229

Georgia Attorney General Brings RICO Indictments Against 61 Activists (itsgoingdown.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by TokenBoomer@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

51 comments fedilink hide all child comments

AP link: https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-cop-city-protests-rico-charges-3177a63ac1bd31a1594bed6584e9f330

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] BertramDitore@lemmy.world 113 points 1 year ago

This is an egregious abuse of power. The US is built on protest, it’s often the only recourse available. If your policy ideas don’t hold up to public scrutiny and can’t survive a little peaceful demostration, then sorry, those ideas are shit.

One of the individuals charged in the RICO conspiracy is Thomas Jurgens, who was acting as a legal observer at a music festival March 5. Jurgens was arrested while wearing a bright yellow hat marking him as a legal observer.

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

These people would charge the Boston Tea Partiers with RICO if it was today.

"They conspired to destroy private property reeeeeeee!"

Dumbasses.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Ahhhh the man in the yellow hat ….. and what has his curious little buddy been up to?

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 92 points 1 year ago

Jesus. They are charging everyone who so much as sighed heavy about the cop city being built.

Helped on the website? RICO. Helped make protest signs? RICO. Undercook fish? Believe it or not, RICO.

load more comments (5 replies)

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 70 points 1 year ago

This surely can only go well. The article doesn't state much about the protestors angle at all. It just sounds like an authoritarian play using a draconian interpretation of long-standing laws to fuck with people you don't like. Has nothing to do with actual racketeering or organized criminal activity, just some right-wing thought experiment trying to turn wording against their enemies. Never works in court though, so I don't get why they keep trying this noise.

[-] Uncle_Bagel@midwest.social 68 points 1 year ago

It's to undermine the RICO case against Trump

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago

Well that's just idiotic grandstanding if true, because Trump's plays out the steps EXACTLY on how to catch a RICO charge. It's like a 'Criminal Racketeering and Conspiracy to commit 100 Kinds of Fraud: For Dummies' book.

[-] Hegar@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

It's not 'just' idiotic grandstanding, it's also how Republicans are intentionally eroding the power of our institutions.

Any tool that is brought to bear against them, they'll try to undermine and abuse so it's less effective for anything. They want it to look like RICO is just a partisan tool to go after your enemies. That makes democrats look as petty as them - if you ignore reality.

One of the ways you can tell Republicans are actively trying to destroy our democracy is the way the prefer political strategies that do as much institutional damage as possible.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

And the governor praised the charges. That mother fucker needs to be removed from office. Republicans and conservatives need to be all removed from society.

[-] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Would that be the same Georgia governor who, as Georgia Secretary of State, oversaw his own election as governor, whose win against Stacey Abrams was (and will ALWAYS be) suspicious as hell, and who is even now doing everything in his power to make it harder for the people of Georgia to vote, especially people of color? That governor?

"Needs to be removed from office" is a great start. But if actual justice were applied under the law, that shithead would have a lot more to fear than a simple removal and retirement into mild disgrace.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Love to know more about his cheating and not surprised.

[-] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

deleted by creator

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Is still putting up a fight? Because I love for her to become Georgia governor. She shut down that cop city I am sure.

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Thank you. I've been waiting for someone to point that out since the story first broke.

[-] TheJims@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It’s to undermine the first amendment

[-] m0darn@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

I think it's an attempt to stifle resistance to cop city.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Did Trump pass out fliers? Organize a protest? Offend murders by calling them murderers? Was he arrested for wearing a yellow hat? Does he own a curious monkey named George?

[-] Satelllliiiiiiiteeee@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Honestly, I doubt it. The state has been throwing their full weight against the Stop Cop City protestors from the beginning.

[-] jimbo@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

How would it undermine the RICO case against Trump?

[-] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

"Never works in court..."

If you don't think dragging someone in to court and having to pay for and deal with all that BS isn't undue punishment enough, then you're either heartless all the same or not thinking it through.

[-] hogunner@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago

Yeah the hassle/hardship that a lot of these people will endure due to these trumped up (no pun intended) charges is the real point; that and trying to deter others from using their rights to protest. I seriously doubt the prosecutors think they will actually win in court.

[-] nix@merv.news 35 points 1 year ago

3 of them got RICO charges for passing out flyers…

load more comments (12 replies)

[-] quindraco@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago

Itsgoingdown is ironically enough down, so here's another article from a different source about the issue.

Personal favorite highlight:

[Allegations] include [...] being reimbursed for glue and food for activists who spent months camping in the woods near the construction site.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago

If you make protesting illegal, people will find other (often far more violent) ways to express their displeasure at and disapproval of the current administration.

[-] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 year ago

Trying to downplay Trumps case I see

[-] randon31415@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Site is down. What type of activists are these? Most of the time, activists mean left-leaning, but I guess they could be stop the steal activists. My guess? Probably has something to do with the 'police city' training center if it is in Atlanta.

[+] jimbo@lemmy.world -13 points 1 year ago

So are we supposed to be shocked when people do illegal things and they get in legal trouble, or is that only supposed to happen to people whose causes we disagree with?

Read the indictment. Regardless of what you think about the forest or the police training facility, there's plenty of alleged criminal activity contained within that anyone would agree is criminal. It's not all "passing out flyers" or "signing his name as ACAB".

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Neither you nor the article link that indictment, but the article claims money laundering is based on $11 reimbursement for glue improperly transferred. Yep. RICO was designed to seize profits from crime bosses and drug traffickers, so I’m sure it’s appropriate to pile on to protesters fr $11 improperly transferred

[-] jimbo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You misunderstand RICO. Such statutes are meant to make people who conspire to commit a crime equally prosecutable even if not all of them personally committed the crime.

[-] acutfjg@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

Ugh leather breath

[-] jimbo@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Ugh, reading an actual indictment instead of misleading summaries.

load more comments

this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023

229 points (96.7% liked)

politics

19135 readers

1065 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News