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Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov

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Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#651

Post by heelix »

pavlov wrote: post #402
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.

Last night Trump also revoked his own 2017 executive order that prevented federal administration officials from becoming lobbyists after leaving government: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-lobbying-execu... This had been one of his only practical actions towards keeping his campaign promise of "draining the swamp."

The nice thing about executive orders is they can be added by the next guy. Would be nice to see this as actual law, and not an executive order -- but if Trump cancels anything on his last day, Biden can re-do it on his first day.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#652

Post by wnevets »

sn_master wrote: post #581
wnevets wrote: post #571

and it only cost $2 Million [1]. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/giuliani-associate-reportedl...

Please do not propagate unproven rumors. Most of that 73 person list are people who clearly don't have anywhere near those amounts.

Its not a rumor, its an outright accusation by former CIA operative John Kiriakou

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#653

Post by mlazos »

staunch wrote: post #541
lastofthemojito wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snowden overdid it. He found illegal behavior in a spy agency, but he also exposed legitimate activity. Sure, NSA was spying on Angela Merkel and other allies. You might agree with Henry Stimson, that "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail", but the reality is that countries spy on one another. Snowden might deserve whistleblower protection for some of his revelations, but not all of them.

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.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#654

Post by xxpor »

jonp888 wrote: post #543
ggcdn wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the Supreme Court doesn’t make the rules, it just interprets them. The rules are made by elected representatives.

They might not be directly elected, but they are political. If they weren't political we wouldn't divide them into liberal and conserative jusices. It seems like everyone already knows how they would 'interpret' any case involving abortion. This doesn't seem to be such a problem in other countries. I don't really understand if that's because the judges are purposely appointed to be as partisan as possible, or whether…

>whether the 'rules' are so badly written that they can be interpreted any way you like.

It's a philosophical difference in legal systems derived from the Napoleonic code (and more indirectly the Roman legal system, so it's common in continental Europe) vs. the English legal system (the US, Canada, India, Australia, etc)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law#Common_law_legal_sy...

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#655

Post by kazinator »

WickyNilliams wrote: post #228
rendall wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> white supremacists also fell for the joke. Once they started genuinely using the gesture it did become a symbol of hate. [citation needed]

https://nypost.com/2019/03/15/suspected-new-zealand-shooter-... The Christchurch shooter, whilst likely in on the "joke", made the gesture in court. At that point, the difference between it being a joke made by a white supremacist, or a symbol of white supremacism evaporates. It is a symbol used by a white supremacist, therefore it is a white supremacist symbol. Context matters of course, but I don't feel you can tru…

> I don't feel you can truly deny it has taken on meaning outside of the original joke.

It hasn't. The supremacist using it in court room is using it entirely within the context of the original joke. Within the context of the joke, that is, but not within the joke. He's using it knowingly. The original joke is "get people to see the OK gesture as a racist symbol, so that people are then pranked in situations in which someone who fell for the hoax embarasses himself by calling out someone else who uses the gesture in the usual way and has no idea about the hoax. Hardy har har, hoo hoo."

I'm not a white supremacist or neo-nazi. Can I put a swastika on my jacket, such that everyone understands it's not a symbol of nazism, because I'm not a confirmed nazi, not standing in a court room for crimes connected with my ideology?

You have to start a war and kill at least a few hundred thousand people before you get to hijack a common hand gesture for your ideology.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#656

Post by totoglazer »

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…

Doesn’t even require consent :(

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#657

Post by diveanon »

1024core wrote: post #642
diveanon wrote: post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not that disappointed, I bet. Same old story. "I'm shocked, shocked that there's gambling going on!"

Don't forget, this is a time for unity!

I'm not forgetting about the last 4 years anytime soon.

There is nothing virtuous about ignoring and rationalizing intolerance.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#658

Post by pbhjpbhj »

itsoktocry wrote: post #565
mywittyname wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully, he end up being the first presidential candidate bankrupted by the position. The dude's primary asset, his brand, is not completely toxic and can no longer be used to prop up his other failed ventures. And the only bankers wiling to finance him will the the predatory ones, who will all extract every penny left then leave him with nothing.

> And the only bankers wiling to finance him will the the predatory ones, who will all extract every penny left then leave him with nothing. Oh boy, are you going to be in for a nasty surprise. Trump is going to get more powerful after this mess, but it will likely tear the GOP apart. And don't kid yourself that the Democrats love the idea of having him as an enemy if he ever runs again. Most of what you're watching…

He seems, as an outsider (UK), to be fomenting racial divisions - around the World - just so he can play at being a big cheese. His motivation appears to be purely money, but he and those who voted for him don't appear to have a problem with the cost of that being democracy and racial unity.

If he stays out of prison then the message is 'USA's political establishment endorses white power, and oligarchy' and given many nations rely on USA having at least a little morality as the greatest military superpower on Earth ...

USA seemingly can't be trusted to keep even a semblance of Rule of Law, any country lead by those who don't themselves pretend towards megalomania has to find this problematic. Your (USA's) democracy is very broken.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#659

Post by emn13 »

ardy42 wrote: post #562
emn13 wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This myth that the US constitution is in any way "good" is weird. It's one of the earliest; and fortunately others leared from its mistakes. Including the US itself, when it had considerable influence in drafting the WW2 losers constitutions, which uncoincidentally are quite different from the US. Checks and balances essentially don't work in the US. The best bit is simply a decent judiciary, but that was mostly copi…

> Checks and balances essentially don't work in the US. The best bit is simply a decent judiciary, but that was mostly copied from the British. And even that is more poorly executed than elsewhere, due to the political nature of judicial appointees, and esp. due to the tradition of direct elections of some judges. I'd say it's arguably worse than the British model it was copied from, not because the Brits were psychi…

Right, but how much of that is (a) coincidence, and much more critically, (B) US culture?

The US works; and has excellent governance; that's not really in question (IMHO). The question is whether that's due to the constitution, or despite it.

If the US were as uninterested in democracy and as accepting of an autocratic leadership as hungary (and as small as hungary) - do you think the constitution of the US would have made anything better?

Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned

#660

Post by enraged_camel »

MengerSponge wrote: post #392
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.

"Wait, 45's administration is all corruption?" "Always has been."

Yeah, it's kind of funny that this is what is making some people come to this realization. And not, you know, everything else that has happened over the past four years.
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