Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What's Going on at the FBI?

lawfaremedia.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 189 posts

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#131

Post by woodpanel »

Juliate wrote: post #39
thih9 wrote: post #20

I’m not from the US and news like this change my perception of that country - it seems unstable; just like I’m not considering a Wordpress blog, I’d think twice before any long term plans that involve the US. The comparison to the Wordpress drama works surprisingly well for me, complete with vendettas and an overzealous leader, just on an even larger scale and affecting more people.

That. The impact on commercial, technical, cultural influence of the USA is incredible. How could we have any insurance that these (personal and professional) US-based infra/tools companies (even AWS, Microsoft, Apple) could be even operating as expected, and in good faith, now that some petulant, inconsequential mixed-business-political leader is able to trigger that level of damage on a whim?

But in fact we see the opposite: Countries are quick to comply with the new admin's demands. Because put simply, there is no alternative available to US hegemony. Culturally you will still be writing on this platform in 5 years (because, put simply...), no critical mass is leaving twitter/x (because...) and technically you very likely will be using an american made co-pilot (...).

Could it be, juuuust maybe, that you're believing what the US's other political side wants you to believe?

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#132

Post by woodpanel »

whatever1 wrote: post #21
kennysoona wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the next four years will be the stress test of the strength of US institutions against an authoritarian president. As well as a stress test against half the voting population that thinks an authoritarian president is peachy and somehow patriotic.

Half of the voting population were so fed up with the economy that they went with the nuclear option. It’s just that most of them have not read history and none of them have lived through war or fascism to understand what they are signing up for. They will all learn their lesson.

Can you point to an exact policy or EO that constitutes fascism?

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#134

Post by Juliate »

woodpanel wrote: post #131
Juliate wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That. The impact on commercial, technical, cultural influence of the USA is incredible. How could we have any insurance that these (personal and professional) US-based infra/tools companies (even AWS, Microsoft, Apple) could be even operating as expected, and in good faith, now that some petulant, inconsequential mixed-business-political leader is able to trigger that level of damage on a whim?

But in fact we see the opposite: Countries are quick to comply with the new admin's demands. Because put simply, there is no alternative available to US hegemony. Culturally you will still be writing on this platform in 5 years (because, put simply...), no critical mass is leaving twitter/x (because...) and technically you very likely will be using an american made co-pilot (...). Could it be, juuuust maybe, that you…

> Countries are quick to comply with the new admin's demands.

Are you so sure? In just a few days you come to that conclusion? What's certain is the damage that the US is self-inducing. The reaction from abroad, whatever form it may take, has not had the time to take shape yet.

> Culturally you will still be writing on this platform in 5 years (because, put simply...)

The more I read here, the more I realise how both part of the audience, and part of the hosting, is veeeeery skewed to some peculiar mindset I could not imagine in the past 10 years. Let's say that it is a good continuous learning experience.

> no critical mass is leaving twitter/x (because...)

[independant citation needed]. I found most of my active communities back on Bluesky and Mastodon, as they have gone almost extinct on X/Twitter. While I see a significant surge of bots (not hard to spot) both in comments, posts and follows. The mass may stay the same, to call it critical is a bit of a flex to me.

> and technically you very likely will be using an american made co-pilot (...).

I feel it's a bit early to say "likely". As it's a bit early to say that it may still be relevant to use it at all in a few years.

> Could it be, juuuust maybe, that you're believing what the US's other political side wants you to believe?

And that would be?

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#135

Post by bryanlarsen »

cinquemb wrote: post #113
mdhb wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And realpolitik nobody will ever trust the US again they are going to in a much worse position for the rest of both our lives as a result of this. I don’t think a lot of Americans have any concept of exactly how much the rest of the world hates them right now but I promise you that you’re living in a very different world moving forward as is everyone else. You can’t spend generations telling everyone to depend on you…

That may be true, and Europeans will be free to trust the Russians and the Turkish as the those in SEA are free to trust the Chinese instead. If the rest of the world doesn't send munitions on target stateside, Americans wont care. Just like they didn't care for the past 20+ years when DoD was tasked with bombing millions others in far away lands without explicit declaration by congress. Perhaps those who build their…

The general response to broken trust is to trust nobody. Americans breaking trust will make it less likely others trust Russia or Turkey or China, not more.

