Anthony Levandowski Pardoned • Hacker News Board

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#631

Post by bradleyjg » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

fny wrote: post #539

throwaway876765 wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I voted for Trump because his policies more closely align with my beliefs than any other candidate on my ballot. I am very disappointed in his response to the election results after it was clear there wasn't proof of enough fraud to change the result, and I'm very disappointed in the pardons.

Please stop down voting posts like this. If we want HN to remain a welcome space for civil discourse for everyone, we need to respect other people's candid statements. Remember, Trump won 47% of the popular vote which likely includes a large number of HNers. We should not alienate those people.

I didn’t downvote in this case but I am highly likely to downvote anything that comes from an account called throwaway* unless it contains some whistleblowing info or similar. If you can’t stand by your opinions even with a pseudonym because you are afraid of losing fake internet points then no one needs to see what you have to say.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#632

Post by diveanon » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:16 PM UTC

throwaway876765 wrote: post #481

zzleeper wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how all the Trump supporters on HNs (maybe 30% or so of commenters, no idea about lurkers) are reacting to this. Levadowski pardon, the spy, the swamp, etc.

I voted for Trump because his policies more closely align with my beliefs than any other candidate on my ballot. I am very disappointed in his response to the election results after it was clear there wasn't proof of enough fraud to change the result, and I'm very disappointed in the pardons.

I hope you are disappointed in yourself for having beliefs that align with a fascist who incited an insurrection against the United States.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#633

Post by blackguardx » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:16 PM UTC

tomerico wrote: post #347

0goel0 wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's not serious about stealing and selling trade secrets, jeopardizing life-saving R&D, blatantly disrespecting the law, and walking away with hundreds of millions of dollars expecting not to be caught?

He declared bankruptcy, hence walked out much poorer than he started. At the end of the day it was IP theft, which for regular people creates more competition and can accelerate the "life-saving R&D". IP laws exist for a good reason, but it's hard to say that he has done serious damage to society.

He started a church and it is alleged that he funneled a lot of money into it. I think he is doing alright.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#634

Post by ehsankia » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:17 PM UTC

Well this is strange, this was up until a few minutes ago but it now 404s. Whitehouse took the page down (coincidentally at the same time Biden was sworn in).

EDIT: Well whitehouse.gov itself was switched to Biden's page, so I assume the page may have been lost in the migration.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#635

Post by diveanon » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

Time to do away with presidential pardons.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#636

Post by s0cur10us » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

s0cur10us wrote: post #625

ardy42 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He pardoned a literal spy who was convicted of espionage of state secrets but he did not pardon Assange. Incredible. Assange and Snowden remain unpopular with Senate Republicans, and my understanding is that he was told pardoning them would hurt his chances of avoiding a Senate conviction in his second impeachment. He was also recently steered away from pardoning himself, his family, and some Republicans that may h…

I was under impression that the self-pardon story was part of the information warfare campaign. Is there any proof to the story?

There was a reliable information that Melania Trump is filing for divorce and many others like that.

P.S. https://www.google.com/search?q=melania+trump+divorce

P.P.S. Thanks for the downvotes, I appreciate that.

P.P.P.S. "Fake news" is a trumpist lie, but some news are fake.

P.P.P.S. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#637

Post by rchaud » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

sn_master wrote: post #587

NelsonMinar wrote: post #519

It's weird to see the Republican party embrace intellectual property theft. Levandowski stole from his employer and his colleagues at Google to enrich himself at Uber. Why would that possibly be worth a pardon?

I can say similar things about many of the Obama pardons, but I'll get downvoted into oblivion if I do so. Pardon is by definition an admission of guilt, and Levandowski has already paid a steep price for what he did.

Try to assume good faith in your responses.

If your points about Obama pardons are valid, then they should stand on their own merits, and it shouldn't bother you if it's 'downvoted into oblivion'.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#638

Post by Larrikin » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

kyleblarson wrote: post #483

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…

He was already a billionaire before he got elected. What I find particularly disgusting is how lifelong politicians with relatively meager (compared with the private sector) salaries can become so wealthy while in office. But yes the revolving door is a thing and it should be addressed. Yellen earned over 7 mil in speaking fees in the last two years. It is impossible that that will not have any influence over her dec…

There's no evidence, besides self reporting to tabloids and magazines, Trump ever came close to being a billionaire.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#639

Post by bgorman » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:21 PM UTC

CyberRabbi wrote: post #630

CyberRabbi wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He pardoned a literal spy who was convicted of espionage of state secrets but he did not pardon Assange. Incredible.

The funny part of this thread is that while there was hope Trump would pardon Assange, in comparison there is little to no hope that Biden will pardon Assange. I wonder why that is.

Probably due to Biden being the one who tried to get Edward Snowden extradited to the US.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#640

Post by eli » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 5:22 PM UTC

rmk wrote: post #622

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…

It's a way of saying that person who is pardoned is a good parent (and therefore not irredeemably bad) and the (blameless) children will benefit from the pardon.

Well it's not like they can argue he was innocent.