[HN Gopher] Sam Bankman-Fried thrown into solitary over Tucker C...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Sam Bankman-Fried thrown into solitary over Tucker Carlson
       interview: report
        
       Author : rntn
       Score  : 152 points
       Date   : 2025-03-08 17:14 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (gizmodo.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (gizmodo.com)
        
       | dgfitz wrote:
       | > the federal agency confirmed to the newspaper that it did not
       | give permission for the interview with Carlson to go forward.
       | 
       | I didn't realize it was so hard to control the freedoms of
       | inmates. I actually thought that was the whole point.
        
         | borski wrote:
         | This was actually somewhat clever, but very dishonest. He used
         | a link to the outside that is normally used solely for
         | discussions between inmates and their lawyers; the catch is
         | that on the other end was Tucker, not his lawyer.
         | 
         | So SBF kind of snuck the interviewer in under the guise of it
         | being a legal meeting.
         | 
         | That's why the prison got pissed.
         | 
         | For a Hail Mary, I get it. But it's definitely either pardon or
         | not, as a result. He's not getting out on good behavior any
         | time soon, lol.
        
           | DiscourseFan wrote:
           | Yeah I mean if I were Trump I still wouldn't trust him
           | considering his history
        
             | rs186 wrote:
             | Brave of you to assume what Trump would think.
             | 
             | To me any decision could come out of the White House these
             | days. If Trump decides to drop a nuclear bomb in China for
             | no reason, I would not be surprised. Not that it is likely,
             | but I have lowered my expectations enough.
        
             | laughing_man wrote:
             | Trump seems inclined to drop charges or pardon people who
             | he feels were unjustly persecuted by the Biden
             | administration. I don't see any way for Bankman-Fried to
             | make that case.
        
               | ethbr1 wrote:
               | Also potential sex offenders who are facing both Romanian
               | and UK charges.
        
               | mindslight wrote:
               | You don't? Just outright lie and fabricate a narrative
               | where he was unjustly persecuted by the Biden
               | administration - the same as the rest of the Trumpists
               | have done. 140 character attention spans love an underdog
               | story, and 140 characters isn't nearly long enough to
               | reiterate things like why we have laws in the first
               | place.
        
           | dgfitz wrote:
           | Ah I didn't realize that. Holmes also seemed to try and throw
           | a Hail Mary by this logic.
           | 
           | I guess I get it, what else do you have to lose?
        
             | agoodusername63 wrote:
             | Well, building a case for an early release on good behavior
             | is something he definitely burned here. But he's got a long
             | sentence. He can start building that from square one again.
             | Maybe.
        
         | casenmgreen wrote:
         | I may be wrong, but on the face of it, to interview with TC
         | says a lot about who and what you are.
        
           | russdill wrote:
           | Out of all the things SBF has done, who he chooses to
           | interview with is so so so far down there.
        
         | jfengel wrote:
         | It actually is quite difficult, outside of solitary
         | confinement. It's not a panopticon. You're not watched closely
         | most of the time. Many violations are ignored.
         | 
         | It's likely not a violation they'll allow twice. But it's not
         | at all surprising that it happened once.
        
           | dgfitz wrote:
           | Seems odd it's easy for a nationwide interview to happen on
           | the sly in prison. But then again, what do I know?
        
       | Trasmatta wrote:
       | > SBF said in the Thursday episode of Carlson's show that he
       | doesn't believe Democrats "saved" him while being prosecuted
       | during the Joe Biden years because they knew he was giving to
       | Republicans as well.
       | 
       | He's upset that Democrats didn't let him commit crime just
       | because he donated to them? Holy corruption, Bankman.
        
         | bloopernova wrote:
         | He's lying. He's angling for a pardon by playing up to
         | republicans' hatred of democrats/"woke".
        
           | jfengel wrote:
           | It's a pretty good tactic.
        
         | nojonestownpls wrote:
         | > He's upset that Democrats didn't let him commit crime just
         | because he donated to them?
         | 
         | Yeah, doesn't he know that you have to be blood-related to the
         | President for that privilege?
        
       | micromacrofoot wrote:
       | the phenomenon of going right wing after committing crimes so you
       | can find a sympathetic ear feels rather troubling, especially
       | because it seems to work no matter how blatant it is
        
         | javajosh wrote:
         | What better way to "own the libs" than to openly transgress
         | against sacrosanct values? There is a certain power when you
         | demonstrate that shame, consistency, or principle has no hold
         | on you. To avoid the internal backstabbing this would entail,
         | you also need to convince the audience that it's all a kind of
         | kayfabe, make-believe, and that you really ARE principled and
         | trustworthy with _your_ people, or for some short period of
         | time to achieve a goal. It 's foolish, but the world is full of
         | foolish people believing simply because it feels good. Reality
         | has no place in this calculus. This is NOT a partisan problem.
        
