Can this sentence, from the New York Times article on the DeLay conviction, be read as anything other than evidence of the collapse of journalism, and hence of language, and hence of civilization?
To be guilty of money laundering, the prosecution had to show the money had been obtained through an illegal activity before it was laundered.
They succeeded in showing that, so I guess that means the prosecution is guilty of money laundering.
This is the frigging NYTimes! Are there no editors sharp-eyed enough to change “To be guilty of …” to “To prove …” ? Predicates need subjects! Otherwise they run wild and incriminate innocent people.
Update: Commenter GD provides the necessary transit angle on this story:
William Safire is rotating in his grave. The question now is how to harness that energy and power rail transit with it 😉
Happy Thanksgiving to American readers. If you had to fly in the USA yesterday, I hope it was stimulating.
William Safire is rotating in his grave. The question now is how to harness that energy and power rail transit with it 😉
If my college English instructor had seen that sentence, he would have flagged it with the comment,”Can’t you express that thought in a better way without repeating yourself?”
If you want to run forward, you have to be facing forward when you run.
Flying transatlantic from Newark turned out to be pretty boring, no full body scanners to be found.
My only run-in with security happened when a random flak told me to get off a platform at Penn Station.
A departure from your usual moderate, measured self Jarrett! I see this is very important to you!
Decline of civilisation though..hmm, maybe a bit of a stretch.
Still, nice to see that even our calm Jarrett stretches to hyperbole when passionate about something of such import.
My attempt at the NYT sentence :
The money laundering charge had a prerequisite that the funds had to come from an illicit source (either dirty money / RICO or an improper funds swap).
RICO = Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations; a U.S. Federal law with very sharp teeth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RICO