

Ask HN: Do you think there's a possibility Obama will pardon Snowden? - mikemajzoub


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kw71
Obama absolutely will not. His track record of abusing the "Justice" system to
harass and torture whistleblowers says so.

Yes, it is torture. Facing an unwinnable war against the megalith for no
reason other than you did the right thing will ruin your life, probably your
family's, and adversely affect your health so that it will shorten your life.

Edit: It's my belief that exposing crimes committed by the government, which
is charged with both obeying the law and enforcing it, is the right thing to
do.

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patzerhacker
>It's my belief that exposing crimes committed by the government, which is
charged with both obeying the law and enforcing it, is the right thing to do.

I believe you should get automatic, blanket immunity for crimes that directly
produce tangible evidence of government wrongdoing.

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hkarthik
I don't believe so. If Snowden receives a pardon, it will be after a few
decades of meaningful reform towards better privacy for citizens. I can't see
this happening until most of the current political leaders have retired. The
current generation will see him as a traitor and embarrassment for years to
come.

The worst case scenario is that he will only be pardoned posthumously, ala
Alan Turing. I hope that does not turn out to be the case.

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Nadya
I'd argue the worst case scenario is that he is never pardoned.

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Diamons
Not a chance. A president pardoning someone who released tons of information
about the government is unheard of. It's the same reason why the blue shield
exists and why judges rarely convict cops. When you start turning on the
system everything starts falling apart.

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xilinx_guy
Unlikely. The U.S. voters best chance is to elect a candidate in 2016 who
_will_ pardon Snowden in 2020 on his last day in office. Then we can draft
Snowden's ass and make him president for 4 or 8 years. That's a suitable
punishment for his crimes.

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jjaredsimpson
Can't tell if this is a joke about the office of president being terrible and
thus punishment for Snowden.

Or a joke about Snowden being a hero and deserving to be president.

~~~
BrandonMarc
Agreed. It truly works both ways. Nice!

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bdcravens
No. A future president, possibly. This administration has shown a commitment
to, and a strengthening of, the status quo of increased monitoring. The only
changes they've made in that respect has been when they were caught with their
pants down.

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pc2g4d
I'm going to go with "possibly." End-of-final-term presidential pardons are
not subject to quite the same calculus as decisions made during term, i.e.
reelection is not a consideration. Obama's constitutional law idealism may
have been severely corrupted by the pressures of his current role, but it's
still there. I could see him feeling conflicted about Snowden's de facto
exile, and thus being willing to issue a pardon in his last hour in office.

Not likely. But possible. P(Pardon) > 0.1 ?

~~~
patzerhacker
>Obama's constitutional law idealism may have been severely corrupted by the
pressures of his current role, but it's still there.

Really? I have two words for you: Predator drones[1]. The sitting president of
the United States, who has actually ordered drone strikes against American
citizens who surely have Constitutional rights, joking about droning more
American citizens. Whatever bit of constitutional law idealism was there was
either an act or long since gone.

[1] [https://youtu.be/WWKG6ZmgAX4](https://youtu.be/WWKG6ZmgAX4)

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smuss77
He hasn't been convicted of anything. Can't pardon someone without something
to pardon them of.

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a3n
President Ford pardoned his predecessor Nixon, even though Nixon had not been
prosecuted or convicted.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nixon+pardon+ford&ia=about](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=nixon+pardon+ford&ia=about)

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auganov
I don't think anyone will unless there's massive reform/change. Otherwise - do
people just keep blowing the same whistle?

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rrrx3
Not a snowball's chance in hell.

