Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/31/trumps-worst-pardon-so-far-is-for-the-cop-who-sicced-her-police-dog-on-a-handcuffed-man-after-he-surrendered.html
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Trump’s worst pardon to date so far is for the cop who sicced her police dog on a handcuffed man after he surrendered
Fixed. He has 21 days to go lower. And he will.
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Hard to say if this was “worse” than the Blackwater murderers but Trump sure does have a knack for finding really awful people to pardon.
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I don’t know… it’s hard to beat the Blackwater shooters, who literally shot children in the head. This is pretty bad, tho.
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I guess that depends on how you define “law enforcement.”
Is it the act of actually enforcing laws? Because she wasn’t doing that, she was breaking the law. That’s why she went to prison.
But I guess if “law enforcement” just means “cops” then yeah, sure, whatever.
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What the actual fuck?
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At least as long as we’re only counting the cops who brutalize minorities and not the law enforcement agencies tasked with enforcing the kinds of laws Trump and his cronies regularly scoff with abandon.
Right now my favorite law enforcement agency is probably the Mail Cops who dragged Steve Bannon off that boat.
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It should be clarified, and amplified over and over the core motive behind this style of pardon: it’s intended to send at least one political message to those who might consider breaking the law (or betray norms) to protect him. Do so and you will experience protection.
Maybe there is a specific word for this that I can’t think of (‘corruption’ is to broad). There should be…to make the concept portable and brand him with it.
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Or a phrase?
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mr. frauenfelder, while i can appreciate the fact that you were likely using hyperbole to draw attention to trump’s pardoning of an individual whose actions were a vile and depraved abuse of her authority. i would also agree that trump’s pardon was, itself, an abuse of the powers vested in him constitutionally. despite the hideousness of this case it is not a match for the case of the murderers of nisour square. indeed, unless trump were to pardon terry nichols, ramzi yousef, or ted kaczynski it is hard to imagine a worse use of the power of the pardon than to pardon those mercenary thugs who callously and deliberately murdered 17 people, including a 9 year old boy, while wounding at least 20 others.
i’m sorry if it seems i am quibbling over semantics but the nisour square murders were a terrible moment that should have shocked the conscience of our nation. their trial and conviction, despite the years it took to accomplish, was at least a nod towards justice, a nod which has been undone to our great shame by this monstrous bastard we have suffered under as president.
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Not really helpful here, or with Blackwater, but a silver lining does exist with some of his other pardons and potential pardons. A may be why criticism in DC is slightly muted. Some might be secretly wishing he does.
Oh, and I would assume that if they lied during new testimony, that would be a new offense and be prosecutable.
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There are next to no institutional constraints on the pardon power. And “owning the libs” seems to be a republican obsession. So why not leave it to the verdict of history? The damnable pattern won’t become clear until it’s all over.
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Did the dog get a pardon (likely posthumous at this point)?
Leonard Pelletier is still waiting for his pardon, it’s not like he didn’t serve a long time.
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it already seems pretty clear, doesn’t it
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Wow, even now, I keep wondering how he’ll find a new low, but every day, he finds a way.
Pardoning an officer that attacks a helpless hungry homeless person, by commanding animals to do it for them, the ultimate act of a rotten and cowardly cop
This is a new level of disease and scum even for him.
We need a way to undo this. This is celebrating and pardoning institutional cruelty.
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One lawyer’s take on the BS of these pardons. Mostly to do with the cronies.
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This sounds like typical Trump and is totally despicable. He will doubtless get even more equally disgusting people off the hook, with no real justification for doing so, between now and Jan. 20th. The man is unspeakable and his actions over his tenure beggars belief. Perhaps he ought to swallow some bleach and be done with it.
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The only good that I can see come from this would for her to be compelled to rat out the rest of the bad cops under the threat of failure to testify and contempt of court, much like the abuse that Chelsea Manning is enduring.
(Her ability to take the 5th is now utterly moot.)
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I think it is time for the USA to have a good long look what their president can and cannot do. Of course, I’m sure no one every imagined a quack like trump getting into office let alone pardoning murderers and a racist insane cop. I don’t think our queen or prime minister can do such things or would do if they could.
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While this was a despicable crime, I don’t see how it’s worse than pardoning everyone who has (and is) trying to destroy democracy.
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