         | efnx wrote:
         | I reflexively agree, but what other folks have blantantly
         | switched like this that you know of?
        
           | mizzao wrote:
           | Eric Adams, for one.
        
           | Apocryphon wrote:
           | Russell Brand
        
             | notahacker wrote:
             | Oddly enough, Russell's political transformation came long
             | before the world's least surprising revelations, probably
             | because he'd got to the point of his "revolution" where the
             | left considered him tiresome and the pandemic was a reboot
             | opportunity.
             | 
             | Elon is the starkest example of "journalist contacts him
             | about historic allegations that were never going to amount
             | to anything other than embarrassment and within a couple of
             | hours he's come out as a Republican and therefore rendered
             | himself immune to shame over personal indiscretions of the
             | sort only Teh Wokes care about". Again, _trending_ that way
             | because he was genuinely annoyed at pandemic regulations
             | and not a fan of Teh Wokes but interesting to see how far
             | he 's taken it...
        
           | evan_ wrote:
           | Blagojevich
        
             | misiti3780 wrote:
             | he was setup though.
        
               | wasimanitoba wrote:
               | He was hilariously brazen in his attempt to sell a Senate
               | seat. His attempt to claim it was all a conspiracy
               | against him was even more hilarious.
        
           | bdangubic wrote:
           | Trump
        
           | gengwyn wrote:
           | He was always right-wing coded so not really a switch, but
           | Andrew and Tristan Tate are two huge ones that did the grift
           | and it's played out for them.
        
         | jxjnskkzxxhx wrote:
         | It also shows that every powerful/influential person knows
         | which party is the most dishonest one.
        
         | cmrdporcupine wrote:
         | Musk famously "switched" after sexual harassment allegations
         | against him came out.
        
           | agoodusername63 wrote:
           | Musk was always one of those "both sides" libertarian tech
           | bros that usually just end up right wing. Well before he
           | became a household name with SpaceX and Tesla.
           | 
           | It reminds me of the joke: "libertarians are just Republicans
           | who smoke weed"
        
       | Leary wrote:
       | On an EV basis, the worst thing SBF did was probably funding
       | Anthropic and accelerating the demise of humanity.
        
       | dralley wrote:
       | Sam Bankman-Fried's "comeback plan", item #3, as per evidence
       | obtained from his Gmail account:
       | https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.59...
       | 
       | "Go on Tucker Carlsen, come out as a republican
       | 
       | a) While public contributions show one thing, you see another
       | thing including super pacs
       | 
       | b) Come out against the woke agenda
       | 
       | c) Talk about how the cartel of lawyers is destroying value and
       | throwing entrepreneurs under the bus in order to cover up the
       | incompetence of lawyers"
        
         | bigyabai wrote:
         | > Talk about how the cartel of lawyers is destroying value
         | 
         | Picking a fake fight with lawyers seems like the sort of thing
         | you'd do if you were desperate to go back to jail...
        
           | raverbashing wrote:
           | Yeah
           | 
           | It seems SBF had a hard time listening to his laywers, and
           | apparently continues to do so
        
           | jfengel wrote:
           | When you have money, you can always find one lawyer willing
           | to help, and that's all you need.
           | 
           | It offends judges, and that's a risk, but most judges try
           | extremely hard to avoid the appearance of favoritism. (I
           | realize that seems unlikely, since the judges we hear about
           | most are selected for their favoritism.)
           | 
           | Meantime, hating on lawyers is a popular pastime. It makes
           | you seem sympathetic to people who feel that the government
           | is oppressing them. Which, bizarrely, includes the government
           | right now.
        
         | belter wrote:
         | So, not Autistic anymore?
        
           | therealpygon wrote:
           | No, it transferred to Elon remember?
        
             | ethbr1 wrote:
             | I support Trump's autistic DEI hires!
             | 
             | We need more people in government leadership who experience
             | a spectrum of empathetic responses.
             | 
             | For too long the government has been run by people who
             | experience neurotypical empathy for others: think of the
             | missed opportunities when you don't consider the feelings
             | of others!
        
               | 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
               | Both sides make good arguments about turning children
               | into pre workout smoothies
        
               | ethbr1 wrote:
               | I prefer all proposals to be modest.
        
         | rawgabbit wrote:
         | a) Pay Trump
         | 
         | b) Say the right things so Trump has cover to grant you a
         | pardon
         | 
         | c) Say the right things so Trump has cover to grant you a
         | pardon
        
         | nindalf wrote:
         | I'm reminded of this quote from Shogun.
         | 
         | > Every man has three hearts: one in his mouth, for the world
         | to know; one in his chest, just for his friends; and a secret
         | heart buried deep where no one can find it
         | 
         | The path to success is keeping your strategy secret until long
         | after you've executed it.
         | 
         | Sadly this dude was afflicted with verbal diarrhoea, he just
         | couldn't stop talking and writing. How much more effective the
         | same strategy would be if he had just kept his mouth shut. He's
         | made it needlessly difficult for himself.
         | 
         | Still, it's not a huge issue. All he has to do is cozy up to
         | Trump and get his pardon. I can already hear it - "he was
         | treated very horribly, very unfairly. Believe me, I know."
        
