Live data from Hacker News

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

bbc.com

101–110 of 453 posts

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

#101
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

[deleted]

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

#102
post #28

> 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.

Parent’s statement still holds. The laws may exist but if they are not enforced, they don‘t really constraint anyone do they?

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

#103
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

> Like Biden didn't weaponize the justice department first?!

Out of genuine curiosity: what specific actions do you think were 'weaponized' investigations / prosecutions under Biden?

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

#104
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 president might be protected from consequences according to the supreme court, but those answering to the president are not. Unless they are granted a blanket pardon beforehand. Then all you can really do is an "audit" for who did what, from which no charges can be laid.

That does not allow escaping from international laws.

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

#105
It sounds like this was mainly being used to report abuses by US allies, ie “US armed IDF forces” according to the article. Obviously there is something more to this than the headline and tone of the piece indicate. For one thing, the law written by Leahy was passed in 2011, but this website went online in 2022, so how can removing the site make it impossible to abide by the law? What was going on between 2011 and 2022 than is different from now?

I’m concerned about human rights, but I’m equally concerned about yellow journalism or coordinated media bias.

From a practical standpoint, this is why Wikileaks matters. Rather than count on the State department to serve that role, we should count on independent journalists like Glen Greenwald and outlets like Wikileaks who are reliably independent.

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

#106
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I would think the 'smart evil' thing to do would be keeping it running and just ignoring what you don't like but now people will just send the stuff to WikiLeaks.

It reminds me of a company I used to work for that had a "suggestions box." After the box was full enough, the leadership would just dump it in the trash. Leadership didn't care about employee nor customer opinions. It was just to give people the illusion that their opinion mattered just to placate them.

After the small-ish company I worked for was bought by $ENGINEERING_MEGACORP, an integration program was promptly launched, during which numerous committees were formed to evaluate all business processes and take the best parts of both companies' DNA.

After thorough evaluation, it so happened that the existing practices of the megacorp was adopted without any modifications.

The next day, the office shredder had been labelled 'Suggestion box'.

Poor sods from head office tried to remove the sign, only to find some miscreant had mixed glass dust in the glue used to affix the nicely engraved sign onto the shredder, making removing it kind of difficult. End result being we got a new shredder.

The spare sign which was engraved just in case now adorns the outhouse at my cottage in the woods.

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

#107
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

As someone not from the US and looking from the outside: it seems there is a _significant_ difference between the two administrations in this regard?

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

#109
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

At least I get to feel vindicated. Many many people, including me, have long asserted that the so-called "conservatives" in the Supreme Court are anything but. Historically their decisions have appealed to a certain kind of conservative political base, but the pretense is really starting to wear thin. Limiting the power of the executive branch in general was never the goal, it was only to limit the power of president…

[deleted]

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

#110
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least I get to feel vindicated. Many many people, including me, have long asserted that the so-called "conservatives" in the Supreme Court are anything but. Historically their decisions have appealed to a certain kind of conservative political base, but the pretense is really starting to wear thin. Limiting the power of the executive branch in general was never the goal, it was only to limit the power of president…

> have long asserted that the so-called "conservatives" in the Supreme Court are anything but They are conservatives and push for conservative agenda. Conservatives wanted them on the court so that they can make decisions like this.

They are cons.
Post reply on HN