False equivalence is false.
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Seriously, though.
We have a shady alleged victim, a shady story, shady alleged perps and shady cops investigating it; it’s like the Redwood freakin’ Forrest, for all the damn shade.
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Not really. I mean, the statement (“no charges were filed, he must be innocent right?”) is bad logic, but on purpose. You just have to apply what is known to reach a reasonable conclusion if one is innocent or not. Whether charges are filed or drop or never filed is not always a good indicator of innocence. The Trump example is just the most current, obvious situation where a significant number of people don’t believe one is innocent because the AG isn’t filing charges.
In this case, there is considerable evidence that has been released to make most people reasonably conclude something shady and possibly illegal with a false report being filed. But for what ever reason the DA decided to not pursue it. It may be like many cases the court cost and time for prosecuting a crime with no actual victims may not be worth it. And this is also why it will be dropped from the public consciousness fairly soon.
Or perhaps his lawyers made an arrangement. Rich and famous people with means often find ways to not suffer consequences.
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The whole thing is like Dark City. I don’t know who the hell the good guys are because every seems like a bad guy. And there is this weird ass Kiefer Sutherland roaming around and just confusing me even more!
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You can forgive yourself for not understanding what happened here.
This from Patricia Brown Holmes, Jussie’s own attorney: “I have no idea what occurred in this case and why it occurred. I can just say things seemed to spiral somewhat out of control. We’ve gotten to a result that is the right result in this case and we’re happy for that,”
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I haven’t seen that one in quite a while.
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They already said this wasn’t part of a deal.
I don’t think the story so far supports the idea that “gut feels” and “reasonable conclusions” about what happened are going to be that useful for anything other than self-confirming prejudices.
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I think we just DID see it. I am not convinced some memory altering weird worm aliens didn’t just mess with all of us. Either that or the Matrix is busted.
I will go with prosecutors found something so egregiously wrong with the way it was handled that they are trying to pre-empt discovery and the resulting law suit.
The whole thing is odd and we will probably never know all the details.
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Alright, mea culpa on the speculation of an arrangement, although Rob also speculated this in the OP. (I’ll take a break and read the whole article.)
But that IS an issue with the upper class. I mean there are many examples of a “promising young man who made a mistake” gets a slap on the wrist, but a poor person obviously is beyond redemption and needs to be locked up.
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The field is wide open for speculation.
Who knows, maybe the notoriously truth-agnostic Chicago PD “suggested” earlier testimony on the part of some of their witnesses, as they’ve done in the past.
Whatever the take, basing speculation on what we “know” about this case, is building it on sand.
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Originally I told several people that speculation early on was pointless. But later it seems some of their suspicions were confirmed; the most damning evidence is the statements from the two brothers who were clearly involved in the event, including documented buying supplies, a signed check, and a statement from their lawyer: “My clients have tremendous regret over their involvement in this situation, and they understand how it has impacted people across the nation, particularly minority communities and especially those who have been victims of hate crimes themselves.”
But I agree speculation in general is bad. Even if we can agree to cease speculation, the public in general will not. The worst part about things like this is even on the very rare occasion when an attack is shown to be false, this is what sticks out in the minds of people, and then it casts doubts on the other victims’ claims - even though stats show false claims are very rare. That is where the most damage lies, IMO.
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What if it turns out to be some celebrity-justice thing? Then everyone can be furious together!
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Great you believe the brothers… and how would you know they weren’t shifting the blame to an innocent Smollett to cut a deal with a hostile police investigation? The Chicago PD is a verified source of false police reports. It’s also verified they contradicted themselves on what they said they “knew” about this case. It’s not unreasonable to wonder about what you’re basing your speculation on, etc. etc.
It still just adds up to more gut instinct, in a case that wasn’t helped by it.
I’m just saying, it’s brave to take a stand on a particular take, based on what we “know”, today of all days.
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OK, now I’m fascinated by this case!
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Also his (former?) lawyer just got implicated as a co-conspirator in that extortion case with Avenatti. So there’s a shitshow going on at multiple levels, only one of which Smollett is involved with, with layers we aren’t aware of. Plus “Chicago PD” can explain all sorts of seemingly bizarre decisions (both for and against suspects, depending on whether the police shenanigans have been exposed yet).
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What an insane clusterfuck, all the way around.
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Reports are that prosecutor Kim “Deus ex Machina” Foxx saved the day for Smollett.
I’m… kind of enjoying this one? Or maybe it’s just relief that at least it isn’t a clusterfuck like so many of the other ones right now (e.g. everything about the presidency, Brexit) that are hurting so many people. Like, “Oh gods, yet another clusterfuck! What the hell is going on now? But wait, I don’t have to worry about it! Whew!”
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