           | tempodox wrote:
           | > Sadly this dude was afflicted with verbal diarrhoea
           | 
           | I can't see anything sad about a pathological liar outing
           | himself.
        
       | javajosh wrote:
       | Sidenote: Voidzilla did a 6 minute video about this interview
       | [1]. Tucker focused on injustice, but not the billions SBF stole
       | from people, but the fact that the people who took SBF's
       | political contributions didn't get him off. The implications seem
       | to be that Tucker values transactional justice rather than
       | unbiased justice. This is a sea-change in American (and indeed
       | Western) jurisprudence that is (to me) some combination of
       | shocking and expected at this point.
       | 
       | 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BLzWTRmq2k
        
         | wmf wrote:
         | Didn't Mark Twain say that an honest politician is one who
         | stays bought? I guess Tucker agrees with him.
        
       | maxbond wrote:
       | If Bankman-Fried does somehow get a pardon, I will be amazed that
       | the bitter debate on HN about whether he would get off scott free
       | or would be thrown in prison somehow resulted in _both_ parties
       | being correct.
        
         | misiti3780 wrote:
         | why would trump pardon him - he donated to mostly democratic
         | causes and openly hated trump (was going to pay him 5B to not
         | run reportedly)
        
           | pavlov wrote:
           | You don't understand Trump's transactional instinct.
           | 
           | If this guy offered to pay him $5B at some point, maybe he
           | will have a better offer later? It's best to pardon him and
           | see what he comes up with. As long as he's motivated by "how
           | can I pay more money to DJT," it doesn't matter who else he
           | tried to bribe.
        
           | maxbond wrote:
           | I doubt he will, I'd think it would be to curry favor with
           | the crypto crowd, but I don't think they have a lot of love
           | for Bankman-Fried. But it's a spicy administration so it's
           | not a 0% chance. Maybe a 1% to 5% chance.
        
       | randycupertino wrote:
       | Ever since Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht I have been waiting to
       | see if he will also pardon Sam Bankman-Fried and Elizabeth
       | Holmes.
        
         | forinti wrote:
         | Ulbricht had the backing of the libertarians.
        
           | sitkack wrote:
           | Many things the administration are doing are gifts to crypto
           | bros and libertarians.
        
           | misiti3780 wrote:
           | i never understood why they backed him though?
        
             | toast0 wrote:
             | Don't libertarians like free markets? Why should the
             | government intrude on contracts for drugs or murder?
        
               | ty6853 wrote:
               | The government literally had to show up for the market
               | for murder, with their own offerings, on silk road before
               | they even were able to attempt to litigate it. We need
               | the government so badly, because if a dark market shows
               | up their informants/agents might solicit murder!
               | Completely circular logic the state used in that case.
        
         | seydor wrote:
         | Why? they are fraudsters, which ulrbicht was not. also they
         | have only served a few years
        
           | mvid wrote:
           | Yea, Ulbricht only tried to have people murdered
        
             | lurk2 wrote:
             | That was never proven in a court of law.
        
           | Apocryphon wrote:
           | Eric Adams had federal charges dropped, even though he's not
           | even a Republican. Almost as if someone's building a team...
           | 
           | Also the federal prosecutors investigating him have been out
           | on leave.
           | 
           | https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-prosecutors-
           | investigated-e...
        
             | zdragnar wrote:
             | Or, the charges are being dropped, a layer appointed by the
             | judge to be a neutral advisor recommended the charges be
             | dismissed with prejudice, and the prosecutors are on leave
             | and being investigated for potential misconduct revealed
             | they may have acted in bad faith:
             | 
             | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/appointee-
             | recommends-j...
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | Perhaps, but it's funnier to imagine that someone is
               | assembling a comic book-styled initiative of charismatic
               | crooks
        
       | spongebobstoes wrote:
       | I think it's wrong to use solitary as an extra (and extra-
       | judicial) punishment.
       | 
       | Prisons should need a strong medical/safety justification for
       | putting prisoners into isolation, which is torturous for many
       | people.
        
         | namuol wrote:
         | The story here is that a criminal that stole billions is
         | staging a prison escape through an openly corrupt political
         | administration and their subservient media apparatus.
        
         | borski wrote:
         | You're right. But in this case SBF engaged in an external
         | interview, without permission, over a link normally reserved
         | for access to attorneys.
         | 
         | When the interview came out, it's safe to assume the prison had
         | no idea how it happened. He was in solitary for 24 hours,
         | possibly so they could ensure there were no smartphones or
         | anything else.
         | 
         | It also may have been just to punish him. But there's at least
         | one reasonable reason, given that it was only 24 hours.
        
