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Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#241

Post by koheripbal »

jayd16 wrote: post #55
sharkweek wrote: post #5

I'm going to go around the interesting tech angle here and comment on how many people on this list have been pardoned for petty drug crimes. *Corvain Cooper – President Trump commuted the sentence of Mr. Corvain Cooper. Mr. Cooper is a 41 year-old father of two girls who has served more than 7 years of a life sentence for his non-violent participation in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana.* Life sentence for "consp…

If the goal was real justice, why is this left to the 11th hour storm of bullshit pardons? Isn't this being used as an obvious distraction when it could have happened much sooner?

I'm not sure why either, but notably all presidents execute their pardon power on their last day - so it's not specific to Trump.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#242

Post by koheripbal »

slg wrote: post #7
sharkweek wrote: post #5

I'm going to go around the interesting tech angle here and comment on how many people on this list have been pardoned for petty drug crimes. *Corvain Cooper – President Trump commuted the sentence of Mr. Corvain Cooper. Mr. Cooper is a 41 year-old father of two girls who has served more than 7 years of a life sentence for his non-violent participation in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana.* Life sentence for "consp…

It is honorable to pardon or commute the sentence of people in this situation. It seems Trump has only done it for a few dozen people. I can't help wonder why specifically these people deserve this and the hundreds of thousands of other people still in prison for similar charges don't deserve it. If he truly believed these laws were too harsh, he could have worked to change the laws as president.

Most pardon's are recommended to the President by the Justice department after reviewing cases. Currently, they have a mandate to go over all large sentences of non-violent drug offenders.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#243

Post by tomp »

chandra381 wrote: post #30
rijoja wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... or maybe they are competent and knows how to advance the public good.

How does Anthony Lewandowski being pardoned advance any public good? I would argue it does the exact opposite.

His conviction is based on being a fall guy for Uber’s corporate espionage.

His pardon could be interpreted as a strike against “piracy is theft” mindset and the idea of “intellectual property” in general that HN often rallies against.

I’m quite disappointed by Trump’s pardons but this one is actually a good one.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#244

Post by koheripbal »

coldtea wrote: post #132

> Anthony Levandowski, 40, was sentenced in August to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in March. He was not in custody but a judge had said he could enter custody once the COVID-19 pandemic subsided. That's the part that caught my eye, not Trump's pardon. So that's how rich people are treated by the court system...

This is how all non-violent criminals are treated. Many many prisoners were even released in the early days of the pandemic.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#245

Post by rsynnott »

reducesuffering wrote: post #22

So when we do get rid of presidential pardons? We've seen "an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president." ~Mitt Romney And we've seen pardons put up for sale.[0] Is the US a nation of laws and due process or a Banana Republic where anyone can be acquitted of anything? [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/politics/trump-pardons...

It's arguably a bit of a historical oddity that the US has them at all. In most countries, particularly former British colonies, a pardon power of some sort exists, but in developed ones it's typically not, de facto, wielded by an individual (in the UK, for instance, it's theoretically wielded by the Home Secretary, but in practice a Home Secretary who used it unilaterally would find themselves immediately looking for a new job, and the norm is that it's barely used at all).

The UK used it a lot more at the time that the US became independent, which may be where the US got it from.

I don't think _any_ developed democratic country has a pardon power as unrestrained as the US one (even in countries with executive presidencies it's usually constrained in some way).

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#246

Post by Proven »

dvaun wrote: post #15
contemporary343 wrote: post #10

This is all so hilariously corrupt. I'm not sure I can even muster anger for this, just laughter. (I'll reserve the anger for the pandemic and this administration's callous, frankly criminal handling of it). (So Levandowski and Jared are going to launch a venture fund soon, right?)

Don't forget to have the additionally-pardoned Michael Liberty join the efforts to attract investors. Over $50 million defrauded [0][2] from investors, and it wasn't his first rodeo with the SEC[1]. [0]: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2018/lr24092.htm [1]: https://www.pressherald.com/2016/11/30/sec-charges-ex-maine-... [2]: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/04/02/liberty-in-sec-crossh...

Reminds me of Clinton's (that guy who escaped to Swiss) and Obama's pardons.

Sad, all of them!

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#247

Post by D13Fd »

mechEpleb wrote: post #194
yread wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, you're saying it either means "white power" or "we're trolling people to think we mean 'white power'"? As for white power not being associated with anything heinous, yeah "Hail victory" also sounds good. Who doesn't want victory?

The whole thing was started as a deliberate meme by /pol/ to take an innocent, commonly used hand signal and make the left treat it as a white supremacist dogwhistle. So it can mean anything ranging from "ok" to "this will make the libs angry" to "I am an actual nazi among like minded friends". Which one it is must be discerned from context, meaning that the symbol itself is largely meaningless.

Assuming that is true, they've succeeded in making it too toxic to use. Congrats, I guess?

Are you going to flash a hand signal that might derail your career if someone "misinterprets the context"?

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#248

Post by JeremyNT »

contemporary343 wrote: post #10

This is all so hilariously corrupt. I'm not sure I can even muster anger for this, just laughter. (I'll reserve the anger for the pandemic and this administration's callous, frankly criminal handling of it). (So Levandowski and Jared are going to launch a venture fund soon, right?)

Not to "both sides" this too much, because I do feel like there's a new, special level of corruption and self-dealing on display with this administration, but it's not uncommon for these guys to use pardons for personal gain or the benefits of their friends. For a little context and flavor, remember that Clinton pardoned some real winners on his last day too, including some guy who paid $200k to Hillary Clinton's brother for the pardon [0], Bill Clinton's own brother (codename: "headache" [3]) and a Democratic party loyalist who was convicted of child porn and sexual assault with a minor [2].

p.s. - if you wonder why the Clintons are especially hated in some circles, and if you wonder why people are so quick to believe those Q conspiracy theories, the kernels of truth exist and originate in simple corruption like this

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almon_Glenn_Braswell#Unsubstan...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_McDougal#Whitewater_affa...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Reynolds

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Clinton,_Jr.#Conviction_...

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#249

Post by bobby_bob »

reducesuffering wrote: post #22

So when we do get rid of presidential pardons? We've seen "an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president." ~Mitt Romney And we've seen pardons put up for sale.[0] Is the US a nation of laws and due process or a Banana Republic where anyone can be acquitted of anything? [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/politics/trump-pardons...

There is considerable variation in how pardons are applied around the world. Many with simple checks and balances:

- Require nomination or agreement by the AG. - Prohibit pardoning of political crimes or other self-interest. - Require approval by at least on other minister, or the whole cabinet, or some portion of the legislative body. - Require a published request for pardon, justification of the pardon, and the judiciary's comment about this justification. - Prohibited during lame duck or caretaker periods. - Allow commutations only. - Allow pardons only when someone is actually serving their sentence. - Eliminate mandatory sentences, allows judges to exercise mercy in sentencing.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#250

Post by gowld »

koheripbal wrote: post #234
marmaduke wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an even more interesting question raised on r/NeutralPolitics about whether the pardon has to even be made public. It seems there's an interpretation of the law where the pardon only becomes public when the recipient makes use of it in a public court.

Why would it need to be public? The Constitution does not stipulate that limitation. This is literally all it says... > he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Because "pardon" is not defined anywhere so the nation has to decide what it means.
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