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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

#321

Post by mastax »

nerdponx wrote: post #39
duxup wrote: 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…

Up to 2025 they maintained a reasonable facade of impartiality. During Trump's first term they told him no a lot.

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

#322

Post by Analemma_ »

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.

Even before Trump, the US had a standing policy of threatening severe retaliation against anyone who tries to enforce international law against US citizens-- this isn't just an informal policy, it's a specific law passed by Congress. And the scope has only gotten broader since then.

The whole concept of "international law" is polite fiction anyway, the reality has always been "the strong do what they can, the weak endure what they must".

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

#323

Post by jjk166 »

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.

Trump was impeached twice.

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

#324

Post by kridsdale1 »

mullingitover wrote: post #295
walkabout wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Put a ($R!) after Thomas.

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

#325

Post by onethought »

itsoktocry wrote: post #305
outside2344 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing the founders didn't foresee was that a president could basically threaten to remove any member of Congress by 1) driving their campaign contributions to zero or 2) threatening to sic his mob on them.

> 1) driving their campaign contributions to zero or 2) threatening to sic his mob on them. What's so crazy about comments like this is they have an air of, "we are actually the good guys in the right, but the system works against us!" You got out-voted.

If you flicked the switch and made voting mandatory. Then you'd find the extreme views on both sides would vanish as everyone would rush to please the middle (the VAST majority of the population).

You can't make statements like "you got out voted" when you actually mean "a few more people from your side turned out and voted, but actually likely the majority of the population doesn't agree with you".

You could argue that apathy is a vote in and of itself, but then you aren't a representative democracy.

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

#326

Post by sjsdaiuasgdia »

wonderwonder wrote: post #146
walkabout wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not exactly working when the executive seizes two core powers of Congress (taxation and spending) and gets away with it for, so far, most of a year, with no end in sight. There’s a difference between disagreement over reasonable interpretations and some of a handful of key passages in the country’s highest law simply being ignored, for months on end (this aside from entirely unambiguous ordinary laws being ignor…

The executive could be stopped at any time by the courts or congress. But the democratically elected congress chooses not to. So the majority that was elected are doing what they think is right. That's how our US democracy works. Same with the courts, executive is elected by the people and so is the senate. They select and approve the judges, same as it ever was. I am in no way defending everything I am simply statin…

This is an affront to the rule of law and equal protection under the law. It is not okay for congress or the courts to acquiesce. We are supposed to be a nation of laws.

Congress and the courts are derelict in their responsibility to honor the rule of law.

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

#327

Post by kridsdale1 »

mongol wrote: post #247
rayiner wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founders came from England, which has the world's longest unbroken political tradition (apart from 11 years during the English Civil War). England has top-level cabinet positions that were established 800 years ago. So I doubt the founders would be surprised that their constitution was still in use 236 years later. Regardless, what the founders believed is relevant because they're the ones that wrote the currentl…

Is it really longer than the Catholic church?

Along this line of thinking, surely there’s an unbroken administrative / bureaucratic tradition running China that spans multiple royal dynasties and perhaps even the recent ideological upheaval. Can we call that an enduring government?

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

#328

Post by lyu07282 »

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?

Of course not, but US imperialism is a bipartisan issue, what Trump does is remove the pretense that makes liberals sleep better at night. I think it's good that they removed it, let's get rid of all the lies and hypocrisy. Nothing material changes, it just makes it harder for democrats to pretend it's about something other than violent neocolonialism and might is right foreign policy they have been complicit in for decades.

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

#330

Post by butlike »

rayiner wrote: post #150
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…

Your comment reflects a common, but fundamentally mistaken, understanding of the constitution. You're thinking of the government like an operating system with a microkernel that is trusted to neutrally enforce the "law," with the three branches of government running in userspace. That's not the system the founders created! They understood that everyone is political, and no one can be trusted. The founders understood…

SCOTUS lifelong appointments checking in to say "hi"
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