Trump pardoned him so that he could add a black person to the roster of pardons to support his argument he’s not racist. And so that a (formerly) rich black corporate guy with a megaphone can flog Trumps “compassion”. I hope Watson acts like the narcissist he is and fails to fellate Trump.
I restacked this because I have written about this case and teach it from the perspective of media’s complicity in promoting these frauds. You may be interested in what I wrote before he was convicted. I removed the paywall. https://thedig.substack.com/p/introducing-ozy-media-following-the
Sure seems like both women and POC get far more scrutiny on this sort of thing than us white guys. Guessing it’s a combination of racism/sexism baked into the system, along with the fact there’s always some meddling asshole watching every move y’all make, eager for any opportunity to make trouble for you.
The level of scrutiny given to POC and women is off the charts. It reminds me of the movie The Help where white people watched every move of black people and white people who helped them in the civil rights era or were seen associating with POC. Please note, this was BEFORE social media and the Internet, security cameras everywhere, and listening devices in our homes. Take that spying attitude and add the latest technology. 🤯
And if you think our government isn’t spying on us, or these billionaires tech bros aren’t spying on us for a profit, then, imo, you’re just naive. What do you think grocery store loyalty rewards accounts do? We give them our loyalty in exchange for our consent to be spied upon.
I’m not going to apologize either for being cynical. I’m too old to gaf about anyone’s opinion about me. Facts are facts.
Interesting that's why I try really hard to stick to a person's content of character thing. I also thought that the law was supposed to be blind & equal also ie no one above the law, you do the crime you should pay the restitution & time but man o man as we all have & are witnessing was that ever a naive concept on roids gone wrong. I'm also thinking about a young person being thrown in Reikers for supposedly stealing a backpack of which he didn't in fact steal only to sadly take his own life when released. It's staggering how many examples such as this that there are the innocent project alone has been proving it for years. How about taking out a full page ad accusing others of a crime that they did not commit proven later by DNA thankfully before they even had a trial by a jury of their peers. The same guy who had the nerve to say during a campaign that he could shoot someone on 5th avenue, NY or whatever he said & get away with it who in fact was found guilty by a jury of his peers a felony allowed to even be a candidate again with said felony let alone a planned coup attempt against our country even now continuing to try to destroy it. Pay to play pardons by the pardon in chief player Jared of which they never should have received either. The pardon power & how they are granted or doled out among so many other things definitely need to be shored up with new enforceable laws, rules & regulations to be sure including having to release your taxes & not being able to trade when in office for all of them. They got their pay to play white collar crypto grift going now also so I'm sure that's going to add more to the not so legal abnormalities along with project 2025 so what else could go wrong. Personally I've never felt sadder for what our country is giving & handing off to the ones coming up which doesn't even begin to touch environmentally
The story of Kalief Browder's wrongful imprisonment at Rikers, even after the plaintiff left the country and forfeited the case, comes to my mind frequently. While wealthy people caught dead to rights post bail and go home, Browder was stuck at Rikers for two years because NYPD grabbed him as a 'usual suspect', and his family didn't have the $2k to bail him out or enough to place bond. It further crystallized for me that America has a legal system, not a justice system.
I really have NO idea about any of this at all--but I do wonder if a lot of people in business skirt or break the law and end up doing time because they have to pick a guy and so they pick a Black guy. Maybe this is a dumb theory but it did happen to my father's closest friend when I was a kid...and it did seem sketchy like that--and also kind of sad. He had gone to Harvard Business School. He was the only rich person we knew back then and the only one who had ever gone to Harvard.
Trump pardoned him so that he could add a black person to the roster of pardons to support his argument he’s not racist. And so that a (formerly) rich black corporate guy with a megaphone can flog Trumps “compassion”. I hope Watson acts like the narcissist he is and fails to fellate Trump.
This ⬆️
I restacked this because I have written about this case and teach it from the perspective of media’s complicity in promoting these frauds. You may be interested in what I wrote before he was convicted. I removed the paywall. https://thedig.substack.com/p/introducing-ozy-media-following-the
Hi Francine, thanks for the comment and the restack. I’ll definitely give your piece a read.
