President Obama on Tuesday largely commuted the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the army intelligence analyst convicted of an enormous 2010 leak that revealed American military and diplomatic activities across the world, disrupted the administration, and made WikiLeaks, the recipient of those disclosures, famous.Manning gets out this May, instead of in 2045.
The decision by Mr. Obama rescued Ms. Manning, who twice tried to commit suicide last year, from an uncertain future as a transgender woman incarcerated at the male military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. She has been jailed for nearly seven years, and her 35-year sentence was by far the longest punishment ever imposed in the United States for a leak conviction.
We were just talking yesterday about the NYT's sympathetic highlighting of Manning's plight. And we were just talking today — it's one post down — about the NYT editorial "Mr. Obama, Pick Up Your Pardon Pen."
ADDED: Obama has also pardoned James Cartwright:
Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, pleaded guilty in October to a single charge of making false statements to federal investigators in 2012 when he was questioned about leaking top secret information on US efforts to cripple Iran’s nuclear program to two journalists.
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274 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 274 of 274I'm curious if Trump, Palin and Hannity will welcome Assange with open arms if he actually gets extradicted to the US. Plalin and Hannity are all in for Asange now.
Teresa1960: Ask the Alt Right about Snowden and Assange.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. The "alt right" doesn't exist anymore than your fantastical trumpists who see traitors as heroes. Maybe you watch too much MSNBC? These are purely made-up progressive boogeymen you are asking about.
JaimeRoberto said...
Saying over and over that Snowden is a hero to Trump supporters doesn't make it true.
1/17/17, 9:58 PM
Ah, but our leftist trolls believe in the power of repetition and the Big Lie.
“Isn’t it great, Chelsea? You’re going to be out of prison!”
“Me sorry: me no Chelsea no more.”
“What is that, Chelsea?”
“Me is Suki now. I are Suki Manning, young Japanese girl. Me no make eye contact. Flirty flirty.”
“Chelsea, you just can’t ‘become’ Japanese: it doesn’t work that way…”
“Hello Kitty! Sushi sushi! I will wear white socks and pillow-fight! Godzilla — Bam Bam!”
“Chelsea —“
“Me small Japanese Girl with Big American Penis! Tee-Hee!”
“Chelsea, you’re just mimicking crude stereotypes. That is wrong, can’t you see?”
“Oh: Mr. Round-Eye, he no like-a the Japanese Girls. He think I’m very bad girl. Maybe he want to spank very bad girl. Should I bend over, Mr. Round-Eye?”
“Dear God, Chelsea, you have come so far in people accepting you as a woman, but if you now say you’re Japanese everyone will just think you’re crazy!”
“I like tentacles in my panties! Go Speed Racer Go!”
“Snap out of it Chelsea! Snap out of it!”
“Hey! You just slapped me!”
“I’m trying to get you to come back to reality, Chelsea…”
“Chelsea? Who’s she? I’M Bradley Manning….”
“Oh God, Chelsea, I slapped you TOO hard…”
I am Laslo.
most people here and elsewhere who are Trump supporters, speak highly of Snowden and Assange
Pure bull shit. Doesn't happen here or anywhere. Liar.
These are purely made-up progressive boogeymen you are asking about.
1/17/17, 10:05 PM
Like the liberal Jewish writer who noticed his plumber had a Southern accent and began to fret the plumber was a Trump voter (the plumber did not say he had voted for Trump, but his accent, skin color and profession betrayed him). Then the writer decided that because his plumber was a Trump voter it followed that he was anti-Semitic. Soon the writer was terrified that this Jew-hating Trump voter was going to or wished to harm him (plunger to the back of the head?) and in the meantime, the plumber was just going about his business, not imagining that he was scaring the shit out of the writer.
The most remarkable thing was that this writer didn't catch himself and think "Whoa, I'm being ridiculous." No, he actually thought his silly paranoia was worthy of sharing with a national audience of similarly crazy liberals.
These people have been driven mad by the election. They're frightened by entirely bullshit fantasies - and indifferent to things that really should scare them, like Iran getting the bomb or terrorists entering the country.
The thing about Snowden is that without him we would not know that the Director of National Intelligence lied to Congress. I think he's a dubious character, not a hero, but he's a dubious character who let us know what our government was up to. And given the administration's approach to whistle-blowers, I don't think we'd know about any of it if he'd followed proper channels.
This should go far to further tying cons to DJT.
DJT is such a breath of fresh air, he gets dreamier and dreamier as the D's do everything they can to promote blind R loyalty.
Don't just get on the DJT Train, strap yourself to the pilot, w/ enthusiasm.
Carry on.
P.S.
Obviously the Kenyan is getting all anti-colonial.
MAGA!
Pole. Blindfold. Dawn. Justice.
