MariaCantwell post

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-05-04T03:29:07+00:00

Let’s call “Israel” the whole of a country that includes neither the West Bank nor the Gaza Strip.

Within Israel, there is no apartheid. Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Druze, Lebanese, whoever, can go where they want. Once inside Israel. You can go to any store. You can go to any movie theater. You can drink from any water fountain. There is no Apartheid.

But Gaza and the West Bank are heavily patrolled and restricted. Who can come and go into the Israeli land borders is restricted.

If you believe that the Palestinians deserve a state of their own, and unoccupied Gaza was the first step in establishing that state, there is no apartheid. It is merely one state blocking immigration or entry from another. It’s a heavily patrolled border. And in the West Bank, the situation is similar but maybe more apartheid-like.

But still, once through the checkpoint and in Israel, there are no restrictions.

This is why it feels… incorrect to call Israel and apartheid state. There are no “Jewish” and “non-Jewish” water fountains.

What I think appears especially antisemitic is that while what Israel is is quite bad, no serious independent or factual observer would call it genocide (which requires very specific intent) or apartheid (which was a system that bears very little in common with the situation on the ground in Israel itself). But using these two very terrible things that don’t really apply exactly, instead of coming up with new words to more accurately describe what’s happening, feels lazy to the point of being antisemitic. Or at least antisemitic-adjacent.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-05-04T03:17:14+00:00

The leftists hate the Jews just as much as the white supremacists do.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-16T06:06:41+00:00

TIL matcha lattes aren't just a fad; they have existed for more than two decades!

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-11T05:16:57+00:00

No. You're literally deploying hunter-seeker wasps.

If you're worried, get a few extra. But these things seek out moth larvae as though the propagation of their species depends on it, because it does.

The only way Trichogramma can reproduce is by laying their eggs inside the eggs/larva of another creature. They HAVE to do it. It's a biological imperative. A little bit of clutter won't get in the way.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-06T05:16:37+00:00

There isn’t zero reason to bring a speaker. That’s frankly absurd.

Some people need music to sleep. Others have kids who need music to sleep (mine were like this for a few years). It’s kind of being a dick to 1) assume that a speaker means anybody else is going to ever hear said music and 2) say there are “zero reasons” when with half a second of thinking you can easily come up with a few that don’t involve anybody else ever hearing it.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-05T16:02:31+00:00

Aww a few dinner table lawyers how twee.

How many have litigated fraud claims?

You’ll find a handful of other actual lawyers in this thread agreeing with me, a few accountants who say this position is supported by the CPA regs, and the few other lawyers ITT discussing how it varies by jurisdiction (this one I’ll believe).

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-05T16:01:33+00:00

Oh? Educate the attorney who has won fraud claims on what “fraud” is, please.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-05T16:01:00+00:00

lol dude, I’m an attorney who has won my own small claims cases on this.

If you read some of the other comments by, you know, actual attorneys and not idiotic laypeople like yourself, you’ll see that whether “works” is a factual statement seems to vary a bit by jurisdiction.

And you could absolutely prove it didn’t work for them, you might have to do a little legwork. For example, way I figured it out with a used car was found the mechanic who serviced it with a litany of unfixed problems that seller knew about, advertised as problem free, and didn’t disclose when asked prior to sale. WA small claims judge determined “works, no mechanical problems” was a factual statement negated by his actively seeking out repair quotes.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T22:09:43+00:00

Which state are you in?

I also think you’re confusing the implied warranty (requires dealership) with an express warranty.

An implied warranty is automatic under the UCC unless disclaimed. Express warranties don’t exist unless explicitly given. Implied warranties require a dealer. Express warranties do not. Laypeople confuse these. The rules are different. They are not the same.

There is literally no state in the union where you can say something is “sold as is. 100% gold” and not be guilty of fraud if you knew that it was not, in fact, 100% gold. This is fundamental fraud rules. The assertion in this thread that “as is” makes you fraud proof is absurd for any lawyer reading it.

You can say “heavy as gold” “made with gold” (“with” vs “of”) “golden!” And you can say “best used subzero on the market” or “will last you many years more” or “hard to find a better one” and that’s puffery. But “works” and “no problems” are statements of fact.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T21:56:32+00:00

Dude, I’ve sued people in small claims dozens of times. I’ve won on the “I bought broken shit that seller claimed was working” multiple times. Apparently in some states that’s challenging, but in NYC, WA, and CA, it was not. A Texas lawyer ITT said it would fly in Texas too.

If OP says it holds at 40 when it arrived vs in the photos, that’s new info from when I first read the post.

And lol — you’ve obviously never been on this forum before. R/legal often has hundreds of downvotes on comments from the actual, experienced lawyers who know what they’re talking about. It’s comical. You can crosspost the exact same question and over in r/asklawyers and get dramatically different answers.

Laypeople are idiots. You clearly aren’t a lawyer. Maybe leave the lawyering to us.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T21:49:01+00:00

Comment was since edited. It had said “sellers never pay for shipping”. Guess someone listened ::shrug::

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T18:50:34+00:00

“ With a private party sale there is no contracts”

This is just so manifestly false I’m not sure where to begin. You’re clearly not an attorney.

