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Trump commutes sentence of Alice Marie Johnson

Article Here.



Every now and then, something good comes out of the Trump Administration. I dislike Donald Trump very much, but I will applaud him for doing this. But, I don't think he should stop here. Ms. Johnson was able to get out in large part because of Kim Kardashian's influence. Not everyone that's in jail for non-violent offenses has that kind of advantage. But anyways, good on Trump and good outcome.

Conspiracy to possess cocaine. Attempted possession of cocaine. 21 to life.
Yeah, okay. Explains several things.
 
Nope. It was the same charge Manafort has been charged with. Money laundering.
She was found guilty of 8 charges, including money laundering, but also drug trafficking, during a jury trial.
 
A life sentence for possession of some cocaine? :shock:
She imported between 2-3 tons over at least 4 years.

Check out my post #25 above, where I bullet-point what a little quick research brought up.
 
Conspiracy to possess cocaine. Attempted possession of cocaine. 21 to life.
Yeah, okay. Explains several things.
It's "conspiracy" and "attempted possession", because she never physically possessed the drugs.

She was either running the show, where it's not unusual for large quantity dealers to never touch the product, or she was a "communications coordinator" as she claims. She moved two to three tons total, over four years.

Check out my post #25 above, for the details.
 
I completely agree with posters here that everyone in jail for personal drug use should be released. Our drug laws are crazy, and this administration has been intent on enforcing them.

So Trump's pardon here comes as an unexpected surprise, but it should be examined a bit what is actually being said here.

It seems to be lost in the sauce somehow that this particular person was charged with being a leader of a multi million dollar cocaine ring, and money laundering. Non violent crime, but not incidental. Even so, I think a life sentence is rather harsh for her crime, and after 20 years she certainly should be out of jail. It seems there is no parole on federal charges and thats why she's still in jail.
 
Because history shows us quite clearly that prohibition has never worked, can never work and only leads to massive other problems like corruption, etc...

There I must respectfully disagree. I do not think we can say "prohibition has never worked" because I don't think prohibition was ever properly tried in the United States. Prohibition in the United States throughout the 1920s to the early 1930s punished the production and distribution of alcohol; not its possession and consumption. Likewise, very few people in the United States are tried and convicted simply for possession or use of illegal drugs. They are punished for distribution of illegal drugs. Thus, the law only punishes supply; not demand. As long as there is a demand for illegal drugs, there will be someone willing to take the risk to supply it. Therefore, for a prohibition to actually be of any effectiveness, the suppliers of illegal drugs must be caught and punished, but so must people who demand the drugs.

Japan and South Korea have very low incidences of illegal drug use compared to the rest of the developed world, and incidentally, much lower crime rates. That is because you are not just punished for selling drugs; you are punished if you are caught in possession of drugs for personal use. You are also punished if you are found to be addicted to illegal drugs. Because of that fear of punishment, most people who might otherwise be tempted to use drugs recreationally shy away from it.

To draw what I believe is another salient comparison, we do not simply punish people producing and selling child pornography; we punish the people buying and consuming child pornography. As a result, while there will always be disgusting pedophiles who seek out such prurient material, the incidence is relatively low because it is so brutally punished at both ends of the exchange. If we treated the production, distribution and consumption of illegal drugs with the same level of harshness that we do for the production, distribution and consumption child pornography, I do not think we would have nearly as bad a drug problem as we do now.

That is just my thought on the matter.
 
From Paul Mirengoff of Power Line, a criticism of Trump's action:

it was only a few weeks ago that Trump was talking about death sentences for drug dealers. “We’re wasting our time if we don’t get tough with drug dealers, and that toughness includes the death penalty,” Trump stated.

“That toughness” does not include commuting the sentence of a drug entrepreneur too culpable to obtain clemency even from Barack Obama. Apparently “keeping up with the Kardashians” means more to Trump than being the tough-on-crime president he promised to be.

The commutation of Johnson’s pardon highlights one positive point, though. There is no need to reduce or eliminate mandatory minimum sentences in order to avoid unjust sentences. Where a sentence is unjust, it can be commuted. Trump frees big-time narcotics-trafficker even Obama didn’t help | Power Line
 
I completely agree with posters here that everyone in jail for personal drug use should be released. Our drug laws are crazy, and this administration has been intent on enforcing them.

