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Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

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Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#11

Post by andrelaszlo »

I find it very disturbing that you need tens of thousands of dollars at your disposal to get a "fair" trial.

I say "fair", because the output obviously changes with the amount of money you feed the system. Too little money and the outcome will be biased against you, too much money and the outcome will be biased in the other direction. Which amount will give an unbiased output? $50k? $100k?

How can this be considered normal?

"All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law." - Universal Declaration of Human Rights §7

"If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way" - Pericles (431 BC)

Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#12

Post by matthewmacleod »

bitJericho wrote: post #5
batou wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah well the lawyers in question will probably look like shit if they lose so they want money so it's not a complete loss. Horrible but probably true.

I don't know about you but I don't work for free, even for the noblest of causes, unless I can put food on the table (eg, the lawyers need to eat).

That's a bit of a false dichotomy though, isn't it?

In the same way that lots of tech firms release some open-source code (in some cases, quite a lot!), legal firms often do a fair bit of pro-bono work.

Releasing stuff/providing legal services for free doesn't mean you can't eat!

Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#13

Post by LGBT_2000 »

mahouse wrote: post #9
LGBT_2000 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very possible. Being a despised minority sucks.

How is this exactly related to what’s happening? I’m baffled by that conclusion (or accusation).

Transgender people are probably more hated than any other minority and hate-speech that would be completely unacceptable made about any other group often goes unchallenged when made about members of the transgender community. So it's not at all surprising a member of this group is having trouble finding her legal defence. And that's a problem.

Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#15

Post by vdaniuk »

bitJericho wrote: post #5
batou wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah well the lawyers in question will probably look like shit if they lose so they want money so it's not a complete loss. Horrible but probably true.

I don't know about you but I don't work for free, even for the noblest of causes, unless I can put food on the table (eg, the lawyers need to eat).

Put food on the table? Are you for real? Lawyers who work at the law firms that have expertise to represent Chelsea Manning are probably in 0.1% of top earners worldwide.

If they can't work pro bono, who can?

Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#16

Post by nicboobees »

LGBT_2000 wrote: post #13
mahouse wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this exactly related to what’s happening? I’m baffled by that conclusion (or accusation).

Transgender people are probably more hated than any other minority and hate-speech that would be completely unacceptable made about any other group often goes unchallenged when made about members of the transgender community. So it's not at all surprising a member of this group is having trouble finding her legal defence. And that's a problem.

You don't think you're slightly playing the victim card here at all do you?

Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#17

Post by pluma »

LGBT_2000 wrote: post #13
mahouse wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this exactly related to what’s happening? I’m baffled by that conclusion (or accusation).

Transgender people are probably more hated than any other minority and hate-speech that would be completely unacceptable made about any other group often goes unchallenged when made about members of the transgender community. So it's not at all surprising a member of this group is having trouble finding her legal defence. And that's a problem.

I'm not sure Bradley Manning would have had a considerably bigger chance of getting pro bono defense than Chelsea Manning does now. Her transition may be a factor, but I'd wager it's not the biggest one by far -- even Snowden is widely regarded as a traitor in the US and he was considerably more nuanced about what confidential information he handed to the press.

Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#19

Post by minot »

vdaniuk wrote: post #15
bitJericho wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about you but I don't work for free, even for the noblest of causes, unless I can put food on the table (eg, the lawyers need to eat).

Put food on the table? Are you for real? Lawyers who work at the law firms that have expertise to represent Chelsea Manning are probably in 0.1% of top earners worldwide. If they can't work pro bono, who can?

I was going to quote an article about how the wealthy 0.1% is a different demographic than the top 1% because the rest of the top one percent are workers for the top 0.1%. However, I guess these top one percent US people would be 0.1% worldwide.

Re: Donate to Chelsea Manning's Legal Defense

#20

Post by afarrell »

toni wrote: post #3

So in other words, there is not a single law firm in US which will take on Chelsea Manning's crucial cause without eyeing for money? That's why she's resorting to ask for donations? Is that even possible?

This is for the appeal. For the trial, the accused have a right to counsel. In federal court, public defenders are paid a nontrivial amount. In state court...
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