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US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

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Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#771
post #725

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it dehumanising? I'm not talking on the level of humans, I'm talking on the level of nation states. Plus I'm not even saying it's oppressor and oppressed, it's that one group has organisation and one doesn't. I go back to my police and protestor example? Do you apply the same rules to each? Do you think the leader of the police is more or less culpable than the leader of the protestors? It isn't dehumanising t…

Seems pretty organized that an open air prison that has severe restrictions on travel and trade can plan something like Oct 7. Yeah to say say protestor can't control himself from throwing rocks is pretty offensive to the protestor. Put another way, if my son was at a protest and started throwing rocks at police I wouldn't excuse that behavior like he had no choice. You always have a choice.

I'm not saying the protestor can't control himself. I'm saying the organisers of the protest has less control over that individuals actions so has less culpability.

Whereas the police should have a culture of not throwing rocks, so serious questions should be asked of the leadership.

If you have a failed state such that large areas aren't under government control. And some warlord attacked your country, would you say that was a declaration of war from that entire country? Or would you accept the government didn't have control?

Gaza is a messed up place. You wouldn't necessarily expect all the groups to hold to a cease fire, like you would a nation with a single unified command structure.

A breach of a cease fire by Gaza says something different than a breach of a cease fire by Israel.

I'm not saying anything about individuals, I'm saying different group structures have different amounts of control over individuals in that group, so it isn't reasonable to hold them to the same standard.

To go back to your last example. Should you be held responsible for your son throwing rocks? Should that not depend upon the level of control? Or should we treat a dad handing his 5 year old a rock and instructing him to throw the rock at the police, differently to the 25 year old son that went there by him self?

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#772

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re going to make this a gender and party issue huh? Surprised skin color wasn’t brought up too. Yep, we deserve what we get.

What other reason is there for an otherwise unremarkable character to become the public face of the issue for years? Chuck Schumer is the whip of the party, as mentioned she isnt even top 10 in performance, her party didnt legalise the activity, other members are aggresive in their pursuit of insider trading information (MTG was part of the most committees during her tenure, but she skipped almost all votes after tha…

This are exactly the sort of facts the hn crowd hates but which they can't rebuke.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#773
post #739

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to ask: did you read what I wrote before you replied to me? I know the question might come across as an attack, but it's not. I'm genuinely curious about what process lead to your comment being a reply to mine, when mine explicitly states the following: > Those people you are replying to are not saying that this soldier should get away with his corruption because more powerful people are getting away with thei…

I did read it. Your point is effectively irrelevant. It means the same thing. Creating an "urgency chain" is effectively the same thing as justifying behavior. It's like saying "we shouldn't worry about enforcing traffic laws because we need to use our resources to bring war criminals to justice" when the reason where not bringing war criminals to justice isn't for lack of concern, it's just that we have no coercive…

> Creating an "urgency chain" is effectively the same thing as justifying behavior.

What ? we SHOULD ABSOLUTELY create an urgency chain

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#774
post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> senate and congress Senate and congress are both elected. Their re-election is effectively jury nullification. The people do not care about the crimes.

Between citizens united, gerrymandering, the electoral college, winner take all elections, and voter supression, I don't think we can say that "elections" in America reflect the will of the people.

Also that only ~30-40 congressional districts of the 435 US House seats are competitive this cycle.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#775

Earlier quoted context omitted.

soldiers are disposable, they prolly threw him under the bus hoping that would be the end of the matter and they could walk away with the rest of the money.

Most Americans Can't Afford This Basic...Commodity? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Zzwp_Ypsi9I

What, can't afford a Senator or two??

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#776

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in their own names, at least.

Were members of Senate and Congress even informed of the Maduro raid before it was executed?

The Congressional Gang of Eight said they were not informed (even though they're supposed to be).

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#777
post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All corruption is bad. This is true, just like "all lives matter" is true, and it misses the point in the exact same way. Those people you are replying to are not saying that this soldier should get away with his corruption because more powerful people are getting away with theirs. They are saying that those who abuse greater power are doing greater harm, and that their corruption should be punished with greater ur…

Two wrongs don't make a right. Legitimizing small time corruption because bigger corruption exists just legitimizes corrupt behavior in general. It should be offensive no matter who does it.

How is this comment on hacker news? Do we not understand basic principles of scale?

40 billion of corruption is way more corrupt than 400k.

And what’s more is penalizing the 400k without penalizing the 400b means the people getting the 400b look better.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#778
post #776

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were members of Senate and Congress even informed of the Maduro raid before it was executed?

The Congressional Gang of Eight said they were not informed (even though they're supposed to be).

Maybe that’s their resentment - that they could have profited from it and didn’t.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#779
post #324
post #42

Since this is relevant to many HN comments, copy-pasted the charges from the pdf indictment in the linked page: Count 1 - Unlawful Use of Confidential Government Information for Personal Gain Count 2 - Theft of Nonpublic Government Information Count 3 - Commodities Fraud Count 4 - Wire Fraud Count 5 - Engaging in a Monetary Transaction in Property Derived from Specified Unlawful Activity

> Count 4 - Wire Fraud I almost always see this charge. Seems too strong as law

Yeah. And the penalties for wire fraud are steep. Up to 20 years in prison and $250k fine _per_ count.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#780
post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's plausible, but an authoritarian president invoking emergency powers and deploying military and paramilitary forces to exert control on the streets is, on the basis it's already going on at a limited scale. All it takes is for that scale to gradually dial up over time until the frog's cooked. The problem you have is these elected kings. Not just any king, pretty specifically the majority of the powe…

>The problem you have is these elected kings. Not just any king, pretty specifically the majority of the powers enjoyed by George III in the 1790s. The fact that you still have this, unreformed over 200 years later and still think that somehow your constitutional system is modern, is a matter for despair. Get yourselves a proper parliamentary system, with maybe a head of state as a figurehead. What a poorly thought o…

My point is precisely that the US system is substantially a copy of European stuff. It had some significant innovations for it's time of course, but it's really showing it's age. Meanwhile Parliamentary systems have significantly reformed and further innovated since.
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