What if the country in question decides to let them in, but without the proper documents, with the implicit goal of getting their labor for cheap? (…) In other words, the system is/was working as intended, and illegal immigration was desired.

This is such an important concept for people to understand. The system was functioning as intended, for better or worse. There are myriad benefits to keeping people in fear, from financial to behavioral. It’s part of the reason why the US is so resistant to the idea of decoupling healthcare from employment, at least until after you reach retirement age. Productivity, baby!!

Also, thank you for introducing me to the idea of POSIWID. I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of that.

Living in a world without nuance would mean experiencing life in a stark, black-and-white manner. Every situation, person, and idea is categorized as purely good or bad, leaving no room for complexity, shades of meaning, or understanding of different perspectives; A world where everything is simplified to extremes, leading to misinterpretations and a difficulty navigating more complex situations and interpersonal relationships. If worse/better doesn’t matter, there can be no difference between killing 1,000 people or killing 100,000 people.

Well, you’re half correct. He was charged in Maryland for attempted witness murder, but the charges were dropped once he’d been sentenced so harshly in New York. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, and there’s plenty of conspiratorial debate about them.

I strongly doubt that the prosecution would have brought the charges if they didn’t have traceable evidence (through blockchain transaction records, undercover police chat logs, and data seizure) that coins, sent to an undercover agent for the purposes of murder, originated from wallets that were owned by Ulbricht. You can read more about one of the employees Ulbricht allegedly tried to have murdered (Curtis Green, who was sentenced for his own crimes) here and here.

You’re right, though, he’s technically innocent as the charges were dismissed. Perhaps it was all a huge setup/honeypot but the truth of whether or not he sent the coins should be discoverable with enough due diligence scouring the blockchain records. Intent matters, even though it didn’t end up getting tried in this instance.

If he didn’t wanna look bad he shouldn’t have sent a person he believed to be a hitman $300,000 to murder someone.

Looks like someone forgot about the 3-2-1 rule. Teachable moment.