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Thread: Trump commutes former Gov. Blagojevich's sentence

  1. #1

    Trump commutes former Gov. Blagojevich's sentence




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  3. #2

  4. #3
    Also NYC Junk Bond scammer Michael Milken (personal friend of Mnuchin) and NYC Police Chief Bernie Kerik. Others on his pardon list to be released later today.

    Indeed, many rural conservatives in his voting base receiving pardons lol.

    (He's pardoned one black person with a ridiculous drug sentence and she ended up on a Super Bowl commercial!)
    Last edited by devil21; 02-18-2020 at 01:18 PM.
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by devil21 View Post
    Also NYC Junk Bond scammer Michael Milken (personal friend of Mnuchin) and NYC Police Chief Bernie Kerik. Others on his pardon list to be released later today.

    Indeed, many rural conservatives in his voting base receiving pardons lol.

    (He's pardoned one black person with a ridiculous drug sentence and she ended up on a Super Bowl commercial!)
    Could be a good sign for Roger Stone that he's making pardons like this? Obama did very few the cold hearted bastard..

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Warlord View Post
    Could be a good sign for Roger Stone that he's making pardons like this? Obama did very few the cold hearted bastard..
    Actually, Obama commuted a lot more sentences than Trump has. Look it up. The numbers aren't even close. Trump's have been almost exclusively tribe members and NYC cronies (but I repeat myself).
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by devil21 View Post
    Actually, Obama commuted a lot more sentences than Trump has. Look it up. The numbers aren't even close. Trump's have been almost exclusively tribe members and NYC cronies (but I repeat myself).
    Your right. I stand corrected!

    Most of Obama's were mandatory sentences. Shame he did nothing to actually tackle the problem by getting rid of them in law.

    The war on drugs is still alive and well.

  8. #7
    Re Blagojevich:
    He must have a lot of stories about Illinois democrats to tell, no?

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Valli6 View Post
    Re Blagojevich:
    He must have a lot of stories about Illinois democrats to tell, no?
    He must have gotten some offers on that obama seat.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by devil21 View Post
    Also NYC Junk Bond scammer Michael Milken (personal friend of Mnuchin) and NYC Police Chief Bernie Kerik. Others on his pardon list to be released later today.

    Indeed, many rural conservatives in his voting base receiving pardons lol.

    (He's pardoned one black person with a ridiculous drug sentence and she ended up on a Super Bowl commercial!)
    Blagojevich was on Trump's TV show "The Apprentice". Rudy G. mayor when Bernie Kerik was head of the NYPD. He also pardoned Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former San Francisco 49ers owner convicted in a gambling fraud scandal. It helps to have friends in high places.

    "He seems like a very nice person," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday.
    Last edited by Zippyjuan; 02-18-2020 at 02:21 PM.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Blagojevich was on Trump's TV show "The Apprentice". Rudy G. was Bernie Kerik's lawyer but could not get his client off for eight charges including tax fraud. He also pardoned Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former San Francisco 49ers owner convicted in a gambling fraud scandal. It helps to have friends in high places.
    It sure does. What are the connections required to get a Nobel Prize?

  13. #11
    How do Trump supporters feel about this? I'm guessing they probably think he should only be commuting Republicans.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Globalist View Post
    How do Trump supporters feel about this? I'm guessing they probably think he should only be commuting Republicans.
    I'm really just surprised he's not waiting until 30 minutes before the next president gets sworn in to do this. Seems kind of weird to do it in the middle of a presidency. Most presidents would prefer to wait until there's no backlash for it.
    Quote Originally Posted by timosman View Post
    This is getting silly.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    It started silly.
    T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men

    "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

    We Are Running Out of Time - Mini Me

    Quote Originally Posted by Philhelm
    I part ways with "libertarianism" when it transitions from ideology grounded in logic into self-defeating autism for the sake of ideological purity.