How is arresting, prosecuting, convicting and imprisoning people for distributing hard drugs in already crime-ridden or impoverished communities a bad thing? Especially when many of these harsh anti-drug laws were passed by Congresspeople who were from these very same communities riven with crime?
 
Article Here.



Every now and then, something good comes out of the Trump Administration. I dislike Donald Trump very much, but I will applaud him for doing this. But, I don't think he should stop here. Ms. Johnson was able to get out in large part because of Kim Kardashian's influence. Not everyone that's in jail for non-violent offenses has that kind of advantage. But anyways, good on Trump and good outcome.

Non-violent offenses. I’m not sure there is such a thing when you’re laundering millions of dollars and coordinating the movement of six metric tons of cocaine on behalf of a Columbian drug cartel. This wasn’t a person selling tiny baggies on street corners.
 
How is arresting, prosecuting, convicting and imprisoning people for distributing hard drugs in already crime-ridden or impoverished communities a bad thing? Especially when many of these harsh anti-drug laws were passed by Congresspeople who were from these very same communities riven with crime?

I notice you have cut my post to a single sentence. I was reflecting on the intent on one hand to fully enforce drug laws by this administration, including overriding local laws dealing with marijuana....and then cutting to a scene of pardoning a grandma...who was in fact involved in major distribution of cocaine. If you are serious about your statement, you might think of the air brushing of the optics of the current pardon.

I think she's done her time. I don't think she is representative of the large numbers of people incarcerated for personal use, or sale of small amounts.
 
Non-violent offenses. I’m not sure there is such a thing when you’re laundering millions of dollars and coordinating the movement of six metric tons of cocaine on behalf of a Columbian drug cartel. This wasn’t a person selling tiny baggies on street corners.

Hopefully it was one of the nice Columbian drug cartels. You know, the one that didn't kidnap, torture and murder people.
 
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I notice you have cut my post to a single sentence. I was reflecting on the intent on one hand to fully enforce drug laws by this administration, including overriding local laws dealing with marijuana....and then cutting to a scene of pardoning a grandma...who was in fact involved in major distribution of cocaine. If you are serious about your statement, you might think of the air brushing of the optics of the current pardon.

I think she's done her time. I don't think she is representative of the large numbers of people incarcerated for personal use, or sale of small amounts.

I see. Thank you for clarifying. I do find that it is inconsistent, and it is pandering. I think what this woman did was evil, and, because I subscribe to a retributivist model of justice rather than a consequentialist model, I believe she deserved to remain in prison for the rest of her life...model prisoner status and all. I am completely against this pardon. I am also against the pardon that Donald Turmp issued to Joe Arpaio.
 
I see. Thank you for clarifying. I do find that it is inconsistent, and it is pandering. I think what this woman did was evil, and, because I subscribe to a retributivist model of justice rather than a consequentialist model, I believe she deserved to remain in prison for the rest of her life...model prisoner status and all. I am completely against this pardon. I am also against the pardon that Donald Turmp issued to Joe Arpaio.

Pardons that come out of nowhere disturb society's sense of justice, imo. Thanks for your explanation.
 
I completely agree with posters here that everyone in jail for personal drug use should be released. Our drug laws are crazy, and this administration has been intent on enforcing them.

So Trump's pardon here comes as an unexpected surprise, but it should be examined a bit what is actually being said here.

It seems to be lost in the sauce somehow that this particular person was charged with being a leader of a multi million dollar cocaine ring, and money laundering. Non violent crime, but not incidental. Even so, I think a life sentence is rather harsh for her crime, and after 20 years she certainly should be out of jail. It seems there is no parole on federal charges and thats why she's still in jail.
Just for perspective, she apparently brought in 2-3 tons over four years, in dozens of shipments from Columbia.

That's staggering. And I suspect if that info was in the headlines, she' & Trump might be getting a less welcome reception.

We're not talking grandma selling dime bags to boost her Social Security check, here!
 
Just for perspective, she apparently brought in 2-3 tons over four years, in dozens of shipments from Columbia.

That's staggering. And I suspect if that info was in the headlines, she' & Trump might be getting a less welcome reception.

We're not talking grandma selling dime bags to boost her Social Security check, here!

It is eye opening how the scenario has been recast in many media reports. Even the so called "failing liberal" NYT got to paragraph 10 before informing us:

Not everyone in the White House shared the view that Ms. Johnson’s sentence was too harsh. John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, and Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, resisted clemency, according to an administration official, confirming a report in The Washington Post. The two advisers were concerned because the drug ring that Ms. Johnson was part of moved substantial amounts of cocaine to the streets of Memphis over a period of years.
 
