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Secret Laws Secret Interpretations of Laws Secret Courts Secret Warrants Secret Court Orders Secret Arrests Secret Trials Secret Evidence (not made avail
by DannyB2 10y ago
Secret Laws
Secret Interpretations of Laws
Secret Courts
Secret Warrants
Secret Court Orders
Secret Arrests
Secret Trials
Secret Evidence (not made available to the defense)
Secret Convictions
Secret Prisons
Secret "enhanced interrogation" programs
Gee, it sounds like we've become everything we were fighting against in the previous century.
But it keeps the money flowing.
Next after the military industrial complex is the for-profit prisons. Vacant cells mean lower revenue and thus degrade profits, executive bonuses and shareholder value. Our education system needs to be geared to produce just enough inmates to occupy the for profit prisons, and enough productive workers to pay for both the for profit prisons and military industrial complex.
- digi_owl 10y agoAuthoritarianism comes in many guises...
- marcoperaza 10y agoSecret trials and convictions? Don't exist in the US. Also, evidence cannot be used in court but withheld from defense attorneys. You're just making this stuff up. There are no secret prisons either. If you're talking about battlefield prisons for captured combatants, that's obviously different than the criminal justice system, and is par for the course in warfare. You can definitely have secret warrants. How could you not? Imagine if the cops had to publish the details of wiretaps. What use would they be? Nevertheless, the secrecy must be justified and approved by a judge every few months.
- groovy2shoes 10y agoFrankly, if a warrant would be useless if it weren't kept secret, I'd rather there be no warrant at all. And yes, I'm prepared to accept the consequences of that.
- marcoperaza 10y agoYou can only entertain such ridiculous thoughts because you live in a society that's not totally controlled by criminals. Try living in Mexico or Colombia and I bet you'd have a different opinion.
- berkeleynerd 10y agoOr, YOU can only entertain such ridiculous thoughts because YOU live in a society that IS totally controlled by criminals. I don't want to live in a country optimized against the assumption of control by criminals.
- MarkPNeyer 10y ago> Try living in Mexico or Colombia and I bet you'd have a different opinion. How did those criminals get to be that way, hmm? It's not like they make all of that money off of ... kidnapping. Or robbery. It's drugs. They make the money from selling substances that are illegal briefcase of our insane, failed drug policy. These criminals would not be so wealthy if drugs were legal. That's a simple, straight up, undeniable fact.
- marcoperaza 10y agoOkay, then Eastern Europe, Russia, or Southern Italy. Organized crime is not just about drugs.
- ChoHag 10y agoEastern Europe? It's fantastic here. Freer than I ever was growing up in Western Europe. You should try speaking out of the mouth on your face.
- burkaman 10y agoEvidence withheld from defense - State secrets privilege Secret prisons - CIA black sites, Chicago detainment center Secret warrants - FISA warrants are almost never rejected, and I'm not sure they need to be reapproved in general. They are almost never declassified, even after the wiretap is completed.
- tracker1 10y agoWow... have you really not been paying attention to the news for the last decade and a half? Hell, the FISA court system and Civil Asset Forfeiture alone go so far beyond the oppression this country stood up for. Troops on the ground in sovereign nations without a declaration of war? As for evidence being used in court while being withheld, see "parallel reconstruction"... This is just the tip of the iceburg here. It's oppression and corruption of everything this country was founded on.
- marcoperaza 10y agoCongress has passed authorizations for all of those. The only difference between that and a declaration of war is the word "war", which makes no difference legally. Edit: It's amazing that I'm being downvoted for a factual response to "Troops on the ground in sovereign nations without a declaration of war?"
- tracker1 10y agoHow about a clear term of engagement, goal, resolution? I don't think we'd respond too well for France sending troops regarding Mexican citizens inside U.S. borders. We are not engaging state actors in foreign nations, and we are not engaging foreign actors within our own borders. As it stands we have far more military engagements on foreign soil than we've seen since and maybe including WW2. We have a corrupt political system and state that is in ever excessive violation of our own constitution, and a people oppressed and divided. We really need another JFK or Reagan in terms of charisma and general popular support, if not in somewhat similar political views. Another Truman or Eisenhower would probably be better, but could never get into office today.
- wu-ikkyu 10y ago>The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. -JFK
- wnoise 10y agoAnd look what happened to him...
- cryoshon 10y agoeveryone gets upset when i say that the US lives in fascism but the facts do not disagree with my statement very frequently