  15. #13

    Trump Tries Trumping Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Warlord View Post
    So Trump will commute the sentence of a former corrupt governor who was found guilty of extortion, wire fraud, racketeering, and other charges, but he refuses to pardon a man who lost almost everything dear to him in his life for the cause of exposing lies and unconstitutional acts by our federal security organizations to spy on American citizens without due process of law, calling him a "total traitor."

    Anyone who continues to praise Trump after this latest clemency loses all credibility when it comes to standing for the principles of life, liberty, property, or any other principle that guarantees a free and prosperous society. And if you call yourself a Christian, especially, then shame on you. You are not advancing Biblical principles of self-government nor civic government by supporting someone like Trump, and you need to seriously repent.
    "Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, Whom you have reproached.'" - 1 Samuel 17:45

    "May future generations look back on our work and say that these were men and women who, in moment of great crisis, stood up to their politicians, the opinion-makers, and the Establishment, and saved their country." - Dr. Ron Paul

  16. #14
    Something something drain the swamp
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Globalist View Post
    How do Trump supporters feel about this? I'm guessing they probably think he should only be commuting Republicans.
    Nope, I am all for prison reform especially for non-violent crimes committed. I also believe Blagojevich has a few secrets he could divulge about Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Eric Holder.
    Last edited by donnay; 02-18-2020 at 06:39 PM.
    “The spirits of darkness are now among us. We have to be on guard so that we may realize what is happening when we encounter them and gain a real idea of where they are to be found. The most dangerous thing you can do in the immediate future will be to give yourself up unconsciously to the influences which are definitely present.” ~ Rudolf Steiner

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Warlord View Post
    Your right. I stand corrected!

    Most of Obama's were mandatory sentences. Shame he did nothing to actually tackle the problem by getting rid of them in law.

    The war on drugs is still alive and well.
    One of the best legacies Obama left behind. As a member of the executive branch, he was not in a position to get laws changed without Congressional approval, obviously.
    There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
    (1 John 4:18)



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  20. #17
    Per registered decision, member has been banned for violating community standards as interpreted by TheTexan (respect his authoritah) as authorized by Brian4Liberty Ruling

    May God have mercy on his atheist, police-hating, non-voting, anarchist soul.
    Last edited by Voluntarist; 03-17-2020 at 07:38 PM.
    You have the right to remain silent. Anything you post to the internet can and will be used to humiliate you.

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Voluntarist View Post
    @TheTexan will be overjoyed to hear that one of the boys in blue has been pardoned.
    Great news
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  22. #19
    Socrates: What is Justice Trumpios?

    Trumpios: Doing good to friends and harm to enemies.

    Socrates: Really dude, WTF?

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Socrates: What is Justice Trumpios?

    Trumpios: Doing good to friends and harm to enemies.

    Socrates: Really dude, WTF?
    Now, do Obama.

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by timosman View Post
    Now, do Obama.
    Socrates: What is Justice Barrachios?

    Barrachios: Doing good to friends and harm to enemies.

    Socrates: Really dude, WTF?

    ...in all cases, Socrates gets executed; the world ain't what it used to be.

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Socrates: What is Justice Barrachios?

    Barrachios: Doing good to friends and harm to enemies.

    Socrates: Really dude, WTF?

    ...in all cases, Socrates gets executed; the world ain't what it used to be.
    you should look more at the invariables, like "a fool and his money are soon parted"

  26. #23
    https://twitter.com/HaleighHoffman/s...72053278777346


  27. #24

    Rod Blagojevich Speaks After His Release From Prison




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  29. #25
    I Covered Blago’s Trial From Start To Finish. Trump’s Commutation Isn’t Crazy.
    https://www.politico.com/news/magazi...utation-115903
    There was one sentiment I heard over and over again, which went something like, “I know Blagojevich was guilty as hell, but 14 years is insane.”


    CHICAGO — The day of Rod Blagojevich’s sentencing in late 2011, I was a federal courts reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. I was also extremely pregnant, days from my due date.

    A gracious deputy marshal gave me a primo seat in the expansive ceremonial courtroom, right behind Patti Blagojevich, the former governor’s wife. The judge, having shot down one defense argument after another that would have limited Blagojevich’s sentencing range, called a recess.

