Re: Cosby

1

That's all?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-25-18 3:21 PM
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2

Well, he has such a bright future.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-25-18 3:22 PM
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3

He's got to be getting pretty close to eBay.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-25-18 3:57 PM
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4

What does 3 to 10 years even mean? How do they decide if its 3 or 10?


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-25-18 5:00 PM
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5

Look, Pennsylvania has trouble counting with precision.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-25-18 5:28 PM
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6

That explains why they have so much trouble understanding where 40 degrees latitude is.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-25-18 5:47 PM
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7

Also explains Three Mile Island.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-25-18 5:48 PM
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8

4 reminds me of the Jordanian guy who tried to blow up an airliner by giving his Irish girlfriend a disguised bomb to carry on board (this is why you always get asked "are you taking anything on board for anyone else") and was seen grinning as they took him down from the dock, and when one of the policemen asked why he said "well, I thought I'd get a much harsher sentence, but the judge said only four to five years!" at which the policeman took great pleasure in saying that, no, the judge had said forty-five years.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 2:53 AM
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9

There are a bunch of factors that affect whether he serves 3 or 10 years. Cosby is rich, literate, a college graduate, 81, legally blind, not apparently addicted to anything, and he probably won't shiv anyone in the next three years. All of these work in his favor. Weighing in the other direction, he and his victim have very different melanin concentrations.


Posted by: unimaginative | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 4:06 AM
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10

9: basically it's another way of saying "ten years, with a first parole hearing after three years", then?


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 5:16 AM
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11

I think it probably depends on his health mostly, though having a publicist comparing him to Jesus probably doesn't help.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 5:19 AM
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6: You should check out how they figured out our western border, which somehow ended up being even more screwed up than the southern one. In the early days, it was literally: draw a line through the wilderness that parallels the turns of the Delaware River, five degrees to the west. Absolutely batshit idea. (Stormcrow helped clue me in to this.)

3 to 10 isn't quite a life sentence, but it's probably close enough.


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:07 AM
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13

I think he might be the biggest star in U.S. history to be sentenced to serious prison time.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:18 AM
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14

Martha Stewart's agent on line one for you.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:20 AM
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15

As with Nazi's in hiding, I always have a little twinge of pity any time one of these old, horrible men gets sent to prison. It's a nice break from the impotent rage I normally feel, but I wish I were better at schadenfreude.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:25 AM
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16

Is there like an app to coordinate and crowd source grave pissing? It's too much for any individual.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:30 AM
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17

Reading what Cosby's people said about his accusers can help with that.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:30 AM
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18

Maybe it could be gamified, like Pokemon Go.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:30 AM
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19

14: Yes, I thought of her. I don't think she's quite at the same level, but they are such different kinds of media stars that it's hard to compare.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:31 AM
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20

I don't really disagree with you. I'm just being contentious because I enjoy it.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:32 AM
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21

17: Just imagining what they've said is more than enough, thank you.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:34 AM
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though having a publicist comparing him to Jesus probably doesn't help

The publicist was saying he should have gotten the death penalty?


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 6:47 AM
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19: Trump is a bigger star than Cosby, if you take into account his cross-platform success. With luck, his sentence will exceed Cosby's.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 7:16 AM
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In the same vein, Jean-Claude Arnault, the abuser whose exploits brought down the Swedish Academy, has just been jailed while awaiting the verdict and sentence on his historic rape charges. Serious risk of flight, said the prosecutor. So he probably will end up guilty and sentenced to real time.


Posted by: NW | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 7:53 AM
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25

Inside every prison is a chamber which can be filled by only one thing: an asshole.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 09-26-18 8:02 AM
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26

It's very hard for sex offenders to get parole. In practice, once you're convicted, it's treated as a more serious crime than murder.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 5:37 AM
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27

Murder is probably easier to understand for other people. Everyone wants to kill somebody, at least occasionally.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 5:39 AM
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28

I'm very conflicted about the whole sex offender stuff. I've visited someone in prison who is a sex offender. I mentored him through a college behind bars program. At first we didn't know what he had done, and it took him a long time to tell our team, because he was ashamed.

What he did was very bad. In my state it's called tape of a child (also known as statutory rape). He was going through a really difficult time without a support system and convinced himself that his victim was an adult. He's been through a pretty intensive treatment program and served 20 years in addition to getting a college degree.

There are 3 levels of classification. If he gets classified as s Level 3, they have to publicize where he lives and works. I get these e-mails myself from my town. His plan is to move in with his aging parents who are ill and take care of their house. He can do odd jobs and wants to start a business.

Should he get a job in a daycare center? No. But I don't think that his parents should have their address shared with the whole world - especially since there's a risk of vandalism.

He can't undo what he did, but should it be impossible for him to work? Because if you're going to do that, you should keep him in prison for life.

Sometimes they do that through civil commitment.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 5:57 AM
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29

I also have issues with sentencing and life time reporting requirements, but "He was going through a really difficult time without a support system and convinced himself that his victim was an adult" isn't really something I would consider exculpatory.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 6:18 AM
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In practice, once you're convicted, it's treated as a more serious crime than murder.

Counterpoint: you don't get many murderers receiving three-year sentences.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 7:00 AM
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31

The most serious crime of all: messing up italics.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 7:05 AM
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32

OT: but remember this awful thing?

(Awful facebook thing about a tribe in "Africa" where every person has their own song)

It seems the Khasi of northern India actually have their own whistled names!

Here in the lush, rolling hills of the northeastern state of Meghalaya, mothers from Kongthong and a few other local villages compose a special melody for each child. Everyone in the village, inhabited by the Khasi people, will then address the person with this individual little tune -- and for a lifetime. They have conventional "real" names too, but they are rarely used.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 7:43 AM
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33

I wonder who gets "Mr. Brightside"?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 7:46 AM
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32: We have that here, too! For corporations. doo doo doo doo doo, I'm loving it!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 8:12 AM
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35

29: I didn't mean to say that it was exculpatory, because it's most definitely not. But he has done a lot of work to identify why he did what he did, and I don't think he'll reoffend. Those requirements are supposed to be for protecting the public. In this case I think it would be more about continued punishment.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 10:48 AM
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36

NMM to Elon Musk's clean background check.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 09-27-18 1:25 PM
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