How does Anthony Lewandowski being pardoned advance any public good? I would argue it does the exact opposite.

I guess it kind of "sticks it" to Google, who Trump thinks is "so biased toward the Dems it is ridiculous!"

I have no idea if there is such a thing as a "revenge pardon", but I guess it's a thing now.

(Incidentally, I wanted to use an exact Trump quote in that first paragraph, and I found it here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/19/upshot/trump-...)

or they recognizes the need for the US to have a modern and advanced car industry_

How does stealing trade secrets from your employer advance the car industry? Nobody will pay for R&D if competitors can use it for free.

His conviction is based on being a fall guy for Uber’s corporate espionage.

His pardon could be interpreted as a strike against “piracy is theft” mindset and the idea of “intellectual property” in general that HN often rallies against.

I’m quite disappointed by Trump’s pardons but this one is actually a good one.

> His conviction is based on being a fall guy for Uber’s corporate espionage

Do you have any evidence that he didn't commit the crimes he is convicted of? Because his lawyers would've loved to talk to you last year.

yeah it struck me as odd. Got downvoted like crazy for this, which is weird since I'd expect people to be leaning towards intellectual freedom here.

It's not as if I said he was not guilty, but rather saying that he would have a lot of information on self driving cars. Which is what he was charged with in the first place.

He co-founded three major self-driving car programs. How is it not obvious that having a well functioning car industry would be beneficial to USA?

> ... or maybe they are competent and knows how to advance the public good.

I think corrupt is the right word.

how can you be so sure that he wasn't put there because of corruption in the first place

If highly positioned people in the industry asks to have his competence back on the market, maybe it's the best if the president just listens

He was sentenced to 18 months and served 6. Wouldn't he be out on good behaviour after 9 months anyways?

Are you sure you are not just knee-jerking here?

ah yes, so much public good comes from rich people being allowed to commit crime.

mm sure do you think the USA would have beat the Soviets to the moon had it not been for this guy: Wernher von Braun?