    That’s when Illinois’ former first lady turned to me: “I hope your water breaks today.”


    Other reporters were horrified. Was she lashing out at the press?


    No, it was a moment of gallows humor; she could feel the devastation that was coming. She was right. U.S. District Judge James Zagel handed down a 14-year sentence to Blagojevich. Prosecutors had calculated that under federal guidelines, Blagojevich’s crimes technically qualified for 30 years to life in prison, but they asked for 15 to 20 years.


    Among Blagojevich’s crimes: lying to the FBI, trying to sell President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and holding up money to a children’s hospital and a racetrack in exchange for campaign contributions.


    Zagel, as it happens, was the same judge who in 2009 had sentenced mob informant Nick Calabrese to 12 years in prison. Calabrese helped take down the Chicago mob. He also killed 14 people.


    I’ve written hundreds of stories, blog posts, magazine articles and, finally, a book on Blagojevich’s case. There was one sentiment I heard over and over again, which went something like, “I know Blagojevich was guilty as hell, but 14 years is insane.”


    That’s why President Donald Trump likely risks little political blowback by commuting the sentence of his onetime Apprentice contestant, even in the state that Blagojevich disgraced.

    There are hardliners who firmly believe prison is where Blagojevich still belongs. But, as big a blockbuster as Blagojevich’s case became, and as much as he gave Illinois a black eye at a time when the country was celebrating the historic election of President Barack Obama, even some of the most ardent Blagojevich critics would stop and ask, “But 14 years?”

    The prosecution long battled public perception of the charges against Blagojevich as overkill — despite a stockpile of secret recordings in which Blagojevich famously said of the Senate seat Obama vacated, “I’ve got this thing and it’s f---ing golden.” Questions always swirled around the criminal case: Wasn’t this just a ham-handed governor, emasculated and rejected by the political establishment, a politically isolated boor, who was talking big on the phone?


    Yes, attempting but failing to commit a crime is still a crime, but it’s another thing to convince an average person it’s illegal and punishable, especially in city where standing on someone’s neck for a payoff is a way of life.


    This undercurrent of government overreach long bubbled beneath the surface of the Blagojevich case, even though this was a much different era from the one we’re in today. Then, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (who happens to be the personal attorney to his longtime friend James Comey and the special prosecutor in the case against I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, whom Trump pardoned) had ascended into an almost God-like figure; at long last, an incorruptible force who had spawned a golden era of public corruption cases.


    But even Fitzgerald was second-guessed when, in 2008 — the day the sitting governor was arrested in his jogging suit — Fitzgerald declared “the conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave.” The defense accused him of breaking Justice Department ethics guidelines forbidding extrajudicial comments and possibly tainting a jury pool.


    The Blagojevich case provided additional ammunition to critics of law enforcement already screaming about government overreach. The most severe example was Blagojevich’s longtime friend, Chris Kelly. Prosecutors, attempting to turn Kelly into a government witness, brought three separate indictments against him. After prosecutors filed a motion to revoke his bond, Kelly, who battled depression, took his own life. With his dying breath he told his girlfriend: “Tell them they won.”


    It was against this backdrop that prosecutors brought their case. And the public reservations played out in court.


    Despite what appeared to be overwhelming evidence, the first time prosecutors brought Blagojevich to trial, the jury was unable to reach a consensus, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial on 23 of 24 counts.


    The jury was hung on all of the charges against Blagojevich’s brother, Robert, who railed against the government for indicting the businessman who briefly served as his brother’s campaign finance chair. Prosecutors ended up dropping charges against Robert Blagojevich.

    It was the second trial attempt, with a much leaner case, when prosecutors persuaded jurors to decisively convict.


    Even then, some of the jurors afterward expressed regret; they liked Blagojevich, but they had to follow the letter of the law.


