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FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

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Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government isn’t “disappearing people.” It’s deporting illegal aliens. You don’t need a press release every time you do that.

> It’s deporting illegal aliens. There are multiple news stories of them deporting US citizens and legal residents. Here's one[0]. If citizens don't have due process, then nobody does. All it takes is the government to declare you a non-citizen; there will be no due process for you to prove otherwise. [0]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/deported-family-us-citiz...

[deleted]

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#432
post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The label “undocumented” is utterly dishonest. “Undocumented” implies that something has been permitted, but not documented. Like agreeing to let a friend live in your basement apartment without drawing up a lease. Illegal immigrants aren’t “undocumented.” They are present in America without the consent of the American people, as expressed in immigration law.

The lack of enforcement of the law is also a kind of consent. The notion that a law as written alone represents 'people's consent' is a total non-starter in any kind of realistic system of governance, to build a claim of 'dishonesty' on top of that seems extra silly. You don't like the term, fine, you don't like the term. But let's not pretend that dislike is some kind of inevitable consequence compelled by Pure Logi…

I don’t like it because it’s dishonest. The term “undocumented” implies that something has been agreed to or sanctioned, just not written down. But nobody agreed to allow illegal immigrants to come and stay here.

As you acknowledge, the term embeds within it the premise that “the lack of enforcement of the law is also a kind of consent.” That is, illegal immigrants have America’s consent to be present in the country, because the government doesn’t try to hard to deport them. You can make that argument, but almost nobody would agree with your premise. So the term is smuggling an implicit premise that almost nobody would agree with if the premise were stated clearly (as you have done here).

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#433
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(For what it's worth, at the time I wrote the comment, the rest of the comments on this story were about ICE raids). Nobody knows anything about this story. He might be in custody, he might be in Indiana, he might be abroad, he might be about to get charged, he might not be, he might keep his positions at IU, he might have lost all his positions at IU. It's an interesting story worth paying attention to because he's…

Are you suggesting that it isn't helpful or useful to speculate that he was an undercover FBI agent working to infiltrate US-based dark web crypto gangs and that the University's actions tipped off the gangs? So when he went missing the FBI kicked into high gear? Just making stuff up like that doesn't provide clarity?

Uh, yea, this isn't useful. This a top researcher in his field. He isn't shitposting for lulz on discord undercover, lol.

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#434
post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were not disappeared (the links below say we know where they went), and they were arrested by people who do have legal powers of arrest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detention_of_Mahmoud_Khalil#Ar... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detention_of_R%C3%BCmeysa_%C3%... I am not saying it is the right thing to do, but it is a very very long way from someone being grabbed, bundled into an unmarked van by people who are…

Exactly, I get a little bit uneasy with people throwing around "got disappeared" - it lands as politically charged. What that means to me is something like Khmer Rouge, or Pinochet throwing thousands of people off planes into the ocean (no parachute), tentatively it means gulag, but even with gulag, you're not disappeared, you find out this person is in a gulag somewhere (though is likely to die), having myself read…

The US has definitely been involved in disappearing people in other countries - and in providing support to people like Pinochet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#435
post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of enforcement of the law is also a kind of consent. The notion that a law as written alone represents 'people's consent' is a total non-starter in any kind of realistic system of governance, to build a claim of 'dishonesty' on top of that seems extra silly. You don't like the term, fine, you don't like the term. But let's not pretend that dislike is some kind of inevitable consequence compelled by Pure Logi…

I don’t like it because it’s dishonest. The term “undocumented” implies that something has been agreed to or sanctioned, just not written down. But nobody agreed to allow illegal immigrants to come and stay here. As you acknowledge, the term embeds within it the premise that “the lack of enforcement of the law is also a kind of consent.” That is, illegal immigrants have America’s consent to be present in the country,…

The phrase "undocumented" is bureaucratic speak for "you can't prove it."

"The allegations are undocumented."

In the context of immigration, one could say "she claims to face persecution in her country of origin, but this is undocumented."

That doesn't really apply to "undocumented immigrants," because it's usually not in doubt someone is an immigrant.

If their place of birth is unknown, and might be in the United States, you could use the phrase "undocumented immigrant."

I agree it's a propaganda phrase, and does not conform to clear English usage.

But "undocumented" does not mean something is sanctioned, it means it must be proven and has not been proven.

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't some obscure conspiracy. This an open and known practice of the CCP.

Which should make it easier to provide a source. Other comments have already done so, I was able to read up on it.

This is one of those things that's so well known, with plenty of sources, it's kind of odd to have to ask for one. Any search should have been full of these results.

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump himself has said he wants to end birthright citizenship. EVERYONE in the US is at risk. If you think you're safe, you aren't. This is what fascists do. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/14/nx-s1-5327552/trump-takes-bir... https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/02/07/breaking-down-trump...

Jus soli [0] and and jus sanguinis [1] are well known legal concepts for citizenship, and jus soli is rare outside of the Americas, it’s not controversial to move to jus sanguinis as the norm, except in the way that it’s a change from the longstanding way of things in the US. To a European, jus soli seems crazy. Almost as crazy as people using caps in their posts. I do wonder if you, or anyone, could focus on the que…

I'm sorry that you think your goalposts are the only valid goalposts. I can assure you that the fascists in power don't care about your goalposts. For me the only goalpost that matters is trump trying to remove these protections. If you don't think he'll start removing natural born citizens after asking to do so, then I'm not sure there's anything point continuing this conversation.

The fact that they are even trying to remove the protections that natural born citizens have always had in the US, should ring alarm bells for you, but somehow they are not. Maybe you really aren't familiar with the concept of "First they came for...", but you'll find out how this plays out soon enough.

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#439
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/rcmp-chinese-police-st...

Thank you! Reading this, it seems to be unclear/unspecified in the text exactly who or what group was involved in this or whether there was affiliation to the Chinese state. That's the part I'm really interested in though.

It was very clear.

Re: FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado

#440
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the sequence of events read more like the University found something grave enough to put him on leave and contact the FBI, and for both the teacher and school to keep it quiet?

No, not really. That wouldn't explain the gap of weeks.

Wouldn't the FBI need some time to digest the accusations made by the University and then build a case to pursue an investigation? Hearing the University has been captured by a right wing agenda and having an adversarial relationship with its teachers and students, I'm starting to think any conspiracy is plausible at this point.
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