I.e., anti-the-good-colonialism. I.e., anti-American colonialism (whatever that is), but BHO is pro-British control of the colonies (rather than independence), assuming that means bad news for America.
If some of that seems a little hard to buy: the bottom line is that the Kenyan father dreamed of hatred of America, like the kid.
Carry on.
So, Honey, since you just finished skimming the new orders, dish!
Oh come PB&J,
You can be more creative than that.
There is so much material here.
Colonialism indeed.
Propose a unique program.
For instance, my personal goal is to recover and extend the Spanish global empire and fulfill its legally determined destiny, as granted in the treaty of Tordesillas.
Which is of course to colonize the entire world, in partnership with Portugal, but since we should rightly possess Portugal anyway (they are just a bunch of rebellious gallegos), that bit is beside the point.
According to this, among other things, Spain is entitled to colonize the territory currently operating as the "United States", which is as we see these days is a rather whimsical notion.
Now, if you all were governed by the council of the Indies under our glorious Bourbon monarchy, most of this argumentation would be moot, especially after the Inquisition is established in these new Viceroyalties.
And yes, we will have viceroys, with palaces, pomp and circumstance. We will also be in a position to bestow noble titles, which should go a long way to selling the idea, for sure. There will be marquises and dukes and grandees of Spain all over. Imagine the competition to be the Count of San Francisco.
Its all quite legal and the papers are in order.
See, that is imagination.
Hopefully, everything he's attempted in life will be easier once he's out.
BTW, I'm surprised that Althouse has been interested in this subject. In fact, it's shocking to look at the totality of the other stuff she decides to blog about. So little is determined/controlled/directed by DJT tweets.
Dummies who think that, as they say, actions speak louder than jabber would think that Althouse has exposed the lameness of the suggestion that having a school girl Twitter style is somehow an attribute in the modern era.
Anywho, those dummies would probably also think that folks like Rogan and Stern would be a good judge of SNL's funniness even though Althouse, correctly, disagreed and wrote that SNL failed at funny.
We know better.
Carry on.
"Hopefully, everything he's attempted in life will be easier once he's out."
Blog commenting is, no doubt, like email and texts. It's possible for jokes to be missed such that folks can seem like.......
BTW buwaya,
What's your POV re drug legalization in Portugal?
How relevant is that to the States?
Hot topic.
Anywho, back to analyzing Althosue re hype v reality re DJT Tweets.
Is it just me or do a lot of DJT Tweets seem defensive and responsive, rather than leading and proactive? Then, you throw in the school girl voice of the Tweets, and it's a little hard to see what's impressive. Maybe if I was in the golden years, like Meadehouse, I'd get it.
Anywho, Laurence Welk is coming on soon, so gotta go.
Carry on.
PB&J,
It is of course entirely relevant to the US, as we are all guided by the teachings if the church, universal and Catholic. Drug use is incompatible with Christian morality, as has been repeatedly discussed in Papal discourses and established in the Catechism.
I would say that this is de facto proof that the New York Times is an extension of the Democrat party.
Oh PB&J,
Come, be your amusing self. Give us the benefit of your wit, and invent us a political program. Why spend your life whining about Althouse and Trump?
Describe us your dream.
After first experiencing the joy and tech miracle of the fam hangin' around the radio, and then talkies at the theater, and then a tube in the house, and then a tube w/ color, and then PC junk, and then Apple, and then typing in the Apple than makes words stick in the tubes, it seems like a PEOTUS sending out short school girl taunts w/ his phone wouldn't be too impressive. Arguably it'd be less than neutral (that's the PC way of saying 'sucky').
Anywho, golden gals and guys are funny to decipher.
Carry on.
But why must you do that?
Very, er, common.
Even complaining about it is common.
Find the like-minded and go in procession through Seattle singing "Immaculate Mary".
Few things would be more surprising.
Buw,
I know some loons who are doing Seattle's DJT protest on Saturday.
Of course they're staying in a swanky hotel w/ posh food and pampering on their three day schedule of events surrounding the big SJW event.
If they made a version of Portlandia for Seattle it be filthy rich folks doing stupid things instead of poor/normal folks.
In San Francisco folks are just as silly and even richer.
Seen it all.
Boring.
They really need something new.
Walking on their knees to the Cathedral (on Geary) to beg forgiveness. It could be a thing.
BTW,
I'd assume that Madison is having some sort of DJT protest. Meadehouse, should feel obligated (again) to document the libs gone wild for the rest of the nation.
We'll all be on pins and needles, just like the first time that Meadehouse, breathlessly and self-reverentially, performed this vital service to our nation.
On Wisconsin!
Really, everything else has been tried, except public penance (such as crawling to the Cathedral on their knees) to ask God to spare them from Trump.
Sackcloth and ashes would suit also. Scourging maybe not, as many do it here for fun (look up "Folsom Street Fair").
They do have a lot of sins to atone for, considering.
