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[martinuzz]

The principle of any defense lawyer should be to never turn down a request, no matter how horrible the deeds of the client. That's like... The very basis of a functioning constitutional state. Every suspect has a right to be legally represented.

If a lawyer can't stomach that, they should not become a defense lawyer. There's plenty of vacancies to be filled in other parts of the judicial system.

[None]

Aye, everyone deserves their day in court with professional representation. If the defense attorney were, say, a minor celebrity by way of actively choosing to represent awful, rich sleaze (the impeachment defense in the US Senate springs to mind) or threw defense behind terrorists of similar ideology on the regular, I'd raise an eyebrow.

Dunno anything about the guy though, sorry.

[Grim Portent]

I've seen a sentiment from Defense Attorney's that their job is to represent their client as best they can, even when they think their client is guilty, because if they don't do it properly then the client may be able to get the result of the case overturned later on. If the Defense does everything right and the client is still found guilty then they have no grounds to appeal against the result of the trial on the basis of being improperly represented.

If for some reason the attorney can't bring themselves to defend someone then they have an ethical duty to recuse themself rather than actively sabotaging the validity of the proceedings by representing the client poorly. Conversely if you can defend someone properly you have a duty to do so regardless of your opinion of them and their guilt, because otherwise the process might be done wrong and get invalidated down the line.

[Rolan7]

These are good points: Everyone has a right to actual legal counsel (particularly defense) and an intentionally weak defense could get the case thrown out. 

There's another perspective, that the justice system relies on defense lawyers willing to defend guilty parties.  Even ones who are completely honest with their lawyers.  Without an attorney willing to take up that role, the "devil's advocate" in a way, there can be no proper trial.  Without a *zealous* defense then even the most obvious crime can't actually be judged properly.  "We all know they did it" is what a mob says, not a jury.

I can't imagine what it must do to a person to defend people guilty of murder and other heinous crimes.  But there's an honor in it.  Literally, someone has to do it, and *actually try*, or the justice system completely falls apart.  Because if the "obvious" criminals don't get a proper defense, then suddenly a lot of innocent people disappear into prison.

(also access to justice in the USA is fucking horrible and we're very much feeling the effects of it.  Public defenders are overworked and often derided, the work often being a onerous consequence of law school scholarships or being at the ground floor of a firm.)  "Justice" for those who can pay, and a show trial for those who appear guilty.

[McTraveller]

Energy production contributes to tens of thousands of premature U.S. deaths each year

I'm all for conservation and "being green," but that's a sensationalist headline if there ever was one.  I mean how many premature deaths are prevented by having electricity.  I'm sure it's more than "tens of thousands."

You could have the same information in the article but presented in a more positive way, something like "Although energy prevents a lot of premature deaths, we can prevent even more if we increase utilization of less-polluting methods."

[None]

We're, uh, not going to just 'not produce energy' though. Drinking water prevents a lot of premature death, too (i do rather enjoy not dehydrating), but that's not the point of discussion if you're trying to talk about water conservation and aquifer depletion. They're just not things you're going to go without.

We need energy production or the world as we know it collapses. That might be sensationalist, too, but that's reality, so we can take it for granted that it needs to exist. Current production methods contribute to tens of thousands of premature deaths each year, per the website quip. Ergo, the point of discussion, already accepting that energy production is necessary, keeps society functioning, saves lives, etc., is that current methods need improvement to improve lifespans.

[MrRoboto75]

out of those 10,000 at least one was a ritual sacrifice to keep the wind turbines turning.

[Akura]

Just randomly got logged out of these forums somehow. Might've accidentally clicked on the logout button, I dunno.


...I don't think I've ever actually had to log into my account here in years.

[Laterigrade]

Relax kids.  you were okay when people were talking about professional lube.  Somebody mentions improvising 15 years ago and you get the willies?

Does your dick still smell like fruit?

ijub I like that you’re very new to this forum and you’ve already found a great sig-quote. I love the sigs in this forum, it shows you the ‘major players’ (so to speak) and the layers of history it has, and lets you comb and comb through the past, find the big threads and their controversies. I mostly identify people not by their avatar but by their sig.

[pisskop]

Do you have a sigthread post yet?   

#sigtext

[heydude6]

I mostly identify people not by their avatar but by their sig.

Of course you do. Most people don't have avatars anymore. Or is it just me?

[Frumple]

Some folks have lost theirs, yeah. I know I haven't been arsed to fix mine ever since upl.co went down.

[scriver]

I mostly identify people not by their avatar but by their sig.

Of course you do. Most people don't have avatars anymore. Or is it just me?

You still have an avatar to me.

Do I still have an avatar?

[Rolan7]

You do.  A two-pronged mythos crab A gaggle of 67 pigeons.

[McTraveller]

I have an avatar, but most of it is in the fifth dimension.

(Credit Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)