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Lying to the public should be a criminal offense

Lying to the public should be a criminal offense

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With Barr now being caught in two separate lies (his misleading summary on the Mueller report and lying to Congress under oath about not knowing Mueller's complaint about Barr's summary), and a report showing that Trump lied over ten thousand times in office, should lying to the public be a criminal offense if done by government officials regarding government matters?

I don't see how lying to the public you've been chosen or elected to serve isn't already a crime. Congress should introduce legislation making blatant lies a criminal offense.

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@vivify said
don't see how lying to the public you've been chosen or elected to serve isn't already a crime. Congress should introduce legislation making blatant lies a criminal offense.
If he's telling an untruth under oath, it's already indictable. If he's just bulltrumping in a press conference, the onus is on you to prove - not strongly suggest, prove beyond doubt - that he is evil rather than a moron.

Any sane and honest man knows that Barr is a creep and a colon-sucker, but that doesn't prove he's an oath-breaker. If you forbade creeps and colon-suckers from holding public office, the Democrats wouldn't be able to fill their Congressional seats, the Republicans couldn't fill a broom cupboard even without the Congressional page still in there, and the Libertarians would struggle to fill a single seat. Going further than "don't provably and knowingly lie under oath" will, therefore, not wash.

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@shallow-blue said
If he's telling an untruth under oath, it's already indictable.
In theory, maybe. Trump claimed during the primary debates to have lied under oath and hardly anyone batted an eye. Slowly but surely Americans are starting to realize that their precious checks and balances checked out long ago.

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Thread Title:

"Lying to the public should be a criminal offense"

If that was the case their would be jails filled with politicians! 😉

-VR

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liberals lying about someone lying! classic delusion.

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@vivify said
With Barr now being caught in two separate lies
Correction: Barr was caught in *three* separate lies.

When asked if he knew what the complaints from Mueller's team regarding Barr's summary was all about, he claimed he didn't know, despite receiving a letter from Mueller himself.

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The post that was quoted here has been removed
"should lying to the public be a criminal offense if done by government officials regarding government matters?"----Vivify

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@very-rusty said
Thread Title:

"Lying to the public should be a criminal offense"

If that was the case their would be jails filled with politicians! 😉

-VR
Thank you, Captain Obvious.

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The post that was quoted here has been removed
Doesn't matter, that quote is from the OP which hasn't changed.

Does Vivify want to stop the CIA director, for instance, from making public statements about the CIA?

"should lying to the public be a criminal offense"

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The post that was quoted here has been removed
Ever heard of classified information? It's not unusual to decline answering questions for such reasons. No need to lie.

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@vivify said
With Barr now being caught in two separate lies (his misleading summary on the Mueller report and lying to Congress under oath about not knowing Mueller's complaint about Barr's summary), and a report showing that Trump lied over ten thousand times in office, should lying to the public be a criminal offense if done by government officials regarding government matters?

I do ...[text shortened]... isn't already a crime. Congress should introduce legislation making blatant lies a criminal offense.
Here's the thing...

There are lies, and then there are ... things that people call lies which are not blatantly lies.

Here's a classic lie:

Lie: "Boss, I'm sick. I can't come to work today."
Reality: I've called in sick on a Friday to go to the beach for all of Friday & Saturday.

Here's another one:

Lie: I never kissed her.
Reality: I kissed her.

Here are some things that are not lies:

Man who doesn't know geography: Milan is in southern France.
Reality: Milan is in northern Italy. But he didn't lie -- he just didn't know the right answer.

Here is a fun example:

Panama is in South America.

Some people would be stupid and say this is a lie. It isn't. It's not right... I mean, it's more precise and exact to say Panama is in "Central America' (as Wikipedia says), but....

There's debates as to whether Central America is considered part of North America (as some say it is) and, I guess, even a school of thought that the Americas are a single continent.

I don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_America

But I guess people would argue about this, right?

Like if someone said Taiwan is a part of China. I don't know. We need more words.

This is relevant because Pres. Trump's "10,000 lies" or Barr's interpretation of the Mueller report are debatable things.

... If you want tougher penalties for saying I didn't kiss her when you actually kissed her, sure.

But if we are just talking about my partisan positions are true AND YOU'RE ALL LIARS, and also nailing the crap out of people who interpret things in their own favor and you don't like it and claim its misleading, like I suspect would be the end result of this for a lot of people... Then, no.

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@very-rusty said
Thread Title:

"Lying to the public should be a criminal offense"

If that was the case their would be jails filled with politicians! 😉

-VR
Reminds me of a joke.

Louisiana Governors always serve two terms: first in office and a second in jail.