Anthony Levandowski Pardoned • Hacker News Board

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by __blockcipher__ » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

1MachineElf wrote: post #532

qwerty456127 wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wonder why. It seemed like pardoning Assange and Snowden could win him a huuuge bonus to popularity among people all over the world. Perhaps that was considered "too much" and could probably imply worse consequences so he hesitated to.

He was investigated for 2 years and is still accused to this day for Russian collusion. Pardoning either Snowden, who is in Russia right now, and Assange, who is accused of being a co-conspirator in the Russia collusion accusations, would be like throwing gasoline on that fire. I don't see how he could do it without alienating most of his establishment support, which he still needs after leaving office.

No, it's not about the Russia collusion hoax (yes it was a hoax btw).

Simply put, Trump was threatened that if he pardons Assange, senate republicans (the establishment) would vote to convict.

I wish he had the courage to call their bluff, because them convicting Trump would fragment the GOP to an extent that is irreversible, IMO. Most people who aren't Trump supporters don't appreciate the extent to which Trump's base is not overlapping with the establishment GOP base.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by zajio1am » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #83

renewiltord wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A. We did not know anything on Nov 3 B. There is a process in the US that involves state electors having their votes counted and certified and the new government installed C. No country in the world instantly swaps governments at election result time.

It's pretty swift in a number of European countries, days not weeks. Fact is the civil service is not being swapped, just the political leaders of the departments. Perfectly fine to just swap ministers in a matter of days.

> It's pretty swift in a number of European countries, days not weeks.

Unlikely. After election, coalition negotiation starts and that took weeks or months. Only after a new coalition is negotiated then a new government may be voted in by MPs.

For example last EU elections was 2019-05, while new commission was voted in 2019-11.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by libria » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #190

thinkingemote wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not entirely sure that it was possible to pardon Assange as he hasn't been convicted with anything yet? As in , I thought the extradition request was to be sent to USA for a trial.

You can pardon people before they're convicted of anything. Trump pardoned Steve Bannon for example and he has not yet been convicted (he has been charged). Assange has been charged with various things by the Feds, which is what Trump would pardon. The floated theory went that Trump could plausibly pardon himself as well, for any likely future charges.

> You can pardon people before they're convicted of anything.

Ford pardoning Nixon is the usual example.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by moocowtruck » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

dgellow wrote: post #363

No Assange, no Snowden. What a fool I am, I seriously envisaged that could happen... Instead it’s just more and more corruption.

Why would their be a pardon for those treasonous terrorists? You really were expecting that?

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by Mauricebranagh » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

deeeeplearning wrote: post #523

vmception wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pay attention to that list, each pardon has a list of people who supported each pardon. Nobody from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU is on that list. We are wasting our time and energy caring about either of those organizations. Let them stick to filing Amicus Briefs in courts, but they clearly have no pull or influence or backchannel despite our tech scene thinking they do.

What a strange criticism. That these orgs are useless because they couldn't get Pardons from a President more or less totally opposed to their goals? It's completely unreasonable to expect otherwise.

And why would those organisations lobby for this its not like that trade secrets case was proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by akhilcacharya » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

medium_burrito wrote: post #590

boringg wrote: post #547

Paid a lot of money for that pardon I reckon even though he was clearly a criminal. The trump admin is such a sham. So glad that they are out of power - hopefully forever for the sake of the Us.

As opposed to Mark Rich, who was a much bigger piece of shit?

You're right, Steve Bannon is the better equivalent Marc Rich, except probably worse.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by r00fus » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

johannes1234321 wrote: post #446

r00fus wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifetime appointments are the problem not the method of appointment.

Yes, they are an issue. The idea is to make them independent from future career things etc. and the rule is from a time where people didn't get as old as these days. This makes them independent from the politics of the day. I think Germany got that better: here we have a 12 year term (thus a single government can't easily swap them out - a learning from the time of 1933) and a max age of 68 (for whatever reason that…

Maximum age is a great idea. Senators like Feinstein and Grassley should honestly be booted and replaced.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by hobs » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

__blockcipher__ wrote: post #606

fny wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're saying here is contradictory. Sure the GOP hates Trump, and Trump also hates the GOP. And that's exactly why Trump didn't give a damn to GOP criticism of his pardons. McConnell has no influence. That's why Stone, Kushner, and Bannon are on the list among others. Trump decided not to pardon Snowden and Assange. Full stop.

Not quite. Trump knows they're more or less okay with him pardoning Bannon - it pisses them off, but at the end of the day it's water under the bridge. Whereas Assange getting pardoned would absolutely infuriate the "deep state" to an extent that's hard to describe. Trump should have pardoned Assange, it's the only thing that would actually have taken a (small) chunk out of the "deep state" for real. Instead, as many…

If you were waiting until now for trump to prove that he was a righteous man who keeps up on his promises then you willfully avoiding reading the story that repeats ad nauseum for the man's entire existence.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by rchaud » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

mattst88 wrote: post #387

knuthsat wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that all a POTUS does after presidency is enrich oneself, it's quite clear where the motives are. The moment when POTUS is unable to profit off of his presidency is the moment where these things wouldn't happen. POTUS becoming a multimillionaire after presidency is just a sad display of moral corruption. Edit: Not talking about Trump, just in general about POTUS. It's my impression that in the last 50 years…

Have you heard of Jimmy Carter?

Would this be an example of the exception proving the rule?

It still seems like an accident of history that Americans sent Jimmy Carter to the highest office in the land. For as much as they claim to want a regular Joe/Joe-ette as President (the mirage of the unpretentious 'I can have a beer with him' candidate) they seem to vote for people that are the polar opposite.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

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Post by pbhjpbhj » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

noisy_boy wrote: post #566

Whats up with sprinkling of "xyz is an upstanding citizen and father to n beautiful children." ? They are clearly not an upstanding citizen - otherwise they wouldn't require a presidential pardon. Being father to children is not an achievement and any two consenting healthy adult man and woman can produce them irrespective of their standing in society. And beauty of children is a criteria for pardon now? What if the…

The beauty thing is interesting, beauty is our way of assessing quickly if someone is a good mate (biologically). Good mates strengthen the species, by definition [assuming the system works, maybe it doesn't]. So, beauty of the children is an appeal to tribal instinct that it would be useful to society for this family to prosper.

I'm absolutely not saying I agree with this manner of assessing people; but it's interesting to imagine how it fits into development of the species and how that 'works' with society.