           | fallingknife wrote:
           | This seems extremely authoritarian. Obviously prisoners lose
           | many rights due to their conviction, but I see no reason that
           | freedom of speech or of the press should be among them.
           | Unless he is communicating with a former co-conspiritor or
           | otherwise in furtherance of some crime, I think a prisoner
           | should be able to speak with whoever he wishes.
        
             | croes wrote:
             | > Unless he is communicating with a former co-conspiritor
             | or otherwise in furtherance of some crime
             | 
             | Isn't that the reason you need permission in the first
             | place?
        
             | davidcbc wrote:
             | > Unless he is communicating with a former co-conspiritor
             | or otherwise in furtherance of some crime
             | 
             | He did this constantly leading up to the trial, at some
             | point you lose the benefit of the doubt
        
               | fallingknife wrote:
               | I think think you are correct here to a point. If you
               | want to say SBF has lost the benefit of the doubt and is
               | never allowed to engage in business related to crypto or
               | to communicate with the former management of FTX I think
               | that's reasonable. I also think it's reasonable to say
               | that as a convicted criminal in prison the level of
               | suspicion is so high that all your communication with
               | anyone (except lawyers) can be monitored without
               | additional due process. But going from that to "you can't
               | communicate with anyone at all unless we say so" is a
               | step too far.
        
               | davidcbc wrote:
               | How do you tell if he's talking to co-conspirators and
               | doing more crimes or not unless you are monitoring who he
               | is talking to?
        
             | SpicyLemonZest wrote:
             | This was absolutely in furtherance of his crimes. A Tucker
             | Carlson interview was item 3 on the list he kept of ideas
             | for how to get away with it.
        
               | fallingknife wrote:
               | Seeking a pardon is legal and actions in furtherance of
               | that end are also legal as long as those actions
               | themselves are not crimes. You are allowed to try to "get
               | away it" in the context of legal process. Legally,
               | seeking a pardon is no different than filing an appeal.
        
               | lazide wrote:
               | Going on Fox News from inside prison is not the way a
               | pardon gets requested.
        
               | smallerfish wrote:
               | It is in 2025.
        
               | notahacker wrote:
               | It is when the POTUS is a Fox News addict who _actively
               | enjoys_ the appearance of impropriety...
        
               | bdangubic wrote:
               | appearance? :)
        
               | notahacker wrote:
               | I mean, some people prefer covering it up to flaunting it
               | :)
        
               | SpicyLemonZest wrote:
               | Carlson is doing his own thing now, he got fired from Fox
               | in 2023.
        
               | SpicyLemonZest wrote:
               | > Seeking a pardon is legal and actions in furtherance of
               | that end are also legal as long as those actions
               | themselves are not crimes.
               | 
               | I agree with this, but prisons have no obligation to let
               | prisoners do everything that's legal. That's kinda the
               | point of prison. If SBF has some important information to
               | share about what it's like on the inside or why he should
               | get a pardon, he can forward it through his lawyer.
               | 
               | > Legally, seeking a pardon is no different than filing
               | an appeal.
               | 
               | I don't agree with this. There's all kinds of ways in
               | which formal legal processes are different than general
               | speech, and this is one of them. Prisoners get to talk to
               | their lawyer and file legal documents because these are
               | critically important rights, which can't be suspended
               | even for a good reason.
        
             | tiahura wrote:
             | Seems expensive and passive aggressive. Just horsewhip him.
             | He'll get the message.
        
             | borski wrote:
             | > Unless he is communicating with a former co-conspiritor
             | or otherwise in furtherance of some crime.
             | 
             | Assessing this is precisely why permission is required.
             | Also victim protection, for example; a criminal recounting
             | the crime in an interview in detail would potentially
             | retraumatize their victims.
             | 
             | There are lots of reasons permission is required. I agree
             | it's not pleasant, and feels wrong, but there are real
             | reasons that are not "prisoners aren't people."
        
             | UltraSane wrote:
             | "This seems extremely authoritarian"
             | 
             | Yes prisons generally are like that.
        
           | jancsika wrote:
           | What does your response have to do with the medical
           | needs/safety of SBF or the other inmates? I don't see the
           | connection.
        
             | borski wrote:
             | The safety and needs of a prisoner are not the only
             | concerns. The safety and needs of the victims and public
             | are also a concern. Moreover, if there was a breach of
             | security (which is at least close to the definition of what
             | happened), temporarily securing the prisoner in a separate
             | location to assess what happened and how it happened
             | doesn't immediately strike me as unreasonable.
             | 
             | I would prefer, of course, that it wasn't solitary.
        
               | jancsika wrote:
               | > The safety and needs of a prisoner are not the only
               | concerns.
               | 
               | The only ethical stance I've ever heard for torturing
               | someone is the "ticking time bomb" scenario popularized
               | during George W. Bush's administration. (I disagree with
               | that ethical stance, but that's beside the point.)
               | 
               | In your scenario the bomb isn't ticking. Nor is there
               | even a bomb-- only a breach of security with an undefined
               | relationship to safety and needs of people who aren't in
               | any immediate danger.
               | 
               | Read the Senate Report on Torture for an in-depth
               | analysis of the problems with that ethical stance.
        
