Members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have warned America for three years to take former President Donald Trump at his word.
Now, as Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination, his criminal trials face delays that could stall them past Election Day, and his rhetoric grows increasingly authoritarian, some of those lawmakers find themselves following their own advice.
In mid-March, Trump said on social media that the committee members should be jailed. In December he vowed to be a dictator on “day one.” In August, he said he would “have no choice” but to lock up his political opponents.
“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”
Lofgren added that she doesn’t yet have a plan in place to thwart potential retribution by Trump. But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long been a burr in Trump’s side, said he’s having “real-time conversations” with his staff about how to make sure he stays safe if Trump follows through on his threats.
“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff said. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”
Yes. And that's not punishment.
If someone is mentally not healthy and a risk to themselves or others, you're going to have to do uncomfortable things to them. But the point is that they are given access to resources to be rehabilitated while they're in prison.
I dont know about Norway or Denmark or Iceland. Normally I refer to Finland.
I wasn't in a Finish prison, but I have a friend who was. He spent most of his time in school. As in, he left the prison during the day to attend Uni. A few times a year a guard would come to his class and make sure he was there. Of course it was a limit to his freedom, but he was given resources.
Finland isn't perfect either, and he never should have gone to prison to start with. But their prisons are how prisons should be. They exist to help people, not to make them suffer.
Surely, if your friend could leave the prison to attend school, then the prison itself wasn't necessary! What purpose did that serve other than to alienate and isolate and punish? It's "not perfect" because it can't be, the suffering is the point and all the Nordic model does is make their suffering productive.
Prisons should not be. We don't need Nordic prisons, we need prison abolition.
He got a free bed, free food, and the prison had facilities for therapy.
This prison is a good thing.
We don't need prisons to provide free beds, free food, or free therapy.