Sure seems like both women and POC get far more scrutiny on this sort of thing than us white guys. Guessing it’s a combination of racism/sexism baked into the system, along with the fact there’s always some meddling asshole watching every move y’all make, eager for any opportunity to make trouble for you.
The level of scrutiny given to POC and women is off the charts. It reminds me of the movie The Help where white people watched every move of black people and white people who helped them in the civil rights era or were seen associating with POC. Please note, this was BEFORE social media and the Internet, security cameras everywhere, and listening devices in our homes. Take that spying attitude and add the latest technology. 🤯
And if you think our government isn’t spying on us, or these billionaires tech bros aren’t spying on us for a profit, then, imo, you’re just naive. What do you think grocery store loyalty rewards accounts do? We give them our loyalty in exchange for our consent to be spied upon.
I’m not going to apologize either for being cynical. I’m too old to gaf about anyone’s opinion about me. Facts are facts.
A near miss for you. Glad you listened to your gut.
Interesting that's why I try really hard to stick to a person's content of character thing. I also thought that the law was supposed to be blind & equal also ie no one above the law, you do the crime you should pay the restitution & time but man o man as we all have & are witnessing was that ever a naive concept on roids gone wrong. I'm also thinking about a young person being thrown in Reikers for supposedly stealing a backpack of which he didn't in fact steal only to sadly take his own life when released. It's staggering how many examples such as this that there are the innocent project alone has been proving it for years. How about taking out a full page ad accusing others of a crime that they did not commit proven later by DNA thankfully before they even had a trial by a jury of their peers. The same guy who had the nerve to say during a campaign that he could shoot someone on 5th avenue, NY or whatever he said & get away with it who in fact was found guilty by a jury of his peers a felony allowed to even be a candidate again with said felony let alone a planned coup attempt against our country even now continuing to try to destroy it. Pay to play pardons by the pardon in chief player Jared of which they never should have received either. The pardon power & how they are granted or doled out among so many other things definitely need to be shored up with new enforceable laws, rules & regulations to be sure including having to release your taxes & not being able to trade when in office for all of them. They got their pay to play white collar crypto grift going now also so I'm sure that's going to add more to the not so legal abnormalities along with project 2025 so what else could go wrong. Personally I've never felt sadder for what our country is giving & handing off to the ones coming up which doesn't even begin to touch environmentally
The story of Kalief Browder's wrongful imprisonment at Rikers, even after the plaintiff left the country and forfeited the case, comes to my mind frequently. While wealthy people caught dead to rights post bail and go home, Browder was stuck at Rikers for two years because NYPD grabbed him as a 'usual suspect', and his family didn't have the $2k to bail him out or enough to place bond. It further crystallized for me that America has a legal system, not a justice system.
Here’s something I wrote about Browder a few years ago https://open.substack.com/pub/thejourneyman/p/white-privilege-and-the-absence-of?r=3e2a&utm_medium=ios
I'm going to check this out. Thanks Marlon!
Well written.
Thank you, my friend!
People are so shady!!
Yes they are!
I bet you'll find Watson's name on campaign finance records sending election cash to 47. As you said, everything with him is transactional.
Couldn’t find his name on Open Secrets or the inaugural FEC report, more likely he bought some meme coin and the promise of future favors.
Ohhhh! I hadn't even thought about the crooktocoin angle. This is extremely likely.
I’m happy that you were smart enough to “dodge the bullet”.
So am I! 🙂
I really have NO idea about any of this at all--but I do wonder if a lot of people in business skirt or break the law and end up doing time because they have to pick a guy and so they pick a Black guy. Maybe this is a dumb theory but it did happen to my father's closest friend when I was a kid...and it did seem sketchy like that--and also kind of sad. He had gone to Harvard Business School. He was the only rich person we knew back then and the only one who had ever gone to Harvard.
I’m sure that’s true in many cases. But this guy was wayyy over the line. He still won’t admit to having done anything wrong. 😑