Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2023 January 11

= January 11 =

Interpol
Could Interpol call for the arrest of Trump if the US is unable or unwilling to do it, and if it can be shown he is helping to undermine democratic governments throughout the world? Viriditas (talk) 09:29, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * In general, police agencies don't "call for the arrest" of anyone. Police agencies are empowered by other parts of the government (such as the judiciary or legislature) to arrest people in response to very specific conditions: either the police in question are directly witnessing a crime in progress (such as an assault or robbery) OR they have been granted an arrest warrant by a judicial agency.  In most representative democracies, the police can't just decide to arrest people willy-nilly.  In short, Interpol would need to be directed by someone else to arrest Trump.  Furthermore, Interpol's authorization comes directly from its member organizations.  A valid request from some national-level agency, such as the FBI or the National Police (France) or MI5 or some such group.  No one is going to do that.  -- Jayron 32 11:58, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Article 3 of Interpol's constitution states: "It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character." Philvoids (talk) 13:03, 11 January 2023 (UTC)


 * For a US citizen to be lawfully arrested, they must first have been officially indicted by a prosecutor. If the judicial jurisdiction of the prosecutor is within the US, and the suspect is believed to have left the US, the US government can request that Interpol publish a "red notice" for the suspect (put them on their wanted list). If the jurisdiction of the prosecutor is outside the US, but the alleged crime was committed within their judicial jurisdiction (or their government has extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction in the case), their government can request Interpol to put the suspect on their wanted list. If Interpol thinks the request is politically motivated, as was the case for Turkey's request to arrest Enes Kanter, they must reject the request. --Lambiam 14:12, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * That's not strictly true. Magistrates and judges can issue arrest warrants without a prior indictment, and police can also arrest people without a warrant in the U.S. under the probably cause doctrine.  Police can demonstrated probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant, but they can also arrest someone they have probable cause to believe is in the act of committing a crime.  For example, if a police officer sees me beating some other person with a bat, they can legally arrest me right there, and don't need to get a warrant, nor does a prosecutor or a grand jury need to issue an indictment.  An indictment may require officers to also arrest a person who is not already in custody, but there are many times when the person so indicted is already in custody. -- Jayron 32 14:21, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * OK, but none of that involves Interpol. --Lambiam 14:28, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * No, it doesn't. You continue to be correct, and I (as always, with every fiber of my being) continue to wrong.  Accept my apologies.  Sometimes I can't help myself.  -- Jayron 32 15:49, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * More ancillary information than falsehood. The RefDesks would be a dull place without a few digressions every now and then. Alansplodge (talk) 18:35, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * There's many ways for a person to be wrong (trust me, I know, I am frequently several, all at once) and saying something which is false is just but one of them. -- Jayron 32 11:57, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
 * You're not wrong. Your answer just didn't involve Interpol. 🌈WaltCip - (talk)  15:08, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
 * And it was wrong for me to do so. Do try to keep up.  -- Jayron 32 13:34, 13 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Interpol is essentially just an information exchange: it enables law enforcement bodies around the world to share information on wanted persons, missing persons, crime trends, etc. Contrary to its portrayal in popular media, it doesn't carry out any law enforcement action on its own: despite its slightly misleading name, it is not a police force; it is more an organisation for the police than a police organisation in its own right. As Lambian says, it could in theory be asked by a state which had issued an arrest warrant for Trump to issue a Red Notice (which is just an information marker: it tells law enforcement bodies around the world "this person is wanted by the authorities of one of Interpol's member states"); in the scenario given, that request would inevitably be rejected as concerning a political allegation. That doesn't mean that Trump couldn't be arrested were he to travel outside the United States, just that Interpol would have refused to assist in communicating a request for his arrest; he could be arrested by the authorities of another state either because they wanted to prosecute him themselves, or because they had received a request for his extradition directly (i.e. outside Interpol's systems) from yet another state. How things would go after that would then involve questions as to any immunity he holds as a former head of state. Proteus (Talk) 15:55, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I am reminded of the movie The International (2009). The lead character, played by Clive Owen, is a former Scotland Yard detective now working for Interpol.  Early in the movie his boss reminds him that Interpol is not an investigative agency but merely exists to pass information between different police forces&mdash;something that I'd never seen pointed out in fiction before. But what happens? For the rest of the movie the character ignores this and acts as if he is still a detective. --142.112.220.65 (talk) 03:24, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I’ve been looking into this. From what I understand, the only way Trump could be arrested is if the UN passed a resolution establishing a tribunal that then indicted him. This is unlikely to happen due to the makeup of the United Nations Security Council, members of which would likely veto the resolution. Viriditas (talk) 22:47, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Suppose a dead body was found in Brussels in the morning of 12 July 2018, and a re-opened investigation reveals strong evidence that the cause of death was murder and that the victim was visited that night by none other than Mr. T., who apparently, as revealed by the investigation, unsuccessfully tried to clean up the crime site before leaving, but in doing so left even more traces than he erased. (I'm not saying he did it, I don't know he did, but everybody is talking about it. Why don't the lamestream media write about it? They should investigate this and go to the bottom.) I don't see why Interpol would then wait for a UN resolution. --Lambiam 23:30, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Isn’t it the case, however, that people with power (whatever kind of power that might be) and influence, deliberately insulate themselves from the terrible acts that are done in their name? I’m thinking of, let’s say, Hitler, Charles Manson, and maybe even Trump, for example.  These people never personally killed anyone, but many people died because of them. The Lancet commission on pubic policy, for example, found that Trump’s overall policy approach led to tens to hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. There’s even a paper trail: Trump is on record (recordings by Bob Woodward which led to a book) admitting he deliberately downplayed the pandemic which led to excess deaths that the Lancet discusses. There’s also lots of evidence indicating shady use of pandemic PPE and people who were linked to Trump making a profit selling useless prophylactics. And that’s just covid, the Lancet goes into many other policies that led to excess deaths, such as weakened pollution regulation that Trump worsened. We aren’t talking about a single murder in Belgium, we are talking about genocide, particularly of people of color and the elderly. Viriditas (talk) 08:23, 13 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Incompetence is not a crime, but negligence may be criminal. This is hard to prove, though. I think the issue with people with power is that prosecutors will only go after them if they have a rock-solid case; the defendant can hire a team of the best lawyers and probably spend loads of money more on the case than the prosecution. If the case is lost, it may well spell the end of the prosecutor's legal career, as it did for Marcia Clark. --Lambiam 14:26, 13 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the answer. Viriditas (talk) 02:17, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

