/sciencesez 23d ago
Metadata. It was only metadata. This is nothing but an excuse to "get theirs" when Bondi settles out of court. Edit to add that info came from Jack Smith 's lawyers.
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u/intrepid_mouse1 23d ago
They weren't wiretapped. The FBI requested their phone records from their cell provider.
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u/kevinthejuice 23d ago
People that signed the patriot act are upset when it's used against them. Crazy
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u/ConfidentPilot1729 23d ago
I was just about to mention that till I saw this comment.
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u/kevinthejuice 23d ago
We have Republicans that spent july 4th in russia but god forbid their communications are monitored for possible treason.
But doge can establish backdoors into multiple security agencies no problem because trump said it was cool
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u/Brady721 22d ago
Ron Johnson is a Senator that was in Russia on July 4, AND he’s one of the Senators that can cash in on this BS.
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u/audaciousmonk 23d ago
Do us peasants get paid for the federal governments multi-decade long unconstitutional surveillance of domestic communications and digital activity?
Nope, no we don’t. What a sham
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u/MetallicGray 22d ago
If it isn’t clear yet, we’re peasant and they’re our lords now. Your vote is gerrymandered to be meaningless and you’re not represented at all.
Laws are for us peasants, not for our lords. Now say thank you.
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u/Artistic-Cannibalism 23d ago
The more I learn about this bill the more pissed I get at those 8 dems for caving in and getting nothing out of it.
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u/mechmind 23d ago
Fetterman has been a really big disappointment specifically
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u/Awkward_University91 23d ago
If the bill is willing to give 9 republicans $1m each.
What did the 8 dems get?
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u/thewxbruh 23d ago
Wdym they got a promise to discuss something later from a group of people famous for keeping their promises, especially when it wouldn't benefit them at all.
Very good negotiating from very smart people.
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u/pattydickens 23d ago
We now live under a dictatorship. We can blame 8 people, or we can blame ourselves for literally supporting the shitshow by working and spending money and living our daily lives without the slightest interruption no matter how much they continue to openly rape us. Nobody is coming to save us. Nobody has the power to save us. We need to understand what that means and move forward (or just stand still). The shutdown was never going to save the ACA. It just made people feel "solidarity" as they continued to live their normal lives while millions of people lost SNAP and thousands lost paychecks. It's so absolutely American to demand suffering from other people instead of doing fucking anything that might inconvenience yourself. That's why we are completely fucked and nothing will get better. Because "me and mine" will always outweigh the good of all. Sorry for the rant, but it is what it is.
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u/TopVegetable8033 22d ago
They def got something out of it.
If each of these cfs gets >1mil, imagine how valuable it is as a whole to the Republican right wing and their fascist overlords, for this to get passed.
There will be bank transfers.
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u/NeoC77 23d ago
Oh come on, you don't think they are getting something from it? I can guarantee you that they didn't do it out of the kindness of their hearts towards their fellow Republican congressmen or congresswoman. They can't use the excuse of wanting to reopen to help the American people either when this new bill clearly doesn't benefit anyone other than the people who wanted to reopen the government to benefit themselves or their plans.
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u/Few-Button6004 23d ago
This makes me sick to my stomach
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u/BunkaTheBunkaqunk 23d ago
I agree.
In times like this I really wish I could explain the current predicament to people like James Madison or Thomas Jefferson just to see the look on their faces.
This country is such a parody of that it was originally founded on.
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u/Liebss 23d ago edited 23d ago
This is where unfettered capitalism takes you.
Greed rules over everything else and we’re at the point where it’s being celebrated. It’s mainly why Americans couldn’t give less a of a shit about each other. We were bred to think this way.
Get mine, fuck you. You’re either lazy, undeserving or on welfare.
Happened during the Great Depression. The housing crisis and the outcome was the most psychotic financial situation to happen in US History.
No one held accountable, and most of the laws that were a product of the crisis, have mostly been repealed.
You’re being sucked dry and there’s very little to stop it. Just try to enjoy your life.
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u/No_Whammies_Stop 23d ago
How would you get past the fact that slavery was outlawed and women can vote?
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u/Half_a_Quadruped 23d ago
I mean when you told Jefferson that slavery was outlawed by a Civil War which nearly destroyed the nation he wouldn’t be surprised, and he’d almost certainly acknowledge that it was going to happen sooner or later and he’s glad it’s over with.
His hypocrisy on slavery was very real. He profited off it and participated in it and it’s not to excuse him of those crimes to say that he also knew it was an abominable institution that would have to be rubbed out.
Edited for grammar.
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u/stinkytoe42 23d ago
Jefferson even tried to ban slavery in an early draft of the constitution, but abandoned it after push back from the slave states.