               | borski wrote:
               | If, for example, someone convicted of sexual assault
               | decides to give an interview without permission, and
               | proceeds to reiterate the details of the crime, that
               | would undoubtedly harm the victim of their crimes. That
               | is what I meant by the safety and needs of a prisoner not
               | being the only concerns.
               | 
               | SBF didn't sexually assault anybody, but the rules exist
               | for such reasons, and SBF breaking those rules
               | surreptitiously doesn't make it okay. The first concern,
               | I imagine, was "how the fuck did that happen?" which
               | meant assessing the damage.
               | 
               | Should he have been thrown in solitary for 24 hours?
               | Probably not, but should he have been isolated from his
               | room and other prisoners for 24 hours? Probably, while
               | they assessed what had happened and how.
               | 
               | If he had snuck contraband in (a smartphone), then that
               | would have been, for example, a _real_ safety issue,
               | since smuggling in contraband doesn 't end at cell
               | phones, and the pathway doesn't change. Initially, it was
               | not clear how it occurred.
               | 
               | That's all I'm saying. I know the slippery slope
               | argument, and I agree with it, and I have previously read
               | the Senate Report on Torture, and do not disagree.
        
               | IshKebab wrote:
               | I don't think one day in solitary quite counts as
               | torture. Obviously longer term it is, but one day is
               | hyperbolic.
        
             | Rebelgecko wrote:
             | If he had smuggled items there could be safety implication
             | and yes even medical implications (eg if he was boofing an
             | iPhone)
        
         | Teever wrote:
         | I broadly agree with this but it raises a bigger question --
         | how do you punish someone who is already in a process of
         | punishment?
         | 
         | That's an especially important question when someone is going
         | through a very long punishment process, like what does another
         | life sentence mean to someone who has a life sentence? You
         | can't execute someone twice, right?
         | 
         | If someone breaks a very important rule in prison there needs
         | to be some way to put an immediate stop to that behaviour and
         | to disincentivize them from doing it again and in a situation
         | like this is seems like solitary confinement is the most
         | effective way to do that.
        
           | pjot wrote:
           | Maybe leading with a stick instead of a carrot isn't the
           | right approach?
        
             | ethbr1 wrote:
             | It's hard to carrot already-wealthy prisoners.
             | 
             | For average folks, sure.
        
               | pjot wrote:
               | I don't know, I feel like there is much more room for
               | positive incentives than negative. Prisons put people on
               | a pretty level playing field.
               | 
               | Like, the well behaved could be served pork chops and
               | peas instead of slop and mush.
        
               | fitblipper wrote:
               | Have you ever experienced prison yourself or through
               | someone close? Prisons don't put people on a level
               | playing field at all. It is significantly more
               | comfortable to be rich in prison than poor in prison.
        
           | brunoqc wrote:
           | Surely prisoners still have some privileges that could be
           | taken away as a punishment (going outdoors, books, tv,
           | computers, phone, visits, classes/work...
        
         | viccis wrote:
         | If SBF was able to get a smuggled phone, as the article
         | speculates, to do an unauthorized interview, then he is clearly
         | using his connections to sidestep aspects of his incarceration.
         | Putting him in solitary is an appropriate way to cut him off
         | from engaging in further such corruption, and it should be
         | repeated for any further violations. The only problem here is
         | that it took this long for them to identify that he had the
         | ability to do things like this.
         | 
         | Billionaires like him should serve the same time in the same
         | manner as any other citizen.
        
           | _3u10 wrote:
           | Your contention is that only billionaires can get contraband
           | in prison?
           | 
           | Are you by any chance familiar with prison?
        
             | viccis wrote:
             | >Your contention is that only billionaires can get
             | contraband in prison?
             | 
             | That's a whole new sentence.
             | 
             | There's no logical progression from:
             | 
             | "Billionaires like him should serve the same time in the
             | same manner as any other citizen."
             | 
             | to
             | 
             | "only billionaires can get contraband in prison"
             | 
             | Rethink the modalities in the two comments and try again.
        
           | missedthecue wrote:
           | If they accuse him of having a phone they should probably
           | find it before punishing him
        
             | dullcrisp wrote:
             | You think Tucker fabricated the interview using AI?
        
               | CamperBob2 wrote:
               | Tucker Carlson went to court to argue that no reasonable
               | person would believe what he says on the air. [1] Yet
               | American conservatives hang on his every word.
               | 
               | So it doesn't much matter whether the interview was
               | fabricated, edited, or otherwise fraudulent. It was aired
               | to lay the groundwork for a pardon. Look for SBF to
               | receive a pardon from Trump in the future (cf. Ross
               | Ulbricht.)
               | 
               | 1: https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/greedy-
               | associates/tucker-...
        
