In December, Luigi Mangione was arrested for shooting health insurance executive Brian Thompson. Last week, Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, announced that she was seeking the death penalty. It’s a highly unusual announcement, since Mangione hasn’t even been indicted yet on a federal level. (He has been indicted in Manhattan.) By intervening in this high-profile case, the Trump administration has made clear that it believes that CEOs are especially important people whose deaths need to be swiftly and mercilessly avenged.

  • SulaymanF@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    The bullets Mangione used to kill Thomson had “deny,” “delay,” and “depose” inscribed on them.

    Allegedly. The reporter forgot to be professional for a moment.

    • Hazor@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      The reporters can always seem to sane-wash Trump and his ilk, and always give them the benefit of the doubt, but not Mangione. Musk gave a salute that was “awkward” and “looked similar to” a Nazi salute, but Mangione is just presumed guilty. Trump is a “successful businessman” despite bankrupting numerous companies, but Mangione is assumed to be a guilty evil murderer before he’s even indicted!

  • LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe
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    16 days ago

    I’m glad they’re seeking the death penalty.

    Because it makes it much easier for the defence team to argue that the prosecution is trying to turn the law into a spectacle, and that Luigi should be acquitted of all charges.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      The federal system gives the judge a lot more power, they can basically pick the jury and evidence themselves, and appeals really, really suck.

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
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      16 days ago

      It doesn’t much matter if it’s easier for the defense to argue that. It matters what the judge and jury find.

  • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    None of this, of course, is to say that what Mangione did was justifiable or wise.

    Um, fuck you? He hasn’t been convicted and the author’s assumption here, that Mangione is guilty of what he has been accused of, is part of the fucking problem.

      • Freshparsnip@lemm.ee
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        15 days ago

        Exactly. They’ve set a precedent that running for office gets you out of any consequences. I really want to see what happens if Mangione runs for congress

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    He’d became a martyr. The best chance way the ruling class could handle this is letting him go on the condition that he denies every publicity possible for a given years, even “just” imprisonment would communicate “we fear guys like this”.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      It’s very naive of people to think that in an authoritarian dictatorship controlled by the world’s wealthiest people, that there won’t be a LOT of unjust deaths in the coming years.

      I will be positively shocked if they don’t make a very public example of Mangione. It’s going to hurt and that’s what they want. They want to kill him in front of us so we feel pain. Then they’re going to do it again and again with other people whom we don’t want to see die. Remember that. This is what happens.

      This is what 45% of eligible voters thought would never happen so they stayed home. Too much trouble. Too hard to figure out the truth (by googling for 30 seconds). Too many excuses to not rock the boat, and now the boat is rocking us all out.

      • Liberteez@lemm.ee
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        14 days ago

        The truth is, Luigi will be an exceptional martyr. The majority of deaths will be forgotten by the masses, because a million deaths is a statistic.

        The key in the coming years is to survive, organize, strategize, and recover. Dying is a waste. We must all do what it takes to live and fight from a better position.

        Our saving grace is the incompetency of the enemy. They are following plans created decades ago by aging and dying villains. The inheritors are inept and despicable.

        Hitler shot himself and Mousolini was ripped to pieces because they overplayed their hands. Keep in touch with a local community, and figure out a way forward once our enemy is vulnerable.

    • meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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      14 days ago

      Sadly I think he’s going to be a martyr like Alexi Navalny. The 1% is patient, and they know they can distract us and grind us down. We can raise hell for a moment, but they know our weakness is our stomaches.

      • Lolseas@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        Ugh, Fender Strat- you’re annoying me. I’m a Jackson Guitars kinda guy. Miss me with that single coil shit!

        • Wren@lemmy.worldM
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          14 days ago

          Okay… I have to chime in here.

          I’ll say- it entirely depends on the Strat, and it entirely depends on the player. For instance, Gilmour used a strat for the Comfortably Numb solos. Tell me of a guitar/guitarist that can sing better than that!

          But if I had to pick, I’d say PRS are an overall best. It’s just that Mr. Gilmour will always be the exception to ALL of the rules.

          DISCLAIMER: I am a bassist of 30+ years and I’ve never owned a fender product in my life.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
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      16 days ago

      Not because they’re a millionaire. Because they’re a CEO whose policies directly resulted in unnecessary suffering and death.

      • Banana@sh.itjust.works
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        15 days ago

        Billionaires do deserve to die for being billionaires though.

        You can’t amass that type of wealth without being responsible for human suffering en masse. It’s impossible.

        • mobotsar@sh.itjust.works
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          14 days ago

          you can’t amass that type of wealth without . . .

          Sure, but that’s not for being billionaires; that’s for what they did to become billionaires and perhaps for what they are (or are not) doing to maintain their status.

          Leftist messaging is plagued by the fact that what what is said literally is often something obviously wrong or stupid which is supposed to stand in (by convention, I suppose) for the point that is “actually” being made.

          It makes dismissing leftist messages pretty appealingly mechanical for those who are opposed or even just unfamiliar – they need only point out the obvious way in which the literal meaning of the actual words the leftist has said is wrong or stupid. You can’t fault much the latter sort of person here, because there’s really not any indication that you don’t just wholesale believe the stupid thing you said.

          It’s a critical problem that’s had a crippling impact on the acceptance of leftist movements in the United States. So it’s best to say what you mean. It really helps.

      • Wilco@lemm.ee
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        15 days ago

        Agreed, its a bit like self defense or defending others.

        If you are armed and see a murder about to happen you CAN legally intervene with a firearm. You do not have to standby and let someone get killed.

        UHC was killing thousands and apparently the government was/is fine with it. Thus … it was a defensive killing.

        This discussion would get me banned off of Reddit (again).

        • torch_and_blanket@sopuli.xyz
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          14 days ago

          My favorite Reddit alt got disappeared because the degree of subtlety with which I conducted my advocacy for political violence dipped once by accident below the acceptable threshold. So I’m here. Hah!

  • SparroHawc@lemm.ee
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    14 days ago

    Sigh. Yet another article assuming Mangione’s guilt. Ben Burgis didn’t even bother to say ‘allegedly’ anywhere.

  • aooooaa@lemmy.today
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    14 days ago

    Your observation about the timing of Bondi’s call for the death penalty—before a federal indictment—is particularly sharp and highlights the political dimensions effectively. From experience observing these processes, such early, high-profile interventions are indeed rare and often signal broader political messaging, like the implied valuation of the victim’s status you discuss. It’s a crucial perspective on how justice can intersect with politics in high-profile cases.

  • PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.social
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    14 days ago

    He didn’t do it.

    They’re pinning some rich guy bullshit on him.

    Brian Thompson was stepping out in his wife.

    She hired a hitman from El Salvador to kill him so she could have all his stuff.

    Luigi is just some kid swept up in police railroading.

    Luigi is innocent.