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Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

nytimes.com

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Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#511

Post by lern_too_spel »

arrosenberg wrote: post #455
cwkoss wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you read the leaks? What parts do you think are overblown? From what I've read, it appears the DNC directly violated their own bylaws by (strongly) preferring one candidate before the primary. Repeatedly and flagrantly. If the DNC isn't even accountable to itself, how should American voters feel about them having control over the duopoly of private parties which are allowed to select presidential candidates? At…

How could a private organization violating their charter extend to criminality? Most of the leaks showing the DNC "favoring" Clinton came after it was clear she was going to win the primary, and most of DNC wanted to focus on the general election. On top of that, individual staffers having a preference for the person they are very close to over the guy who joined the party just to run shouldn't be that surprising, bu…

The debate question was given to the Clinton camp by Brazile when Brazile wasn't working for the DNC. The closer you look at the emails, the more you realize that there's no there there.

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#512

Post by dopamean »

iaw wrote: post #491

> Speaker Paul D. Ryan called it “outrageous.” “President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes,” he said in a statement. Didn't GWB pardon Karl Rove for blowing the cover of a CIA agent? I feel like I'm not making that up.

What a clown. She has been held accountable. 7 years in Florence isn't nothing.

Edit: to answer your question... I don't think Rove was pardoned of anything. Libby did have his sentence commuted though.

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#513

Post by baddox »

manarth wrote: post #265
baddox wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "things that violate my personal interpretations of the Constitution" The fact that it's even feasible to release confidential information about government action implies that there is some ability for individuals to interpret the law. Otherwise, if the government does it, you just have to accept it as legal.

Slavery and the Holocaust were legal (within the legal context of their respective nations' legislation). Sometimes even governments' actions are illegal.

Yes, sometimes government actions are illegal, but a random individual can't know that unless they A) see a court case actually happen or B) interpret the law themselves and determine that the actions are illegal. Option A doesn't help whistleblowers, since the whole point of whistleblowing is to cause a court case to occur.

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#514

Post by [deleted] »

peteretep wrote: post #508
kafkaesq wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All kinds of stuff. Disclosure about what the U.S. diplomatic staff knew about corruption and torture in various countries -- and what they really thought about the ruling elites of these places, despite public statements to the contrary; attempts by companies such as Chevron, Lockheed-Martin, and Coca-Cola sought influence in certain countries; how the U.S. arranged to spy on UN officials, etc. Here's one of my pers…

How has the public benefitted from any of that? It sounds like your morbid curiosity has been satisfied, but who didn't know Libya under Gaddafi was a cesspit? > Unless you think we're better off > not knowing about this stuff, that is. Who didn't already know all of that in broad strokes?

[deleted]

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#515

Post by scott_karana »

LargeCompanies wrote: post #336

He deserves this more then the coward Snowden!

Coward? He threw away a cush job, a home and relationship in Hawaii, and the ability to ever set foot in America again, for something that he did for others' benefit, and didn't stand to make any gains from.

Sounds pretty brave to me, even if you disagree with his actions.

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#516

Post by kafkaesq »

peteretep wrote: post #508
kafkaesq wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All kinds of stuff. Disclosure about what the U.S. diplomatic staff knew about corruption and torture in various countries -- and what they really thought about the ruling elites of these places, despite public statements to the contrary; attempts by companies such as Chevron, Lockheed-Martin, and Coca-Cola sought influence in certain countries; how the U.S. arranged to spy on UN officials, etc. Here's one of my pers…

How has the public benefitted from any of that? It sounds like your morbid curiosity has been satisfied, but who didn't know Libya under Gaddafi was a cesspit? > Unless you think we're better off > not knowing about this stuff, that is. Who didn't already know all of that in broad strokes?

Who didn't already know all of that in broad strokes?

I guess that argument could be applied to high crimes and corruption of all sorts, just about anywhere: "We already know about that in broad strokes. What good does it do to air all that dirty laundry before the general public?"

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#517

Post by dopamean »

dang wrote: post #500
pizza wrote: post #363

Why is this no longer at the top of the front page? ~900 points in ~1 hour alone. Please, mods, some transparency?

Users tend to flag purely political stories and moderators add downweights to them. That's part of keeping the balance on HN, which is not a primarily political site: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html .

It is a little weird to let that affect a story that is obviously of huge interest to the visitors of this site.

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#518

Post by dragonwriter »

chriscappuccio wrote: post #489
mikeash wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, which means federal crimes, not state crimes. The President won't be granting pardons to ordinary murderers, unless the murder took place on federal lands.

Actually, murder isn't a federal crime.

> Actually, murder isn't a federal crime.

Actually, murder is a federal crime, see 18 USC Secs. 1111, 1114, and 1118-1121.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-51

Re: Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

#519

Post by dragonwriter »

dopamean wrote: post #517
dang wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Users tend to flag purely political stories and moderators add downweights to them. That's part of keeping the balance on HN, which is not a primarily political site: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html .

It is a little weird to let that affect a story that is obviously of huge interest to the visitors of this site.

It's being flagged by people who are also users of the site, and is right at the center of a category defined as likely off-topic by the site guidelines.

While I certainly find it an interesting topic worth discussing, I think the rules and community moderation is working as advertised and as designed here.

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