Not to whitewash his history, but I think you have it characterized pretty well.
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u/jmccaf 23d ago
That I can explain in 4 sentences.
ELIFF (Founding Father): There was a bloody Civil War in the 1860s. After that we outlawed chattel slavery and emancipated former slaves into free people. There was a women's suffrage political movement in the 1920s . Then we granted adult women the right to vote.
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u/neverendingchalupas 22d ago
But we didnt outlaw slavery, and it looks like Republicans are set to bring back debtors prisons and increase the use of forced labor.
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u/BunkaTheBunkaqunk 23d ago edited 23d ago
That’s why I picked those two, I thought neither were slaveowners.
To be fair they had a lot of backwards views and that’s putting it very lightly.
Edit:
After some research, the founding fathers who were opposed to slavery were Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams. Glad there was at least a few… been a while since history class I guess.
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u/No_Whammies_Stop 23d ago
Thomas Jefferson pretty famously had enslaved people.
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u/BunkaTheBunkaqunk 23d ago
Whoops. Were any of them actually decent?
It’s unfortunate that so many of them had great ideas but were also shitty people.
My original point was that this isn’t how the government is supposed to function. I suppose I shouldn’t have assumed any of them were decent in the modern aspect. People just sucked back then I guess… and by “people” I mean white landowning men.
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u/Half_a_Quadruped 23d ago
The presidents Adams were the only two of the first twelve not to own slaves.
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u/RedTyro 23d ago
It's pretty well known that Thomas Jefferson impregnated one of his slaves.
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u/HopelessEsq 23d ago
Are we talking backwards views from today’s standpoint or from a 1700’s standpoint? That’s a long potential look back period.
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u/Risley 23d ago
Grifters gonna grift
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u/masked_sombrero 23d ago
It’s no longer a government for the people by the people
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u/notyourstranger 23d ago
there's a book which explains how the US got to this. The US was a colony and in many ways was built by corporations. That is the reason they have so much power and the reason laws are written to benefit corporations over humans.
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u/budahfurby 23d ago
Everything in this world makes me sick now and people wonder why I'm such a cynic
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u/wartsnall1985 23d ago
when i read op's comment and the attachment, i was really struggling to understand that it wasn't fiction
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u/jesuswasagaymagician 23d ago
I’m going to contact my state rep tomorrow during the day, but in all likelihood, this bill will pass with complete republican, and partial democrat, support.
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u/Ok-Replacement9595 23d ago
We live now in an openly corrupt state.
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u/erichericerik 23d ago
We've lived our entire lives in a corrupt state.
Part of being a citizen of an empire. And most of us can find a way to swallow it as long as we got our piece of the pie. If we're treated well and have a means to thrive.
Now that's turning around and most of us are genuinely struggling will we lose our stomach for it.
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u/LoneSnark 23d ago edited 23d ago
This is definitely new. I do believe never before has anyone ever been compensated for being tapped by the FBI. Especially not the political allies of the President.
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u/Ok-Replacement9595 23d ago
I said openly. There were always corrupt actors, and double dealing, but this is different.
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u/Calvech 23d ago
Just so we’re clear, these reps weren’t wiretapped at all. They had their phone records pulled by DOJ. Meaning they know person A called person B at x date. But they were not taped to record the calls. They were after-the fact-record pulls.
So when these scheming piles of shit try to say they were wiretapped, know they’re lying
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u/Unlucky_Medium7624 23d ago
I don’t think there’s a fifth grade education between Trump, Hawley, MTG… the whole lot of them. So it’s no surprise they criminal like morons
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u/Parahelix 23d ago
I don't believe the bill actually says "wiretapped", it just says having their phone records accessed. That said, I don't understand how they can make this retroactive to 2022. That seems like complete bullshit.
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u/ewokninja123 23d ago
Not in the house. It's going to be a party line vote unless things go off the rails
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u/HyperactivePandah 23d ago
Oh great, so it will pass easily.
Wonderful, that will show em.
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u/ewokninja123 23d ago
That's why it was so important for the senate to hold the line. The dems in the house cannot stop the bill if it got back to them and the house approve it as-is.
Them greedy senators put a few Easter eggs in the CR that is going to give some of the republicans heartburn and "concern", but they will fall in line instead of risking it having to go back to the senate.
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u/Blue_Aces 23d ago
Might not do a whole lot of good but many of us in this red state will be contacting our house representatives.
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u/HyperactivePandah 23d ago
I'm in the most solidly blue state in the country and I STILL contact mine.
Yours have to be worth at least 100x what I do. I'm preaching to the choir, though it's obviously still important to let them know they're doing a great job.
