Comment by mikestew | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mikestew | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

There are some things you just don't joke about. You don't joke about bombs at the airport, you don't yell "fire" in a theater, and you don't joke about assaulting a high-profile politician. I don't care who you are are or what you're "known for", the Secret Service has to take each one of these seriously, and now they're spending my tax money to confirm that this dude is just doing it for the "lulz". That, and Clinton gets to walk around wondering which sycophant is going to take this request seriously. Teaching him a lesson? Damned straight, him and every other wannabe that thinks this is cute.

It doesn't help that the guy's no Schwartz or Snowden. He's not defending our rights, or revealing the erosion of our rights, nor saving puppies. He's known for being a jackass. And we all like a jackass until it hits the fan, and then we all collectively back away slowly.

You make some excellent points, so much so that I changed my opinion after reading your comments. That happens very rarely.

You are correct - barring mental illness - everybody knows that there are some things that are foolish and / or irresponsible to joke about about and may not pass without a consequence.

Things will not pass without consequence even when you have mental illness. The sentence might be slightly different, forced therapy in a closed institution instead of regular prison, but that's about it. A crime's a crime.

So, should Kathy Griffin join him in jail then? I don't think she should.

Kathy Griffin isn't a convicted felon.

The arrogance of Shkreli is absolutely astounding considering he is still waiting to be sentenced.

Everyone (including himself) is assuming he'll get a relatively light sentence because that's what a regular person would be expected to get in his position. But a regular person convicted of a felony would have the common sense to show contrition and remorse even if they didn't mean it.

Shkreli can get up to 20 years based on what the judge feels appropriate. And this judge just showed she doesn't view Shkreli as a regular first time felon.

It was reported that he seemed uncharacteristicly quiet and serious when he was ordered to prison today. I wonder if he's starting to realize how badly he has screwed up. If not I'm sure he'll get the idea when he gets sentenced to spend years of his life in prison.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com