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What do you think about the Jussie Smollett debacle?
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Scout
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Feb 21, 2019 09:46PM
This has been in the news here in the States for a week. Jussie Smollett, an actor, said that he was attacked in Chicago by racist Trump homophobics who put a noose around his neck. Liberals immediately came to his defense, and those who doubted his story stayed quiet for fear of being labeled racist, etc. It turns out that he wrote a hate letter to himself and that he hired two friends to attack him, so the whole thing was a hoax. He's turned himself in to the FBI. What a jerk. But he's shown that accusations can be used to further personal agendas, which is what many of us have known all along. Hopefully, people who believe that accusations equal proof will think again. Do you think this guy should be prosecuted? How will this affect public opinion when founded or unfounded accusations are made?
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Jussie Smollett has done a fantastic job of taking his successful $1M+ per year acting career and turning it into a total disaster.I'd be very surprised if he manages to avoid jail time.
This is an excellent example of how a fake story can be fed to the mainstream media and uncritically accepted and amplified - provided it fits one of the dominant narratives in play.All budding propagandists take note.
Smollett's failure was in execution, not in concept.
Again I think of Kavanaugh. Accusations without proof, yet accepted as truth. It fit one of the dominant narratives in play. A man must be presumed guilty when accused by a woman.
Never underestimate the danger of a sociopath. While watching this interview, ask yourselves, "if CPD found and arrested the two innocents in the CCTV footage, would Smollett have sent them to prison to advance his career?"https://youtu.be/6vchWDvsOlU
Indeed J.Supposedly he wouldn't have baulked at sending 2 innocent men to jail.
We had a similar incident locally a couple of years back. A woman claimed she was the victim of a hate crime; that she had been assaulted by a man in a parking lot because she was a lesbian. Turned out she punched herself in the face, made up the whole story and ended up being fined for filing a false police report and had to complete counselling.
When asked why she did it, she said, "to raise awareness of hate crimes."
What hate crimes? We didn't have any until she faked one, so now we're only aware of fake hate crimes. Way to go!
By the way, we locally termed this type of an incident a "Poindexter" after the name of the fake hate crime victim.
Don't be a Poindexter!
Scout wrote: "...an actor, said that he was attacked in Chicago by racist Trump homophobics who put a noose around his neck. Liberals immediately came to his defense..."Even if the story were true, don't see what exactly makes homophobics Trump's or anyone else's for this matter. Don't think real homophobics were homophiles before Trump, and I suspect - neither they will after Trump -:)
Other than that the episode sounds quite idiotic
The method was really dumb.JS apparently paid the two Nigerian brothers (who were acquaintances of his) with a cheque.
REF: Payment by Check: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02/...
They were also filmed on in store CCTV buying the ski masks, red hats, and other items a short time before the attack.
A neat summary with footage here. https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/st...
He's left a huge paper trail, super stupid methods.
JS is currently under investigation regarding the original 'letter,' that was sent to him. Of course, messing about with the post is a federal offense.https://www.abccolumbia.com/2019/02/1...
Holly wrote: "We had a similar incident locally a couple of years back. A woman claimed she was the victim of a hate crime; that she had been assaulted by a man in a parking lot because she was a lesbian. Turn..."
These hoaxers fail to understand how destructive their actions are to people who are subject to real hate crimes.
It's entirely despicable behavior.
Now being lampooned by the Daily Show.https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/stat...
That's some kinda milestone.
Him and people like him are the reason victims of real incidents have a hard time being believed.
Well, it certainly distracted a lot of people from the white supremacist coast guard who was stocking guns and planning on committing a mass shooting. https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politi...
Matthew wrote: "Well, it certainly distracted a lot of people from the white supremacist coast guard who was stocking guns and planning on committing a mass shooting. https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politi......"
It was a good thing he was caught. It certainly looks like he was in the midst of planning a heinous and horrific crime.
J.J. wrote: "Him and people like him are the reason victims of real incidents have a hard time being believed."JS certainly didn't help real victims of hate crimes to be believed.
Graeme wrote: "The method was really dumb.JS apparently paid the two Nigerian brothers (who were acquaintances of his) with a cheque.
REF: Payment by Check: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02/......"
This reminds me of a local report on stupid crooks. A guy went into a convenience store, picked up a six pack of beer, and went to the counter to demand the clerk give him what was in the cash register. The clerk said, "I can't give you that beer without an ID," and the thief showed him ID and took the money from the register. Thus he goes down in the annals of stupid crooks, as does Smollett :-)
Scout, reminds me of the Darwin awards :-)
Thanks for the reference. I looked up Darwin Awards. Interesting reading :-)
Now facing 16 felony counts.REF: https://www.cwbchicago.com/2019/03/ex...
It looks like this young man has effectively destroyed his life - for what? Fame?
It seems to me that he wanted to ride the current trend of believing the accuser. He just wasn't smart enough to get away with it. If he had, his employers would have been hesitant to fire someone who had been so victimized, would probably given him a raise. He's ruined his career, but he's also cast doubt on real victims' stories, which explains the felony counts. What he did has far-reaching social consequences. They're trying to make an example of him, but he'll probably do no jail time. The idea will be that he "needs help." What he needs is to find out what happens to the common man when he does something criminally stupid.
I wonder if he'll take a plea bargain to reduce sentence.
I'd say so, in the face of 16 felony counts and with all the evidence they have against him. If he does take a plea, he's admitting he's a bad guy.
He plead not guilty, so he plans to fight it...
Indeed. Strikes me as risky for him, but it's also the only way that he can maintain his 'innocence,' - if he wins.But his reputation will have been damaged by the whole process.