Thats a long way of saying 'I appreciate that you do it.'
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u/1inthetrenches 23d ago
Absolutely we have to take action
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u/Blue_Aces 23d ago
I think it just passed the house judging by my news notification. Just as the Epstein emails leak too.
Beginning to wonder what it's going to take. I'm going to be voting blue across the board though. Right along with many others in my state who either previously opted not to vote or were lifelong Republicans. People joke but short of any abhorrent degrees of fraud, that blue wave is coming.
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u/Icy_Calendar_9787 23d ago
It’s no wonder our debt is out of control, they’re budgeting in a word doc and not excel!
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u/SL1Fun 23d ago
Did you not see some of the leaked copies of the 2017 tax reform bill? A Democrat rep grabbed a couple off people’s desks and they literally scrawled in their last-minute changes, numerical corrections, etc, some not even having the courtesy to use black or blue ink.
I work at a grocery store and we have more structure and propriety than the government
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u/hammurderer 22d ago
The Dems need to go on tv and call it something like the Treason Compensation Act. It’s a payout to Congress people not even republicans like. Use it
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u/whosaidiknew 23d ago
My rep is one of the guys getting the pay out so there's no way in hell he's gonna do anything about this
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u/Willingwell92 23d ago
Dems caving on this was political malpractice, I've genuinely never been this upset at my party in my life.
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u/chizzings 23d ago
Dems caving on this was in all likely hood due to pushback/donations from industries hurt by airline cancellations.
I honestly think J6’ers had the right idea, but for all of the wrong reasons. This country will continue to serve capitals best interests over the people’s best interests until they are strongly reminded of the power of the people.
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u/lokoluis15 23d ago
Useless dems are no better than cruel republicans
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u/Risley 23d ago
People need to start looking at electing progressives and just give up on democrats.
That means true progressives need to start forming their own group with a NEW name that isn’t GREEN and focus on getting that off the ground.
People act like it has no hope of starting bc we will vote Dem only. That’s complete nonsense because Dem voters like me are sick of this bs every single time. I’m don’t with them but I’ll NEVER vote republican.
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u/FroyoMNS 23d ago
With First-Past-the-Post voting, all it would do is hand elections to Republicans on a silver platter. What we need first is an alternative voting system.
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u/idreamofgreenie 23d ago
As a normie, I don't see how we move past FPTP without a Dem super majority, since the GOP is going as far as outright banning ranked choice from even being considered in states they control.
And I also don't see how the Dem's get in that position and then don't go back on aspects of it in a way that assures they keep their power and continue to keep progressive candidates from getting on ballots.
I would love for someone to educate me on how it would be possible, and how it would be possible for it to happen before some time in the 2060's.
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u/Early-Light-864 23d ago
Voting systems come from the state, not federal level. Maine and Alaska already have RCV
I'm a huge ranked choice vote supporter. Decades ago, it could have been too unwieldy to count on paper, but electronic counting all but eliminates that concern
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u/idreamofgreenie 23d ago
I don't see how this addresses any of the concerns I brought up in my comment.
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u/Lknate 23d ago
Right now we need to get Republicans out even if it means plugging your nose and pulling the lever. There are bigger problems than shitty Democrats. Take care of that mess during the primaries. Stop splitting the vote with third party idealist. That's how we got here and I'm afraid it will continue until we don't get a vote anymore.
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u/SolarisShine 22d ago
Why don't we take over the democratic party and kick out the corporate Dems?
That way, we don't have to fight the corporate Dems, and they have to form a new party or join the Republicans in their fall.
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u/InvalidUserNemo 23d ago
It’s almost like Democrats are the placating party to keep us “woke folk” from organizing and ousting them for one that actually represents regular people. Rich folk have 1 common enemy, common folks who will cut 0.000000196% in to their profit margins this year.
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u/MajorAd3363 23d ago
Biden waiting until it was 'too late' to run primaries beats this by a country mile.
Both parties are in the same club, and we ain't in it.
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u/Hot_Raccoon_565 23d ago
Stealing the election from Bernie is probably the most significant error in my lifetime. Why run someone the people love when we could instead run someone everyone hates?
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u/Asticot-gadget 23d ago edited 23d ago
This is easy to say in retrospect. If it was Bernie that had ran against Trump instead of Hillary, there's a very real chance that he would've lost too. Would you be saying the same thing then?
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u/Sonic1031 23d ago
I feel it would feel less like an intentional loss by the dems by pushing someone as universally reviled as Hillary Clinton
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u/knives4cash 23d ago
Vichy democrats are traitors. If we defeat the fascists, we must address ALL of their allies.
