Pardon

Remember how we gave President Obama such a hard time about delaying on giving pardons to so many people who had received such harsh sentences for non-violent drug crimes? And how it wasn’t until the end of his second term that he really stepped up the pardons?

Well, President Trump isn’t waiting. According to CNN, President Trump has pardoned… Joe Arpaio???

Sheesh.

President Donald Trump has pardoned controversial former sheriff Joe Arpaio of his conviction for criminal contempt, the White House said Friday night.

Martin Redish, writing in the New York Times, isn’t so sure… Why Trump Can’t Pardon Arpaio

This is uncharted territory. Yes, on its face the Constitution’s pardon power would seem unlimited. And past presidents have used it with varying degrees of wisdom, at times in ways that would seem to clash with the courts’ ability to render justice. But the Arpaio case is different: The sheriff was convicted of violating constitutional rights, in defiance of a court order involving racial profiling. Should the president indicate that he does not think Mr. Arpaio should be punished for that, he would signal that governmental agents who violate judicial injunctions are likely to be pardoned, even though their behavior violated constitutional rights, when their illegal actions are consistent with presidential policies.

Many legal scholars argue that the only possible redress is impeachment — itself a politicized, drawn-out process. But there may be another route. If the pardon is challenged in court, we may discover that there are, in fact, limits to the president’s pardon power after all.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

49 Responses to Pardon

  1. damm says:

    As far as I understand Trump cannot Pardon Joe Arpaio because he has to admit his guilt.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burdick_v._United_States

    He wants to; but also he has to serve jail time. I’m no expert; this is what I have watched and read.

    • WalStMonky says:

      .
      .

      So how did Jerry Ford get away with pardoning Dick Nixon in 1973? Anyway, you’re mistaken. The only valid limit on any President’s power to pardon is that he can only do so for violating Federal laws and that the pardoned person can reject the pardon.

      But let’s not lose sight of the forest. Just because someone may have a legal power doesn’t mean that anyone other than an idiot would actually use that power in certain circumstances. Sure, Joe Arpaio gives me nightmares and I was hoping to get to see him serve some time in his own tent jail. But this was a major misstep on the part of the POTUS. It was made even more so coming on the heels of his remarks about the racists in Virginia. A couple of Ambien and schadenfreude foregone is a small price to pay for moving the POTUS a little closer to being cashiered from service.

  2. darkcycle says:

    Disgusting. My friend spent 15 days in Arpaio’s tent city with a broken leg and hip. He got no medical care at all there.

  3. Hope says:

    He should at least have to wear pink underwear and eat expired bologna for the duration of the sentence.

  4. jean valjean says:

    Trump has succeeded in turning the U.S. into a banana republic along the same lines as Duterte’s Philippines. In pardoning the racist thug Joe Arpaio Trump has given carte blanche to law enforcement to act outside the law. Police assassination squads are already a fact of life for black Americans and they will only be emboldened by this travesty of justice.

  5. WalStMonky says:

    .
    .

    I had a horrid nightmare last night. I dreamed that the POTUS fired AG Sessions and made Mr. Arpaio the US Attorney General.

  6. Servetus says:

    Joe Arpaio must think himself triumphant over a justice system and a culture that normally sees punishment as a necessary condition for forgiveness. Arpaio, the unforgiven, a tough minded authoritarian, a former DEA agent with a 25-year tenure, with work performed in Argentina, Turkey, and Mexico, later head of the DEA’s Arizona branch—a man whose name shall now live in infamy, could have spent 60 days in the same federal lockup Tommy Chong spent time in and acquired an interest in casting ceramics. The top ranking prohibitionist might then have retired to some obscure hideout in Paraguay to snort cocaine and violate the local women as Oliver North did in Central America. Now Arpaio has to wake up every day to the fact that his precious Trump pardon may be overturned on a legal technicality.

    • WalStMonky says:

      .
      .

      Presidential pardons are inviolate. There are no technicalities available to overturn one.

