The ruling is hilarious. An Indiana mayor awarded a $1.1 million dollar contract to a truck dealership, then went to the dealership afterwards and said "I need money." He asked for $15k in cash, and was given $13k.
According to the SCOTUS this is not bribery because a bribe is an award for pre-agreed actions that is quid pro quo, and maybe the dealer just happened to feel generous to the person responsible for awarding them a lucrative contract after the fact. Only money in burlap sacks with dollar bills on them, with a person handing it over with a contract saying "this is a bribe" count as a bribe. Anything else is just a sparkling gratuity.
Vietnam and China are red fash for executing people who steal the wealth of citizens. You see, under a real democracy, true freedom is simply complaining about problem. Actually enforcing rules is reserved for the poor, otherwise it’s authoritarianism.
I'll give them this: anti-meritocracy and corruption is very much in line with Amerikkkan culture. EVERYTHING in this stupid country is a goddamn good 'ol boys club.
There's two ways to stop corruption: one involves identifying corrupt officials and punishing them. The enlightened, neoliberal solution is to simply make the law say it's legal to be corrupt.
I can't believe how pissed off this stuff still makes me. They're morons that dress up in black robes so people will take their arbitrary pronouncements seriously.
“The question in this case is whether [the federal law] also makes it a crime for state and local officials to accept gratuities — for example, gift cards, lunches, plaques, books, framed photos or the like — that may be given as a token of appreciation after the official act. The answer is no,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for the majority.
Despite his reference to token gifts such as lunches and framed photos, the federal law was triggered only by payments of more than $5,000.
yeah, or the like here means a 1.2% finder's fee on a million dollar contract explicitly solicited by a city mayor, but it happened after the contract was already awarded, so that's just the cost of doing business, i guess
On the face of it, this seems ridiculous, but consider, a Supreme Court judge has been accepting large gifts from a man who had brought cases in front of the court, and that couldn't possibly be bribery.
These assholes get paid more than me and even if they don’t, they have power. They don’t deserve gifts unless it’s a $2 hotdog gifted by some local business during a trip.