Anthony Levandowski Pardoned • Hacker News Board

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#711

Post by rat87 » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #498

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.

I think people on the right and the left are perhaps skipping over just how much McConnell was manipulating the admin not just over the last four years, but esp since Jan 6th. I am fairly confident that even if Trump had specifically wanted to pardon Assange or Snowden he could not have. Edit: lol, this will have been the most successful lie by the media and GOP... getting people to believe the GOP and Trump were fri…

This is an amazingly ridiculous take especially on Sessions and Barr

Sessions did everything he could for Trump just did the right thing once to avoid legal jeopardy for himself by recusing himself. In exchange he got nothing but abuse, I mean Sessions is a nasty little goblin so I don't feel to sorry for him but that's what loyalty to Trump gets you

Barr did cross ethical lines anday have broken laws in making the justice department Trump's personal defense lawyers instead of the semi independent agency it's supposed to be.

https://abovethelaw.com/2020/12/the-temptation-and-corruptio...

Barr was the ultimate lacky Attorney General. But because he declined to support overturning the results of the election illegally, he's not Trump's loyal toady?

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#712

Post by zzleeper » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

randylahey wrote: post #592

fny wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

People who hold reprehensible ideas or support those who do, should be held to task, no matter how many of them there are.

I am op (asked the question) and even though I don't agree with throwaway, I appreciate him having the time to respond (so I upvoted.earlier to try to offset the downvotes).

Im also downvoted btw, so this goes both ways.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#713

Post by darig » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:16 PM UTC

cush wrote: post #671

rjsw wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the price was $2M.

That's the going rate for Trump pardons

That's what Giuliani is charging... he probably gets them wholesale at a rate.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#714

Post by fleshdaddy » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:17 PM UTC

ganoushoreilly wrote: post #683

mlazos wrote: post #653

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN loves Snowden so much it makes no sense to me. He could’ve gone to the Senate/House intelligence committees, and not been in trouble. Worst case nothing would’ve gotten done, but since they were lied to, I don’t think he would’ve been ignored.

They also leave out the fact that he had been reprimanded for his actions numerous times, to include being removed from roles and duties because of his negative actions. The fact that he moved from the CIA back to an NSA supported role without this being disclosed is ridiculous in of itself. Edward had a childish reaction to release documents that had nothing to do with Xkeyscore (of which the media claim as the reas…

What branch did you serve in? You seem really offended at the notion that some Americans are willing to take freedom and privacy over complete security. It’s hard for you to believe but know that many, many people are willing to make that trade off. People have even died for it.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#715

Post by rat87 » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:20 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.

Because Trump doesn't give a shit or care about anyone but himself so theoretically he could be persuaded to do something if he thought it might piss people off

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#716

Post by dahfizz » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:20 PM UTC

mlazos wrote: post #653

staunch wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blame for what he was forced to do belongs with the officials that were violating the constitution. They should be exiled for failing to uphold their oaths. Instead, Snowden is in exile. Snowden was just the first honorable American to come across the information and he did his best to expose it safely, by giving it to journalists to release, after consulting with the government. We can't expect whistle blowers t…

HN loves Snowden so much it makes no sense to me. He could’ve gone to the Senate/House intelligence committees, and not been in trouble. Worst case nothing would’ve gotten done, but since they were lied to, I don’t think he would’ve been ignored.

It's baffling to me how you could possibly trust the government to do the right thing and combat corruption.

> I don’t think he would’ve been ignored.

He told the intelligence committees the same time he told _the entire country_ and he was still ignored.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#717

Post by triceratops » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:20 PM UTC

vmception wrote: post #437

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.

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.

I'm quite happy they didn't lobby such a corrupt president for favors. I think I'll increase my donations.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#718

Post by rat87 » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:20 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.

He's accused because it's pretty clear he colluded with Russia then tried to drop sanctions on them

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#719

Post by AnimalMuppet » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:22 PM UTC

warkdarrior wrote: post #665

twox2 wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's ignorant, it's just another framework of looking at the world. Consider a chessboard that's in the middle of a game. The moves up to that point don't matter. Only the current state of the board matters and you make the best move given the current position. This is how this person sees technological progress, and I'm inclined to believe he's right... within the context of technology. Beyond that, I…

> Consider a chessboard that's in the middle of a game. The moves up to that point don't matter. Only the current state of the board matters and you make the best move given the current position. That is an immensely myopic view. Analyzing the game up to now and understanding the opponent's style of play and tactical preferences are very useful in planning your next move, especially when you have multiple, equally we…

Also analyzing your moves that got you to that point. Don't like where things are now? Well, what did you do to get here?

Levandowski may wind up convicted of something else if he doesn't learn from history... his history. So maybe he really ought to look at it a bit.

On the other hand, when you've messed up, and you understand that you've messed up, and you've learned what you can from it, then throwing away the past and moving on is perhaps a psychologically healthy thing.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#720

Post by joshuamorton » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:22 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #709

joshuamorton wrote: post #704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider the alternative: a president who announces they will blanket pardon all white people and no one else.

That’s…not the alternative. I mean, I suppose its one of a near-infinite number of possible alternatives, but I don’t see how its an even relevant one. The discussion wasn’t about someone pardoning only black people, it was about pardoning all people convicted under a particular set of laws.

Right, but the point gp made was that large scale blanket pardons make a single individual the arbiter of law. That's true. (if you want a less charged example, instead imagine the president pardons everyone convicted on fraud charges).

That power can then be used justly or unjustly. The constitutional balance for this is impeachment, but it's not clear that would work in practice or theory.