No, accepting a pardon does not mean accepting guilt

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Michael

The claim that Joe Arpaio implicitly admitted guilt by accepting Trump’s pardon is junk. The proof people cite for this claim comes from dicta in a 1915 SCOTUS case. That is not binding law. Furthermore, the lower court prior to that ruling pointed out that there are a myriad of reasons why someone might accept a pardon. This was and is binding law because it is part of the reasoning for the ruling. Double furthermore, the US Attorney General’s office kept records for the reasons for pardons well after that 1915 case. Triple furthermore, there are federal laws that account for compensating people who are given pardons due to innocence. Quadruple furthermore, the 1915 case pre-dates Alford, which found that a defendant can explicitly maintain innocence while accepting a plea; the logic from Alford inherently says the use of something from the justice system is not an acceptance or blessing of that thing.

Joe Arpaio is a piece of shit and it’s garbage that Trump pardoned him, but the forced attempt at catharsis through a willful or ignorant misuse of a 100+ year old, irrelevant ruling is also shit and garbage. It’s shit and garbage all the way down.

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Thought of the day

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Michael

The social justice use of the word “privilege” is almost always wrong. What people cite as examples of privilege are more often examples of baseline treatment. And if you’re getting baseline treatment, that isn’t privilege. For instance, if I walk into a department store and no one starts watching me or following me with cameras, that isn’t privilege. If they have no particular reason to target me and they therefore don’t, in fact, target me, that’s baseline treatment. It’s what anyone ought to expect. However, if a black man walks into the same store and finds himself immediately watched for no reason other than that he’s black, he isn’t getting that same baseline treatment. That’s obvious discrimination. But racially-based discrimination does not somehow magically make baseline treatment a privilege in comparison.

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