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I don't know how Barr expects to have a civil discussion about any topic in the midst of what he did with the Roger Stone prosecution, and in the midst of this

I don't know how Barr expects to have a civil discussion about any topic in the midst of what he did with the Roger Stone prosecution, and in the midst of this presidency. The public and his own Justice Department cannot have a reasonable discussion with him, when his behavior and actions up to this point have almost all appeared to be for one purpose - to help the President and his supporters in criminal issues. The question we all find ourselves asking is: "So how is this going to benefit the President at everyone else's expense?" and even if it doesn't benefit him, it colors the entire discussion in a bad light.

riversflow 7y ago
There’s such a thing as professional compartmentalization. If you don’t like a colleague‘s/vendor’s/customer’s/government’s behavior you can(but not necessarily should) quarrel about that and that only, when you start to act as if a slight(however large you perceive it to be) is enough to blockade all relations in everything you do together, the initiator looks weak. A decision to halt all relations has far reaching impacts, if you are a business it almost always effects your employees and could easily effect your customers. If you are a government it effects both country’s citizens and possibly others as well. If it is between colleagues it effects everyone below you. In the case of Barr or Trump, we are talking about effectively shuttering government progress/modernization. What does this serve? We don’t get these months/years back, the beat of progress marches on regardless. It’s unreasonable to think that we are just a few years away from a sweeping blue tide of progressives(or a red tide of conservatives under Obama) that are going to have the whole of congress on their side to make huge reforms, or whatever it is that would make the USG quickly modernize. Our system of governance stalls with sort of behavior, and it only really serves entrenched interests, if anyone.
- fragsworth 7y ago
  So don't end the discussion. What I said is still true, the discussion is colored in a bad light because of his behavior. In that light, it is impossible to think about the issue objectively, without legitimately worrying about what Barr in particular going to do with it. It's not hard to imagine how he can abuse new powers over Facebook and Google to benefit Trump in the 2020 election. If he's already selectively applying criminal justice against opponents and not allies, do you think he'll apply fair and objective justice against Facebook and Google?
- multiplegeorges 7y ago
  His actions call into question all his professional judgment, that's not compartmentalizable. Considering the gravity of this issue, reasonable people can conclude that we'd be better off "wasting" these years and months and to return to the idea later when someone with more judicial independence is in the position.
cvwright 7y ago
His department is recommending a multi year sentence for one of the president’s closest allies, while declining to even prosecute some of the president’s adversaries (Comey, McCabe) for a similar offense. Not sure exactly what you want from Barr here. Stop crying wolf. It only hurts your case when there are legitimate things to complain about. https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-w...

riversflow 7y ago

There’s such a thing as professional compartmentalization. If you don’t like a colleague‘s/vendor’s/customer’s/government’s behavior you can(but not necessarily should) quarrel about that and that only, when you start to act as if a slight(however large you perceive it to be) is enough to blockade all relations in everything you do together, the initiator looks weak. A decision to halt all relations has far reaching impacts, if you are a business it almost always effects your employees and could easily effect your customers. If you are a government it effects both country’s citizens and possibly others as well. If it is between colleagues it effects everyone below you. In the case of Barr or Trump, we are talking about effectively shuttering government progress/modernization. What does this serve? We don’t get these months/years back, the beat of progress marches on regardless. It’s unreasonable to think that we are just a few years away from a sweeping blue tide of progressives(or a red tide of conservatives under Obama) that are going to have the whole of congress on their side to make huge reforms, or whatever it is that would make the USG quickly modernize. Our system of governance stalls with sort of behavior, and it only really serves entrenched interests, if anyone.

fragsworth 7y ago
So don't end the discussion. What I said is still true, the discussion is colored in a bad light because of his behavior. In that light, it is impossible to think about the issue objectively, without legitimately worrying about what Barr in particular going to do with it. It's not hard to imagine how he can abuse new powers over Facebook and Google to benefit Trump in the 2020 election. If he's already selectively applying criminal justice against opponents and not allies, do you think he'll apply fair and objective justice against Facebook and Google?
multiplegeorges 7y ago
His actions call into question all his professional judgment, that's not compartmentalizable. Considering the gravity of this issue, reasonable people can conclude that we'd be better off "wasting" these years and months and to return to the idea later when someone with more judicial independence is in the position.

cvwright 7y ago

His department is recommending a multi year sentence for one of the president’s closest allies, while declining to even prosecute some of the president’s adversaries (Comey, McCabe) for a similar offense. Not sure exactly what you want from Barr here. Stop crying wolf. It only hurts your case when there are legitimate things to complain about. https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-w...