               | Maxatar wrote:
               | In reading the actual judgement that's not the case:
               | 
               | https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-
               | content/uploads/2020/09/Mc...
               | 
               | Tucker Carlson is specifically cited as maintaining that
               | he spoke the truth on page 5. Rather it's Fox News that
               | argues that Tucker Carlson was stating an opinion with
               | hyperbole for effect:
               | 
               | "Fox News first argues that, viewed in context, Mr.
               | Carlson cannot be understood to have been stating facts,
               | but instead that he was delivering an opinion using
               | hyperbole for effect...
               | 
               | This "general tenor" of the show should then inform a
               | viewer that he is not "stating actual facts" about the
               | topics he discusses and is instead engaging in
               | "exaggeration" and "non-literal commentary.""
               | 
               | At any rate, the case is a lot more complex than just one
               | guy claiming no one believes anything he says. Using it
               | to justify the possibility that the interview by Tucker
               | Carlson was not with the actual Sam Bankman-Fried by with
               | a potential imposter or AI is absolute bonkers.
        
               | scottiescottie wrote:
               | you actually read the case instead of parroting a talking
               | point? witch
        
           | ericcumbee wrote:
           | you don't have to be particularly well connected in prison to
           | get access to a phone. Just knowing who to talk to and being
           | able to give them something they want. phones are right up
           | there with drugs and tobacco being smuggled into prisons.
        
         | kolbe wrote:
         | What would you suggest to solve the problem solitary is aiming
         | to solve? Chesterton's Fence was built for a reason. Solitary
         | isn't torturous in the traditional sense of the word. It is
         | consistent with the idea of prison--it's just a worse version
         | of prison. It acts to disincentivize rule breaking within the
         | system. What other ways can we attack this problem with high
         | enough confidence that removing the proverbial "fence" will not
         | result in a total disaster.
        
           | brunoqc wrote:
           | > Solitary isn't torturous in the traditional sense of the
           | word.
           | 
           | I think it might actually be. It can break people.
        
             | Matthyze wrote:
             | It is. Psychological torture is torture.
        
         | cm2187 wrote:
         | So what are you suggesting to handle misbehaving inmates? A
         | strongly worded memo?
        
           | paganel wrote:
           | They're already in prison, applying extra pain with no trial
           | or anything like that is not very civilized, to the contrary.
        
           | bobbylarrybobby wrote:
           | A simple middle ground would be confinement to your cell with
           | a book or two, but still in the presence of people. You'd
           | take your meals there, not in the cafeteria. You wouldn't get
           | to hang out with people or go outside. The jail equivalent of
           | a time out. Not fun, probably boring, but not literal
           | psychological torture.
        
             | nabeards wrote:
             | Prison already _is_ psychological torture.
        
           | timbit42 wrote:
           | Ban visitors?
        
         | GaggiX wrote:
         | >which is torturous for many people.
         | 
         | That's why it's used as a punishment.
        
         | pedalpete wrote:
         | I'd agree if he were in solitary for an extended period of
         | time, but is 24 hours really that torturous?
        
       | aprilthird2021 wrote:
       | I really wonder if the whole insolvency and locking up customer
       | funds thing happened which led to the revelation of fraud etc. If
       | that happened now, with Trump in office. Would he have just not
       | been arrested, indicted, convicted, etc.?
        
         | outer_web wrote:
         | Given the measurable shift away from consumer protection and
         | prosecution of corporate greed as well as the micromanagement
         | of the DOJ, I think the answer is "in that hypothetical
         | situation, what would SBF have to offer the White House?"
         | 
         | Of course, with the DOJ RIFs and brain drain it's uncertain he
         | could be successfully prosecuted.
        
       | tcj_phx wrote:
       | The most important line in this interview was at about 33:00:
       | "The hardest thing is not having something meaningful to do in
       | here". https://x.com/tuckercarlson/status/1897709140535132442
       | 
       | Prolonged use of Solitary confinement is a humans right abuse:
       | https://www.aclu.org/documents/abuse-human-rights-prisoners-...
       | 
       | Prison is mostly just warehousing people for a prescribed amount
       | of time. I've read that people start to develop PTSD after about
       | 7 days of confinement. Sometimes incarceration is all you can do
       | with violent people and fraudsters. I'm sure most inmates are
       | deteriorated by their 'correction'.
       | 
       | My friend would rather be in jail than in a psych ward, so that's
       | one positive take on incarceration. [I have videos proving she
       | was misdiagnosed. Arizona's psych wards implement an obsolete
       | approach to 'mental health', using palliative drugs. In 2022
       | Chris Palmer published his book about the 80 years of science
       | establishing that mental disorders are caused by metabolic
       | problems, but the standard of care is still palliative
       | treatment.]
        
