The Assignment!

(ED NOTE: I'm not sure why this jumped to today's note when I added an up-date. The original piece is over a decade old - The Affordable Care Act was under discussion in 2009 and signed into law March of 2010....so this discussion, and what I wrote below, is quite dated.)

It started at Facebook. The discussion was over the (then) newly proposed Obama-Care plan (though we could be discussing ANY hot-button topic). The original post:

Class - Today's POLITICAL LESSON: With all the fighting going on about health-care and such, today you must argue CONVINCINGLY for the OTHER side. If you can't do that, then you not only don't understand any other option but the one you support, but cannot see & address the problems with the plan you support. Sooo...who is up for the challenge?

Ignoring the discussion that ensued (for the moment, anyway), here is my entries (I argue both sides):

Unpopular Opinion: Presidential Pardons

I'll keep this short and sweet. Without getting into the normal gutter of what passes for political discourse these days, I will just say that I have a few suggestions about who the departing president Trump should pardon on his way out. And if not, who Biden should pardon on his way in.

We can discuss in comments or, if needed, I can expand this to include my reasoning.

For now, may I humbly suggest the following for 2021 presidential pardons:

Edward Snowden (NSA whistleblower)

Leonard Peltier (AIM member convicted of murder in 1977)

John McAfee (creator of McAfee Antivirus held on tax evasion)

Ross Ulbricht (creator of Silk Road)

Julian Assange (WIKI Leaks)

And while we're at it, how about 100% of all non-violent drug offenders (excluding those who were selling to minors) as well as a moratorium on all executions?

Thoughts?