311–320 of 797 posts
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The singular "they" has been used for centuries and is currently somewhat socially acceptable, especially when the gender of the person in question is unknown or disputed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_English#P...
The gender of the person in question is not unknown, and doesn't need to be disputed. Chelsea Manning identifies as female.
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Snowden released a large volume of information to well qualified journalists who very carefully combed through the data to find the things most relevant and important for the American public to know. Information that was legitimately classified and had no whistleblowing value simply wasn't released. Manning released a large volume of information to the public en masse with no regard to it's whistleblowing value. Some…
> Manning released a large volume of information to the public en masse No. She leaked the documents to Wikileaks, who decided to publish them uncensored. She had no control over what Wikileaks would do. Other media outlets opted not to release information they considered dangerous. And, as @mhurron pointed out, there is no record of someone who was harmed by that information being released.
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Little unethical behavior was actually leaked, though. The killing of the Reuters journalists probably should've been leaked since there was a sort of cover-up (government refused to give Reuters the video or concrete details), so I'll give her that. But the rest was basically just normal communications. I think she's served more than enough jail time, but this didn't really seem like a conscience-driven whistleblowi…
> But the rest was basically just normal communications. Which may have had wide-reaching consequences, with respect to the Arab Spring.
Manning indiscriminately leaked tons of diplomatic cables, as part of a personal vendetta against the US Army. It is without contention that the vast majority of the leaked cables revealed nothing that anyone considers wrongdoing. This wasn't the act of a whistle blower. It was the cowardly act of someone who put their own petty fantasies ahead of their solemn duty to protect the information they were entrusted with…
Political pandering is intended to help you buy favor. The President of the United States does not need to pander to the people who elected him. It would be more like pandering if he did this some time before the final days of his term. And typically, pandering happens to gain the favor of the other side, which this will certainly not do.
Therefore it's much less likely to be pandering than, say, commuting the sentence of a mentally unstable person who's been in jail for 7 years, attempted suicide twice, and needs medical assistance they can't get in jail.
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I don't know what Chelsea Manning's pronoun preferences are, but I have plenty of friends who prefer "they," which also happens to be the gender-neutral singular pronoun in English. For example: "Someone came by asking for me earlier? Did they give you a name?" Many people who do not identify as male or female prefer "they."
Chelsea has publicly identified the preferred pronouns as "she/her/hers". [1] [1] http://www.glaad.org/blog/chelsea-mannings-name-and-pronouns...
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"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ (US Department of Justice) case," WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter. - https://www.yahoo.com/news/assange-agrees-extradition-us-rel... What is the difference between a commutation of sentence and a pardon? In the federal system, commutation of sentence and pardon are different forms of executive clemency, which is…
So let's pretend the sentence was reduced by a week instead. Would that still be the same thing?
But since that's not what happened and Obama's actual action honors both the letter and the spirit of clemency, there's nothing worth debating here.
I think having your mind fractured and been forcibly turned into a 'woman' as a deterrent to future whistleblowers is a living hell, that's a lifetime of punishment even when he's out of jail.
Chelsea Manning is a woman, and suffers from gender dysphoria. The Army has made quite a few mistakes in the aftermath of the leak, but "turning him into a 'woman'" is not one of them. If anything, they have no idea how to cope with someone who needs hormone replacement therapy or SRS.
If you thought Manning needed suicide watch in prison, he's going to need it even more on the outside. See this from NIH: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21364939
Quoted from link above: > Conclusion: Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group.
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> Only some gory videos, that don't really teach us anything (everyone knows bombs make "collateral damages" So you've never actually watched (or read about) the Collateral Murder video, huh? It's a helicopter crew killing people with guns, not bombs. And they kill exactly who they intend to. Maybe don't form strong opinions when you don't have the slightest clue what the facts are.
Manning had no knowledge of the video. It happened to be in the blind data dump.
Seven years is still a long time for whistle blowing. I'm glad to see she is still getting released though. It's important to note commuting the sentence is not a pardon. Chelsea will still have this conviction for the rest of her life. I know there is a lot of controversy with Manning compared to Wikileaks et. al. as far as not redacting documents or using a discriminating news source to filter them. Still, I oppose…
I have mixed feelings on this. Manning did commit a crime. They were entrusted with classified information and they released it on purpose. For all of the corruption and wrongdoing the release of those cables uncovered, didn't it also do things like give away the positions of some undercover agents? And harm US diplomatic relations with other countries? Look at it from the POV of the government: How could they not pu…
I too am troubled by the decision, but it does seem a bit out of whack with the total lack of punishment for the higher echelons of government. Lately it seems like the rules-based system we have been living under is cracking.
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"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ (US Department of Justice) case," WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter. - https://www.yahoo.com/news/assange-agrees-extradition-us-rel... What is the difference between a commutation of sentence and a pardon? In the federal system, commutation of sentence and pardon are different forms of executive clemency, which is…
So let's pretend the sentence was reduced by a week instead. Would that still be the same thing?