OTOH,
I'm not sure that we can trust Althouse to recognize the really bad stuff the Mad libs are going to do. She didn't catch the evilness of Michelle's 1st time she was really proud jabber.
OTOOH,
If Meade had been riding shotgun back then, he would have set blondie straight.
WTF is this post about?
Does anyone here think Manning would have been released without the sex change? The sex change made Manning a hero of sorts to various LGBT groups, some of whom made Manning's freedom their cause. Releasing Manning - who has never expressed remorse so far as I can tell - was President Obama's goodbye kiss to the LGBT community, that's all.
Thanks Doug,
This post is about the gays.
Got it.
Getting back on topic, maybe Buwaya can tells what God has to say about the gays.
Lyin'PB_Ombudsman said...
WTF is this post about?
Obama told the nation that releasing secrets damaging to the Armed Forces is good, but releasing secrets that helped democrats keep their promise of being open and transparent is bad.
Would God rather have Manning live a full life of LGBT-ness, or skip that and blow his brains out (like chickelit recommends) and go straight to hell?
Hell now, or hell later, that is the question.
Ach,
Where are your re Manning blowing out his/her brains?
Obama has to have been the most partisan president since I have been paying attention.
"Manning" is such an apposite name for him -- Hemingway-esque!
The Church says that homosexuality is contrary to natural law and acting on it is intrinsically disordered.
A person such as Manning, if he cannot adjust himself to normal family life, is advised to live in celibacy and to pray for the strength to resist the urges with which he has been afflicted.
I forget -- what's the name for what a novelist does by naming a character after a characteristic (usually done in sneaky way only explained by Cliff's Notes)?
PB&J,
Sadly, you have engaged in the fallacy of the false dilemma, or of false premises.
For the record, I'm anti-brain-blowing-out. And, just calling balls and strikes, unless something changes, it looks like Manning's goin' to hell, but (as Frank says) who am I to judge.
Not much of a dilemma for me, but your mileage may vary.
Blogger Lyin'PB_Ombudsman said...
Getting back on topic, maybe Buwaya can tells what God has to say about the gays.
Buwaya gave the Catholic answer to PB&J -- or part of it -- as a lay Protestant I think the way it works is that the OT condemns sodomy in Leviticus, and that in the NT Christ makes several major breaks with the OT, as in marriage and divorce, and since Christ did not say that the OT was wrong about sodomy, the prohibition against sodomy is still in effect.
But I think in general that it is too easy to project modern morals on the classical past. The Romans did not believe that women could be homosexual, because sex required penetration by a man. The Romans thought that a man who was penetrated by another man had taken on a shame that could pass down the generations, but a man who penetrated another man was just being indiscrete and could be forgiven.
Manning is being now released in May, and he was would have served his sentence in another 4 months anyway. He's not being pardoned. I know little about the Manning situation but four months does not seem like something to get up in arms about.
In Mannings case, I recommend a full and celibate life.
Hobbies and interests of a sort to keep him away from temptation to sex or treason.
Watercolors, carpentry, gardening or auto repair perhaps.
Womens hairdressing was at one time actually recommended by the Philippine Church for the effeminate, wisely I think, in spite of being trite. It keeps them safely in the exclusive company of women and gives them a sympathetic social circle.
If I were Trump I'd make it clear that I was releasing Manning at noon January 20 so the taxpayer are no longer on the hook for any more medical expenses.
Manning is being now released in May, and he was would have served his sentence in another 4 months anyway
Not quite...he has served about six years of a 35 year sentence.
Good article. Thanks for sharing information. WeLeadUSA also provides platform for discussion on American problems.
American Issues
"The Democrats are working really hard to make sure they never get the white, non-coastal, non-urban vote again, aren't they?
"Imagine the fun of being a Democratic office holder (e.g. senator) in a purple state & having to talk this one down at the next town hall meeting. That's an Excedrin headache, fer shure, fer shure."
I doubt most Americans really care much about Manning. They have more exigent concerns. The Democrats will attract voters if they ever decide to actually address such concerns and stop chasing the Republicans in their zeal to abase themselves as lickspittles to the plutocrats. As the Dems don't seem to have learned anything from their recent calamitous loss, I won't be holding my breath.
"Obama has to have been the most partisan president since I have been paying attention."
You haven't been paying attention.
Cookie wrote: You haven't been paying attention.
Sophistry... but what else can one expect.
Democrats think their leftwing leftistness is baseline. They do not think they are partisan at all. That's why Castro and Hugo Chavez are perfectly normal dictators. Baseline dictators.
" I'm an atheist, but now is not the time. Please God...."
The strongest statement of I-have-no-core-beliefs I can recall.
"I doubt most Americans really care much about Manning."
I doubt you know very many vets.
"Democrats think their leftwing leftistness is baseline."
