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Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: Scout26 on December 04, 2016, 01:29:55 AM

Title: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: Scout26 on December 04, 2016, 01:29:55 AM
So there's lots of speculation that Obama will double down on his Bergdahl decision.

Place your bets...
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: French G. on December 04, 2016, 01:49:45 AM
People got killed and wounded looking for him. He left freely and then gave aid and comfort to the enemy with those pathetic videos. Slovik's fate is too good for him.
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: Hawkmoon on December 04, 2016, 01:55:37 AM
So there's lots of speculation that Obama will double down on his Bergdahl decision.

Place your bets...

What decision? I wasn't aware that Obama had decided anything beyond making a trade to bring the guy home.
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: RocketMan on December 04, 2016, 05:58:45 AM
What decision? I wasn't aware that Obama had decided anything beyond making a trade to bring the guy home.

Bergdahl has petitioned for a pardon from Obama.

Obama is as dense as they come sometimes, but I don't believe he is that dumb.
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: Ben on December 04, 2016, 10:57:52 AM
Well, if Obama doesn't pardon him, they are going after Trump, stating that Trump said mean things while on the campaign trail:

Quote
However, if the pardon isn't granted, Bergdahl's defense team plans to expand its legal strategy by filing a motion arguing Trump violated its client’s due process rights with scathing public comments about the case.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/03/bergdahl-team-also-focus-on-trump-says-violated-soldiers-constitutional-rights.html
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: Unisaw on December 04, 2016, 11:53:28 AM
I don't think so, as there is no upside for Obama.  Hillary, OTOH...
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: MechAg94 on December 05, 2016, 11:35:01 AM
I don't think so, as there is no upside for Obama.  Hillary, OTOH...
Very few of these liberals leaders protect the little people.  
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: TechMan on December 05, 2016, 12:17:04 PM
I'll bet he is that dense and will do it...what does he have to loose.  Also, isn't Bergdahl being tried under the UCMJ?  If so are all Constitutional Rights applicable under the UCMJ?  That is a serious question as I don't know.
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: Scout26 on December 05, 2016, 12:53:47 PM
I'll bet he is that dense and will do it...what does he have to loose.  Also, isn't Bergdahl being tried under the UCMJ?  If so are all Constitutional Rights applicable under the UCMJ?  That is a serious question as I don't know.

Yes, Bergdahl is being tried under the UCMJ.  Desertion and Misbehavior Before the Enemy.  (Max is Life in Prison).

And Yes, all the Constitutional rights and protections are applicable under the UCMJ, including being pardoned.
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: roo_ster on December 06, 2016, 10:20:40 AM
I sure hope BHO does not pardon Bergdahl and Bergdahl gets a fair trial and a first-rate hanging (should he be found guilty of crimes meriting death).

Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: MechAg94 on December 06, 2016, 11:04:21 AM
IMO, Obama has little to gain and a lot to lose pardoning him.  I can see him pardoning political allies that can help him in the future, not him.
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: Scout26 on December 06, 2016, 04:02:25 PM
I sure hope BHO does not pardon Bergdahl and Bergdahl gets a fair trial and a first-rate hanging (should he be found guilty of crimes meriting death).



Both Article 85 (Desertion) and Article 99 (Misbehavior before the Enemy) are punishable by death during time of war
.
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: MechAg94 on December 06, 2016, 04:05:31 PM
What about time of war?   =D
Title: Re: Place your Bets. Obama Pardons Bergdahl ?
Post by: Firethorn on December 06, 2016, 04:16:06 PM
I don't think so, as there is no upside for Obama.  Hillary, OTOH...

I just read a couple days ago that Obama is on track to have issued the fewest presidential pardons in a hundred years.  Only ones who issued fewer were Presidents like Washington, back in the days when there weren't enough federal convicts to pardon.  Oh, and those who died in office early in their terms...

Per this:
http://www.infoplease.com/us/government/presidential-pardons-1789-present.html, Obama is sitting at 13 fewer than HW Bush.  A single term president.  He'd have to pardon 90 to match his per term pardon rate.  Double checking, besides the first 2 presidents(again, how many convicts could they have?), the only presidents that Obama has pardoned more people than died in office.

I sure hope BHO does not pardon Bergdahl and Bergdahl gets a fair trial and a first-rate hanging (should he be found guilty of crimes meriting death).

1.  Hanging, I believe, is no longer an option under the UCMJ.
2.  As bad as he was, nobody has been sentenced to death in a huge period of time under the UCMJ, I don't think Bergdahl was bad enough to break that trend.  If we're going to break that trend, I think somebody who killed with their own hands would be a superior choice.

Both Article 85 (Desertion) and Article 99 (Misbehavior before the Enemy) are punishable by death during time of war.

Problem being that we haven't actually declared war since Korea...

So, my bet is that barring Obama completely reversing his present trend, expecting a pardon out of Obama is a fool's hope.  He ain't pardoning anybody(relatively).  Bergdahl isn't going to get a pardon, but isn't going to be sentenced to death.  My blind dart toss is seven years, commuted with his time in captivity to "time served" so he spends basically no time in prison here in the USA.  Given a dishonorable discharge, the military washes their hands of him.