Obama commutes sentences...

[Fanatical Meat]

He can't. As much as I thoroughly dislike Obama's treatment of whistleblowers and leakers (Seems like an Obama mandate), the Snowden case is different, and Obama's actions here are tied to his office, not to the man (not that I have any reason to think that Obama would act differently if that were not the case).

Too often critics rag on presidential decisions based on the individual, when they are simply bound by US policy as determined by international treaty, constitutional duty, and historical precedent.

It seems to me that Obama can and very much should be more lenient and supportive of whistleblowers in general, but Snowden's actions were technically treasonous, whether or no you agree with his actions and believe that history will judge his actions as positive for this country (I do).

President Bush or Clinton or Clinton or McCain would have had no choice but to treat Snowden the same as Obama.

A fantasy Trump-ollini president? well....whotheeff knows? He would be just as likely to execute the guy on prime time as he would be to offer him a half-year's discount rate on Mar a Lago timeshares. The guy doesn't care about the country or its laws, so you never could know.

For Snowden I'm saying some kind of deal with whatever incoming admin & at least some members of congress. Like an offer with no death penalty and limited jail time. I know Obama hates the guy but he can easily take all the blame come end of November.

 

[Starbuck1975]

There is a demand, the dealer did not create the market for meth. Many people take meth (and other amphetamine mixtures) every day without issue, ever see what is in Adderall? Street drugs full of unknown chemicals that destroy the body and of unknown strength cause problems, pharma-quality drugs are much less likely to do so. Does the cashier at Taco Bell feel bad for selling you 1200 calories of fats and chemicals?

I will meet you halfway. I fully support the regulated availability of recreational drugs, where the contents are a known entity and the path to obtaining them does not involve a criminally supported supply chain.

I similarly think it is criminal the types of substances we are able to legally obtain. Some of the chemicals in our food chain and cigarettes are two notable examples.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Yet no Tobacco CEO served time for selling a product that did and still does kill people? Oh wait!! Cops choked a Black man to death for selling singles, so I guess the sale is alright for the elite but illegal for the underclass.

 

[werepossum]

No, selling dangerous drugs is not tantamount to "murder." Murder is a wholly non-consensual act of taking someone's life. If one is selling a dangerous drug, the buyer has some choice in the matter. Drug dealers don't "get people hooked." People choose to use it themselves. No one is addicted until they have at least used by choice for awhile, and even once addicted, it isn't impossible to stop.

Meth is perhaps nasty enough that I would agree the seller is morally culpable to a degree, but not to the level of murder, unless he was selling to kids. Yeah, 40 years is excessive, even in the case of meth. Your logic would extend to sellers of cigarettes as well. Oh, meth is more dangerous than cigarettes? Perhaps, but not more dangerous to the tune of 40 years+ versus no time at all.

This, exactly.

I also like commutes better than pardons, although if they truly are low quantity possession charges, I would support pardons.

 

[madoka]

Giving these people back their lives is great, but just think also about the savings from just these 200. That's around $7 million per year... And that doesn't include the loss of productivity that these people would provide to the economy. Housing so many people for idiotic drug crimes is one of the biggest stains on America IMO

He released approximately 200 prisoners with life sentences. You don't get a life sentence for being a low level drug dealer. You get life sentences for being a POS.

Here's a list of those he let loose. Notice how many of them have weapons violations. So much for being nonviolent.

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations

And here's the first victims of Obuma's stupidity: a mother and her two young children:

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2...-early-under-obama-plan-murders-woman-2-kids/

A convicted crack dealer who left prison early as part of the Obama administration’s mass release of federal inmates has been indicted by a grand jury for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend and her two kids in Columbus, Ohio. The gory crime drew national attention because the children, ages 7 and 10, were murdered to eliminate them as witnesses in the brutal massacre of their 32-year-old mother.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Becomes a question of how you define justice. To me selling meth is comparable to murder. How many people did this guy get hooked on meth? What happened to them? What was the impact to their families?

I get that for some drugs, the war on drugs is a bit ridiculous. But there are other drugs, and i would consider meth one of them, that have a far more extensive and corrupting impact on society. Look at what crack did to inner cities in the 90s. Look at what heroin is now doing yet again in many blue collar suburbs.

So you're saying you're in favor of job-killing regulations that not only put this small-business owner out of work but also put him on the government dole when all he was doing was providing free citizens a product they willfully and consensually consumed.

 

[woolfe9998]

He released approximately 200 prisoners with life sentences. You don't get a life sentence for being a low level drug dealer. You get life sentences for being a POS.

Here's a list of those he let loose. Notice how many of them have weapons violations. So much for being nonviolent.

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations

And here's the first victims of Obuma's stupidity: a mother and her two young children:

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2...-early-under-obama-plan-murders-woman-2-kids/

Did you even read your own link? I looked at the first 20 names and all are drug offenders. You might get a life sentence for being a POS, or you might get it for selling a tiny amount of crack. Federal drug laws are extremely draconian. As for violence, I saw nothing on there but illegal possession of firearms. Nothing involving harming other human beings. Those must have been further down the list?

 

[MongGrel]

There will probably be some pardons before he leaves office, it typically happens when any two term president leaves office.

It might depend on how the results would reflect on the incoming one.

 

[madoka]

Did you even read your own link? I looked at the first 20 names and all are drug offenders. You might get a life sentence for being a POS, or you might get it for selling a tiny amount of crack. Federal drug laws are extremely draconian.

Yes, I did read it, but apparently you didn't.

I never said they weren't drug offenders. I said they are not "low level drug dealers" because distributing 9,445 kilograms of cocaine does not make you a low level drug dealer.

As for violence, I saw nothing on there but illegal possession of firearms. Nothing involving harming other human beings. Those must have been further down the list?

Again, if you actually read it, you'd see that the second guy on that list was convicted of the use of a firearm during drug trafficking crime. He didn't have those guns just for show, and you'd have to be brain dead to think otherwise.