Hacker News Reader

Comment by jayd16 | Hacker News Reader

If you think your party's policies are good then allowing your party to win elections is a sincere and principled choice. Political strategy is important and thinking otherwise is just incredibly naive.

There were plenty of other topics at hand since Biden's inauguration. I don't know I can say that the order things have been worked on is optimal but I'm glad to see this done.

View on HN

If I were in jail, I might be kinda cranky about losing another 18 months of my life.

Funnily enough literally zero people affected by this are in jail. No one gets sent to jail for “just” possession. They always tack on other charges.

It’s also only about 6500 people.

That makes it sound like a empty gesture, and therefore more of a political stunt.

Removing crimes from your record is hardly an empty gesture.

A pardon does not remove anything from your record. It is about forgiving, not expunging. As for civil rights (e.g. the rights to vote or the right to bear arms), they often are state matters and a federal pardon does not grant them back.

It is an empty gesture.

Pardon makes it possible/easier to have your record expunged. These pardons also effectively decriminalize possession at the federal level.

It's far from an empty gesture. But at the same time it is also a token, bare minimum gesture.

“They always tack on other charges.”

Yet it has less impact when there are other charges anyway. “But I was convicted of just 2 felonies not 3!”

I find the active and continued harm those people have experienced by being felons to be of far greater value to resolve than winning another election.

And if Biden and friends really wanted to serve their people, they would continually do things their populous wanted and then when election season comes, they would say “look at what we have been doing”, not “here is a crumb, pleb.”

It’s good that it’s being done, but, do more.

this is blaming the injust jail time on the one releasing them instead of blaming it on the ones creating the injust laws and convictions.

In this case, Biden actually was a major component of the reason they’re in jail: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/25/18282870/j...

interesting. also from that article, he openly acknowledged that he was wrong:

> Biden has backtracked since the ’80s and ’90s. Before he left the Senate to become vice president, he pushed to pull back tougher prison sentences for crack cocaine — an effort that helped lead to a law that President Barack Obama signed in 2010. And he’s recently acknowledged his mistakes.

> “I haven’t always been right,” Biden said earlier this year, speaking to criminal justice issues. “I know we haven’t always gotten things right, but I’ve always tried.” (Asked about Biden’s record, his spokesperson pointed to this speech, but did not respond to further questions.)

thanks for the pointer.

I suspect you can't just "do things," there are lawyers that determine what you can do, and there are other factors (like "do you need literally everyone's vote to pass a bill through the congress" and "will it crash and fail in the senate anyways") that make these things a drag.

Same happened with the loan forgiveness, which is now being challenged in multiple courts. However, Biden doesn't have the power to push these issues through the proper process.

Do you want a state where "do more" means "more executive orders?"

Em... People tend to forget about good actions.

I'm sorry, but most people have short memories and short sight.

How much of that do you think could be solved with better marketing?

They are continually trying to do things that serve both their own and the Republican party's people, but the Republican parties continually fights tooth and nail against every single thing they do in order to avoid giving them a "win" even on things the Republican base overwhelmingly supports.

It's good that it's being done, but Biden's doing it, and the Republicans are opposing it every step of the way, even policies that benefit their own people, in every way they can, even and especially by lying and cheating.

And the Democrats do the same thing when Republicans are in control.

But the important difference is that the Democrats are actually trying to prevent the Republicans from doing terribly unpopular stupid things that ruin people's lives and damage the economy and discriminate against minorities, like repealing Obamacare even though it is extremely popular and saves lives and money, or building a wall that is totally ineffective and extremely expensive just because the terrible idea appeals to racists.

Oh hey, by the way, about that: didn't Trump say he was going to repeal Obamacare? How did that promise go? And what about building the wall like he promised he would do so many times, but the Democrats opposed every step of the way? How did that promise go? I'm beginning to get the idea he didn't really believe in the promises he made then broke. And how about that health care plan he kept promising to reveal next week for so many years, but never did?

>Biden still deserves the criticism that he does not believe in marijuana reform and may not follow through any further.

Trump still deserves the criticism that he does not believe in repealing Obamacare or building a wall, because he did not follow through any further, and he failed miserably. He didn't even lock Hillary up like he promised, but it looks like he's going to get locked up himself for espionage. While Biden actually followed through with his promises, and he succeeded, unlike Trump. And Biden accomplished all that without even violating the espionage act or getting impeached twice like Trump did.

So do you also believe the lie that the election was stolen from Trump and he should be immediately reinstated as president so he can pardon everyone who stormed the Capitol and attacked police and spread feces in the halls of Congress and strutted around carrying Confederate flags, and that the FBI planted classified documents at Mar-a-Lago even though he refuses to state that on the record in court, but that Trump also declassified those very same classified documents that the FBI planted with his mind?

Now are you going to claim "the other side does that too" again?

Trump does deserve full credit for convincing Republicans to kill themselves off faster than Democrats. Now THAT is leadership, convincing your followers to pointlessly and painfully die tragic preventable deaths by their own foolish behavior, by 78% higher rates! No Democrat ever inspired such loyal self destructive mass suicidal behavior in their base.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-death-rates...

>Covid death rates are higher among Republicans than Democrats, mounting evidence shows

>Lower vaccination rates among Republicans could explain the partisan gap, but some researchers say mask use and social distancing were bigger factors.

>[...] Average excess death rates in Florida and Ohio were 76% higher among Republicans than Democrats between March 2020 and December 2021, according to a working paper released last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Excess deaths refers to deaths above what would be anticipated based on historical trends.

>[...] Indeed, his paper found that the partisan gap in the deaths widened between April and December 2021, after all adults became eligible for Covid vaccines. Excess death rates in Florida and Ohio were 153% higher among Republicans than Democrats during that time, the paper showed.

In summary, the Democrats are our salvation and have no faults according to your myopic response.

What about involving the United States in needless wars and now provoking a nuclear war? Or promising single payer only to provide a massive handout to private insurance companies? Or drag the country through constant investigations of political opponents based on false information from “intelligence” agencies? Or stabbing Bernie Sanders, who was the most electable candidate, in the back to support a corrupt, corporate drone, war monger candidate who just happens to be a woman?

Please take your head out of the sand and pay attention to more than the standard talking points fed to you by the main stream corporate media. It will be enlightening, but it will also be humbling. I was once in your shoes (to a much lesser degree), and it took quite some time to realize that both parties are not looking out for the rights of people other than the elite chosen ones.

I certainly didn't say anything remotely that, and if you have to put words into my mouth to argue against, you've already lost the argument and you know it.

Answer the question instead of deflecting by making shit up:

Or don't you want to admit that your side and your leader is batshit crazy and delusional, and there's absolutely nothing comparable on the other side? Or do you subscribe to the right-wing conspiracy theory that the mob of Trump supporters that stormed the capital and attacked police officers and set up a gallows with a noose and tried to murder the Vice President at the January 6 insurrection was actually all Antifa crisis actors?

And what the fuck is wrong with being anti-fascist anyway?

Talk about putting words in people’s mouths. It’s obvious you are a political shill and no amount of discussion will make a difference.

My suggestion is that both Democrats and Republicans are essentially the same when it comes to the critical matters for the general public. Your implying that I am a Republican who has chosen Trump as my supreme leader just because I provided some important counterpoints to demonstrate some faults of the Democrats.

Furthermore, I don’t think you know what fascism means.

When you're carrying the water and making excuses for batshit crazy insane people, that makes you batshit crazy insane, too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com