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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

#291

Post by itsoktocry »

harrall wrote: post #236
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…

Laws can’t fix this problem. The branches check each other but citizens are supposed to check the branches . “Can’t fix a non-engineering problem with engineering.” But your average citizen is consuming news sources like Fox News that present a rosy picture. In their world, things are going well (and all problems are due to one party). That’s why dysfunction in the branches can go so far. The basis of American govern…

>But your average citizen is consuming news sources like Fox News that present a rosy picture. In their world, things are going well (and all problems are due to one party).

As usual, you see this as a "they are dumb" problem. Look within.

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

#293

Post by parineum »

elaus wrote: post #107
dirtyoldmick wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[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?

Escalation always happens.

The classified documents thing with Trump was a manufactured scandal, for example. Everyone in our government is mishandling classified documents because we have a massive over-classification problem, as seen by the lesser reported and covered subsequent finding of Biden having documents.

Only one of those events was associated with a televised raid (which the press was notified of beforehand so they could be sure to film it).

It was all theater.

It's the same with Trump's prosecution in NY, that case was ridiculous. One deed expanded into 37 misdemeanors that were escalated to a felony because they were committed in an effort to cover up an alleged felony. I say alleged because he was never convicted of the original crime but, conveniently, that's not a requirement of that escalation in NY law.

Ironically, both of those cases only increased Trump's support among non-Democrats (Republicans and, importantly, independents) because it was transparent.

Here's a quote for the NY AG that sued Trump.

> "We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well," [0]

That sounds an awful lot like she went looking for crimes of a person rather than finding who's responsible for crimes. And threatening his family as well.

[0]https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/incoming-new-y... as well,"

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

#294

Post by kridsdale1 »

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…

This is not a reply to your message, but I can’t help but dive in to this opportunity to be extremely pedantic.

Is the correct plural acronym here “IGs”, or “Is-G” (Inspectors General)?

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

#295

Post by mullingitover »

walkabout wrote: post #275
mullingitover wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go back and read Washington's farewell address. There's a section in there that addresses factions, and it's like Washington had access to the headlines from last week when he wrote it.

They fucked up the design if they didn’t want factions (yes, a common term at the time for what we call parties) and did so in a way that makes it nearly impossible to fix in practice. The electoral college also never functioned the way it was supposed to, as in, broke almost immediately. They also knew the Supreme Court was horrifyingly dangerous but their best answer was “uh, ignore them sometimes I guess?” Another…

The Supreme Court definitely suffers from 'not invented here' syndrome. There are vastly superior Supreme Court systems that other countries have implemented (Austria is a great example) where the US could just copy their homework, but won't.

The press really needs to start suffixing the justices with (R) and (D) when discussing them to drive the point home that the SC is the most partisan branch of government.

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

#296

Post by fsckboy »

zzzeek wrote: post #225
fsckboy wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

a giant 147000 square mile space like Montana with 1.1 M people, 2.8% the size of California's population, gets 2 Senators regardless. That is, the Senate gives representation to empty land. That's pretty structural !

how does that favor one side?

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

#297

Post by tastyfreeze »

redleggedfrog wrote: post #121

Just making sure there is less noise when they start (already started) using U.S.-armed U.S. forces here in the U.S. to oppress people they don't like - non-Magazis, people without white skin, non-Christians, non-straight, and the poor. It's a lot quieter to disappear people when no one can report it and there isn't anyone to appeal to anyway. Who's going to protect you now America? Federal government, police, your M…

I hope that we never have to find out how ferocious the quiet, "leave me alone", armed populous is. I feel we are on that path and grouping people as the other just fuels the fire.

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

#298

Post by hrimfaxi »

zzzeek wrote: post #225
fsckboy wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

a giant 147000 square mile space like Montana with 1.1 M people, 2.8% the size of California's population, gets 2 Senators regardless. That is, the Senate gives representation to empty land. That's pretty structural !

Vermont has fewer people than Montana. How does that impact your structural analysis?

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

#299

Post by kelnos »

notahacker wrote: post #257
harrall wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laws can’t fix this problem. The branches check each other but citizens are supposed to check the branches . “Can’t fix a non-engineering problem with engineering.” But your average citizen is consuming news sources like Fox News that present a rosy picture. In their world, things are going well (and all problems are due to one party). That’s why dysfunction in the branches can go so far. The basis of American govern…

The founding fathers lived in a world where the average citizen would have no idea what was going on in Washington. They just didn't expect it to be exploited quite so brazenly

The finding fathers also set up a system where most people could not vote, so that wasn't a big problem for them.

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

#300

Post by Consultant32452 »

yks wrote: post #263
dragonwriter wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't see any distinctions beyond “there is some evil” vs. “there is no evil”, all of human history must seem to be a flat, undifferentiated blob to you.

That's why the future looks so bleak. Republicans support absolutely any amount of crime and corruption, because "some" crime and corruption has happened under Democrats. Meanwhile half of the rest of Americans wouldn't support Democrats because "some" crime is infinitely worse than "no crime" in their view. Criminals enjoy an absolutely stunning structural advantage in this country.

A website was taken down. This might technically violate some paperwork law, but the real problem is we don't actually prosecute war crimes/human rights violations. So what difference does it make if some website went down?
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