Noting that RFK Jr. has some strange opinions is like saying that the Taliban is hesitant to accept others’ religious beliefs.
I don’t understand why he should get a harsher sentence than another murderer, and I rather resent the notion that if someone first-degree-murdered me, they’d probably get paroled in 25 or 30 years, like most convicted killers, while this guy should never be paroled because he shot fucking RFK– and, well, my life is just as important to me as RFK’s was to him, I would be just as dead as RFK if I was the one who was shot, and RFK was no better than I am.
Politicians and their ilk are already given too much precedence and privilege over the rest of us, and punishing their murder more severely than anyone else’s just doesn’t smell right.
I disagree. It’s not that RFK’s life was inherently more precious than yours or mine; it’s that his murder was much more damaging to the nation. If I were murdered, my family and friends would be devastated, and my community might be horrified and would probably feel less safe. When a political leader is assassinated, the damage and devastation are several orders of magnitude worse and more widespread.
After all, the assassin is not targeting the victim alone but also the political process and, indirectly, the thousands–or, as in RFK’s case, millions–of people who support the same causes and have the same ideals.
^ Agreed. Cf. this guy, a yutz like you and me but whose assassination weighed a bit more on the world at large:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria
It arguably gave us Richard Nixon.
I think this is a decent justification for holding assassins longer than ordinary murderers. I suspect we imprison everyone too long. I think we keep a lot of people who are no longer dangerous behind bars. But I’m okay holding assassins longer than those who murder in a fit of passion. (Unless the latter are still dangerous, of course.)
AFAIK he’s never expressed any remorse for the crime. Nixon, Watergate, Ford wouldn’t have happened.
I can’t see any justification for releasing Sirhan now.
I do not recall that. The American Sheldon Adelson flew him to Israel in his private jet. He was met by Bibi. The Israelis gave him a government pension.
I do not remember a hero’s welcome. The Israelis seem to be keeping him under wraps pretty well.
(BTW, the Israelis just promoted his handler.)
LOL! All right, RFK Jr has some crazy opinions. That’s one reason I’d take with a big big grain of salt the statement “They should parole Sirhan and RFK’s kids agree”. Especially when the majority of RFK’s kids don’t want him paroled.
“According to multiple past reports based on the statements of United States investigators, Israeli intelligence paid Pollard $50,000 by the time he was arrested in 1985, on top of lavish gifts, and promised to deposit $30,000 a year for him in a secret Swiss bank account. The original 10-year deal could have amounted to as much as $540,000, officials said when he went to jail. But if the Israelis continued the payments to their captured spy—a common practice of major espionage agencies the world over—then Pollard could be in line for a $1 million payday, or more.”
Thank you.
Good. Fuck you, Sirhan.
Since he’s never shown remorse or even taken responsibility for his act, you forgot with a rusty hacksaw.
And I’m no big fan of the Kennedy clan.
Sirhan should be released when Robert gets to be alive and walking around.
Shouldn’t be too difficult, at least according to Qanon.
Sara Jane Moore, who shot at President Ford (she missed and was tackled and disarmed by a bystander, Oliver Sipple) was released after 32 years. I suppose that’s enough for an attempted assassination, and she did regret doing it.
There was a documentary I saw, sorry to say I don’t recall the subject, but Sara Jane Moore was one of the prime interviewees and I kept thinking “wait, isn’t she the one who…?” Indeed she was, but only at the end was her past even mentioned. To most viewers she just looked like a pleasant older lady. I guess you can live it down.