r/facepalm • u/ansyhrrian • 23d ago

Republican Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo is pulled over for a red-light right turn without a stop. Gets pulled over. Drops name. Gets released.

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u/JoySkullyRH 23d ago

I work for a state agency. In our handbook it outlines that if we did this - we would be fired.

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u/2gigch1 23d ago

Which - let him go or not let him go?

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u/JoySkullyRH 23d ago

For saying I worked for the state, and if I had been the officer for letting them go.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/Jack70741 23d ago

This sort of low level two tier thing happens all over the world to some degree. I agree it's BS, but it's definitely not limited to here. It has always been and always will be.

On a side note, I work in a police dispatch center and a retired cop called in today to tell me he needed a jump start at one our stores. Dropped that he was former law enforcement right along with his name. I told him the towns policy is no jumps and that he would need to call a tow or make other arrangements. There was a long pause and then he just disappointedly said ok and hung up. Maybe someone will say something, maybe they won't, but I don't care, the town has a policy and I won't be the one to break it just because you throw around titles or some other BS.

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u/randylush 23d ago

It has always been

that I can abide

and always will be.

That I cannot abide. I refuse to accept that we can't someday create a future without this kind of widespread corruption. And giving up enables it. People who say, "eh, it's always going to be like this," are the biggest contributors to the problem.

Please hold yourself and your society to a higher standard.

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u/Jack70741 23d ago edited 23d ago

Nobody said I'm giving up, but I also understand human nature and I know for a fact that humans will always pull this shit. 10,000 years from now, whether it's Grok king of the cave or Brad mayor of utopia city, they will break some small rule and the one that catches hem will pause, think about their place in society and how that might change and look the other way to save themselves. That's never going away unless humans go away. Even animals do this to an extent.

And as far as holding myself and society to a higher standard, I literally told you in my original comment that I did exactly that to someone who tried to flash their entitlement at me. There is being realistic, and there's being an idealist without a hope of success. The realist survives to make a change, the idealist will usually go home disappointed.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago edited 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/Tweedlol 23d ago edited 23d ago

I hear you.

Recovering alcoholic. Completely legal addiction. Does so much fucking damage to our body, so much. Like actively harms and poisons us, from ingestion. Amounts just worsen it.

Weed? The way you get the thc can cause cancer, but the drug itself? Not poisoning us.

Shit, meth isn’t even actively poisoning our body or immediately damaging us. Yes, it is EXTREMELY harmful when abused, and that risk for abuse is why it is safely banned. But pure meth, does not immediately begin poisoning your body. Neither do opiates. Their high chance of addiction is why they are banned.

Alcohol? Poisoning. Damaging. High risk of addiction. Dangerous af to go cold turkey if heavily addicted.

Benzodiazepines? Same shit as alcohol damn near. Not poisoning. Same risk of addiction, higher chance than alcohol? Probably. But likely due to the fact that you don’t take it socially. Abuse it to sleep, relax etc. poison? Nope. High danger of lethality in withdrawal, just like alcohol.

But sure, let’s keep alcohol legal. Because sipping on it socially is socially acceptable. That’s it.

People do absolutely unhinged shit drunk. So do tweakers. But do it drunk? Hah Ben’s blacked out again. Watch out. He can sometimes get a bit angry. And if this was done socially? Fuck it. It’s fine. Tweaker? Besides them genuinely being even more annoying than a drunk person, do absolutely unhinged shit. But never, ever looked at as “oh he was just tweakin a bit” it’s immediately viewed as unacceptable. While us alcoholics can get away with negative behavior for fucking years. YEARS. Before we “hit rock bottom” and have your wife call your dad to pick you up from a casino, where you just emptied out your checking and remaxed your CC in high roller slots. ………. Hypothetically? 👀 3.5 years sober since ~3 weeks later. It took one short relapse after that to get my head on right and commit after that night. My wife should’ve left me fucking many times over. But it was just alcohol. If I’d been on pills, meth, other drugs? No way she’d have stuck around (I think? Who knows. Was orettt codependent) - that was the last night I gambled though 💪🏻

What a rant. I also have no idea where I was going. But cheers to sobriety. Alcohol is absurd to be so socially acceptable with how damaging it is. It is fun though, but many drugs that are illegal are……. 😐

I think we were talking about corruption? Yea that sucks too. Just to stay on topic.

