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> Overall, there is a feeling that Aaron Swartz’ death has to mark the beginning of a change. This petition could be a ticket and an opportunity for the administration to begin such a change, if nothing else, just by firing an overreaching prosecutor. That would be a symbolic action that would still send a message, albeit a weak one, but it would go a long way for many. In contrast, a nonaction from the administratio…
Though I'd like to see Oritz fired, and think she's deserving of it, the effort to get her fired is blinding us to a bigger problem and a proper solution. The system was broken long before Oritz and Swartz, but it wasn't until it affected someone we like that we noticed. But we're in a bubble, and the vast majority of Americans do not care who Aaron Swartz is, will not be affected by this tragedy like we were, and in…
He wasn't going to get 30 years. See the other top HN post right now about he could have plea-bargained for 6 months.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He wasn't going to get 30 years. See the other top HN post right now about he could have plea-bargained for 6 months.
He refused to surrender, so it's fair to go nuclear?
Though I'd like to see Oritz fired, and think she's deserving of it, the effort to get her fired is blinding us to a bigger problem and a proper solution. The system was broken long before Oritz and Swartz, but it wasn't until it affected someone we like that we noticed. But we're in a bubble, and the vast majority of Americans do not care who Aaron Swartz is, will not be affected by this tragedy like we were, and in…
Small steps, walk before you run, etc. I don't see any blinding here, just a common cause.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He wasn't going to get 30 years. See the other top HN post right now about he could have plea-bargained for 6 months.
I don't find the "other top HN post right now" regarding this, but as I understand it [paraphrasing], nobody told him "hey, you'll probably get 6 months", they only told him "hmm, you can reduce it to 25 years. maybe. if you beg."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The main point is that action in government is slow. And for good reason. If people want to hold onto the fantasy that when a bunch of people get angry, the government will take drastic action...then fine... Sandy Hook was one month ago and the President is having a big news conference tomorrow about the administrations response re: gun violence. Is that "slow"? "drastic action"? something else?
It's 25 dead children who were completely innocent of any crime. It's an incident in a long line of incidents over many decades in which many innocent people were killed. I think you need to calibrate your moral barometer a bit better.
We are rapidly developing a "criminalized culture" to which the easy and popular response to everything is "put them in jail". Sandy Hook was a horrible tragedy, to be sure, but in my mind, our growing population of prisoners is a much more concerning problem.
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I was in the midst of changing the tense; I should have written it in emacs and then copied it into the form once I was happy with it. So it goes. I'm actually wondering whether a more considered phrasing would have done worse. As it is the main goal of putting the headline into Barack Obama's eyeballs has been reached, and Ms. Ortiz knows that her boss is making the political calculation of whether she is a liabilit…
Unfortunately this will come no where near close to the President's eyeballs. It will be reviewed and responded to by some low level staff group who has been tasked to wade thru all of the petitions (and nonsense like the Death Star) which get 25k votes.
I'm not sure what this petition is trying to accomplish. Do you think, should the President fire Ms Ortiz, she would be replaced by someone completely different? Her actions are a reflection of the entire justice system; the person who replaces her will continue with the same bullying, "String 'em up in Town Square"-style tactics as she did. Everything will continue as it has been, but now the affluent, Bay-area 20-s…
The point of this petition, and everything else done to remove Ortiz, Heymann, and Garland is that it is a repeatable process.
Making a spectacular example of Ortiz et. al. is a first step, but it's a fine first step.
Or put it this way, would we have as many lawyers willing to shield torture had John Yoo ended up delivering pizza for a living?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He refused to surrender, so it's fair to go nuclear?
He could have either taken 6 months and the charge, or the maximum sentence. Note: This happens every single day for all types of crimes all around the US.
Man, mugging and extortion sounds so much better now that I realize how often it happens. Thanks, res0nat0r!