       | 6stringmerc wrote:
       | As an inmate in a terrible county jail who chose solitary
       | confinement for mental health reasons - and to avoid the 4 Tray
       | Crips who effectively run general population in Tarrant County
       | Corrections - I'm glad he's going in. I have several stories of
       | hearing entitled and "tough" men absolutely crumble when forced
       | to sit out punishment in that environment. There's a recent
       | phrase that goes "fuck around and find out" which totally fits
       | here.
       | 
       | Yes, solitary confinement is akin to forced mental distress in
       | most incarceration systems. No, it's not randomly doled out.
       | 
       | The fact remains if he wanted to do an interview with Tucker
       | Carlson he could have accomplished it in writing using the mail.
       | He chose not to do so. No sympathy here.
        
         | sebmellen wrote:
         | I live in Tarrant County. I've heard horrible things about the
         | deaths in our county jail. Maybe slightly off topic, but
         | anything you can share from your time there?
        
           | 6stringmerc wrote:
           | Yes and I'm working in earnest to write it up on my Medium
           | account (in profile). The Corrections Officers are
           | legitimately over worked and in numerous chats I found 3 of 5
           | officers highly disapprove of Sheriff Waybourn's handling of
           | the department. This includes Sheriff Deputies tasked with
           | Warrant Enforcement pulling Medical Transport duty.
           | 
           | I am a handicapped person with an incurable chronic blood
           | condition. The standard of care at TCC, via contract with
           | JPS, is appalling. When I had blood pouring out of my mouth /
           | skull from improper after care treatment following a tooth
           | extraction, the responding "Nurse" brought two (2) Tylenol
           | and mouth rinse and a gauze pad. Only due to a favor by the
           | 3rd shift guards was I able to be sent over to the Tower (I
           | was in Lon Evans) to be seen by a Provider and get my
           | necessary medication to stop the bleeding. The staff
           | completely disregarded the documented / listed after care
           | protocol written in my file by the Specialist at JPS.
           | 
           | Furthermore, between January and February of 2024 I lost 25
           | pounds - to 124.6 from 150 at 5'7" - because they refused to
           | acknowledge my daily repeat vomiting from a bacterial
           | infection was deserving treatment. It's a frustrating
           | situation to be in for sure, but I hope by appropriately
           | documenting my suffering and pain, something positive may be
           | done about Sheriff Bill's "they deserve to be abused"
           | espoused mentality. Thank you for being concerned, I do mean
           | that!
        
             | sebmellen wrote:
             | Unbelievable. How in the hell is Waybourn still in charge!?
             | 
             | Extremely sorry to hear about the pain you went through.
        
       | tempodox wrote:
       | > SBF blamed his erratic appearance in old interviews on being
       | distracted by tech devices.
       | 
       | Really, the excuses this guy is throwing around remind me of
       | little children.
       | 
       | > Carlson kept acting throughout the interview as though it's
       | just normal and reasonable for wealthy people who donate to
       | politicians to expect corrupt favors from those same people in
       | their time of need.
       | 
       | That's just being realistic, isn't it?
        
         | majormajor wrote:
         | > > Carlson kept acting throughout the interview as though it's
         | just normal and reasonable for wealthy people who donate to
         | politicians to expect corrupt favors from those same people in
         | their time of need.
         | 
         | > That's just being realistic, isn't it?
         | 
         | For Carlson - a wealthy politically connected person who I
         | would be unsurprised if he is the recipient of favor - I'm sure
         | it's realistic.
         | 
         | But there are more of us who _don 't_ have the wealth or
         | political connections to get favors than there are those who
         | do.
         | 
         | So it's weird that people who claim to care about corruption
         | keep voting for and snuggling up to extremely wealthy
         | obviously-favor-trading conmen. The president doesn't even try
         | to hide the games. So after that it's unsurprising that someone
         | like Carlson is starting to drop the pretense too.
         | 
         | Will the people he gets his power from - his audience - care,
         | though?
        
           | generalizations wrote:
           | Wouldn't 'acting surprised' at such things be merely
           | performative? I don't think anyone in this thread is
           | surprised either.
        
           | AnthonyMouse wrote:
           | The general problem is that honest politicians are uncommon.
           | If you have to choose between corrupt politician who is going
           | to do X and corrupt politician who is going to do Y then
           | you're going to choose on the basis of X and Y rather than
           | corruption because "honest politician" isn't on the ballot.
           | 
           | Go ahead and change that if you can figure out how.
        
             | ccorcos wrote:
             | Hot take: I think it should be legal to offer a bribe and
             | illegal to accept a bribe.
             | 
             | For example, I don't think it's immoral to offer a crooked
             | cop in Mexico $20 to walk away from a dangerous situation.
             | 
             | In your example, it's not your fault politicians are
             | accepting bribes. So you can either do it or go out of
             | business. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
             | 
             | I think it would do a good job of weeding out bribes too.
             | Because people offering bribes also get a form of blackmail
             | - they don't go to jail if they come clean but the other
             | side does!
             | 
             | I really think it would actually end up net-positive. What
             | do you think?
        
