• Minotaur@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    I saw this on twitter and it was really funny/bizarre to see how many blue check marks were going “wow… hope this MR OLIVER enjoys going to jail for BRIBERY” and like, making threats of ‘reporting him’, quoting legal statutes.

    It’s just so goofy, like comically dumb. Aside from “obviously a joke” points, who are the big Clarence Thomas defenders??? Do people really just make their opinions based on “well, liberals don’t like him… which means he must be good!!”

    • bamboo
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      9 months ago

      Half of the schtick John Oliver is making is pointing out the absurdity of his offer being legal. The fact that people are reporting him just shows how they think there should be laws against paying off a Supreme Court judge, which is the exact point being made in the segment.

      • Neato@ttrpg.network
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        9 months ago

        It’s totally legal. He’s not offering to pay Thomas to change his rulings or rule in his favor. It’s so he resigns. Closer to an early retirement offer.

        If the highest court in the land can be paid to go away, they shouldn’t have been justices because they were in it for the money. It also says damning things about our society and how money can trump extreme satisfaction at your job.

        • andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun
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          9 months ago

          Pretty sure it’s a bog standard job offer. No, you can’t keep your current job, sorry. No over employment here.

    • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Do people really just make their opinions based on “well, liberals don’t like him… which means he must be good!!”

      That’s exactly what those muppets do

      • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, I have literally had people tell me they didn’t like someone they voted for, but they really piss off the liberals.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I don’t know man, a bunch of dipshits on Twitter are probably just as good as the lawyers John Oliver checked with.

      • JPAKx4
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, if influencing a judge on the bench isn’t illegal, how would influencing one off of it be?

    • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
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      9 months ago

      So… John would be bribing Thomas to NOT be a supreme court justice…? What… what do they imagine the penalty for that would be?

      I get that most of these people aren’t rational, but I’m struggling to even imagine what the mental gymnastics on this look like. Is there some penalty for bribing someone who is not a public official?

  • Gerudo@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Look, I’m just glad HBO let’s it happen. Fucking Apple got their panties in a knot when Stewart just said words.

    • Jesus@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      This is a topic that Apple probably wouldn’t have cared about. Stewart had a lot of episodes about terrible people in American government.

      The rumored problem with The Problem is that he wanted to start tackling topics like China and AI. In the China example, Apple was probably terrified that China would do what they’ve done to every other media company that talk shit about the CCP. China halts sales of their products.

      All in all, it’s not the words, it’s the money. It’s always about the money at the end of the day.

    • Gerudo@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      In the end, Stewart at least assumed that Apple knew what his messaging was, how hard he would work to send that message and how many zero fucks he gives.

      In the end, Apple tucked tail and hid behind dollars and made it obvious.

      At least HBO gives this vibe of, yes, he wastes our money to create large animatronic eagles, but wedges in building websites to absolutely fuck with people to get his message across. Oliver has never mentioned HBO saying no to him.

      I am also in no way defending HBO. They have done some gross stuff, too. This is simply an Apple vs. HBO argument.

        • rhsJack@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Let’s make it difficult. Companies you LOVE but hate what they have done: Trader Joes Nintendo My favorite hot chocolate mixer with a “brand” name that has a cute website and social media and everything<-wholly owned by Nestle which is not mentioned anywhere in the label.

        • rhsJack@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I think we should give this one a pass. Remember the last one we talked about? Strung them up by their dangling participles and gave them a run on their run-on sentences.

    • Kraven_the_Hunter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      Sally Struthers on the verge of tears: For less than the price of a cup of coffee each week, you can help remove a corrupt Supreme Court Justice and bring hope to millions.

    • Gerudo@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      I’d triple that. I’d eat Ramen twice a day to afford it but God dammit I’d do it.

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      9 months ago

      Sometimes I think the world is full of people who would be worth bribing to go away. For example, businesses that save 3¢ per unit of some food product by using unsafe ingredients. If only we could just pay them 3¢ per unit not to do that!

      I realize it feels awful to pay off evil people and it would incentivize even more bad behavior, but I’m just shocked at how much damage people are willing to do for so little benefit to themselves.

  • LovingHippieCat@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    In case anyone wants to watch the video, like I do on Monday mornings, turns out HBO is now posting them on youtube on Thursdays so as to “drive up viewership” on Max.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Nope. They need an amoral chode in place to defend white/christian nationalism.

      Which is vaguely ironic considering.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          so, part of why Harlan Crow (Nazis, white supremacist rich fuck) and Clarence Thomas make less-strange bedfellows is because Clarence Thomas is/was a black supremacist. Basically they make the same arguments while playing for a different team.

          That Thomas was a black guy willing to fuck over civil rights made him a very useful tool to white supremacists.

          Loving V. Virginia is… offensive to black assholes, too.

        • theneverfox@pawb.social
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          9 months ago

          I started reading the link and thought “wow, what are the chances they had the same last name… Wait…”

      • fᵣₑfᵢ@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, good point. Also, I think Oliver knows Thomas wouldn’t take the offer (even if it was higher) and he’s basically just doing this for the lols, which I can appreciate

        • theneverfox@pawb.social
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          9 months ago

          I think it’s more than just for the lolz…it reframes the issue. It makes you think “how could we get this POS off the bench?”

          It’s like when he buys up debt or whatever… He’s demonstrating how the problem is clearly fixable, even if he only fixed one drop in the bucket

  • books@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    My guess is that Thomas will use this as an opening bid and see if he can get more from conservatives to wait until a Republican president is in office.