4 ms·

America is not a corrupt country in the sense that places overseas are. You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here and political hysterics

America is not a corrupt country in the sense that places overseas are. You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here and political hysterics aside rule of law generally prevails. What has happened is that America has slipped from being a high trust society to a medium trust one.

tyingq 11mo ago
It does vary. Rural sheriff departments being one example.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- throwawaypath 11mo ago
  Urban city police departments being another example.
  - godsinhisheaven 11mo ago
    Suburban police departments are another example
    - deleted 11mo ago
      [deleted]
- anjel 11mo ago
  Roadside Civil Asset Forfeiture is still a thing...
LeoPanthera 11mo ago
> You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here I am absolutely not convinced of this. I truly believe a significant fraction of US police would, and perhaps do, accept bribes.
- jasonlotito 11mo ago
  [flagged]
- nacozarina 11mo ago
  the US AG is pretty openly accepting bribes if you hadn’t noticed
jasonlotito 11mo ago
> You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-aide-homan-accepted-50000-bribery-sting-operation-sources-say-2025-09-21/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-aide-homan-accepted-5... In addition: Things you can do in the USA right now without punishment (as long as you the corrcect kind of Republican) * Try to kill the vice president. * Terrorize the capital * Try to kill police * Rape * Being a pedophile Things you can and will be killed or punished for, or that the government is getting vigilantes to go after. * Walking * Exercising your rights under the Bill of Rights * Literally upholding the law * Speaking negatively about the President * Following Christianity * Being Jewish So, yeah, it's fairly corrupt. I haven't even talked about the white collar crimes that are happening every day. But none of the above is hyperbole.
- hsbauauvhabzb 11mo ago
  > Try to kill the vice president. I assumed you were referring to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Paul_Pelosi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Paul_Pelosi but that ended with a 30 year sentence. So what are you referring to?
  - shawn_w 11mo ago
    1/6 and the gallows with Pence's name on it and the mob looking for him.
    - Wistar 11mo ago
      Well, I knew what he was talking about.
    - hsbauauvhabzb 11mo ago
      I missed that aspect of 1/6.
      - alsetmusic 11mo ago
        Trump turned his supporters on Pence on a bs concept that Pence could (il)legally deliver him the presidency. They wanted him to hang for treason.
fnord77 11mo ago
here in SF it's pretty common to bribe officers with gift cards to get traffic tickets dropped. it's been like that as long as I can remember also, in the late 80s I remember my GF's father bribing the SF building inspector to overlook something.
- 64718283661 11mo ago
  But if a single one of them don't like that you tried they can ruin your life much worse than a traffic ticket.
  - walletdrainer 11mo ago
    “Oh whoops, I accidentally grabbed the wrong card from my wallet” Nobody says “hey here’s the bribe”, they act like they’re mistakenly handing over money or whatever. This is basic bribery etiquette.
  - fnord77 11mo ago
    I should have been clearer. The way the bribes work is you have a friend who works on the force find out what the ticketing officer likes. Then you give the GC to the friend who gives it to the ticketing officer. People who grew up in the city invariably know at least one or two people on the force.
- harddrivereque 11mo ago
  I do believe that you are writing the truth, but it is extremely unbelievable to me. To be honest, I've never been pulled over for traffic violations, but bribing officers with gift cards being "common" sounds like it could lead to some really bad place. It's a good thing it hasn't yet. Bribes have many drawbacks compared to traffic tickets.
- krustyburger 11mo ago
  I remember gift cards originally being novel in the early 2000’s because they could be swiped like a credit card for purchases, unlike gift certificates, which they replaced. If you had a girlfriend in the late 80s, I don’t see how police could have been bribed with gift cards as long as you can remember. I should also add that I myself have never heard of it being common to bribe SF cops with gift cards, in any decade.
dataflow 11mo ago
> rule of law generally prevails Not going to agree or disagree, but I just want to make sure you're claiming that while being fully aware of, say, the following: https://www.insidernj.com/the-abcs-of-pba-cards/ https://www.insidernj.com/the-abcs-of-pba-cards/
forgotoldacc 11mo ago
Not really. The difference is police in poorer countries can be bribed with the amount of cash you can keep in a wallet. In the US, it requires a large public donation to a political campaign or "charity". Bribes very much exist, and if you think you can't do it, that just means you're not rich enough. In poor countries too, the ones getting arrested are the ones who can't afford the bribes.
ribosometronome 11mo ago
Bribe? No no, it's a tip.
Waterluvian 11mo ago
> from being a high trust society to a medium trust one I think both falsehoods here are things many people want to believe because not being just like all those other places “overseas” is important to the cultural identity.
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
fakedang 11mo ago
Have you been to rural America? Flyover country? The south?

tyingq 11mo ago

It does vary. Rural sheriff departments being one example.

