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

bbc.com

151–160 of 453 posts

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

#151

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…

Too bad you're getting down voted because you're correct that congress is where the problem is. They could stop most of what he's doing, but choose not to. But "Every check and balance is working" is clearly wrong.

I would argue it is working. The democratically elected congress just agrees with what he is doing. Whether they agree due to genuine belief or fear of him calling them out, doesn't really matter. We should be electing people that have a spine, if we don't then that is still democracy working. Checks and balances are there. Many people just don't like the choices they are making

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

#152

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.

Actually it does if the US, bullies the other countries into not enforcing it and the US it's actually the main country enforcing international law. If a country dare to enforce international law against an us person, they will cut resources or threaten to use military

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

#153

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.

International law makes traffic cops look like Judge Dredd

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

#154

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.

George Washington could have declared himself King if he had wanted, so yes, the founders absolutely saw this coming.

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

#155
post #111
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Go back far enough and conservative meant "conserve the monarchy"

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

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

One really mustn't. There are plenty of people who work in government that actually care about human rights - this 'tear it down' mentality relies on the fantasy that it will be rebuilt in some better form. And this kind of 'both sides' bullshit from the article highlights it perfectly: > Blaha had already voiced frustration that despite the HRG passing its pilot phase, the Biden administration had not done enough to…

"Didn't publicize it as much as we would have preferred" is very polite speech for killing millions in "wars on terror" and through arming our great friends, the house of Saud, in their campaign against Yemen.

Not going to get into the rich history of overthrowing local rulers and installing puppets through the most gruesome proxies to create "banana republics," the mass murder on a massive scale committed in the previous century, or the genocide that preceded to enable the founding of this state.

This place is built on murder and theft. "Both sides" are guilty. One is less shy.

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

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

He's got a very comprehensive plan and he knows exactly what he's doing. He's also consolidated his base so he has people who are as committed as he is to carrying out his vision. He's doing everything he said he would do successfully. All his opponents are desperate for him to fail but that simply is not happening, i wonder why? This website runs opposite to his vision of MAGA, it's basically make america criminals, no surprises it's been axed.

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

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

At that point “human” really only meant the white man who owns property though eh?

Baby steps

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

#160
post #128

The Leahy Law requires the U.S. government to facilitate receipt of information about alleged abuses by U.S. supported forces. The State Department confirms it no longer operates the HRG, but says it is still receiving reports through other direct channels. I couldn't find any requirement in the law that requires a public website. NGOs can still submit information through established contacts or by email. I would thi…

Define “easier.”

Someone has to read through each email to determine the nature of the complaint, who was involved, how to classify it, etc.

If the web form was free text entry, the same effort is required by the receiving humans.

You can move the effort slider from the reviewer toward the web dev and the reporter by designing a UI to limit input and pre-classify the complaint.

So who has it “easier” now? I guess the server admin?

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