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Planeforger

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#1  Edited By Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

@Stevo_the_gamer: The odds look worse if you've read any correspondence from Trump's lawyers about his case, or any descriptions of his lawyers' conduct during the trial, or Trump's own statements about the case.

We don't know on what grounds they'll appeal the case, but team Trump's closing statements were mess of completely ignoring instructions from the judge, introducing new untested arguments, and making personal attacks and irrelevant campaign speeches. None of this helped Trump's case, and if anything, they harmed Trump because the judge specifically warned them beforehand to not do any of those things.

Given how weak and chaotic their arguments were at trial, I wouldn't put money on Trump's lawyers coming up with some brilliant arguments on appeal. Even if they somehow did, I have no confidence they'd be able to rein in their client enough to not sabotage their own appeal.

Keep in mind that one of Trump's main lawyers (who was sanctioned by the courts for making repeated, frivilous arguments) is someone who writes formal emails to the courts entirely in lower-case. It's a small thing, but the legal profession loves style and formality, so his shoddy emails are an immediate red flag and a blunder that you wouldn't expect to see in a high-stakes fraud trial.

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#2  Edited By Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

@comp_atkins: For what it's worth, there are a few big practical differences between securing $50K for a bond and securing $450 million for a bond. The latter might actually be impossible for Trunp to do - especially when he has been found guilty of fraud, he probably doesn't own much property, he is infamous for never paying his bills, and his prospects of a successful appeal are extremely low.

You have to give him a realistic chance to appeal it, and it's bad form to say "your crimes are too big so you can't afford to appeal" - that just gives Trump more ammunition to pretend the courts are corrupt.

So hey, *maybe* that's the reason the courts modified the standard civil procedure rules this time. I can't see any actual reasons posted, so it's basically either an access to justice argument, or it's simple favouritism by the courts.

I still think it's the wrong decision. Trump was begging for mercy on paper, but he was mocking the courts online, and I think that should have tanked any chance of a good outcome for him.

On the bright side, his track record suggests he'll lose the appeal, and the judgement still stands at $450+ million, so these delays could simply mean that he can lose the next election and then have all of his properties sold off at roughly the same time.

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#3  Edited By Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

I'm conflicted about the decision to reduce Trump's bond.

I can't find a copy of the decision of the Appellate Division (maybe they just haven't published it yet), so I don't know why they decided to reduce it.

Still, access to justice is important. If Trump has demonstrated genuine attempts to raise the funds without selling his properties, then perhaps it makes sense to allow the appeal for the lower amount. He shouldn't be punished for making an appeal - and hey, if he loses the appeal, he still pays the full amount plus interest.

On the other hand, I'm not convinced Trump has made genuine attempts to raise the money. He gloated the other day that he had the money and he simply didn't want to pay it. On that basis alone, there shouldn't have been any modification to the bond.

So yes, it'll be very interesting to read the decision when it's published.

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#4  Edited By Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

@JimB: You keep repeating "consumer protection law" as if it's a bad thing. It's a broad regulatory power designed to make it easy to prosecute clear-cut examples of widespread fraud by major companies - which, hey, worked really well here.

It was calculated based on the savings he made through his fraud - essentially putting him back in the position he was in before he used false financial statements to deceive banks and insurance companies. I'm not sure why that sounds unfair to you.

If you think the law has been misapplied, then awesome, really easy to appeal the decision and get it overturned. It won't be, but it's nice for you to hold out hope.

As for your rant about Russia, seriously...Trump literally hung out with Putin ally and fellow dictator Victor Orban earlier this month.

Trump's NSA advisor was convicted for his ties to Russian intelligence agencies. Trump's son-in-law had repeated meetings with Russian bankers and ambassadors. Multiple of Trump's campaign managers have admitted to having close ties to Russian intelligence agents, and at lease one was convicted of being an unregistered foreign agent.

Trump has openly supported Putin's political beliefs and their invasion of Ukraine. Conservative media frequently parrots Russian state propaganda.

As you said, "What's happening in the US today is what happens in Russia."

At what point do you stop and realise that maybe, just maybe, there's a couple of hints that your side is the main one causing that?

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#5 Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

Bit of a slow news weekend, but Donnie actually won something today.

Not a court case (that's never going to happen), but he just won two different golf championships at the Trump International Golf Course.

Who knew he was such an athlete?

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#6 Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

Donnie had a rant on Truth Social today where he said he definitely has $500 million in cash.

Which is pretty weird, since a few days ago he was ranting that he would have to sell his properties in a fire sale just to appeal the decision. Oh, and his lawyers confirmed that he didn't have the money.

It must be exhausting trying to support the guy, since he lies in completely opposite ways every couple of days.

It's like the document case all over again - you know, the one where he didn't have the documents and the documents were planted but he declassified them and he only had them because he was moving and he would have given them back if he was asked but he was keeping them for his presidential library and he doesn't know what documents they were talking about?

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#7  Edited By Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

Hang on, I'm confused.

Trump says he can't afford to appeal the NY fraud case...but he seemed like such a successful businessman on his reality TV show. Is he just lying about not having the money, or was he lying about being a successful businessman on his TV show?

Also, why can't Trump just ask Jared Kushner for a loan? Trump granted Kushner security clearance at the White House, and then the Saudis gave Kushner $2 billion for undisclosed favours, so surely Kushner owes him a favour?

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#8 Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

The main problem is that this isn't a standalone game.

I mean, yes, *technically* you can play it without owning part 1...but it doesn't tell a complete story. It's literally just "disc 2" of a multi-disc game, so it only appeals to people who loved disc 1.

There might be a handful of new players who jump on board, but I imagine anyone waiting will keep waiting until the full game is complete.

TLDR? This is a weird product with a relatively small pool of potential customers. I'm surprised they expected it to sell well.

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#9 Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

The Eurogamer review was written by someone who actually played the original.

It got the same score, but they made it sound a lot more appealing. I might check it out for the nostalgia alone - AitD was one of the very first videogames I played.

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#10 Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19550 Posts

@MirkoS77: I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

He's constantly stumbling over his words, gets terribly confused about who his political opponents are ("Biden beat Obama"), can't remember his wife's name, and apparently now struggles to read teleprompters.

We're witnessing a man in sharp mental decline, so I'm not completely convinced by the shrewd dogwhistling arguments. A few years ago it was obviously intentional. Nowadays, I think it's just autopilot babble that has less criminal intent.

I mean, I'm fully convinced he'll try to do all the crimes he attempted last election (which as we've seen in this thread, he hasn't been punished for), but I get the impression he's more puppet than mastermind this time around. Happy to be proven wrong though!