I'd say it's a nothing-to-lose scenario. If they find him guilty, he'll probably get off with a slap-on-the-wrist as a first-time offense.
Its possible J.J.Who knows what might happen in this case?
He is easy to understand. Just remember that he is a narcissist. He can do no wrong so of course he is innocent. It's the haters who are wrong.Meanwhile, his lawyer is probably looking to do some venue shopping, because if it goes to sentencing a judge who still cares about integrity could put Smollett under the prison.
It seems this is becoming a trend. Noted far-right conspiracy theorist and Trump supporter Jacob Wohl took things a step further, creating a fake account and then sending himself death threats. Zero points for basic human decency, but I have to admit, it was inventive!https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019...
Charges dropped.Rahm Emanuel calls it here: https://twitter.com/ARmastrangelo/sta...
Not exonerated - just got off. https://twitter.com/juliebosman/statu...
Graeme wrote: "Charges dropped.Rahm Emanuel calls it here: https://twitter.com/ARmastrangelo/sta...
Not exonerated - just got off. https://twitter.com/juliebosman/statu..."
Huh, not dissimilar to what Mueller had to say about Trump ;)
Of course, Barr's four-page summary is hardly a good litmus test. But that's a conversation for another (already existing) thread. :)
Hi Matt, let's just review that a little.CASE #1: J Smollett.
What the Cops said after less than 2 months of investigation: "Chicago PD Commander Ed Wodnicki calls dismissal decision a "punch in the gut," says they were prepared for trial and had a "rock solid case."
REF: https://twitter.com/sarahwhit10/statu...
What the Assistant State Attorney said: "Magats, the asst state's atty, said he saw no problems with the police investigation or the evidence against Smollett. The charges against Smollett were dropped in return for his agreement to do community service, he said, and for forfeiting his bond to the city of Chicago."
REF: https://twitter.com/juliebosman/statu...
I.e He's guilty, - but we figure he's been punished enough.
CASE #2: Trump Russian Collusion
What the Cops said after 2 years of investigation: (paraphrase) "No evidence of any collusion." and WRT 'Obstruction of Justice,' we do not exonerate the president, we leave that decision to the Attorney General.
What the Attorney General says: "Exonerated. No obstruction."
REF: https://www.scribd.com/document/40297...
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So one man is acknowledged by law enforcement and the prosecutors as guilty, but is given a slap on the wrist by the prosecutor.
The other is acknowledged by law enforcement and the relevant prosecutor as innocent.
Your view that "not dissimilar to what Mueller had to say about Trump," doesn't hold water.
This is chalk and cheese.
Graeme wrote: "Hi Matt, let's just review that a little.CASE #1: J Smollett.
What the Cops said after less than 2 months of investigation: "Chicago PD Commander Ed Wodnicki calls dismissal decision a "punch in..."
Clearly we're not noticing the winkeys and smiley faces, which denote that I was being cheeky - not chalky and cheesy! ;) But to be fair and honest with you, Trump has NOT been declared to be innocent. So far, we have only Barr's four page summary, which does not offer a single citation or quote from the report itself. And he did not say Trump was innocent, but claims that Mueller did not find conclusive evidence of collusion and that the jury was still out on obstruction.
Let's not call it before we even know what's in the report, huh?
We seem to have drifted back to Trump here. I suspect the "obstruction of justice" depends to some extent on what is obstructed. Mueller said (on my reading of Barr's report) there was no evidence of a crime, but he was not exonerated.The difficulty might be around things like firing Comey. If he were entitled to do that as a political appointment, arguably it could have obstructed the investigation, but if he were entitled to do it it can't be a crime. Here the accusations have to be spelt out clearly before we can make a call.My guess is that if the whole report is made public, so much will be redacted to comply with the law (and the AG can hardly deliberately break the law) that we won't be any further ahead on this obstruction allegation.
Not surprised he won't serve jail time, but am surprised they dropped the charges completely. At least he won't get his bail back...
The whole thing was more of a mini-deal than a straight-forward dropping of the charges.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...
The Cook County State's Attorney's Office said Tuesday that after reviewing the case, Smollett's community service and his willingness to turn his bond over to the city, "we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case."
Indeed.To my mind this is a slap on the wrist for fomenting racial hatred.
At least he maintained his innocence and refused to apologize for something he wouldn't admit to...we're getting lot of coverage on a sting in Florida that caught the owner of the New England Patriots paying for sex. He refused a plea deal that would have been nothing but a slap on the wrist, choosing to fight the charges, then goes out and apologizes for letting the fans down...Well, if you're sorry, then accept the responsibility!
In Florida , huh... I saw the reported headlines but didn't read the story.
The prosecutor laid a gag order on the case.REF: https://twitter.com/JoshMargolin/stat...
Unfortunately too late, the CPD had been FOI'ed and the files are already out in the public domain.
REF: https://twitter.com/CWBChicago/status...
Perhaps this whole event should've been reported by the Onion...
Oops, after saying this was how they handled similar cases, an internal memo came out from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office showing them scrambling to find actual cases they handled in a similar mannerhttps://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/03/...
No word yet on whether or not they found other cases they actually handled like this...
I agree with you, Graeme: "To my mind this is a slap on the wrist for fomenting racial hatred." Smollett publicly maintains his innocence, although it's obvious that he admitted guilt by forfeiting his bond and doing community service. He reported to police that one of his attackers was white, and now his defense attorney claims that it was a black man in white face, and released this ridiculous photo as some sort of proof.
Obviously, the photo on the left. This guy seems to be getting away with a premeditated attempt to paint himself as a victim and to cause social unrest by doing so.
