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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

#111

Post by dagss »

watwut wrote: post #86
nerdponx wrote: post #39

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.

I think you and parent comment are just using the word conservative in two different ways. There is conservative values and there is the conservative party, two different things.

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

#112

Post by ajross »

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…

> When a different side takes control of the justice department

That's an argument about the degradation of the rule of law, taking as a prior that the rule of law won't degrade. It's... unpersuasive. The end goal of this kind of thinking is that the other side never does take control, ever.

The current administration pretty clearly does not intend to give up power. They tried to evade democracy once already, and have fixed the mistakes this time.

Whether they will be successful or not is unknowable. But that's the plan. And the determining factor is very unlikely to be the normal operation of American civil society. Winning elections is, probably, not enough anymore.

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

#113

Post by actionfromafar »

zippyman55 wrote: post #104
throw0101c wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Can't escape State law either.

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

#114

Post by FridayoLeary »

docdeek wrote: post #64

This seems like a bad decision to me. Not only does it seem not to be in the spirit of the law (you can still report but not as easily now) but it's not clear why they shut it down at all. Cost? Inefficiency? Just wasn't getting used much? They have a better solution? On the other hand, the US seems so partisan now that had the current administration told the world they were taking huma' rights abuse reporting seriou…

[flagged]

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

#115

Post by cheema33 »

gorbachev wrote: post #46
excalibur wrote: post #2

Because the US government is no longer even pretending to care about human rights.

The US Government has never cared about human rights. It's always been used as a weapon to flog enemies. Allies like Israel can do whatever they like.

> Allies like Israel can do whatever they like.

US has always looked the other way when Israel killed innocent civilians. But there were some limits on how far they could go. The difference now is that those limits have been removed.

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

#117

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

dirtyoldmick wrote: post #91
Joeri wrote: 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]

The left doesn't acknowledge any of that.

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

#118

Post by ModernMech »

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 Constitution constrains the executive, it doesn't give him very many powers at all. Frankly, the Constitution bars him from having run in the 2024 election for having caused an insurrection against the United States. Aside from that, he should have been impeached and removed and barred from running again for extorting a bribe from a foreign government.

We have the necessary laws to have prevented this but money and power and bigotry won the day, as usual. Don't look to laws to fix this, no amount of laws will fix voting in a felon, adjudicated rapist who tried to kill his own VP. At that point you have to fix the society, because it's sick.

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

#119

Post by wat10000 »

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…

People have been saying for decades that Congress has delegated far too much power to the executive and that it's ripe for abuse if a malevolent president ever takes office.

Hey guess what, a malevolent president took office and is now abusing all that power delegated by Congress. Who could have foreseen this.

(Yes, his predecessors also abused that power in various malevolent ways, but there's a massive difference in degree now.)

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

#120

Post by lotsofpulp »

cheema33 wrote: post #90
selectodude wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> Congress should get around to impeaching and convicting the president then! I hope you know that Congress has abdicated all of their responsibilities to the president. I don't know if the founders ever saw this coming.

How do you mitigate when 2/3rd of voters support, at least tacitly, the lawlessness?
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