         | PavleMiha wrote:
         | > That's just being realistic, isn't it?
         | 
         | As evidenced by this situation it's not true that any criminal
         | can give money to any politician and expect favours. Perhaps
         | some criminals curry more favour, and perhaps some politicians
         | are more transactional.
        
         | amazingman wrote:
         | No. Not in a society that values the rule of law. I keep seeing
         | amoral "do whatever you can get away with" sociopathy
         | masquerading as "realism" in our discussions of politics. I
         | wish it would stop.
        
         | Recursing wrote:
         | > > SBF blamed his erratic appearance in old interviews on
         | being distracted by tech devices.
         | 
         | > Really, the excuses this guy is throwing around remind me of
         | little children.
         | 
         | That's not what he says though,
         | https://youtu.be/dN1CR2dyfo8?feature=shared&t=169 "My mind was
         | racing because there were a billion things to keep track of
         | [with the company]"
         | 
         | (Not defending SBF here, he deserves his sentence)
        
       | Molitor5901 wrote:
       | I despise the snot but solitary confinement should only be used
       | for the most egregious, violent offenders. Throwing someone in
       | the "hole" for such a minor thing is inhuman. Solitary should be
       | outlawed.
        
         | xiphias2 wrote:
         | By stealing billions of dollars he destroyed more people than
         | the worst repeated violent offenders. Also he's clearly paying
         | politicians off. In my opinion he should be categorized in the
         | worst category even just looking at the lost thousands of years
         | because people won't be able to pay medical bills because of
         | him.
        
       | rwmj wrote:
       | Is there a chance the constitution will be changed after all this
       | so the president can't pardon people?
        
         | dragonwriter wrote:
         | It is unlikely that any amendment to the Constitution that
         | would pass (or even a new order of government instituted
         | without amending the Constitution, e.g., by autocoup or violent
         | revolution) would eliminate the pardon power, though it is
         | somewhat more plausible that it might be made either subject to
         | some kind of after-issue review or made non-unilateral, either
         | generally or in particular circumstances.
        
         | ycombinatrix wrote:
         | Joe Arpaio was pardoned in Trump's first term. Nobody is gonna
         | change anything.
        
         | toast0 wrote:
         | The president can only pardon for federal crimes. I imagine
         | if/when people are tired of federal pardons, that many things
         | will become both state crimes and federal crimes, where that's
         | possible.
         | 
         | Some crimes clearly fit only under the federal umbrella, but
         | some are meerly not currently addressed by state law because
         | federal law was seen as sufficient. There's a recent supreme
         | court decision that says trying someone for the same conduct in
         | state and federal courts is fine [1], so it just becomes a
         | question of if the federally pardoned conduct also violates a
         | state law of a state that's relevant.
         | 
         | In this case, where the victims are numerous, if SBF were
         | pardoned, the question would be do any of the 50 states have a
         | fraud law that was violated. Or indeed, if any other countries
         | do and if they can get an extradition arranged. I don't know if
         | a federal pardon would prevent US cooperation in extradition?
         | 
         | [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_v._United_States
        
         | Ankaios wrote:
         | Here's a proposal for an amendment restricting the pardon
         | power: https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-
         | releases/congress...
         | 
         | Here's the proposed text:
         | 
         | SECTION 1. The President shall not have the power to grant
         | pardons and reprieves to--                 (1) the President's
         | self;            (2) any person, up to a third degree relation,
         | of the President, or a spouse thereof;            (3) any
         | current or former member of the President's administration;
         | (4) any person who worked on the President's presidential
         | campaign as a paid employee;            (5) any person or
         | entity for an offense that was motivated by a direct and
         | significant personal or pecuniary interest of any of the
         | foregoing persons; or            (6) any person or entity for
         | an offense that was at the direction of, or in coordination
         | with, the President.
         | 
         | Any pardon issued for a corrupt purpose shall be invalid.
         | 
         | SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
         | article by appropriate legislation.
        
           | raincom wrote:
           | Even if this law passes, it will face a problem of violating
           | the constitution: ArtII.S2.C1.3.1
        
             | cvz wrote:
             | It wouldn't be an ordinary law, it would be a
             | constitutional amendment, so that wouldn't be an issue.
             | It's probably not going to happen, though. Amending the
             | U.S. constitution is incredibly difficult.
        
       | tw1231283 wrote:
       | Crypto czar David Sacks was in favor of the Silicon Valley Bank
       | bailout but spoke against SBF in 2022, when SBF was believed to
       | be a Democrat.
       | 
       | Otherwise there would be a good chance of making gambling with
       | customer money legal (which is what the Silicon Valley Bank did)
       | and SBF could co-chair the Sovereign Bitcoin Reserve together
       | with DPR.
        
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