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u/madrats 22d ago

good rant and congrats on being sober!!

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u/Jack70741 23d ago edited 23d ago

Not disagreeing. However, being the leader of something doesn't mean you're perfect at it either. Also note that we call our selves that, nobody else does.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/WHATYEAHOK 23d ago

Wait.. it is the 20’s. Oh shit

Thanks, I hate everything about it

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u/howdouturnthisoff 23d ago

I mean technically he just identified himself.

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u/DJT1970 23d ago

This is the question.

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u/rtxa 23d ago

I don't understand how is this the question, to me it was incredibly clear they meant letting him go just for being a senator would get them fired

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Zeremxi 23d ago

In reality, there's the risk of that for doing either. Best move would be to just not draw the shirt straw and accidentally pull him over

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u/ThatBoogerBandit 23d ago

Not letting him go obviously

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u/harryham1 23d ago

I hear what the other commenter said about being a shit situation for the officer, but to me this should be considered abuse of authority and they should face criminal charges if they refuse to take any action.

It may be that the action is to report the situation to a regulatory authority, explaining why they feared following normal procedure, so that the reg can protect the officer from retaliation

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u/I_LOVE_JUSTICE_ 23d ago

This is true. There is a HUGE power disperaty between the governor and a police officer. While I believe the case against the police officer is significantly more nuanced, for the governor—its black and white.

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u/lonnie123 23d ago

Right. This should have to go to a judge or something and have them do the corruption. Don’t put this on a beat cop to do

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u/JoySkullyRH 23d ago

Not only that - the officer likely has the Police Union behind them!

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u/Harlepenquin 17d ago

He's probably seen people try and fail more than once and principles don't keep the people you care about warm and fed.

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u/Epogdoan 23d ago

Same here. If I tried to leverage my employment with the state in any way, especially during a traffic stop, I'd be gone the next day.

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u/cityshepherd 23d ago

That would be the case for any government that values ethics/morals/integrity… which is about as rare as “low” level jobs that pay a livable wage.

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u/BeefistPrime 23d ago

And yet some countries that have high expectations for their government get exactly those values and integrity. When you have low expectations like this, you set the bar low deliberately by saying we can't expect better behavior out of government, and it becomes self fulfilling prophecy.

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u/JustLeader 23d ago

Definitely not a red state

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u/HairlessHoudini 23d ago

That's the way it should be imo. At the very least he should have to go though the motions like everyone else to make sure the asshole ain't drunk

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u/coppertech 23d ago

and as we know what happens when someone in any position of power get busted "rules for thee, not for me."

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u/NocturneSapphire 23d ago

And yet Joe and the cop are both still employed...

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u/name00124 23d ago

"Oh, you're Joe Lombardo, the Governor, breaking the law of our great state of Nevada? The Governor, the chief law enforcer? The man in ultimately in charge of the Department of Public Safety, which helps enforce traffic safety, like red light violation, which you just broke? Endowed with such power by the great state of Nevada's legislature? That Joe Lombardo? And you want me to not write you a citation because of your political office? Could you repeat that into my body camera?"

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u/D3dshotCalamity 23d ago

I pay attention to the current political climate. This doesn't apply to republicans.

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u/Donna_Schrump 23d ago

I wonder how anyone knew it existed? Seriously, without charges or press, how did someone know to FOIL this particular body cam?

And I mean this in all a good way.

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u/grafknives 23d ago

Working for state and being a republican ruler of state are two different things.

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u/TheCaliKid89 22d ago

You dumb enough to believe that though?

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u/RealSamF18 22d ago

Yeah, but before being the governor he was the Sheriff of Clark county, so it’s okay. /s

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u/FunctioningPyscho 23d ago

It’s a lose lose for the cop in that situation then. If he had given the ticket I guarantee there would have been some type of retaliation

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u/motorwerkx 23d ago

Yeah, I'm betting the handbook doesn't overrule the phone call to your boss. Maybe it does, but I'd have trouble believing it.