Breaking: Chelsea manning's sentence commuted

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https://twitter.com/inthesedeserts/status/821478101226057728

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I’m gonna go ahead and read it a bunch of times, because it’s about the only good news I’ve read today.

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My hot take?

Mr. Obama knows Manning would likely die in jail within the year under Trump.

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That’s a good guess too. Humanitarian commutation.

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Holy shit.

Came here to post this too!

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Obama specifically responded to Snowden requests and said he “couldn’t” do it because Snowden has to be charged, etc. (which is bullshit since the president can just pardon people anyway and has in the past).

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Didn’t Ford pardon Nixon before he was even charged?

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Yep, he did.

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Not exactly a popular move, though. Conditional pardons and commutations are one thing, but “that person is legally innocent of crimes no one even suspects them of yet” (as Ford did with Nixon) is taking it a bit far.

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It was a deeply unpopular decision at the time and in thinking it over I tend to oscillate between agreeing and disagreeing with it. I do believe that Ford put a lot of thought into this decision and it wasn’t one that was made lightly – and he also felt that Nixon accepting the pardon implied a confession of guilt.

On the one hand, Nixon clearly and knowingly was complicit in crimes that were committed and their coverup. Fuck yeah he should have been prosecuted – president or not. This guy was involved in crimes against the people and should pay for it. On the other hand, indicting a former president would be unprecedented and the following months and years would dominate news cycles and further polarize the nation. Accepting a pardon carries with it a certain implication of guilt anyway. His political career and legacy has already been utterly destroyed at this point. Aside from schdenfreude, what would a trial, conviction, and possibly throwing him in jail really accomplish?

It’s kind of sad – from everything I’ve read on Nixon he managed to do some really great stuff as president like creating the EPA and OSHA. Not that I would have ever voted for him but it seems like he managed to accomplish some pretty great stuff before falling victim to his own paranoia.

I want to give a big caveat that I wasn’t alive during this time so my perspective is shaped by what I’ve learned about this period. Maybe one of the BBSers who was actually alive during this time period can provide some more context on this.

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why May 17? Why not “with immediate effect”?

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Assange is Australian.

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Shh. That would just confuse them.

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Okay fine. They consider him a hero now after demonizing him for so long. It was the neoliberals who did the opposite.

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I guess crime and betrayal get rewarded after all

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Really? Do you think the seven years served in a federal prison aren’t punishment enough? Also her sentence was commuted, not pardoned; she will always be a convicted felon.

What public good would come from her serving out her full sentence?

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“Rewarded” implies she is better off for having committed said crime. Seven years in prison–much of it in solitary confinement–isn’t much of a “reward.”

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If this were a response to a thread on the accountability of those who precipitated the 2008 economic crisis, you would be getting so many likes right now.

Or a thread on Halliburton and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Or the many threads to come on how the Republicans screwed over everyone, including their own electorate. And nation.

So long as you’re professing concern for crime and betrayal, these are good places to start.

ETA: The 2008 economic crisis, now that I think of it, was precipitated largely by totally legal strategies and tactics for screwing over the public to make a buck. So less ‘crime and betrayal’ and more just betrayal.

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Let’s not deflect the discussion–that is what Trump does, and his narcissistic brethren. Don’t look at that, look at this!

Engage @Israel_B 's talking point with facts and reason.

Is Manning a traitor or a hero? Personally, I think the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

If you don’t think Manning is a traitor, prove it. If you think Manning is a hero, prove it.

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I would argue that if nothing else Manning was the most important of the figures popularized by their efforts in leaking documents.