      • Servetus says:

        How sad. Maybe impeachment charges could include Trump’s pardon of Arpaio, citing it as a criminal contract between two criminals in furtherance of a criminal enterprise? Throw in some RICO conspiracy charges and some fraud to add flavor to the mix, stir well, and see what emerges. Granted we would be in unknown legal territory. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

  7. Chaos, racism and white superiority seems to be the hallmark of the Trump Administration. Drug War revitalization and completely destroying all progress made in the area of governmental reform seems to be a goal if not THE goal. World dominion in – concert with his Russian buddies? This guy is much worse than tricky Dick.

    Arpaio refused to co-operate with the courts. What kind of legacy does this leave for rule of law in America?

    IMHO Trump must go. This is no way to run a country.

    Alt/r Alt/l are new names for the same game.

  8. I think Trump is daring them all to step over the line – egging them on so he can smash em all. That’s the Trump bravado flavored with narcissism.

  9. Rule of law replaced with rule of Trump.

  10. Trump prepares to lift limits on military gear for police
    https://tinyurl.com/ybf9jgy8

    “The Trump administration is preparing to restore the flow of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies under a program that had been sharply curtailed amid an outcry over police use of armored vehicles and other war-fighting gear to confront protesters.”

    • DdC says:

      “I do not believe
      in the collective wisdom
      of individual ignorance.”
      — Thomas Carlyle

      ☛ Rights groups slam Trump’s plan
      to arm US police with military gear

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th_tkq36Uww

      “I have never seen a situation so dismal
      that a policeman couldn’t make it worse.”
      — Brendan Behan (1923-1964)

      ☛ 85 shots: US cops use more ammo per man than Germans per year
      Eighty-five shots: That’s the total number of bullets German police used in all of 2011, Der Spiegel reports. But what does it say when US cops use as much ammo to bring down one man as German cops need to keep the peace nationwide?

      “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.”
      [Who will police the police?]
      — Latin proverb

      ☛ Policing for Profit
      ☛ Forfeiture $quads
      ☛ Got SqWAT?
      Chief William H. Parker greatly reformed and streamlined the LAPD, Parker’s reforms had the effect of making LAPD a paramilitary body. Daryl Gates was picked to be the chauffeur for Parker. Today Gates is considered the father of SWAT

      “A politician normally prospers under democracy in proportion … as he excels in the invention of imaginary perils and imaginary defenses against them.”
      — H. L. Mencken, 1918

    • DdC says:

      ☛ In a Twitter thread,
      U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) threatened a Senate appropriations legislation floor fight over the move to increasingly militarize police departments.

      ☛ Paul also said in an op-ed that he will introduce standalone legislation to rein in police militarization.

      ☛ How Many Americans Do the Cops Kill Each Year? – Newsweek
      The funeral procession for Philando Castile, shot dead by police, travels from the Brooks funeral home to the St Paul Cathedral in St Paul, Minnesota, U.S. July 14, 2016. Daniel Bier writes that by the end of 2015, the Washington Post counted 990 people shot dead by police; the Guardian counted 1,146 killed; Fatal Encounters recorded 1,357 killed.

      ☛ Fatal Force washingtonpost
      963 people were fatally shot by police in 2016

      ☛ US police shootings: How many die each year? – bbc
      On Sunday morning, three police officers were shot dead in Baton Rouge. This attack came just 10 days after five police officers were killed in Dallas. Both events were revenge attacks for the killing of young black men by police.

      Police killed

      “There’s a widespread perception in the American public, and particularly within law enforcement, that officers are more threatened, more endangered, more often assaulted, and more often killed than they have been historically,” says Seth Stoughton, a law professor at the University of Southern Carolina and former policeman.

      “I think it’s a very strong perception. People truly believe it. But factually, looking at the numbers, it’s not accurate,” he says.

      FBI data on police officers “feloniously killed” – killed as a result of a criminal act – indicates that the numbers have been falling, he says.

      Looking at the 10 years from 2006 to 2015 the annual average number of police deaths was 49.6, Stoughton says, which he notes is “down significantly from the high”.

      At the same time the number of police officers has increased in the US. There are a quarter of a million more police officers working today than there were three decades ago.

