[stavros]

When everything is illegal, nobody is innocent.

[smoyer]

Nice reference!

[stavros]

Reference to what? Didn't I just coin it?! Aw, it sounded so good, too...

[smoyer]

I thought you altered the phrase spoken by the villain Syndrome in Pixar's "Incredibles" movie: https://youtu.be/GYmHYQPaHaw?feature=shared

[stavros]

Ah, no, I didn't even remember this, but it's close.

[pcf]

Not sure what you referred to directly, but GPT-4o gives me these two similar quotes:

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." - Tacitus (Roman historian)

"Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime." - Lavrentiy Beria (head of Stalin's secret police)

[stavros]

Ah yeah, the general sentiment was definitely "there are laws that everyone breaks every day, so they can always get you on something". Mostly because I remembered the anecdote about the USSR outlawing fax machines that no business could do without, so they could always charge any business with a crime.