Someone else not paying attention. If only there were a noticeable number of Democrats who actually had any left-of-center political stances.
"'I doubt most Americans really care much about Manning.'
"I doubt you know very many vets."
Vets don't make up the majority of Americans.
And, I've bet there are vets who support Manning. Not the ones who think it's fine to murder noncombatants from a helicopter, laughing about it all the while, and killing the man who tried to rescue the wounded, while denigrating him for "bringing a kid to a war zone," (i.e., where this man and these people live, but decent, honorable vets who consider murder and the war-criminals who commit murder to be despicable.
Will Obama pardon Hillary?
I'm voting - yes.
Teresa1960:
This person sure seems to know a lot about Althouse commenters. Almost like she is an old commenter herself but with a new name.
UnknownIngaTeresa?
Like Freeman, I find I can't get outraged about this move. I guess my ObamaOutrage gland is depleted or something. Just in time.
Did chuckle at the comment about Women getting lighter sentences, though.
I do hope that his release means taxpayers are off the hook for conversion, but we'll see. The needs of this one should not outweigh the needs of many many other vets who want for more basic needs. In fact, any statement by Trump should include this vaguely Trek-ian statement.
"Robert Cook said...
And, I've bet there are vets who support Manning. Not the ones who think it's fine to murder noncombatants from a helicopter, laughing about it all the while..."
You do realize Full Metal Jacket was a movie? Right?
obama is a radical partisan. But he's first black, so we much shut up, and let him mow us down with his lies.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/17/president-obama-scores-poorly-working-congress-leg/
Obama Scores Worst Legislative Record in History.
"You do realize Full Metal Jacket was a movie? Right?"
That's beside the point, but, for what it's worth:
1. Directer Oliver Stone was an infantry soldier in VietNam and he based the movie to some degree on what he experienced of war on the ground in that conflict.
2. I was describing what actually happened in the video Manning released to Wikileaks (among the other files he provided them) and which was made available online for anyone to see. I saw it. Didn't you?)
Cook. Dumbass.
Oliver Stone did not direct Full Metal Jacket. That was Stanley Kubrick. Not a Vietnam veteran.
James Kahn, Thanks for the priceless 'Obama is the Florence Foster Jenkins of politicians' comment.
There's a substantial difference between the info Manning leaked and what Snowden leaked (the DNC spearphishing trap is on an entirely different plane of existence ie not national secrets).
Manning's leaks were 1) diplomatic cables and 2) tragic accidents during war that were not publicized/kept secret by the US government. Both of Manning's leaks were malicious with no noble intent, except that yes, everyone agrees that bad incidents during war are bad.
Snowden's leaks revealed graylegal actions by the NSA and other three-letter agencies against American citizens.
In addition to the difference in kind of information released, Manning's leaks were done to damage the United States; if we are extremely charitable and assume best case, that Manning intended to help the US indirectly by exposing these items, Manning is either stupid or malicious to not realize that keeping the stuff secret would have been more helpful to the US. Snowden's leaks were done to help the United States directly.
The DNC spearphishing leak was simply hilarious.
What on earth is the grounds for commuting Manning's sentence? Is there any question s/he is guilty of the crime, or that the sentence was unfair? Was there any good reason s/he didn't use existing whistleblower mechanisms?
There really should be some check or limit on the pardon power. Particularly after the Marc Rich travesty.
"Oliver Stone did not direct Full Metal Jacket."
Yes. I stand corrected. I was thinking of PLATOON. I saw FULL METAL JACKET, but little of it stays with me.
You know what DOESN'T stay? The point you were trying to make about how the scene of a helicopter door gunner gunning down random fleeing terrified Vietnamese women and children was based in part on the director's own experiences of war on the ground in that conflict.
In fact, that slander against U.S. servicemen you tried to pull off is pretty much demolished.
"You know what DOESN'T stay? The point you were trying to make about how the scene of a helicopter door gunner gunning down random fleeing terrified Vietnamese women and children was based in part on the director's own experiences of war on the ground in that conflict.
"In fact, that slander against U.S. servicemen you tried to pull off is pretty much demolished."
Uh, no, the truth stands. That was in the video--taken from the helicopter--that shot down noncombtatants in Iraq. As for Vietnam, you conveniently forget My Lai, in which a brave helicopter pilot landed his helicopter in order to stop the ongoing slaughter of innocent villagers by US troops.
My Lai was not an isolated incident, as other Vietnam vets attest. It just happened to be the one where Americans took action to stop the massacre.
Uh, no. The truth stands: you were caught with your head in your ass.
May I ask why is General Cartwright getting support here?
"Uh, no. The truth stands: you were caught with your head in your ass."
Uh, no. The truth is you apparently did not realize I was referring to an actual video of an actual American military massacre of unarmed noncombatants on the ground, but thought I was referring to Hollywood war movies depicting fictional events.
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