• Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Sheriffs are probably the worst elected office we have. Imagine being able to become chief of an entire county’s law enforcement without needing a degree or even experience, just get a bunch of idiots to vote for you by saying “tuffoncrime” enough times.

    Then you get a gun and a badge and a car, and you can make all your stupid racist friends “deputies” and pretend it’s the Wild fucking West.

    • EatYouWell@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Don’t look at Texas’s requirements for judges. The first few levels don’t even require a high school diploma, and a law degree isn’t required until the appellate level.

    • admiralteal@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Having elections for sheriffs betrays the lie so many tell themselves that police are neutral arbiters. That they are there to follow and enforce the law fairly.

      If that were true, it would be a technocratic and apolitical office. It would be appointed by a bi/nonpartisan committee or some such.

      Having it be an elected office is way more honest. That it is a political position. That people want the police to be political and enforce political ideologies. They do not want disinterested police. They want their political enemies bound and beaten and their political allies shielded.

      I guess I need to decide whether or not I prefer my fascism to be cryptic-flavored.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Sessions’ involvement shows the increasing merger of far-right groups and thought with the Republican party under the influence of Donald Trump, who remains the overwhelming favorite to win its 2024 presidential nomination.

    In an email last month, the Claremont Institute invited subscribers to the 9 November dinner at the Hilton hotel in Huntington Beach, California, which will “honor the work of longtime patriot and tireless defender of America’s founding principles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco”.

    The advertised ticket price is $450, and the dinner comes two days before the start of the sheriffs fellowship, set for 11-17 November and for which no physical location has yet been made public.

    The Claremont Institute has been described as the “nerve center of the American right”, coming to greater prominence after the senior fellow John Eastman became one of the main faces of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    Bahr added: “Sheriff Bianco’s fidelity to the Constitution and his desire to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life, is something we think worth celebrating.”

    Last April, meanwhile, Riverside county narcotics investigators allowed a suspected drug trafficker to escape with nearly 60 pounds of methamphetamine they had used in a failed undercover sting.


    The original article contains 1,164 words, the summary contains 213 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Nothing wrong with “fidelity to the Constitution” and nothing about that is tied to Trump. Many federal employees and probably all of the military swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.

    If the sheriff is a piece of shit Trump worshipper, that’s a separate issue.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      That’s not the issue. The issue is there is a specific ideology amongst a lot of sheriff’s that is their version of sovereign citizenship, the Constitutional Sheriff

      The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association ( CSPOA) is a political organization of local police officials in the United States who contend that federal and state government authorities are subordinate to the local authority of county sheriffs and police.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Sheriffs_and_Peace_Officers_Association

      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I see, that’s not the same as properly upholding the Constitution. Hopefully they limit the scope of their rebellious stance to non-enforcement of laws that they believe are unconstitutional, instead of more malicious activity.