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What's Going on at the FBI?

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Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#161

Post by cjameskeller »

kragen wrote: post #3

J. Edgar Hoover ran the US for decades and was more powerful than any president. His successor, far less powerful, is in a power struggle with the richest man in the world and a political party that controls all three official branches of government. The situation looks unpredictable. It may be worth rereading Mike Lofgren's essay from 11 years ago, before Trump's first campaign, in which he tries to apply the Turkis…

Who do you mean by "his successor"? Surely not the new, 'acting' FBI director, as they have comparatively little power?

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#162

Post by jimkleiber »

SauciestGNU wrote: post #160
jimkleiber wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, emotionally I'd agree. However, legally, I think it's a very slippery slope. What if Don Jr shoots someone dead and then Trunp premptively pardons him so no one can investigate the shooting? I think the hard part of enforcing the law is enforcing it equally, even towards those we love the most.

I think enforcing the law is only important while there is rule of law. What the Republicans are doing now is rule by law. It's not a good-faith reading of laws, it's using raw state power to turn the legal apparatus against the perceived enemies of the state/regime. We're way past lofty ideals like equal application of the law. It's going to take a reconsideration of our social contract in order to live in a society…

Or we just get beyond the idea of punishing the guilty and go to restorative justice.

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#163

Post by cinquemb »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #135
cinquemb wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?"

I don't disagree with what you state, but I don't think most who are surprised now are ready to ponder systems of governance and cooperation that require less trust than those most used now so i won't go there here.

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#164

Post by SauciestGNU »

jimkleiber wrote: post #162
SauciestGNU wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think enforcing the law is only important while there is rule of law. What the Republicans are doing now is rule by law. It's not a good-faith reading of laws, it's using raw state power to turn the legal apparatus against the perceived enemies of the state/regime. We're way past lofty ideals like equal application of the law. It's going to take a reconsideration of our social contract in order to live in a society…

Or we just get beyond the idea of punishing the guilty and go to restorative justice.

But I want bad things to happen to bad people...

I agree with restorative justice, but the people using a law as a weapon do not so I hope they see the same mercy they show their victims.

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#165

Post by inemesitaffia »

Juliate wrote: post #134
woodpanel wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Bluesky is American, hosted on Amazon and is pre-revenue

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#166

Post by whatthesmack »

krapp wrote: post #112
1659447091 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... not Trump personally but the entire organism that surrounds him in this presidential term ... I don't think he actually has much control over this. It was always strange to me when the far-right, and then mainstream republicans, started really leaning into this "Deep State" conspiracy theory--not liking the others politics is not reason to believe it was ever a thing on either side. Not in the way it was meant,…

Every accusation by the right is a confession.

Are you sure that doesn't apply both ways?

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#167

Post by whatthesmack »

jackjeff wrote: post #30
bboygravity wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different from any previous president? Isn't the very reason that the puppets "need replacing" (according to the president) tell you that they are of the wrong (previous president's) political flavor? Honest question, I'm not from US, but on the surface it just looks like more of the same thing that has always been happening? Except with way more media attention?

I think it’s unprecedented for every FBI agent to fill up a questionnaire to admit whether they worked on a case where the president himself was an active participant.

It's also unprecedented that a current president's administration would collude to charge the primary opposition of it in a presidential election across multiple jurisdictions, including with an unlawful special counsel appointment, yet here we are.

To note, the president was only an active participant insofar as he asked people to remain calm and peaceful.

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#168

Post by whatthesmack »

reshlo wrote: post #62
throwawaythekey wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes it a coup? Trump was elected on a platform of government reform and that's what he is doing.

A leader who is democratically elected, and then violates or exploits loopholes in the law to give themselves powers that they are not supposed to have, is engaging in a self-coup. The US Constitution grants Congress, not the executive branch, the power to determine how the federal government’s money is spent. Elon Musk’s team within the Executive Office of the President have reportedly gained full admin access to th…

> exploits loopholes in the law

This is a very interesting way of saying "following the law."

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#169

Post by whatthesmack »

guelo wrote: post #65
throwawaythekey wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes it a coup? Trump was elected on a platform of government reform and that's what he is doing.

The pardoning of the J6 rioters that broke into the capitol, and now trying to fire all law enforcement that were involved in their prosecution feels like the end of the rule of law. Law will now be whatever Trump says. It's a coup.

> the J6 rioters that broke into the capital

I would encourage you to learn more about that day. Most people that were charged did not go into the building. And the few that did were literally waved in by police, including many being escorted around inside by police.

Re: What's Going on at the FBI?

#170

Post by whatthesmack »

guelo wrote: post #68
AndyMcConachie wrote: post #61

Live by the witch hunt, die by the witch hunt.

Do you believe the j6 rioters breaking into the capitol were not acting illegally so that there prosecution was a witch hunt? Help me understand.

Nobody broke in. Most people charged were outside the entire time. The few that went inside were literally waved in by smiling police officers and escorted around the building by police. Please learn more about what happened that day. The people that endured this persecution of a witch hunt deserve sainthood. They were abused in jail in unimaginable ways.
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