So we go shoot a bunch of Venezuelan fishing boats claiming they're hauling drugs and pardon the founder of a drug marketplace at the same time...

When? Looks recent.

Holy shit, they pardoned him? What the actual fuck.

That was 3 days ago

https://x.com/cspan/status/2098198677001035967

https://www.yahoo.com/news/videos/libertarian-icon-ross-ulbricht-praises-004013006.html

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-vance-midterm-elections-2026-rnc/card/silk-road-founder-ross-ulbricht-thanks-trump-for-pardon-UGEcnoJU1uLnOj6NcQed

Nothing to see here citizen, please keep walking.

He gave a speech at the Libertarian National Convention promising to pardon Ulbricht if elected. That and the RFK Jr. deal helped him a great deal.

Bring back Silk Road if this is how it's gonna be. Need to acquire some meds outside the pharmaceutical system. For reasons. (MD won't give the good shit for "existential crisis due to fascism").

Stuff is way more illegal when you're not white and male, everyone knows that

It’s almost as if it’s not really about the drugs… 🤔

The anarchist backdrop was an interesting choice.

Darknet markets never stopped being a thing, they just got shut down and replaced with different ones every so often

It's not the drug marketplace I'm worried about...it's the attempt to hire a contract killer to kill someone that explains why he should be in jail.

That's precisely why I'm shocked. I understand the charge was dismissed during the trial, but due to technicalities rather than 'this has not happened'. WT actual F.

He became a MAGA figurehead a few years back, at least in the weirder corners. I remember an old maga getting weirdly defensive when I mentioned how I like the idea of silk road, but not the whole killing people aspect.

War Is Peace.
Freedom Is Slavery.
Ignorance Is Strength.

I've never used any crypto black markets, but this sort of shit fascinates me. My understanding is that silk road was effectively the "Pirate Bay" of crypto black markets. It was the most easily accessible, "good enough", and popular enough that it made headlines.

It was never the only one, or the true "source" or originator for much of the scene. These places absolutely still exist, but they're slightly less "open". Comparing to piracy again, it's like getting into a private tracker rather than using one of the known public ones. You have to dig just a little for it.

Don't know how much is agency honeypots or astroturfing, but last time I browsed the dark web one of the most popular "subreddits" on what is supposedly TOR's biggest reddit equivalent was all discussion of current marketplaces and their specialties, annoyances, and trustworthiness.

He passed the brown bag color test

Yeah! You want a job done, do it yourself! /s

Giving THAT speech at the epicenter of American facism convention is so unfortunate.

Like dawg this is the party still on the war on drugs, they are commiting war crimes for it. The party of Palantir and Flock. The ones pushing for concentration camps.

I can't fully blame anyone being grateful for getting freed from our prison system. I also get not going guns a blazing condemnation at the RNC, but he's been free for a minute now he really can't be that ignorant of what they are doing, right?

What a lying sack of shit, he was pardoned not exonerated. Guilty, let off by a criminal through a bribe, and now claiming innocence. What an actual garbage human being.