The Idea Behind ‘No Admission of Guilt.’

It’s such a beautiful concept for the rich and powerful.

Which of course is why it exists in the courtrooms of America. It’s a sort of expanded version of dealing drugs or kicking the shit out of someone and then striking a bargain when the cops show up. “Surely officer, we can come to an agreement. I’ll slip you a few bucks and we’ll forget the whole thing.”

That was once called bribing an officer of the law

It still is, unless the stakes are high enough to cut yourself a deal. They never were for me and very early in life I found that wrapping my driver’s license in a twenty-dollar bill was a bet not worth making. Not to make too fine a point, but a thousand-dollar bill might well have done it.

There’s a principle involved here in a largely unprincipled world

Let’s take Bernie Madoff as an example—actually a pretty good example, because Bernie made the mistake of fucking over some very wealthy people. In a pyramid-scheme there isn’t enough money left over when the music stops to cut a …