Chelsea Manning -punishment or persecution?

[Stavros]

From the New York Times in the last hour-

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday largely commuted the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the army intelligence analyst convicted of an enormous 2010 leak that revealed American military and diplomatic activities across the world, disrupted the administration, and made WikiLeaks, the recipient of those disclosures, famous.
The decision by Mr. Obama rescued Ms. Manning, who twice tried to commit suicide last year, from an uncertain future as a transgender woman incarcerated at the male military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. She has been jailed for nearly seven years, and her 35-year sentence was by far the longest punishment ever imposed in the United States for a leak conviction.
Now, under the terms of Mr. Obama’s commutation announced by the White House on Tuesday, Ms. Manning is set to be freed on May 17 of this year, rather than in 2045.
The commutation also relieved the Department of Defense of the difficult responsibility of her incarceration as she pushes for treatment for her gender dysphoria — including sex reassignment surgery — that the military has no experience providing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/u...T.nav=top-news

[Post Op Preferred]

In light of her upcoming availability, http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/...source=copyurl is Grooby scheduling a shoot for May, 2017?

[Stavros]

In light of her upcoming availability,is Grooby scheduling a shoot for May, 2017?

A comment so crass one wonders why you made the effort to post it.

[SanDiegoPervySage]

Ugh....at least that fucker isn't getting any benefits as far as I understand.

[ElectricWoody]

I dont know about you all, but I stand on two feet.

[hippifried]

I've come across a lot of trans folks across social media claiming that Manning should get a pass due to "gender dysphoria". Huh? A while back, there was babble about using that argument as a mental defect appeal. And for the most part, the trans community was elated.
WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?
That's like saying trans is a mental illness. That anybody who alters their gender is confused, crazy, and can't be trusted. I think everyone in here should be glad that argument didn't go anywhere. All y'all know it's bullshit.

It's just as much BS to give immunity to someone just because you think you have something in common, or that you understand their thoughts. And it's BS to justify a crime because you disagree with the victim or get all drooling over the rhetorical political theology being spouted by the criminal.

Manning committed espionage with malice aforethought, violating 2 oaths to do it. President Obama says time served is enough. Ok. It's a commutation, not a pardon. Still a convicted felon. Loss of some privileges. No passport. Lots of love/hate mail, marriage proposals, dick pics, & threats. Maybe the 'gofundme' page will afford some income. Maybe not. Watching all this unfold might be entertaining, but there's no other reason to pay it any mind.

[runningdownthatdream]

What this well-informed post reveals is not so much the obsession with order in military institutions, but the practical futility of it in a prison.

Basic training to turn a human being into a ruthless and efficient killing machine may have some logic to it, even if, in the case of the USA, there is no evidence on the battlefield that it works (the USA's ruthless killing machines have not won a war since 1945), but Chelsea Manning is not going to be released from prison back to the armed forces and fight for her country, her military career is over as I assume is also the case with most long-term prisoners at Leavenworth. If prisoners were going to be sent back into the field then maintaining them in peak physical and mental condition could at least be justified to a degree, but what purpose does it serve to impose combat readiness on someone who will never again be in combat?

It enables Manning's guards to bring out the inner sadist, to practise tormenting the enemy captive in a cell when there is no enemy on the field, to find a human being and on the slightest pretext insult, abuse, intimidate and seek to destroy. In other words, there is no justification for it. The sentence and the prison are the punishment; the rest is coordinated torture. But hey, it's the USA, where torture as standard practice has been integrated into the military through the rule book. In a mature society, this sort of thing would not happen.

The US military has changed before, it is now time to change again. Or move Manning into a Federal prison.

Come now, surely you aren't suggesting only the good ole USA has inculcated torture 'into the military through the rule book'? This is just the human state of being: when in a position of power - particularly over someone that the majority has condemned - then do your best to do the worst. In fact the savagery just increases the more the person protests about trivial things like their human rights. Clearly you have never experienced either the police, CPS, or judiciary in the first person. I have. The only thing that separates that triumvirate from your run-of-the-mill thug is they are sanctioned by 'we the people' and therefore far less likely to ever wind up behind bars.

On the topic of Chelsea and her crime and punishment: she broke the rules and by doing that willfully placed herself in the hands of her tormentors. However, what she did - regardless of her personal motivations - helped to disclose to the light of day how truly awful a world we live in and how corrupt people in power really are. Ultimately, though, it was a meaningless action as business will go on as usual albeit under better cover. I'm glad she will be released early - in the greater scope of things what she did is substantially less harmful to mankind and even her country than what was being done by those she exposed. I hope the remainder of her life will be spent peacefully.

[runningdownthatdream]

I've come across a lot of trans folks across social media claiming that Manning should get a pass due to "gender dysphoria". Huh? A while back, there was babble about using that argument as a mental defect appeal. And for the most part, the trans community was elated.
WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?
That's like saying trans is a mental illness. That anybody who alters their gender is confused, crazy, and can't be trusted. I think everyone in here should be glad that argument didn't go anywhere. All y'all know it's bullshit.

It's just as much BS to give immunity to someone just because you think you have something in common, or that you understand their thoughts. And it's BS to justify a crime because you disagree with the victim or get all drooling over the rhetorical political theology being spouted by the criminal.

Manning committed espionage with malice aforethought, violating 2 oaths to do it. President Obama says time served is enough. Ok. It's a commutation, not a pardon. Still a convicted felon. Loss of some privileges. No passport. Lots of love/hate mail, marriage proposals, dick pics, & threats. Maybe the 'gofundme' page will afford some income. Maybe not. Watching all this unfold might be entertaining, but there's no other reason to pay it any mind.

I'm with you on the gender dysphoria thing. Whoever was advising her was clearly more interested in gaining her freedom than being sensitive to the transgender condition. Facing a 35-year imprisonment and particularly of the kind she has been subjected to, I can't say I blame them for trying everything they could think of.

As far as what she did - breaking of oaths and what have you - I think sometimes one should listen to the moral imperative over the laws of the land. I hate to haul out the Nazi reference but it's particularly applicable here. You can't prosecute the SS for NOT refusing to execute their orders but then decide to prosecute and persecute your own soldier for exposing your heinous actions. An enlightened nation would have said thank you to Chelsea Manning.

[SanDiegoPervySage]

I've come across a lot of trans folks across social media claiming that Manning should get a pass due to "gender dysphoria". Huh? A while back, there was babble about using that argument as a mental defect appeal. And for the most part, the trans community was elated.
WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?
That's like saying trans is a mental illness. That anybody who alters their gender is confused, crazy, and can't be trusted. I think everyone in here should be glad that argument didn't go anywhere. All y'all know it's bullshit.

It's just as much BS to give immunity to someone just because you think you have something in common, or that you understand their thoughts. And it's BS to justify a crime because you disagree with the victim or get all drooling over the rhetorical political theology being spouted by the criminal.

Manning committed espionage with malice aforethought, violating 2 oaths to do it. President Obama says time served is enough. Ok. It's a commutation, not a pardon. Still a convicted felon. Loss of some privileges. No passport. Lots of love/hate mail, marriage proposals, dick pics, & threats. Maybe the 'gofundme' page will afford some income. Maybe not. Watching all this unfold might be entertaining, but there's no other reason to pay it any mind.

Get a pass? That's a kick in the face to the trans military members who are serving and can do their damn job. Mental illness my ass.

[Laphroaig]

A comment so crass one wonders why you made the effort to post it.

Agreed, it's almost as idiotic as Gugaxamots earlier comment in this thread. Moreover, he's posted this not long after complaining about trolling in another thread. People in glasss houses...