    All this isn’t to say Illinois loved Blagojevich. Far from it. And the feeling was mutual, as one Blagojevich statement on a recorded phone call illustrated: “I f----ing busted my ass. ... I gave your f---ing baby health care. ... What do I get for that? Only 13 percent of you think I'm doing a good job, so f--- all of you.”


    The conventional wisdom among defense lawyers in the courthouse at the time of Blagojevich’s sentencing was he would — and should — get more time than Illinois’ previous convicted governor, George Ryan.


    Ryan was sentenced to 6½ years in his corruption conviction, which grew from a massive bribe-taking scandal in the secretary of state’s office that Ryan had previously overseen. Secretary of state workers, who said they felt pressured to cough up to Ryan’s campaign fund, were handing out driver’s licenses to unqualified individuals for bribes. A commercial truck driver, who was among those to corruptly obtain a license, ended up causing a horrific crash that killed six children.


    Even with Trump’s commutation, Blagojevich will have served eight years, a longer term than Ryan’s. (And yes, I’ve long gauged Blagojevich’s time in prison by my son’s age.) It will surprise no one here if Blagojevich almost immediately appears on TV, resuming the role of antihero that he began before he was sent to a federal penal institution.



    But now Blago, rejected by the Springfield insiders who left him powerless in the final months of his governorship, has a new political ally, the president of the United States.



    By NATASHA KORECKI
    02/18/2020



    https://www.politico.com/news/magazi...utation-115903
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  30. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by donnay View Post
    Nope, I am all for prison reform especially for non-violent crimes committed. I also believe Blagojevich has a few secrets he could divulge about Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Eric Holder.
    Hopefully that information can lead to the arrest of all three of them but as usual I will remain skeptical.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  31. #27
    crosspost from other pardon thread:

    It's fun to google around to see the real reasons why most of them were pardoned or commuted.

    Paul Pogue's son donated $85,000 to Trump's re-election campaign and $150k to the RNC and was Rick Santorum's 2016 campaign finance director. Entire Pogue family has been dumping money hand-over-fist into Trump and the GOP.

    David Safavian is General Counsel of the organizer of CPAC.

    Angela Stanton-King (wonder why her married name was left off?) is married into the MLK family and she is the protege of Fox News contributor and evangelist Alveda King.

    Big scores for the re-election campaign!

    Kerik is Rudy's buddy and 9/11 co-conspirator.

    Milken is Mnuchin's buddy, among many other connections, as the press release details.

    Judith Negron probably just earned his respect, since she pulled off (for a while) the largest non-insider theft of taxpayer money in American history.

    The two drug offenders are the window-dressing for the rest of the political pardons and commutations.

    Blago is the one I can't quite figure out. Fwiw, I'm seeing a lot of Trumpers commenting that this is simply unacceptable and making them finally question if Trump was just bullshitting them the whole time. Not only is swamp not draining, it's being released from jail.
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Globalist View Post
    Hopefully that information can lead to the arrest of all three of them but as usual I will remain skeptical.



    “The spirits of darkness are now among us. We have to be on guard so that we may realize what is happening when we encounter them and gain a real idea of where they are to be found. The most dangerous thing you can do in the immediate future will be to give yourself up unconsciously to the influences which are definitely present.” ~ Rudolf Steiner

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by devil21 View Post
    Blago is the one I can't quite figure out. Fwiw, I'm seeing a lot of Trumpers commenting that this is simply unacceptable and making them finally question if Trump was just bullshitting them the whole time. Not only is swamp not draining, it's being released from jail.
    It was because his sentence was too long. Not complicated. And the "Trumpers" you are seeing commenting are paid trolls.

    Blago was also anti-swamp in IL and that is why they gave him such a long sentence.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  34. #30
    Still not convinced that GOPA wing's leadership would pardon infamous Wall Street fraudster Bernie Madoff despite his money related social work projects in the only democracy in mideast years ago.

    Madoff Asks Trump to Commute His 150-Year Sentence
    nytimes.com/2019/07/24/nyregion/bernie-madoff-trump-pardon.html
    He was not even a conservative or Republican if I'm not mistaken.

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