      So when you consider the number of officers killed per 100,000, there has been a dramatic decrease. The annual per capita number of officers killed has dropped from 24 per 100,000 in the 10 years to 1980 to 7.3 per 100,000 in the 10 years to 2013 (the last year for which there is good data).

      Killed by police

      Official data on the number of people killed by the police turns out to be remarkably unreliable.

      “We can’t have an informed discussion, because we don’t have data,” FBI Director James Comey said in the House of Representatives in October.

    • DdC says:

      THE POLICE STATE COMETH
      by former Rep. Ron Paul, June 25, 1997
      The Congressional Record (House)

      Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, in a police state the police are national, powerful and authoritarian. Inevitably, national governments yield to the temptation to use the military to do the heavy lifting. Once the military is used for local police activity, however minor initially, the march toward martial law with centralized police using military troops as an adjunct force becomes irresistible.

      Throughout our history, law enforcement in the United States has remained for the most part a local matter. In recent history, especially since the 1970s, the growth of Federal agencies to enforce tens of thousands of regulations, not even written even by Congress, has changed our attitude toward the proper use of police power as established under the Constitution.

      While this is annoying to many Americans, many of whom are voicing their resentment, the principle of a centralized police power has become acceptable and unchallenged by our political leaders today. continued

      “No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it.

      ….the 63% of the German people who expressed their opposition to Hitler were much too divided and shortsighted to combine against a common danger which they must have known would overwhelm them unless they united, HOWEVER TEMPORARY, to stamp it out.”
      -William L. Shirer, author; p.259
      “The rise and fall of the Third Reich”

  11. Trump’s business sought deal on a Trump Tower in Moscow while he ran for president https://tinyurl.com/yapycqdo

    He’s a liar and a crook. He should resign, or be removed.

    • DdC says:

      ☛ The Parody Project
      http://parodyproject.com/
      ~ CONFOUNDS THE SCIENCE
      (Parody of Sound of Silence)
      ~ THE TWEETER (Parody of The Boxer)

      ☛ 1/11/17
      These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties To Russia
      Arizona Republican John McCain gave a “full copy” of the memos to Comey on Dec. 9, but that the FBI already had copies of many of the memos.

      ☛ 2016 080 Co Intel Report.gif

      ☛ 1/11/17 The Alleged Trump-Putin
      “Golden Shower” Fiasco, Explained

      Apparently, the author of the damning memos was originally hired by NeverTrump Republican donors to do opposition research on Trump and then hired by pro-Clinton donors to keep doing opposition on Trump.
      ~ Trump and Comey Talked Russian
      ‘Hookers’ and ‘Golden Shower’
      ~ Trump, Russian Spies and the Infamous
      ‘Golden Shower Memos

      In such a mess of a crooked system, if all government is as corrupt as the drug war. In which case I do believe the Mafia more honest and less hypocritical than the Religionist Fascist’.with proper etiquette. Pence would have the GOP support, Drumpf has lost with his arrogance and ignorance. Bernie was the only justified winner. Its been clear and stated Trump’s only ties with Russia were Putin, not government spy v spy as usual. Business not Secrets. The Media is diverting attention with old cold war hype and innuendo. They may scratch up enough to remove the Nit Twitter, Then what? Careful what you wish for.

      ☛ Mike Pence, Trump’s VP Pick,
      is Bad News for Cannabis Reform

      Pence hails from Indiana, where draconian drug laws still reign supreme. Possession of any amount of cannabis in the state still punishable by a $1,000 fine and 180 days in jail.

      ~ On the issues: Mike Pence
      Pence scores -20 by the NORML on drug reform
      ~ Voted YES on more funding for Mexico to fight drugs. (Jun 2008)
      ~ Voted YES on military border patrols to battle drugs & terrorism. (Sep 2001)
      ~ Rated -20 by NORML, indicating a “hard-on-drugs” stance. (Dec 2006)

      ~ Rated 0% by the AU, indicating opposition to church-state separation. (Dec 2006)

      ~ Designate first weekend in May as Ten Commandments Weekend. (Apr 2011)

      Does Mike Pence Believe in Evolution? snopes
      The VP-elect may not have absolutely denied the phenomenon of evolution, but he has said that “intelligent design provides the only even remotely rational explanation for the known universe.”

