• @randon31415
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    94 hours ago

    Garland: “I will treat this with as much importance as I do with everything surrounding Trump doing bad things…”

  • Belkor
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    2 hours ago

    Musk claims it is “a random $1 million payment each day to one registered voter” but is it really random or he is cherry picking ‘specific’ supporters?

  • ceoofanarchism
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    237 hours ago

    This is in contrast to the regular legal type of vote buying of course.

  • @Hayduke
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    14610 hours ago

    Hey look, a foreigner actively engaging in voter fraud!

    • @[email protected]
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      44 hours ago

      America badly needs electoral reform and viable third parties. This FPTP, pay-to-win system creates is such a dumpster fire.

    • snooggums
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      9011 hours ago

      Republican partisan politics.

      • @[email protected]
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        4911 hours ago

        Oh, 100% - I should have been clearer that this erosion of enforcement is entirely driven by the GOP and quite intentional.

        • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)
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          2411 hours ago

          Things like this are their goal when they use buzz words like relaxed regulation, “small government”, and “free market”.

  • Daniel
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    2611 hours ago

    Money is free speech

      • @WoodScientist
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        68 hours ago

        In principle, the same is true for the real world.

        It it one of my favorite silly thought experiments: what could someone do if they were persuasive enough? The answer is, in principle, pretty much anything.

        Imagine someone with the Devil’s charisma; they can literally persuade anyone into anything. Such a person, coming from nowhere, could be running the entire country in an afternoon.

        1. Walk to the White House gate. Persuade the guard to let you in to meet a staffer.

        2. Meet the staffer. Persuade them to let you meet with the president and vice president.

        3. Persuade the Vice President to resign, and persuade the President to nominate you as the new VP and set up a meeting with key house and senate leaders.

        4. Persuade the House and Senate to confirm your nomination.

        5. Persuade the President to resign.

        In the real world, if they had a high enough “charisma score,” anyone could literally become president in a single afternoon. They could be an absolute nobody with zero background in leadership or high office. But if someone had some demonic ability to just talk people into anything, they could be running the country in an afternoon.

    • @credo
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      06 hours ago

      Freezy peaches you say?

      • @[email protected]
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        11 hours ago

        Of course he’s not, it’s a hypothetical question. It would be election interference if the Democrats did it.

        The Republicans, however can ostensibly do whatever the crap they want without repercussions as the FEC looks on with their head all the way up their own sphincter.

        • @Maggoty
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          16 hours ago

          The FEC knows if they tried something SCOTUS would shut it down in a second.

    • @ceenote
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      11 hours ago

      Idiots Right-wingers will assert that George Soros is, no evidence wanted or needed.

    • Orbituary
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      711 hours ago

      Of course, since most of the internet can’t detect sarcasm, you’re getting down voted.

      • @[email protected]
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        16 hours ago

        Lemmy especially cant detect sarcasm, but then again im convinced that about 40 percent of Lemmy is autistic or clone enough.

      • @[email protected]
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        10 hours ago

        Haha, oh well. As long as a few people see the obvious hypocrisy I’m trying to point out in our system. What does the FEC even do if not this kind of stuff???

      • @[email protected]
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        110 hours ago

        If “most of the internet” misunderstands you, then you need to work on your communication skills.

    • @[email protected]
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      This is literally happening for Democrats via the CAH ploy, and according to the posts I saw on Lemmy, it was the most “amazing cool as fuck bonkers ass wild in your face suck it Republicans scheme ever thought up by anyone ever on the face of the planet mind explode!”

      So…what’s the problem?

      • @dvlsg
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        88 hours ago

        You realize they’re doing it to point out the hypocrisy, right? They think it shouldn’t be legal for either side to do. But while it is, they want to call attention to it.

      • @TallonMetroid
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        108 hours ago

        CAH also explicitly said that what they were doing should be illegal.

        • @[email protected]
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          I think that penetrating fruit in a sexual manner should be illegal.

          I still do it because it’s not.

            • @[email protected]
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              03 hours ago

              Yes it is?

              I don’t understand what the point here is.

              I am saying this post/headline/people agreeing with it are hypocritical.

              What is the point you guys are trying to make?

  • @fox2263
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    310 hours ago

    I’ll be more shocked if anything comes of it

  • @[email protected]
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    10 hours ago

    I don’t understand what’s being implied here.

    The petition states, “By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.”

    It says nothing about buying votes, pledging to vote for a candidate, or providing any proof that you voted at all. The only requirement is that you are registered voter in one of a handful of states.

    As a registered democrat in PA, what’s preventing me from signing the petition and getting some free cash? If I believe that voting for Harris is a vote to support the first and second amendments, which I fully do, what’s the problem?

    • @[email protected]
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      2910 hours ago

      His purpose for providing the money is not just for you to sign a partition. It is to buy your favor and join him in voting for Trump. You are foolish if you think otherwise.

        • @[email protected]
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          2010 hours ago

          His entire push is for people to vote for Trump the money and the petition is for you to enter his camp. Stop playing dumb.

          • @jaybone
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            57 hours ago

            Can’t you just take the money and then vote for whoever you want?

