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Well, better late then never, but still kind of cowardly for Obama to wait until the end of his term when the political fallout isn't his problem anymore. What kept him from commuting Chelsea's sentence a year ago?
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Jan 18, 2017 00:00
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paperwind posted:I think you answered your own question there. Yeah, but I was hoping there was a better answer than 'chronic lack of spine'. Main Paineframe posted:If there was too much of a gap between when the commutation was issued and when it actually went into effect, he'd just cause Manning supporters to make a bigger deal about her treatment. Why does there need to be any gap at all? Is there a Constitutional rule that prevents Obama from ordering her immediate release on time served?
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Jan 18, 2017 01:13
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Main Paineframe posted:Because Obama wanted her to serve a certain amount of time behind bars before going free. Conveniently, that amount of time lined up perfectly with him leaving office and dumping the fallout on the next person in line.
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Jan 18, 2017 01:23
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Sinteres posted:You're right, every private in the military should be granted the authority to unleash Pandora's Box on the world if their informed moral judgment says they should do so. Alternatively we can continue to encourage a culture of secrecy and obedience that lets the occasional war crime get swept under the table. Its a complex and nuanced topic. Manning was definitely overbroad in her release of information, but she also brought some real poo poo to light that needed to be seen. I think releasing her is the right thing to do, especially when the circumstances of her imprisonment are taken into account. I also think its a bit spineless that Obama waited until it wasn't going to be his problem anymore to release her, but then I really haven't come to expect much else from him.
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Jan 18, 2017 02:14
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hakimashou posted:It would have been obnoxiously unjust to fail to punish her at all, or for it to be some trifling punishment. As I've mentioned before, it just seems super convenient that the optimal amount of punishment for Chelsea Manning just *happened* to be right after Obama leaves office and its somebody else's problem. Why not months ago when it was apparent the prison system was loving her over in regards to needed medical assistance and excessive solitary confinement? Did she really just need that extra few months of punishment?
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Jan 18, 2017 03:42
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Sinteres posted:She got a very small fraction of it in terms of the length of her sentence. I don't think solitary confinement is humane, and if commutation was necessary to end that, so be it, but if it were purely a matter of time served I'd oppose it. I believe her earliest eligibility for parole with maximum credits for good conduct would have been 2021, so she's getting four years at a minimum commuted off her sentence, which is great and all, but given the poo poo she's unfairly dealt with in prison she should have been let out much earlier. Especially given the bullshit around her transition.
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Jan 18, 2017 03:46
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hakimashou posted:She was lucky to escape the death penalty. Im really more grousing at the 'the amount of time she served was perfectly correct and in no way reflected political expediency on Obama's part' crowd. If your stance is 'probably merited the death penalty' then I'll happily defend her commutation to May. Like, don't get me wrong here, my position is her commutation is deserved, both because I disagree with the original sentence (national intelligence needs a system for whistleblowers that isn't 'report it up the chain') and because I feel the Feds royally hosed up her imprisonment, but I would have preferred it to have been several months earlier at least.
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Jan 18, 2017 05:10
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DynamicSloth posted:Maybe he thought she deserved 2 more years but if he left it up to Trump she'd be stuck there for at least 4 so he erred on the side of clemency. More seriously the political cover the pardon power grants outgoing Presidents is a good thing, we shouldn't start bitching about it being opportunistic or they'll just start bragging about how they never pardon anyone like Romney did. Look, if youre going to make perfectly reasonable and persuasive arguments about not living in a perfect world that I honestly hadn't previously thought of, I'm going to just have to thank you for a new insight and say good day to you. Am I even in D&D anymore?
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Jan 18, 2017 06:03
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