      PENCE: Do I believe in evolution?
      I embrace the view that God created the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that’s in them.

      ☛ Trump and Pence on science, in their own words

      The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.
      — Thomas Jefferson, 1823

  12. https://youtu.be/sh163n1lJ4M

    Listen to this. Can you envision the Donald with a speech like this? I don’t think he could. Not without quite a few laughs.

  13. More than arrogance:

    Trump abuses his power to help the cause of bigotry https://t.co/DX0EPLKA0a

    Now pardoned, Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants his conviction thrown out https://t.co/kjdiD5QVDi

  14. Servetus says:

    Former DEA agent and human rights criminal Joe Arpaio wants to run for public office as mayor, senator, legislator, or perhaps führer.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/arizona-dems-are-loving-the-arpaio-campaign-chatter

    Expect Arpaio to go judge shopping to secure a non-Hispanic federal judge to make the decision regarding reversing and expunging his contempt-of-court conviction.

    Interviewers ask the goose-stepping narc how he’s been able to receive such good treatment while his fellow collaborators were disbarred and lost their jobs. Arpaio says it’s God’s work:

    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/08/28/joe-arpaio-asks-judge-vacate-contempt-conviction-after-pardon/610186001/

  15. Servetus says:

    Geneticists at Osaka University have isolated a single mutation in an enzyme that may predict the onset of schizophrenia and autism in people currently exhibiting no symptoms. Asymptomatic identification of psychoses through a genetic variant is bad news for prohibition propagandists who must now rule out marijuana as a contributor or cause of later psychosis in young people already genetically predisposed to mental illness:

    29-AUG-2017 — A new multi-institutional study by Japanese researchers shows a potential rare gene mutation that could act as a predictor for two neurodevelopmental disorders, schizophrenia and autism.

    “Aberrant synapse formation is important in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and autism,” says Osaka University Professor Toshihide Yamashita, one of the authors of the study. “Microglia contribute to the structure and function of synapse connectivities.”

    Microglia are the only cells in the brain that express the receptor CX3CR1. Mutations in this receptor are known to affect synapse connectivity and cause abnormal social behavior in mice. They have also been associated with neuroinflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, but no study has shown a role in neurodevelopment disorders.

    Working with this hypothesis, the researchers conducted a statistical analysis of the CX3CR1 gene in over 7000 schizophrenia and autism patients and healthy subjects, finding one mutant candidate, a single amino acid switch from alanine to threonine, as a candidate marker for prediction.[…]

    According to Yamashita, the findings are the first to connect a genetic variation in microglia with neurodevelopment disorders. Moreover, he hopes that the discovery could become a basis for predictive diagnostics.

    “There is no reliable way to diagnose schizophrenia or autism in asymptomatic patients. Deeper understanding of the genetic risk factors will help us develop preventative measures.”

    AAAS Public Release: Using DNA to predict schizophrenia and autism

    • jean valjean says:

      He says the war on drugs is winnable. I don’t think even he believes that now. So he’s a fraud and a hypocrite as well as a dinosaur. No mention of cannabis/marijuana in Jeff’s fantasy; just vague references to “drugs.”

  16. Stupid Against Marijuana (SAM):

    Anti-legalization group urges feds to “systematically shut down” cannabis industry https://t.co/na9FqWLwtC

    Sessions: “We must create and foster a culture that’s hostile to drug use” https://t.co/2dPqLMS4cr

    Same old drug war, same failed path to nowhere.

    • DdC says:

      Sabet’s SAM Anti-legalization group urges feds not to arrest casual marijuana users.

