Mr. Clemency

[Renauda]

Trump? I don't find Trump inherently corrupt. I feel like one could certainly get screwed in a business deal with Trump or that he would use money and lawyers to steamroll people and institutions to get what he wants, but I wouldn't label that as corrupt.

You’re probably right, his boundless sense of entitlement exceeds the callous venality of his actions.

[Horace]

@AndyD said in Mr. Clemency:

I have to admit that when I hire a plumber, I don't care that he is a braggart, a bore, vain, needy, unfaithful to his wife, downright dishonest and a convicted criminal, just so as long as he fixes the heating.

Trump is a flawed man but Americans have employed him to do a job.

That is a remarkably reasonable take, thanks for that.

[jon-nyc]

@George-K said in Mr. Clemency:

You gotta help us out here. Who’s the guy on the right?

[Doctor Phibes]

@jon-nyc said in Mr. Clemency:

You gotta help us out here. Who’s the guy on the right?

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes

[Horace]

Was he just released?

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Mr. Clemency:

@jon-nyc said in Mr. Clemency:

You gotta help us out here. Who’s the guy on the right?

He's doing the Nazi salute wrong.

[George K]

@Horace said in Mr. Clemency:

Was he just released?

I think he served his sentence and was out already.

Federal prosecutors initially asked for a 90-day sentence.[1][15] On November 22, 2021, Johnson reached a plea agreement and pleaded guilty in federal court to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and prosecutors dismissed his charges of theft of government property and of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.[9] The plea deal also included an agreement on a potential book or "something of that nature" that would be published by Johnson, which gave the government rights to any profit that Johnson acquired as a result of that product for five years.[9] During his trial, judge Reggie Walton recommended he read the books How Civil Wars Start and The Next Civil War.[4] On February 25, 2022, Johnson was sentenced to 75 days in prison with a year of supervised release and 200 hours of community service, and he was ordered to pay a $5,525 fine.

[Doctor Phibes]

I think it's fair to say that guy's an imbecile. I'm not convinced he was particularly dangerous.

[Jolly]

Trump has been consistent in his explanations for Jan 6 pardons.

1. He feels like many of the penalties were politically motivated and people served and were still serving harsher penalties than other people convicted of much more serious crimes.
2. That the investigations had dragged on long enough, sapping resources from more urgent needs.

[jon-nyc]

That would be an easier sell if the guys who assaulted cops and were already in prison weren’t granted full pardons.

[Jolly]

There were people in Minnesota and Oregon who assaulted cops and didn't spend a day in jail.

There are murderers in this country who have spent less time in jail than some 1/6 defendants.

[89th]

As always, had it been Obama who had lost and his BLM minions had attacked the Capitol and assaulted cops, I'm sure you'd be whistling a different tune if Obama came back and pardoned all of those criminals.

[Horace]

I don't imagine I'd care that much if a bunch of BLM looters were pardoned. I don't care that much that they're never arrested in the first place, though I sort of wish things were different.

[Doctor Phibes]

It's nice to see he's pardoned the online drug dealer behind the dark web site Silk Road, since as we know the current fentanyl crisis is all China and Canada's fault.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o

[Rich]

@89th said in Mr. Clemency:

I mean, Biden only did the last minute pardons because of Trump's threats. That part isn't even debatable.

Trump 2016, offered up tons of rhetoric about prosecuting 'Crooked Hillary' ("lock her up/You'd be in jail", etc)

As soon as he won---he dropped it. So, I guess if we go by Trumps own actions---this may well have just been a bunch of rhetoric. The people who have been printing things for Biden to scribble his name on are aware of this--so I would say quite debatable acksually.

Shame on him for giving Biden the political cover for his pre-emptive pardons though.

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Mr. Clemency:

It's nice to see he's pardoned the online drug dealer behind the dark web site Silk Road, since as we know the current fentanyl crisis is all China and Canada's fault.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o

I read a book on that case. I'm glad he got the pardon.

[Renauda]

@Doctor-Phibes

Yes I read about that too this morning.

Either Ulbricht was clearly a hapless victim of a corrupt criminal justice system or, as a noted US diplomat once observed, “in his [Trump’s] mind, the truth is whatever he wants it to be.”

[Horace]

He set up a dark web marketplace where lots of transactions happened, including drug sales. Ulbricht personally never sold drugs, but profited off of every transaction on the marketplace, including the drugs. Then there was some embarrassing murder for hire stuff where Ulbricht got scammed by fake hit men, who he was indeed trying to hire. I wouldn't have been mad if he'd stayed in jail, but I'm not mad that he got a pardon. I think unequivocally he's no danger to society going forward.

[Jolly]

@Rich said in Mr. Clemency:

@89th said in Mr. Clemency:

I mean, Biden only did the last minute pardons because of Trump's threats. That part isn't even debatable.

Trump 2016, offered up tons of rhetoric about prosecuting 'Crooked Hillary' ("lock her up/You'd be in jail", etc)

As soon as he won---he dropped it. So, I guess if we go by Trumps own actions---this may well have just been a bunch of rhetoric. The people who have been printing things for Biden to scribble his name on are aware of this--so I would say quite debatable acksually.

Shame on him for giving Biden the political cover for his pre-emptive pardons though.

Actually, go pull the tapes.

Madcow, CNN, several of the other folks at MSDNC (Madcow's network) were having hissy fits at the end of Trump's first term, because Trump inquired his staff about whether preemptive pardons were constitutional.

He did not pardon anybody preemptively.