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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   28426 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 11, 2023

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the rules of the impeachment trial largely mimicked those of a criminal trial, most importantly the beyond reasonable doubt standard

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the quality of the evidence wasn't the most important factor here.

the fact that anyone, here included, watched that trial and voted to remove Ken Paxton based on a beyond reasonable doubt standard does certainly say a lot about what was or wasn't the most important factor here

the rules of the impeachment trial largely mimicked those of a criminal trial, most importantly the beyond reasonable doubt standard

However, unlike criminal trials where jurors are selected on the basis of impartiality, the jurors in this trial were people whose entire job is to be partial. It's a political process, and is designed to be one. It doesn't tell us much about what Paxton did or not do - but it tells us plenty about who has the power in Texas politics.

the political process adopted rules which largely mimic rules of a criminal trial, including not being "biased"

so the people whose job it is to be partial put on a charade adopting rules about being impartial and using the reasonable doubt standard, among other things mimicking a criminal trial, and the whole thing was a laughable sham

I reread your comment I originally replied to and I thought you were writing something which is clear you were not and I apologize for that. In this example, it's the Texas Bush machine flexing on the guy who isn't playing the game the way they want it to be played.

so the people whose job it is to be partial put on a charade adopting rules about being impartial and using the reasonable doubt standard, among other things mimicking a criminal trial, and the whole thing was a laughable sham

Indeed. Politics is full of things like this - inquiries that are only held when you know what the answer will be, speeches given to empty chambers, declaring someone has your full support right before you betray them. It's laughable shams the whole way down.

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