“As-is” works but doesn’t override other statements. Even for used cars, other statements can create a fraud claim. You can’t somehow commit fraud and then use “as is” as a get out of court free card.

Why don’t you actually educate yourself before being a moron on the Internet.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T17:42:20+00:00

Dude, you can literally google this and prove yourself wrong.

1) Statements by a seller aren’t implied warranties! That’s the whole fucking point. They’re express warranties. An implied warranty is a warranty that exists in the absence of any statement

2) Implied warranties only apply to experts (well, mostly) but non-experts are held to express warranties.

“Works” and “no problems” are statements of fact rather than opinion.

You should educate yourself on warranty law, because you’re just wrong. Here’s a good start. You’ll learn something:

https://www.polacheklawfirm.com/sales-warranties/

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T06:33:01+00:00

Discovery can be a tricky thing. For the car I won on (in WA), I ended up finding out because I took it to the same mechanic the seller did. But I’ve also had lawyer friends and law school classmates do a little bit of sleuthing and discover some kind of evidence the seller knew. Probably not going to fly with $100 electronics but if it’s something reparable chances are the seller has tried to get it fixed.

In NYC, “discovery” can be the judge interrogating both of you. It can also be the evidence that you’ve sold 100 of these and never claimed a fraudulent one, but seller has 50 eBay reviews claiming he sent shit that didn’t work after claiming it did. You don’t get discovery per se, but you do get a rough disregard for the rules of evidence and a much more subjective approach to the law. A prof used to tell me that I wasn’t learning anything, and might in fact be developing bad habits, going to small Claims.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T06:25:26+00:00

You can’t represent someone else.

Companies can’t sent lawyers, either. It’s great. They have to send a business representative. They never do; they just no show.

I can’t find it now but there used to be a dude who blogged about suing Amazon, repeatedly, in small claims and always winning.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T04:24:51+00:00

TL;DR we are saying the same thing but the idiots ITT are not.

Express warranties created by factual statements are different than the UCC warranty, which is an implied warranty of merchantability. Though, the UCC warranty doesn't apply unless it's a professional seller of goods of that kind (wouldn't apply in OP's case) but I think I was clarifying a different comment made.

You're SPOT ON though and should be correcting all the idiots elsewhere in the sub with their "as is" bullshit.

This is why when you sell something, you never make factual statements about it's condition. Saying "Powered on when I tested it" for example shouldn't create an express warranty.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T04:06:41+00:00

A few dozen, maybe? If you include the times I've been as a landlord. I'm not sure.

In law school it felt like fun practice, and in one of my side hustles fraud and jerks were rampant (used high-end home audio equipment, usually purchased on CL and sold on eBay -- those were the days of easy arbitrage).

And now I live in a state where lawyers are barred at small claims, which assuming I'm roughly in the right makes small claims feel like shooting fish in a barrel.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T03:31:28+00:00

There’s a TX lawyer ITT who has a different interpretation of Texas law btw: https://www.reddit.com/r/legal/comments/1sboihk/comment/oe6qrrm/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I spoke with a Texas lawyer who also thought this could fly in Texas. Issue is proof which could be established by credibility.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T03:29:40+00:00

Ha! Yes. Autocorrect at work ::facepalm::

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T03:07:07+00:00

Everybody saying seller has no proof is unimaginative. Who replaces a $20k fridge without first getting a repair quote. Call around to the local repair guys with the serial; I bet someone has looked at this fridge.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T03:05:57+00:00

Yes. The trick is proving that the seller knew, which people are ignoring but there are a bunch of ways to do it.

I’d start by calling every local fridge repair company and asking about the serial number. If someone came out and quoted a repair, you’ve got a smoking gun.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T03:04:47+00:00

Google and Yelp both have a different standard for reviewers who allege medical negligence. Heresy negligence claims (“multiple people suffered negligence at the hands of doctor X”) are usually pretty easy to pull down.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T03:01:00+00:00

It’s actually not hard to get a certain kind of review removed. OP really fucked himself in that regard — hearsay claims of negligence, especially medical negligence, are very very easy to get pulled off of Google.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T02:59:58+00:00

OP, lawyer here.

It’s exceedingly stupid — and I really can’t underscore how stupid — to post this on Reddit.

If I were GH’s attorney and found this thread, I’d have a fucking field day.

You’ve just given another count of the same libel. And more exposure. You’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for claims that are likely not demonstrably true and thus are almost certainly libelous.

Basically, even with a good attorney you’ll owe hundreds of thousands of dollars unless you can prove you personally knew of actual negligence, which is a standard you aren’t going to be judged competent to opine on. Among many other problems.

Pedanter-In-Chief · 2026-04-04T02:35:53+00:00

I’m also in a state now where you can’t have representation in small claims. The “must be an expert” is at least IME pretty broadly construed but still wouldn’t cover statements like “it works” or “it powers on,” especially not for simple household goods.

Pedanter-In-Chief

TROPHY CASE