      Sessions: “We must create a foster culture that’s hostile”

      “A violently active, intrepid, brutal youth
      that is what I am after…
      I will have no intellectual training.
      Knowledge is ruin for my young men.”
      Adolf Hitler,
      quoted by John Gunther “The Nation”

      The assassins of youth…DARE the FRCn PDFA
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/505

  17. They can start with drug stores, pharmaceutical companies, WalMart, health food stores, and doctors. Then there is always the collateral damage of blacks, Mexicans, other minorities, and the poor.

    Great war planning there, Mr Sessions.

  18. Another drug war winner:

    Spending bill would slash disaster relief by $1B to fund Trump’s border wall http://tinyurl.com/y75gseva

    • DdC says:

      @POLITICOMag
      Now is the time to say it as loudly as possible:
      Harvey Is What Climate Change Looks Like

      Aug 28 @AnnCoulter
      I don’t believe Hurricane Harvey is God’s punishment for Houston electing a lesbian mayor. But that is more credible than “climate change”.

      “All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it. Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it.”

      @Sue0444
      But one thing I believe is that Trump was put into office by God!! & God will help us through these bad times!! God bless America & Trump.

      ☛ Trump Revoked Flood Protections for Millions of Americans

      • Hope says:

        “@Sue0444
        But one thing I believe is that Trump was put into office by God!!”

        I disagree, Sue. I believe he is President because of the free will of the voters that put them there. The God of Christianity is all about “Free will”. You have zeal… but lack knowledge. The believers’ free will. I’m a Christian, Sue, and I don’t think Trump was put in office by God (I’m talking the Trinity, here… Father, Son, Spirit). I always try to heed and understand the will of my all knowing God… and not once did he tell me he wanted me to vote for Trump. Not once. And I promise you, I am a real Christian and I actually have knowledge of the Word to back up my beliefs. I have zeal and I have knowledge. If you don’t have knowledge of the Word, you might think people don’t have free will. Thankfully, my God is pretty amazing at rescuing people from the consequences of the mislaid free will of others. You were free, Sue. I promise God didn’t make you vote for Trump. Aaargh.

      • The unbearable stench of Trump’s B.S.
        https://tinyurl.com/yal3jtk9

      • DdC says:

        Pardon my speculations,

        Another hidden cost of Global Warming. CO2 is heavier by atomic weight than O2. As it concentrates in the atmosphere. Centrifugal force would indicate more weight means faster rotation. Maybe the burning of fossil fools is making everyone older, quicker.

        But fortunately, I have the key, to reverse this reality.
        And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile
        It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while
        Won’t you please tell the man I didn’t kill anyone
        No I’m just tryin’ to stay… forever young.
        Forever young, forever young
        May you stay forever young.

        ☛ Cannabis reverses aging processes in the brain

  19. If you want to be really entertained put on a pair of 3D glasses and watch the news. Trump looks really real then. The Incredible Bulk helps too.

  20. DdC says:

    Today is International Overdose Awareness Day.

    Many of us in the drug policy reform community have been deeply affected by the tragedy of overdose death. Today, we stand together in memory of those we’ve lost, and rededicate ourselves to working toward a better future.

    It begins with more practical, compassionate drug policies.

    As a police officer, I’m here to tell you: I do not want to see people who struggle with drug abuse or addiction arrested. I do not want to see them suffer at the hands of the criminal justice system. I do not want to see them ostracized by social stigma, too afraid or ashamed to seek help when they want or need it.

    People do not deserve to die because their health issue was treated as a criminal justice matter.

    As law enforcement professionals, and as a society, we can do better. We can advocate for harm reduction initiatives including syringe exchange programs; supervised injection facilities; the availability of naloxone (a drug that reverses the impact of opioids) not only for first responders, but also for people who use drugs and their families; Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) programs to divert individuals struggling with addiction into intensive support programs rather than the criminal justice system; and other life-saving measures.

    Death by overdose is preventable. But we need to invest our resources into programs that help prevent it. We need to keep speaking out, pushing for change, and supporting – not judging or punishing – people who struggle with substance abuse or addiction.