            • @[email protected]
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              57 hours ago

              Yes you can. The focus is on getting people to register to vote that are like minded to Elon but you can play him and take the money.

            • @Draces
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              37 hours ago

              Musk did go to a Trump rally and say specifically voting for Trump is to preserve your first amendment rights and then offered to pay for people to vote to protect their first amendment rights. That seems legally questionable to me.

          • @[email protected]
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            -139 hours ago

            You’re ignoring my question.

            The article, which is quoting someone on twitter, states that what he’s doing is illegal because he’s offering to buy votes. This is in contrast to what the petition actually states. There is no requirement for you to vote for anyone at all in order to get paid and enter a lottery. That is, unless you can direct me to something that explicitly, in writing, supports your claim.

            • @[email protected]
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              149 hours ago

              Oh my goodness let me break it down for you. It is not just illegal to to pay people to vote it is illegal to pay people to register to vote. He is using a lottery system which pays people money to sign his petition the requirement to sign the petition is you have to be registered to vote. The Petition could say I like eggs. The petition is meaningless. The purpose is to get people to register to vote that are like minded to Elon using the possible payment of large sums of money. “Musk’s sweepstakes-style award is only available for registered swing-state voters who sign his right-wing PAC’s pledge.” - https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/20/24274971/elon-musk-1-million-prize-america-pac-petition-voting-presidential-election

              • @[email protected]
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                7 hours ago

                OK… the exceptionally odd part of your response is that we’re commenting on a specific article speaking about this and you’ve linked to an entirely different web site. Do you work for the verge?

                I would like to see some court cases related a requirement to be a registered voter to enter a sweepstakes.

                Still, again, my point is regarding what is implied in this article which is that Musk is paying people to vote for Trump. You do agree that this is not the case, correct?

                Edit: I think I get it. No one wants to hold the media accountable when they say something that enforces our existing opinions of people - even when it’s verifiably untrue.

                So, while it’s readily apparent that Musk is not guilty of “Clearly Illegal Vote-Buying”, he has established something in which any registered voter in a handful of states can “pledge their support for the First and Second Amendments” and receive financial compensation. There is in fact no requirement to vote for either Trump or Harris nor to cast a vote in this coming election.

                It would seem plausible, based on the US Code quoted in the article, that it’s not legal to require someone to be a registered voter to sign a petition and receive compensation. Frankly, I think people are grossly overlooking the fact that someone is paying someone to sign a petition to begin with. I would certainly hope that this is something law enforcement takes a look at.

                However, the claim that Musk is paying people to vote for Trump is not at all factual. This would make this “Common Dreams” article misinformation - would it not?

                • @Draces
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                  27 hours ago

                  Still, again, my point is regarding what is implied in this article which is that Musk is paying people to vote for Trump. You do agree that this is not the case, correct?

                  No. Musk goes to a rally and says vote for Trump to preserve your first amendment rights then offers money to people pledging to support first amendment rights. Stop playing dumb

    • @Modern_medicine_isnt
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      89 hours ago

      I read elsewhere that the issue was that you had to sign the petition to be eligible to win, and that you had to be a registered voter to sign the petition. So technically it was paying to get you to register. Which is not allowed.

      • emmanuel_car
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        28 hours ago

        I’m guessing it will also play into Trump’s voter fraud claims later. Use Musk’s petition as “proof” that votes for him weren’t counted/were converted to Harris/some other nonsense claim because it’s heavily implied if you’ve signed the petition that you would be voting for trump.

        • @[email protected]
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          67 hours ago

          Derek Muller, an election law expert at Notre Dame Law School, said Sunday that “when you start limiting prizes or giveaways to only registered voters or only people who have voted, that’s where bribery concerns arise.” “By limiting a giveaway only to registered voters,” Muller added, “it looks like you’re giving cash for voter registration.”

          Does lemmy.ml prevent you from reading articles or are you being purposely obtuse?

              • @[email protected]
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                -46 hours ago

                Title of article:

                Trump Backer Elon Musk Accused of ‘Clearly Illegal Vote-Buying’.

                I’m not sure what reality you all are a pat of. I’m just sitting here reading and commenting on what was shared. It is a fact that Musk is not buying votes. Had the article made the claim that “Musk pays registered voters to sign a petition”, that would be legit.

                • @[email protected]
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                  26 hours ago

                  The article didn’t make a claim. It’s reporting on claims made by other people. There’s more to an article than the title but even the title isn’t explicitly stating what he did is illegal. It’s literally reporting on people accusing him of it yet you latched on to the accusation like they’re reporting it as fact, also known as strawman.

                • Belkor
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                  5 hours ago

                  Do you know if the “random $1 million payment each day to one registered voter” is actually random? Is Musk cherry picking a ‘specific’ type of supporter after doing background checks on them and etc?

                • @[email protected]
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                  06 hours ago

                  And I’m ot running a brothel in my hourly motel outside of town. People rent the room for 2 hours, and it’s none of my business what happens between them and the housekeeper

    • Atelopus-zeteki
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      210 hours ago

      Do it! The problem, which you will be helping to solve, is wealth concentration. Move that dough out of muskie’s bank account = good.