Just Egg
Just Egg is found on store shelves in a 12 ounce container. However, when the product was first released, I could swear there was a larger version available, such as a 24 or 32 ounce version, but I’ve seen no evidence of such a product today. Was it ever offered in a 24 or 32 ounce container or am I misremembering it? Viriditas (talk) 09:47, 11 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Here a 2&thinsp;lb. (32&thinsp;oz) package, in what looks like a carton box, is offered for sale. --Lambiam 14:27, 11 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Fascinating. Thanks. Viriditas (talk) 23:41, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

Hypothetical mains DC output
Hypothetically, if I changed my house’s mains supply to output DC current, which of my stuff (e.g light fixtures, stove, fridge, various electronic devices ...) would a) continue to work, b) stop working, or c) vanish in a fiery blaze? Thanks 185.65.241.24 (talk) 12:13, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * See War of the currents to learn from history which is a safer option than trying to repeat it.


 * Would the power supplies of computers and other small equipment continue to work? I thought they all relied on input transformers. ColinFine (talk) 22:48, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Modern power adapters are switched-mode power supplies. These begin by rectifying and smoothing the input voltage – a null operation if it is already DC – and then use a switching regulator to get the desired output voltage. --Lambiam 14:08, 13 January 2023 (UTC)
 * When I see a table like that, it's hard to shake the idea that things in each row are related somehow. —Tamfang (talk) 21:36, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

This is clearly a question for Randall Munroe. --142.112.220.65 (talk) 06:06, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Some switches may be seriously damaged, as they would not be rated for DC. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 20:58, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
 * The voltage stress on switches is less with DC than AC. However AC serves to reduce arcing where a switch breaks current to an inductive load e.g. a motor or solenoid. Philvoids (talk) 14:36, 16 January 2023 (UTC)

Donate my Google Play Balance to Wikipedia
How can I donate my Google Play Balance (around $11) to Wikipedia? Is it possible? LancesPub (talk) 17:01, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Information on donating to Wikipedia can be found at Contact us/Donors. There is also an email address listed there if you have further questions.  -- Jayron 32 17:10, 11 January 2023 (UTC)