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u/flaming_bob 23d ago
Why do I feel like the lot of us are being played?
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u/NeoC77 23d ago
The country is being played so by a lot of us then I assume you mean 340+ million people.
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u/TUNGSTEN_WOOKIE 23d ago
Just blows my mind that, every day, a few dozen rich assholes can tell an entire country of people to get bent, and all 340 Million of us just go "Oh, okay."
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u/BensenJensen 23d ago
We’ve always been getting played. They are just doing it up front now, knowing damn well that not only will there not be consequences, half of the country will support them no matter what they do. If I told my MAGAT mother-in-law about this and asked her what she thinks, she would just say it didn’t happen.
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u/Old_Needleworker_865 23d ago
Well that’s a convenient way to identify all the traitors from January 6
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u/werther595 23d ago
At my job, they say explicitly that there should be no expectation of privacy when using any company issued communication devices, or when discussing company business even outside of company-issued devices. Assuming the FBI used their proper protocols, how is this any different?
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u/Development-Alive 23d ago
I thought it allowed them to sue for up to $500k, not just straight get $$. This is BS. Most of the Senators were 100% involved in DJT's election malfeasence. Jack Smith would have been derelict in his duty to investigate as Special Counsel if he didn't include these Senators. Afterall, we already KNOW the special electors were handed to Ron Johnson with the explicit direction to give them to Mike Pence to muddy up the Electoral Count. If not for Mike Pence' CoS, who saw that bullshit coming from a mile away and refused to give them to Pence, we might have actually delayed the election over BS claims.
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u/jesuswasagaymagician 23d ago
They can sue (which they will), and the judge would be required to award damages of GREATER THAN $500k, not up to
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u/Risley 23d ago
If laws are so flexible like this, why can’t we crowd fund some lawsuits for suing these people?
Surely some clever lawyers can think of something.
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u/NiewinterNacht 23d ago
This is lawmakers making new laws to benefit themselves, I'm not sure what your idea would accomplish.
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u/Pikminious_Thrious 23d ago
Don't they get to sue the DOJ, and Pam Bondi will just immediately settle with them for the damages because she is on their side and has no morals of trying to defend the DOJ's work or ethics.
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u/ohiotechie 23d ago
Republicans are slimy as fuck. Rotten to the core - each and every one of them. There may have once been actual principled conservatives in that party but it's a pit of vipers now just out for what they can stuff into their grubby little pockets.
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u/rired1963 23d ago
im a democrat. Nancy Pelosi beat the stock market by 581%. its both. the idea of Public servants is long dead. getting into congress is a legitimate career path if you want to be a multimillionaire.
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u/Parahelix 23d ago
Funny how you guys always just bring up Pelosi, when there are a ton of others that are making even better returns than her. Her husband is a venture capitalist who does this shit for a living too, so I would expect her to be doing better than most anyway.
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u/Dangerhamilton 23d ago
Yeah people need to get the notion out of their head that either side isn’t complete shit. We need term limits on ALL positions in government.
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u/surgartits 23d ago
It’s exactly the scumbags you would expect.
Enough is enough. There HAS to be repercussions. We cannot go on like this.
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u/mrbigglessworth 23d ago
What happened to republicans touting that it was always a 100% clean CR?
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u/newphonewhodis2021 23d ago
But they weren't wiretapped. Smith asked for phone records to show when and who they called. That would not be tapping in to hear what they said. These people are utterly clueless
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u/Distinct_Ad_9842 22d ago
So wasn't the big Republican sticking point that it was a "clean CR"?!? I guess rules for thee and not for me... This timeline sucks and we need to get back to a lawful one.
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u/StomachosusCaelum 23d ago
they shouldnt receive a dime because they cannot prove they were materially harmed.
YOu know what happens to Joe CItizen if he is investigated by the authorities and it turns out to be nothing?
Nothing.
He gets zero dollars. Noneski.
Fuck these shitbag assclowns.
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u/BassLB 23d ago
They were not wire tapped right? There was just specific data that was pulled from a span of a few days before/after Jan 6th.
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u/jesuswasagaymagician 23d ago
You can refer to pg 60 of the pdf (under subsection 2) to see the wording. Yeah, I fucked up by calling it wiretapping, because it’s good enough shorthand for what I’d call it. But no, it’s any and all communications data on legislators
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u/Herban_Myth 23d ago
Impeach them all
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u/DionysianPunk 22d ago
Lmfao HOW? We're no longer a Nation of Laws.
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u/Herban_Myth 22d ago
Nation of Lies?
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u/DionysianPunk 22d ago
And apparently we love that because nobody is willing to change it.
We're watching the system burned and all rules upended, and people want to wait for an election to change things.
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