It is eye opening how the scenario has been recast in many media reports. Even the so called "failing liberal" NYT got to paragraph 10 before informing us:
Yep.

"I never used violence. I just brought in 3 tons over half a decade!"
 
I completely agree with posters here that everyone in jail for personal drug use should be released. Our drug laws are crazy, and this administration has been intent on enforcing them.

So Trump's pardon here comes as an unexpected surprise, but it should be examined a bit what is actually being said here.

It seems to be lost in the sauce somehow that this particular person was charged with being a leader of a multi million dollar cocaine ring, and money laundering. Non violent crime, but not incidental. Even so, I think a life sentence is rather harsh for her crime, and after 20 years she certainly should be out of jail. It seems there is no parole on federal charges and thats why she's still in jail.

Maybe she didn’t kill anyone directly but you don’t move and distribute vast quantities of cash and drugs for the Colombians without bodies somewhere in the equation and keep in mind that one of the top reasons people from South America seek asylum here is because they’re fleeing from such organizations. Is life appropriate? I don’t know but a commutation isn’t.
 
Yep.

"I never used violence. I just brought in 3 tons over half a decade!"

I think the pardon of the money laundering is the key to Trump's MO here. Desensitize the words a bit. Grandma's do it. Friends do it.. and there ya go. Sounds almost good, like washing your sheets and towels, hanging em up to dry in the sun. :roll:
 
I think the pardon of the money laundering is the key to Trump's MO here. Desensitize the words a bit. Grandma's do it. Friends do it.. and there ya go. Sounds almost good, like washing your sheets and towels, hanging em up to dry in the sun. :roll:
Oh, no doubt.

I just recently predicted amongst some friends, that Trump was going to go on a pardon spree. He's going to start a 'pardon movement' against "government overeach". Mark my words. Of course it's all political cover and desensitization for the day he pulls the cord to protect himself.

He's often doing celebrity pardons, who then in-turn go on national cable PR missions to sing Trump's praise in this matter. D'Souza is one, and Arpaio is another.

Even scarier, George Papadopoulis' wife, who previously was on cable claiming her husband was the "John Dean" to Trump, and that George as John Dean was going to sink Trump, has just recently done a 180 degree turn now claiming Mueller and the FBI are overeaching and out-of-control! And she's publicly on air asking for a pardon from Trump!
 
Article Here.



Every now and then, something good comes out of the Trump Administration. I dislike Donald Trump very much, but I will applaud him for doing this. But, I don't think he should stop here. Ms. Johnson was able to get out in large part because of Kim Kardashian's influence. Not everyone that's in jail for non-violent offenses has that kind of advantage. But anyways, good on Trump and good outcome.

I'm not sure earning millions of dollars for cartels that also engage in activities such as child sex trafficking can really be described as non-violent...
 
Article Here.



Every now and then, something good comes out of the Trump Administration. I dislike Donald Trump very much, but I will applaud him for doing this. But, I don't think he should stop here. Ms. Johnson was able to get out in large part because of Kim Kardashian's influence. Not everyone that's in jail for non-violent offenses has that kind of advantage. But anyways, good on Trump and good outcome.

Yup, got nothing but good to say about this move by Trump. Thank you, Mister President.
 
Article Here.



Every now and then, something good comes out of the Trump Administration. I dislike Donald Trump very much, but I will applaud him for doing this. But, I don't think he should stop here. Ms. Johnson was able to get out in large part because of Kim Kardashian's influence. Not everyone that's in jail for non-violent offenses has that kind of advantage. But anyways, good on Trump and good outcome.

Thanks Chomsky for the details.
On initial reading I was sympathetic.
Not so much any more.
 
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Thanks Chomsky for the details.
On initial reading I was sympathetic.
Not so much any more.
You're very welcome.

Yeah. Three tons over four years, does not sound very innocent to me.
 
No, she never possessed any drugs herself - she was involved in a drug trafficking organization in some way, as a result of being desperate for money.

I still think that's too long of a sentence. 'Desperate for money' doesn't cut it, imo, and instantly turns my sympathy off. It was a factor of her personal decision, and it was her personal decision to become involved in a drug trafficking organization.
 
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