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
throwawaypath 11mo ago
Urban city police departments being another example.
- godsinhisheaven 11mo ago
  Suburban police departments are another example
  - deleted 11mo ago
    [deleted]
anjel 11mo ago
Roadside Civil Asset Forfeiture is still a thing...

LeoPanthera 11mo ago

> You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here I am absolutely not convinced of this. I truly believe a significant fraction of US police would, and perhaps do, accept bribes.

jasonlotito 11mo ago
[flagged]
nacozarina 11mo ago
the US AG is pretty openly accepting bribes if you hadn’t noticed

jasonlotito 11mo ago

> You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-aide-homan-accepted-50000-bribery-sting-operation-sources-say-2025-09-21/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-aide-homan-accepted-5... In addition: Things you can do in the USA right now without punishment (as long as you the corrcect kind of Republican) * Try to kill the vice president. * Terrorize the capital * Try to kill police * Rape * Being a pedophile Things you can and will be killed or punished for, or that the government is getting vigilantes to go after. * Walking * Exercising your rights under the Bill of Rights * Literally upholding the law * Speaking negatively about the President * Following Christianity * Being Jewish So, yeah, it's fairly corrupt. I haven't even talked about the white collar crimes that are happening every day. But none of the above is hyperbole.

hsbauauvhabzb 11mo ago
> Try to kill the vice president. I assumed you were referring to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Paul_Pelosi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Paul_Pelosi but that ended with a 30 year sentence. So what are you referring to?
- shawn_w 11mo ago
  1/6 and the gallows with Pence's name on it and the mob looking for him.
  - Wistar 11mo ago
    Well, I knew what he was talking about.
  - hsbauauvhabzb 11mo ago
    I missed that aspect of 1/6.
    - alsetmusic 11mo ago
      Trump turned his supporters on Pence on a bs concept that Pence could (il)legally deliver him the presidency. They wanted him to hang for treason.

fnord77 11mo ago

here in SF it's pretty common to bribe officers with gift cards to get traffic tickets dropped. it's been like that as long as I can remember also, in the late 80s I remember my GF's father bribing the SF building inspector to overlook something.

64718283661 11mo ago
But if a single one of them don't like that you tried they can ruin your life much worse than a traffic ticket.
- walletdrainer 11mo ago
  “Oh whoops, I accidentally grabbed the wrong card from my wallet” Nobody says “hey here’s the bribe”, they act like they’re mistakenly handing over money or whatever. This is basic bribery etiquette.
- fnord77 11mo ago
  I should have been clearer. The way the bribes work is you have a friend who works on the force find out what the ticketing officer likes. Then you give the GC to the friend who gives it to the ticketing officer. People who grew up in the city invariably know at least one or two people on the force.
harddrivereque 11mo ago
I do believe that you are writing the truth, but it is extremely unbelievable to me. To be honest, I've never been pulled over for traffic violations, but bribing officers with gift cards being "common" sounds like it could lead to some really bad place. It's a good thing it hasn't yet. Bribes have many drawbacks compared to traffic tickets.
krustyburger 11mo ago
I remember gift cards originally being novel in the early 2000’s because they could be swiped like a credit card for purchases, unlike gift certificates, which they replaced. If you had a girlfriend in the late 80s, I don’t see how police could have been bribed with gift cards as long as you can remember. I should also add that I myself have never heard of it being common to bribe SF cops with gift cards, in any decade.

dataflow 11mo ago

> rule of law generally prevails Not going to agree or disagree, but I just want to make sure you're claiming that while being fully aware of, say, the following: https://www.insidernj.com/the-abcs-of-pba-cards/ https://www.insidernj.com/the-abcs-of-pba-cards/

forgotoldacc 11mo ago

Not really. The difference is police in poorer countries can be bribed with the amount of cash you can keep in a wallet. In the US, it requires a large public donation to a political campaign or "charity". Bribes very much exist, and if you think you can't do it, that just means you're not rich enough. In poor countries too, the ones getting arrested are the ones who can't afford the bribes.

ribosometronome 11mo ago

Bribe? No no, it's a tip.

Waterluvian 11mo ago

> from being a high trust society to a medium trust one I think both falsehoods here are things many people want to believe because not being just like all those other places “overseas” is important to the cultural identity.

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

fakedang 11mo ago

Have you been to rural America? Flyover country? The south?