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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

#91

Post by dirtyoldmick »

Joeri wrote: post #80
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 i…

[flagged]

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

#92

Post by ryandrake »

Joeri wrote: post #80
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 i…

The obvious solution to this is to change everything structurally needed to ensure the other side never again takes control, which is clearly also in progress.

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

#93

Post by speakfreely »

hypeatei wrote: post #56
propagandist wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it was always purely a pretense. One must laud the transparency this administration has introduced.

> One must laud the transparency this administration has introduced. What transparency? What is transparent about running a meme coin that anyone in the world can bribe- sorry, "invest" in with no trace of who they are while you're President? As for the topic at hand: Trump truly has no vision for anything we do on the world stage so I don't believe it's a deliberate effort at "transparency"

> Trump truly has no vision for anything we do on the world stage

It confuses me how anyone could look at what's happening in the world and see a lack of a plan. Trump administration seems to actually be unusually focused on foreign policy in this term and using geopolitical statecraft to upend the arrangements that were not working in favor of the US. The tariffs to force countries to choose US or China, putting the fear of Russia in Europe to pump up their defense spending, and the peacemaker strategy in the Middle East to force oil prices down to reduce inflation. It seems to be a very comprehensive strategy.

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

#95

Post by ks2048 »

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.

Districts are gerrymandered and the voters are split and hardened into camps.

You can say all is going according to the law (I would say no), but it seems most people think the country is going down the tubes - they just disagree with who is at fault - and it seems the right is just happy as long as the libs are crying about it.

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

#96

Post by AndrewKemendo »

wffurr wrote: post #21
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…

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

If a population decides to let themselves be run this way then who is at fault?

People get the leaders they deserve

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

#98

Post by daveguy »

dagmx wrote: post #36
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?

Even if the reports didn’t result in action, they would (in theory) leave a report trail that a FOI request could uncover. There’s a lot of ifs in there though, and a lot of implied honesty just for record keeping. We’re all discovering (again) that implied honesty in governance will always be abused.

I don't think they understand the wave of regulation through constitutional amendment that's coming.

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

#99

Post by dirtyoldmick »

hirvi74 wrote: post #29
excalibur wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When did the US government ever care about human rights? July 4 1776

Educate me. How cruel was the treatment from the British truly? My understanding was things like "no taxation without representation" was unrealistic due to the sheer distance and amount of time required to travel between the US and the UK. We're talking somewhere around 2-4 months one way. To send a rep back and forth with a message like: US sends rep -> Uk and rep interact -> rep goes back to US with UK decision ->…

We didn't want to be ruled by wankers!

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

#100

Post by actionfromafar »

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.

Unless the reason is that there will be no election, or only elections in red states, or you will need a special travel passport for going to Washington DC, which magically won't be issued to new Democrats, or any number of possible obstructions are possible.

Why would the House get back in session at all, for that matter? House leader Mike Johnson might enjoy vacation too much.

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