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Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

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Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#631

Post by varsketiz »

keepamovin wrote: post #590
lbriner wrote: post #537

Someone might have already pointed it out but for me, the sentence of RA is not the main issue, the issue is allowing a single person to stamp through an entire legal system and undermine all of the time and money that is invested in it, even if that person is a president. I suspect that the idea originally was to give some safety valve but if it is used more than a few times by a President, it makes a mockery of it…

Still something tells me you have zero problem with the thousands of pardons Biden issued, correct? Don’t dress up your stance in fancy garb when it comes down to something baser.

This is not in any way related to Trump pardoning Ross or the fact that president can issue pardons at their discretion.

What you are doing here is a distraction from the topic - whataboutism.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#633

Post by dead_gunslinger »

agentultra wrote: post #381

Is this president extremely concerned about drug dealers and gangs in the US? Why is he pardoning a drug trafficker?

He said he would do this during his campaign as a promise, a lot of libertarians voted for him based on this. He delivered on the promise after he won a convincing majority. I'm not sure why democracy offends you this much.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#634

Post by varsketiz »

gigatexal wrote: post #632

What’s the overall take of HN here? Was the government overstepping? Is everyone supporting this undoing of his sentence? Are we generally pro free drug trade? Or are we more anti-FBI?

My grasp of the sentiment in the comments - majority of folk here seem to think Ross did enough time for his crime.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#635

Post by potato3732842 »

offsign wrote: post #487
rappatic wrote: post #164

I think his original sentence was absolutely deserved—even though the charge of hiring a contract killer to assassinate his business competition may have been dropped, I think it's clear he did many things in the same vein. Even if you support his original pursuit of a free and open online marketplace, I think most people would agree he took it a bridge too far in the end. That said, I do think he absolutely deserved…

"he took it a bridge too far" is a massive trivialization. The guy operated a marketplace for illegal goods in order to enrich himself. The illegality wasn't just incidental, it was literally his business model -- by flouting the law, he enjoyed massive market benefit (minimal competition, lack of regulation, high margins etc) by exploiting the arbitrage that the rest of us follow the rules. Said a different way, he…

>minimal competition, lack of regulation, high margins etc

Those benefits don't come from nowhere. You're basically getting compensated to take on the risk, same as any other business. The difference in this case is that the risk is that a bunch of thugs with guns will show up and either kill you or put you in a cage in addition to the usual financial ruin.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#637

Post by Springtime »

CSSer wrote: post #512
mrandish wrote: post #181

This is wonderful. I've never argued that Ross shouldn't have served time but it's always been clear his prosecution and sentencing were excessive and unjust. The prosecutors asked for a 20 year sentence, which seemed disproportionate given the sentencing guidelines for a first-time offender and the non-violent charges he was convicted of. But the judge sentenced Ross to TWO life sentences plus 40 years - without the…

> non-violent charges Although the murder-for-hire charges were dropped, transcripts published by Wired in 2015[0] show Ross Ulbricht openly discussing contract killings: he haggles over price, suggests interrogation, and even provides personal details about a target’s family (“Wife + 3 kids”). These charges were dismissed partly because he had already been sentenced to life in New York, making further prosecution mo…

> These charges were dismissed partly because he had already been sentenced to life in New York

It was further complicated because a couple of the law enforcement officers involved with setting up one of the six murder-for-hire scams* stole the Bitcoin Ulbricht paid and it was also felt that trying to prosecute based solely on the other chat logs would have been difficult. The FBI agent who arrested Ulbricht was interviewed about it recently[1].

* The other five are said to not have been law enforcement, which makes it curious the number of times Ulbricht was scammed in this manner.

[1] https://risky.biz/RB770/

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#638

Post by 627467 »

rappatic wrote: post #164

I think his original sentence was absolutely deserved—even though the charge of hiring a contract killer to assassinate his business competition may have been dropped, I think it's clear he did many things in the same vein. Even if you support his original pursuit of a free and open online marketplace, I think most people would agree he took it a bridge too far in the end. That said, I do think he absolutely deserved…

I personally find it ridiculous that people agree with the sentencing when you compare to sentences for tobacco industry practices, opioid epidemic, etc..

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#639

Post by gigatexal »

varsketiz wrote: post #634
gigatexal wrote: post #632

What’s the overall take of HN here? Was the government overstepping? Is everyone supporting this undoing of his sentence? Are we generally pro free drug trade? Or are we more anti-FBI?

My grasp of the sentiment in the comments - majority of folk here seem to think Ross did enough time for his crime.

thanks for summarizing

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#640

Post by TriangleEdge »

I'm genuinely surprised of the reactions on this thread. Trump just announced that cartels down south are terrorist organizations. This means that some of the members will likely die by the hand of the us govt. How is running an open market for drugs, weapons, etc different? Seems contradictory to me, what am I missing?
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