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Fuck you US Government is more like it. Oh, and the assholes that vote these idiots into office over and over again. I don't care if it's Pelosi/Boxer or Inhof

Fuck you US Government is more like it. Oh, and the assholes that vote these idiots into office over and over again. I don't care if it's Pelosi/Boxer or Inhofe/Cruz, they all are pieces of shit.

garmaine 8y ago
You think the other name on the ballot would have been any different?
- eof 8y ago
  You think there were only two names on the ballot?
anm89 8y ago
I will never understand the people who dump blame on the CEOs without moving on to why the government doesn't hold them accountable. The CEO's job is to create value for shareholders. The government's job is to create laws that benefit society and enforce them. Fine, a lot of CEOs suck but it's basically their job to suck to the degree allowed by the law. Why don't we work on changing the laws instead of endless complaining about the CEOs.
downandout 8y ago
Actually, voters have no say in who gets to make these prosecutorial decisions, and that’s a huge problem. Unless a prosecutor files a case against someone, there is no case, no matter what they’ve done. Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs) are the ones making the decisions as to whether or not to file, and they are just lawyers hired through normal recruiting channels. Branch US Attorney offices are little fiefdoms - technically they answer to the head US Attorney in their federal district, but in practice they have little contact with him or her and do as they please unless they really mess something up. Because people are people, and many of them view the position of AUSA as a stepping stone to $800/hr jobs at white collar criminal defense firms or prestigious political appointments, they tend to file cases with which they can make a name for themselves. One way for them to do that is “creative prosecution” - charging people for conduct that isn’t clearly in violation of a given statute, and then trying to shoehorn the case into a conviction or guilty plea. There is no moral hazard for them in doing this - if they lose, nobody cares, and if they win, they get credit for their genius - so they will do it again and again until it works. That’s what happened here - they managed to shoehorn a conviction in a highly questionable case, and the AUSAs behind it will ultimately leverage this into a better job and a better life. I’m not sure that voting for individual AUSAs is the answer, but something needs to be done to reign these people in. They currently have free reign to burn lives to the ground for their own gain.
sctb 8y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16921992 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16921992 and marked it off-topic.
joew42k 8y ago
I fear you are encouraging people not to vote, without suggesting some alternative form of civic participation. Which means the politicians you dislike have even more free reign to subvert the will of the people.

Fuck you US Government is more like it. Oh, and the assholes that vote these idiots into office over and over again. I don't care if it's Pelosi/Boxer or Inhofe/Cruz, they all are pieces of shit.

garmaine 8y ago

You think the other name on the ballot would have been any different?

eof 8y ago
You think there were only two names on the ballot?

anm89 8y ago

I will never understand the people who dump blame on the CEOs without moving on to why the government doesn't hold them accountable. The CEO's job is to create value for shareholders. The government's job is to create laws that benefit society and enforce them. Fine, a lot of CEOs suck but it's basically their job to suck to the degree allowed by the law. Why don't we work on changing the laws instead of endless complaining about the CEOs.

downandout 8y ago

Actually, voters have no say in who gets to make these prosecutorial decisions, and that’s a huge problem. Unless a prosecutor files a case against someone, there is no case, no matter what they’ve done. Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs) are the ones making the decisions as to whether or not to file, and they are just lawyers hired through normal recruiting channels. Branch US Attorney offices are little fiefdoms - technically they answer to the head US Attorney in their federal district, but in practice they have little contact with him or her and do as they please unless they really mess something up. Because people are people, and many of them view the position of AUSA as a stepping stone to $800/hr jobs at white collar criminal defense firms or prestigious political appointments, they tend to file cases with which they can make a name for themselves. One way for them to do that is “creative prosecution” - charging people for conduct that isn’t clearly in violation of a given statute, and then trying to shoehorn the case into a conviction or guilty plea. There is no moral hazard for them in doing this - if they lose, nobody cares, and if they win, they get credit for their genius - so they will do it again and again until it works. That’s what happened here - they managed to shoehorn a conviction in a highly questionable case, and the AUSAs behind it will ultimately leverage this into a better job and a better life. I’m not sure that voting for individual AUSAs is the answer, but something needs to be done to reign these people in. They currently have free reign to burn lives to the ground for their own gain.

sctb 8y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16921992 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16921992 and marked it off-topic.

joew42k 8y ago

I fear you are encouraging people not to vote, without suggesting some alternative form of civic participation. Which means the politicians you dislike have even more free reign to subvert the will of the people.