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US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

bbc.com

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Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#71

Post by actionfromafar »

nerdponx wrote: post #49
SoftTalker wrote: post #37

Not that I know, but I could imagine that a public/anonymous form on the web (if that's what it was) was receiving 99.8% bot/garbage/spam/nuisance reports and they took it down for that reason. Though nothing in the article gives that as a reason, and quotes only the rather vague statement that "the US State Department insisted it was continuing to receive reports regarding gross violations of human rights and was en…

I'm actually more surprised that they didn't abuse it, instead of removing it. Remember when Trump's first FCC commissioner ran a public comment campaign on net neutrality, and then heavily botted it to make it look like people were more strongly opposed than they actually were? Remember when there were zero consequences for that? I guess removing it makes a stronger statement.

The time for nudging and manipulation is apparently over. It's more like "the sky is green, who do you believe, me or your lying eyes? We got 20 trillion dollars from foreign countries. Obey."

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#72

Post by cogman10 »

Yeul wrote: post #55
wffurr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is impeachment, but when Congress is stuffed with boot licking toadies, then there is no recourse.

A good point. The people who sit in parliament are very often just machines of the party. Yes yes TECHNICALLY they are elected by the people and have a mandate but your career is over if you speak out. You have to be a very special kind of person to break rank.

Which is the flaw of the impeachment/conviction process. It heavily relies on elected officials having a strong moral compass. It's what the founders got the most wrong about the US as it's basically a worthless process. It really doesn't matter what evidence gets presented or what a president does. The result will always be a party line vote.

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#73

Post by westmeal »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #40
liampulles wrote: post #31

While there may well not have been ethical intentions behind this removal (who knows), I think reporting to the press directly is probably better than reporting it to a government, so as to avoid giving the government a chance to cover things up.

That’s next: https://www.democracynow.org/2025/9/22/headlines/trump_says_... > Trump Says It Is “Really Illegal” for Journalists to Give His Administration Negative Coverage https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/really-i... > The president concluded that when coverage of someone is “bad” 97% of the time, “that’s no longer free speech.” > “They’ll take a great story and they’ll make it bad,” he told repo…

This fuckin guy is honestly unbelievable.

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#74

Post by wackget »

wonderwonder wrote: post #60

Lots of people seem to think Trump is some sort of king or going outside the law. Fact is he was democratically elected and working within the system of checks and balances established by our founders. Congress can stop him from doing things but the democratically elected congress allows him to continue. So they agree with his actions and are doing their job. Checked and balanced. The courts can stop him and indeed h…

How do you explain away things like lobbying money (i.e. bribery), or politicians remaining in their post despite glaringly obvious physical and cognitive decline, or insider trading, or the stacking of courts with biased judges, or total lack of enforcement of the law, or the media being so obviously controlled by state-aligned actors? To name but a few.

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#75

Post by selectodude »

skizm wrote: post #28
mikeyouse wrote: post #5

> Tim Rieser, former senior aide to Senator Leahy who wrote the 2011 amendment mandating information gathering, told the BBC the gateway's removal meant the State Department was "clearly ignoring the law". We're in a really bad place... with a servile congress, it turns out there aren't really any laws constraining the executive branch. When everything relies on "independent IGs" for law enforcement inside executive…

> it turns out there aren't really any laws constraining the executive branch There are plenty of laws being ignored. Tariffs being the most obvious.

Congress should get around to impeaching and convicting the president then!

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#76

Post by _joel »

wonderwonder wrote: post #70
actionfromafar wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every check and balance is working its just not making decisions the left agrees with. This is indeed what democracy looks like though. Mid terms are coming up and the people will once again have a chance to voice their opinion. The Republican Party acts like the midterms don't matter at all . Approval is plummeting, representatives ignore townhalls like the plague.

Which is awesome for the dems then correct? Reps will lose seats and then the Dems will have the house and enforce whatever checks and balances they choose. If the reps win then the people have spoken and current actions continue.

What about the gerrymandering?

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#78

Post by ks2048 »

hirvi74 wrote: post #4

Not that I agree with this decision, but is there any evidence that these reports yielded any consequences? Or rather, was it one of those, "After conducting an internal investigation, we have determined we did nothing wrong" kind of things?

There's some cases described below. Clearly, it doesn't help much. But, better to enforce that scrap it IMHO,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy_Law

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#79

Post by mikeyouse »

BoredPositron wrote: post #59
nimbius wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's about ignoring due process. If you don't want it repeal the law. They can do it easily but ignoring it sends a different message...

This is exactly right - the Trump admin claims to have a mandate to do all sorts of things, and they're just unilaterally doing so - in plain violation of the law. If they actually the mandate they say they do, they'd pass laws repealing the requirements they don't like and defunding the programs they dislike rather than illegally impounding the funds and illegally killing programs like this one. Except it turns out that "illegal" is only important if there's someone capable of enforcing the law and under this Supreme Court's clearly insane reading of our laws and constitution, there is nobody that can constrain the President.

Re: US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces

#80

Post by Joeri »

mikeyouse wrote: post #5

> Tim Rieser, former senior aide to Senator Leahy who wrote the 2011 amendment mandating information gathering, told the BBC the gateway's removal meant the State Department was "clearly ignoring the law". We're in a really bad place... with a servile congress, it turns out there aren't really any laws constraining the executive branch. When everything relies on "independent IGs" for law enforcement inside executive…

When a different side takes control of the justice department they may choose to go after all those who broke the law by order of this president. The president might be protected from consequences according to the supreme court, but those answering to the president are not.

This administration has set the standard that the justice department can be weaponized against political enemies. The ratchet only goes one way in American politics, presidents never relinquish the powers claimed by their predecessors.

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