    The Law Enforcement Action Partnership stands together with those who are grieving, those who are struggling, and those who are advocating for reforms that make an impact. To support our work, please make a contribution today.
    In solidarity,

    Major Neill Franklin (Ret.)
    Executive Director
    LawEnforcementActionPartnership.org

    ☛ A study of musculoskeletal trauma patients who used marijuana during their recovery found that 90% believed it reduced symptoms of pain and 81% said it reduced the amount of opioid pain medication they used.

    ☛ Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) claimed that marijuana is being laced with fentanyl and said drug use should be made more taboo to discourage people from engaging in it.

    ☛ Politicians and Police Officials are Still Making Up Blatant Lies about Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana

    ☛ Ignorant Jeff: Miner’s Lullaby, Drug Overdoses & MMJ

    • DdC says:

      Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) claimed that rednecks are driving into crowds of people and said driving should be made more taboo to discourage people from engaging in it.

      U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to help recruit patients for a study on medical cannabis’s role in helping military veterans with PTSD. A study of musculoskeletal trauma patients said 90% believed Cannabis reduced symptoms of pain and 81% said it reduced the amount of opioid pain medication they used. Just makes the hair on the back of Sessions neck stand up.

      MM: America’s opioid epidemic is a national emergency. Even president Trump, who knows absolutely nothing about drug addiction, conceded earlier this month that declaring a state of emergency was a necessary tool in combating the prescription-pushed addiction crisis. But no matter how serious the opioid epidemic becomes, politicians simply can’t help themselves from making up completely unfounded lies about marijuana laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl.

  21. Here is a headline I don’t mind seeing:

    Arizona accuses Insys of fraudulent opioid marketing scheme
    https://t.co/rESBjXraAH

    Same pharmaceutical company that donated money to fight legalization of marijuana.

  22. Servetus says:

    There is one less sheriff in town. Sheriff David Clarke resigned August 31 for duty to the Tsar, reporting allegedly for a Homeland Security position.

    Here is a clip of Sheriff Clarke being laughed at by a Congressman when Clarke tries to explain the evils of cannabis:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEYP5YAPViM

  23. Will says:

    .
    .
    Article describing the constitutional sheriff’s movement;

    The Troubling Sheriffs’ Movement That Joe Arpaio Supports

    http://tinyurl.com/ycnygt9l

  24. NorCalNative says:

    This part caught my eye.

    The Constitutional Sheriffs movement arose from the ashes of the far-right, anti-semetic Posse Comitatus movement of the 1970s and 80s led by William Potter Gale.

    The insignia favored by these Christian Patriots was a redesigned Sheriff’s badge containing a NOOSE, BIBLE, and SWORD to reflect their beliefs that sheriffs were responsible for the armed defense of citizens and higher law
    (a combination of their view of the Constitution and Christian Identity teachings).

  25. WalStMonky says:

    .
    .

    I must say I’ve started to find it rather disturbing how much time and effort that the sycophants of prohibition spend thinking about my sperm. What, am I supposed to feel like less of a man just because my sailors swim in circles and have no sense of urgency?

    Smoking marijuana causes fertility problems because it makes men’s sperm ‘lazily swim in circles’ say experts

    Researchers reveal cannabis leaves sperm ‘mellow’ causing it to ‘swim in circles’
    Regular use of the drug cuts sperm counts, the Canadian scientists discovered
    Previous studies have shown that marijuana can affect fertility
    /snip/

    I’m still waiting on the man teats I was promised so many decades ago.

  26. jean valjean says:

    How Joe Arpaio got his start busting hippies in Texas in the 1960s:

    “Joe Arpaio did his best to bring down a budding Texas legend, but he failed. Doug Sahm died of a heart attack at a hotel in Taos in 1998, but his legacy lives on, while Joe Arpaio is reduced to being an angry loser. The two men symbolize two conflicting visions of America—one harsh, authoritarian and intolerant; the other mellow, fun- and freedom-loving and inclusive. Arpaio wanted a Texas where the law was enforced with a firm hand, especially against people with the wrong skin color or hair style; Sahm wanted a Groover’s Paradise. The battle is still being waged.”

    http://www.alternet.org/drugs/joe-arpaio-world-class-jerk-lot-longer-you-ever-knew

Comments are closed.