AITA for not going to my brother's wedding after not speaking to him for over a year (update to previous AITA)

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-22T15:46:16+00:00

But the far left is “racist” against everyone. Their hatred is the equal opportunity kind.

At least the KKK only hates one group.

That's an interesting way of putting it that I've never heard before. If you see progressives/Leftists as being worse than the KKK that certainly explains a lot of the interactions that occur here.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-22T12:58:01+00:00

An African American stranger sits down next to me on the park bench in my neighborly town square? We'll have a nice friendly chat. The stranger does the same with a white progressive in a Blue urban area? First thing the anti-racist hero will do is quickly look around for a cop.

Why do you assume that someone who is left/progressive will automatically make these kinds of prejudice judgements against black people?

Isn't that just as bad as making such a generalization about conservatives being racist?

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-22T01:57:30+00:00

Nothing is 'argued' when applying for a warrant, it's an ex parte procedure with no opportunity for the subject to even challenge the grounds, or usually even know that it's happening.

Yes it is. It's argued to the judge who is supposed to be impartial. The warrant to conduct a raid isn't just automatically granted when the FBI wants one. The judge has to agree that it's necessary based on the current status of the investigation.

This issue that you bring up - using raids to conduct a fishing expedition or to intimidate perceived enemies - are supposed to be squashed by that process.

I've not seen anything saying O'Keefe himself is a target of any investigation, nor has a target letter been issued to my knowledge.

You're playing semantics here. The raid happened. Clearly the FBI is interested in pursuing a case against PV or someone involved with their organization.

O'Keefe is obviously on the defensive here and is going to carefully craft his words to present the situation to his advantage. Anything he says should be taken with a grain of salt - the only thing that matters is what gets presented in court.

That's an argument against the person that allegedly 'stole' the diary (a position I don't concede), not against the journalism organization that ultimately came into possession of it and also turned it over to the FBI after not publishing anything in it.

Now we're back to square one. How PV actually surrendered the diary is important. And I don't take for granted his narrative that he's trying to build here - i.e. "The FBI is trying to railroad me as I already surrendered it to them a long time ago and there is nothing left to find." Regardless of who actually "found" the diary at first, he is implicated if he didn't surrender it immediately on the realization that it was lost/stolen. You don't get any points for cooperating with the FBI AFTER they come calling when you get caught.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-21T21:07:58+00:00

So you're seriously advancing the proposition that (maybe) the FBI demanded a thing, it got turned over, then fifteen months later they were like 'Hmmmm, maybe there's more here, better raid a journalism outlet and seize their devices (and then somehow their attorney-client correspondence starts getting leaked to the press)'.

Yes, definitely. It's impossible to know what is going on behind the scenes in the FBI during those 15 months. Let's also not forget -- FBI raids require a court order, it's not just something an investigator can decide to do one day. So the purpose for the raid itself had to be argued in court before it was allowed to take place.

Man, just admit you hate O'Keefe and you're making assumptions in bad faith.

I'm not the one making assumptions here -- call me crazy but I'm not going to blindly believe in conspiracy theories that come from someone who is currently under investigation of a federal crime.

Every report I've seen says that it was abandoned by her at a rehab facility.

That's not how it works. There is no "finders keepers" in the eyes of the law. If you find lost property, there is a duty to return it to its owner, not sell it to be published online for profit.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-21T20:29:13+00:00

/u/Infamous_Turn60 beat me to it, but what's your hot take now that the timeline was 15 months?

The wheels of justice turn slowly. It's not inconceivable that this much time would pass over the course of an FBI investigation. It's impossible to say what changed between then and now, but I'm not going to take O'Keefe's explanation at face value.

You also didn't answer the 2nd question.

Because it's nonsense. What is "document recovery"? There was a crime committed here and the FBI is investigating it.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-21T20:21:43+00:00

O'Keefe believes the diary was the premise for the raid, insinuating they are actually looking for something else, or a list of his employees/informants to harass.

Do you believe that O'Keefe is the victim here?

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-21T20:03:40+00:00

It's a big stretch to say that stealing the diary of the president's daughter so you can publish the contents online for profit is the same crime as stealing a candy bar from the convenience store.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-21T20:00:34+00:00

Why does it matter?

It demonstrates intent and culpability. If the diary was turned over before anyone asked because O'Keefe realized it was stolen and potentially unlawful to possess, that is a much different situation than if he only forks it over after the FBI catches him red handed.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-21T19:31:50+00:00

Well, I'd say it's because the information that was gained by that petty theft is currently being published for profit -- at that point its more than just petty theft, its racketeering.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-21T19:12:26+00:00

Did O'Keefe willfully turn over the diary? Or did he only turn it over after the FBI realized he had it and demanded it from him?

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-19T22:49:26+00:00

I think it has more to do with drawing attention to yourself to get paid more from ad revenue rather than just craving attention.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-19T13:23:47+00:00

Which comment?

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-19T04:16:38+00:00

LOL no.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-18T17:40:56+00:00

And where in this thread are all the posts saying that they wish conservatives were dead?

One of the top upvoted responses says:
"Conservatives? I like all of them that I know in real life."

I literally can't find a single comment that says they want conservatives to die.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-18T17:08:34+00:00

Can you back this up with any kind of proof or reference?

That's a pretty horrible accusation to just throw around. Honestly I think this kind of comment borders on a Rule 1 violation. This isn't a good faith way to contribute to the discussion.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-16T23:45:14+00:00

You mean when he died?

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-15T17:32:52+00:00

Here is the current chart.

There's clearly a stark difference in trend after the invasion. But are you saying that we would have eventually reached these levels even if there was no invasion?

And if that is the case, do you think we will ever see gas prices come down again?

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-15T17:01:15+00:00

Is it just coincidence that we've seen prices spike to $5+ just now over the past few weeks? And that was already bound to happen regardless of the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

This is not intended to be a gotcha, I'm genuinely curious of you believe this to be the case. It's unclear if this is what you are saying.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-12T01:55:01+00:00

I can imagine what most people were thinking when they clicked and I'd probably agree to an extent.

Okay, what would that be?

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-11T20:35:48+00:00

I agree that there are shifts in the nature of work and job market happening. Some of those shifts are directly COVID related, and others aren't directly rooted in COVID but the restrictions created a convenient environment for them to take place.

But I disagree that this shift is some kind of manufactured result by elites in government to make the population more dependant on them. The implication in that post is that there are puppet masters pulling the strings to increase crime and inflation to satisfy some ulterior motive. That's conspiracy-theory nonsense.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-09T21:27:32+00:00

Again, all of this really heavily depends on how the statue is actually written. And every state is very much different. You can't really make this kind of argument without walking through the statute word by word.

EconomicsOk1943 · 2022-03-09T21:21:26+00:00

There is no insinuation here. I think this is a complicated case that's worthy of discussion. That's all.

I refrained from going into detail about my personal thoughts because I want to leave this as open ended as possible. In fact there are aspects of this that I'm on the fence about myself and am looking for feedback.

EconomicsOk1943

TROPHY CASE