"If you can't trust America, who can you trust?"

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#136

Post by bryanlarsen »

woodpanel wrote: post #131
Juliate wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That. The impact on commercial, technical, cultural influence of the USA is incredible. How could we have any insurance that these (personal and professional) US-based infra/tools companies (even AWS, Microsoft, Apple) could be even operating as expected, and in good faith, now that some petulant, inconsequential mixed-business-political leader is able to trigger that level of damage on a whim?

But in fact we see the opposite: Countries are quick to comply with the new admin's demands. Because put simply, there is no alternative available to US hegemony. Culturally you will still be writing on this platform in 5 years (because, put simply...), no critical mass is leaving twitter/x (because...) and technically you very likely will be using an american made co-pilot (...). Could it be, juuuust maybe, that you…

Every single Canadian IT board I'm on is filled with conversations on viable alternatives to American service providers and tips on how to switch.

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#137

Post by juanani »

kennysoona wrote: post #12
arunabha wrote: post #8

It's wild to think I'd ever say this, but the next four years will be the stress test of the strength of US institutions against an authoritarian president. If they survive the next four years, they will likely survive pretty much anything.

> but the next four years will be the stress test of the strength of US institutions against an authoritarian president. As well as a stress test against half the voting population that thinks an authoritarian president is peachy and somehow patriotic.

[dead]

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#138

Post by woodpanel »

rob74 wrote: post #53

What's most wild about this is that what's happening at the FBI, while plenty scandalous enough on its own, are mostly eclipsed by everything else that's going on - e.g. this editorial https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/03/the-gu... doesn't even mention the FBI. It's like Trump is setting as many fires at once as he can, hoping that at least some of them will burn out of control...

An editorial in the partisan Guardian citing the higly partisan Krugman as well as the highly partisan Nathan Tankus was hopefully not supposed to be representing facts, or was it?

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#139

Post by bryanlarsen »

hnbad wrote: post #83
whatever1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half of the voting population were so fed up with the economy that they went with the nuclear option. It’s just that most of them have not read history and none of them have lived through war or fascism to understand what they are signing up for. They will all learn their lesson.

I think the problem is that most people think nothing ever happens, or to put it bluntly "It couldn't happen here". Harris literally offered nothing - when pressed she even said that she wouldn't have done anything different from Biden, which is the last thing you want to hear about a president whose only selling point was not being Trump and giving the country breathing room to come up with something better. Yes, th…

> the Democrats have nothing to offer in response to the people's suffering.

WTF? The Democrats are the ones with concrete offers to ease people's suffering. Literally. Stuff like Medicare for all.

For example, Clinton offered coal miners retraining and income support in order to ameliorate the inevitable. Trump offered empty impossible promises. People voted for the empty promises rather than the concrete reality. Coal miners lost their jobs without the support Clinton would have provided.

99% of economists were predicting recession during the multiple crises of the Biden term. 99% of economists were wrong because we had skilled leadership at the helm. How much suffering did that prevent?

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#140

Post by SauciestGNU »

jimkleiber wrote: post #84
NekkoDroid wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> NB: I really disliked the preemptively pardoning. Like really really disliked it and wish it were not legal. I also really hate it, but it's becoming more obvious with time that they to some degree were necessary in this case. Ideally they wouldn't be needed or possible, but Trump and his administration seem to have multiple axes to grind with anyone in the government not directly subserviant to him.

Not necessary, just out of fear. They capitulated to Trump's threats instead of standing up and fighting hard for principles.

Sure, but Fauci should also not have to spend the twilight years of his very accomplished life defending himself from petulant fascists' revenge prosecutions.
Post reply on HN