211–220 of 329 posts
381 points, 171 comments, 1 hour ago; as of writing. Why is this on the second page of HN, and not pole position? I assume/hope that there is some mechanism that stops new content from dominating other content too rapidly.
http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The man at the FBI leading the investigation into the Trump / Russia connection was fired upon recommendation from Sessions who said he was recusing himself from all Russia / Trump investigations. Looking corrupt as hell? Most certainly.
At this point Trump is looking more and more like Nixon on fast-forward.
> The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=May_9&oldid=77960...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>As civil service, he can only be fired for cause. I'm not clear on what "for cause" means for an acting director of the FBI. Wasn't the justification for firing Comey that he mishandled the Clinton email investigation? It looks blown out of proportion to me, but that might count as cause.
Comey was a political appointment rather than the guy who will temporarily replace him as Acting Director (who has civil service protection) and can't be dismissed as Acting Director, only replaced by appointing a new Director of the FBI.
There are no statutory conditions on the President’s
authority to remove the FBI Director.
From the same cite, a President can nominate an acting Director. On the day after the death of long-time Director J. Edgar Hoover, L. Patrick Gray was appointed acting Director.
The Constitution was set up with checks and balances. But it requires the branches of government to do their duty. When you have a corrupt President of the same party that controls Congress, that may be asking too much.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps the country is better served by someone disliked by both sides than by someone handpicked for their loyalty to Trump.
I have to agree with this, and I want to believe that was the needle Comey was threading. I am concerned, however, that his tone in the last hearing (eg. "mildly nauseous", Abedin email forwarding mistakes, immigrant investigation mistakes, etc.) was so flippant that he was almost asking to be fired. By design or by accident, he's departing more independent now than ever.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The man at the FBI leading the investigation into the Trump / Russia connection was fired upon recommendation from Sessions who said he was recusing himself from all Russia / Trump investigations. Looking corrupt as hell? Most certainly.
To be clear, Sessions said he concurred in the recommendation of his deputy Rothstein, who is a life-long prosecutor. Plus, virtually every former Attorney General agreed that Comey made a terrible mistake in announcing the results of the Clinton investigation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How childish is it that they had to put in the termination letter something about "thanks for telling me three separate times there's no investigation ON ME"? It's almost like this administration is run by 8 year olds.
I think they included that because it was the only way they could get CNN/NYT to publish that fact.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The man at the FBI leading the investigation into the Trump / Russia connection was fired upon recommendation from Sessions who said he was recusing himself from all Russia / Trump investigations. Looking corrupt as hell? Most certainly.
At this point Trump is looking more and more like Nixon on fast-forward.
A friendly reminder to both sides that whatever the current administration does, the next can undo. This is especially important when the majority party decides to give itself more power and inadvertently gives their successors more than they intended.
The republicans have Gerrymandered themselves into every seat in almost every non-coastal state. We're about to find out in the coming years how much republicans own this country.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that was one of my first thoughts about this. I have no love lost for Comey but there's a huge conflict of interest here with Trump and I think the reasons for Trump firing Comey are not the reasons I would want him fired. Comey was doing a balancing act, playing one constituency against another. It seems like Trump is purging everyone who might provide any level of oversight whatsoever.
"Conflict of interest" is practically the man's middle name. Not only does he not avoid them, he seems to actively seek them out.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/eric-trump-nepoti...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The man at the FBI leading the investigation into the Trump / Russia connection was fired upon recommendation from Sessions who said he was recusing himself from all Russia / Trump investigations. Looking corrupt as hell? Most certainly.
At this point Trump is looking more and more like Nixon on fast-forward.