Trump has pardoned Alice Johnson

Axios ^ | 06/06/2018 | Jonathan Swan

[Zhang Fei]

From newspaper archives:

[grania]

Keep your hands of my coffee!

Coffee does not alter the mind. It awakens it. <^..^>

[rollo tomasi]

Johnson was busted for conspiracy, not for direct possession to sell. She was charged/convicted (By a jury) due to working with a Columbian cartel (NA based operations was in Texas) running cocaine through Memphis (In the millions) and money laundering.

21 years is enough I guess (Seems like a nice lady sorry for what she did). Some think life is fine due to the drug trade causing murders and a breakdown in society. War on Drugs is draconian though, should be a case-by-case basis.

[glock rocks]

Coffee does not alter the mind. It awakens it.

You obviously haven't tried Darksheare's coffee

[rollo tomasi]

Beat me to that, good info, thanks.

[grania]

We have on the surface totally opposite views, but I wonder if that’s so. I suspect that legal drugs often do as much or more harm than the street drugs do. A world where people had to make responsible decisions for themselves and be held accountable for their choices would be fine by me. I’m a Conservative, but have a fondness for Libertarian views.

[Southnsoul]

Good. I was hoping the President would do this.

It was an outrageous sentence when so many murderers and rapists are serving little prison time.

[Parley Baer]

“A life sentence seems pretty harsh for any first-time offense, other than malicious homicide.”

I agree with you. I have seen murderers receive a lot less time in prison.

[montag813]

A pardon is WRONG. Commutation is appropriate.

[rxsid]

How could this be? I thought Trump was a racist AND a sexist?

[Rebelbase]

whether it’s a legit or suspect pardon it serves the purpose of pandering to a certain voting demographic.

[rxsid]

Agreed.

[faucetman]

“Johnson is now 21 years into her life sentence at FCI Aliceville, in Aliceville, Alabama.

During her time in prison, Johnson has displayed exemplary behavior, become an ordained minister, a published writer and a prison tutor”

Time served! It’s enough. Obviously, has turned her life around.

[usconservative]

Good. Now do Blago!

As a Conservative living in Illinois, I agree. 14 years was way too much for the alleged "crime" Blago did. I argue it wasn't even a crime, he did the same thing every other politician in Illinois does.

The fact that George Ryan (previous Governor) got FAR LESS in the Licenses for Bribes scandal during which more than a dozen people were killed by primarily illegal immigrant truck drivers who BOUGHT their CDL's at the Secretary of State office that Ryan ran is just sickening.

Free Blago. Jail Ryan AGAIN!

[RinaseaofDs]

“We all have feelings on the subject and these days the biggest drug dealers addicting Americans are all publicly traded corporations.”

PREACH!

Purdue Pharmaceuticals makes Oxy, which is literally killing the US right now. They knew the properties, and FDA did too and approved it anyway.

FDA is a rock that needs serious turning.

[joshua c]

Though Johnson petitioned former President Barack Obama for clemency three times, she was always denied.

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I guess the check wasn’t big enough.

[PapaBear3625]

Harper's Bazaar says her role was relaying coded messages, and that she never actually handled the drugs or made any deals. I think one clue is from this paragraph:

Even though her arrest in 1993 was her first offense, Johnson received a life sentence, which she began serving in 1996. During the trial ten of her co-defendants testified against her in exchange for a reduced or dropped charges, Mic reports. Johnson, however, did not receive the same mercy, despite having not previous drug charges.

I'm suspecting that she refused to testify against her co-defendants, and the prosecutors decided to make an example of her. Personally, I think 20 years so far, is time enough served.

[joshua c]

She was a telephone mule-passing messages between buyer and seller. Life seems a bit much.

[dsc]

“biggest drug dealers addicting Americans are all publicly traded corporations”

Woah up, there, Refrigerator.

Lots of people need opiates just to fiction at a minimal level. This prescription-drug hysteria is making it harder for us to get what we need.

[Zhang Fei]

[You and I are evidently in the minority here. But I agree with your sentiments. This woman was not imprisoned for possession. She was imprisoned for trafficking.]

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Assuming there won’t be more than a handful of these commutations, I think it makes political sense. It will soothe independents and blacks who have been told that Trump is a closet Klansman. It might depress their turnout for the Democrats. It might even convince some to vote for the GOP, although that’s probably a bridge too far. It’s enough that it will defuse some of the stuff about Trump being a racist. I don’t think any significant number of right wingers will abandon Trump, if he doesn’t issue more than a few of these pardons/commutations.