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Should it be officially marked as the date of transition from liberal democracy to illiberal democracy? Such tampering with companies is a smoking gun. Let's w

by stared 7mo ago

Should it be officially marked as the date of transition from liberal democracy to illiberal democracy? Such tampering with companies is a smoking gun. Let's wait until there is another decision seizing this (or others') company assets.

quentindanjou 7mo ago
I always find it interesting to listen US citizen answer "What would it take for you to not consider your country a democracy?" and admire the wide range of answers and denials.
- cheesecompiler 7mo ago
  Right, as if _this_ is straw that breaks the camel's back, and not the pile of hay the camel has been carrying for decades.
- breakpointalpha 7mo ago
  Many proudly and loudly claim the US is a "republic".
  - GaryBluto 7mo ago
    Is it not?
zem 7mo ago
secret police kidnapping people off the streets didn't clue you in?!!
- PoignardAzur 7mo ago
  If you're referring to ICE, that's gross hyperbole, and honestly a little insulting to people who live / have lived in regimes with an actual secret police. The US is still a rights-based state, which means that when they arrest someone (legitimately or not), lawyers and human right advocates can eventually track them down. When a secret police disappears someone, they actually disappear. Families can spend years wondering if their loved one is still alive, or was murdered by organized crime, or ran away, or was secretly taken by the state. The US these days is pretty bad, but it's nowhere near that bad.
  - jamincan 7mo ago
    Have you been paying attention? There are reports about hundreds of people going missing in ICE detention. Maybe they aren't being shoveled into mass graves, but if we don't where they are and can't reach them and ICE themselves don't know where they are because they no longer exist in their databases, is there any difference for their families?
  - doom2 7mo ago
    The arrest of a Turkish graduate student in Boston looked a lot like a kidnapping.[1] More recently, ICE responded to a judge's order to release a detained refugee by threatening to detain her family and send them to Texas if they came to pick her up and then forced the minor child to stay in a hotel room with three agents. [2, p.8] These may not be cases where people are secretly being taken by the state, but it's not hard to see why people might call the government organization detaining people and moving them around so as not to be found "secret police" or "disappearings". [1] https://youtu.be/oRiQz7mOY6A https://youtu.be/oRiQz7mOY6A [2] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230526/gov.uscourts.mnd.230526.133.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230...
ajam1507 7mo ago
Just a few dozen more scenarios like this and we might have to start thinking something is wrong.
- stared 7mo ago
  And then it would be finally time to send "thoughts and prayers".

by stared 7mo ago

quentindanjou 7mo ago

I always find it interesting to listen US citizen answer "What would it take for you to not consider your country a democracy?" and admire the wide range of answers and denials.

cheesecompiler 7mo ago
Right, as if _this_ is straw that breaks the camel's back, and not the pile of hay the camel has been carrying for decades.
breakpointalpha 7mo ago
Many proudly and loudly claim the US is a "republic".
- GaryBluto 7mo ago
  Is it not?

zem 7mo ago

secret police kidnapping people off the streets didn't clue you in?!!

PoignardAzur 7mo ago
If you're referring to ICE, that's gross hyperbole, and honestly a little insulting to people who live / have lived in regimes with an actual secret police. The US is still a rights-based state, which means that when they arrest someone (legitimately or not), lawyers and human right advocates can eventually track them down. When a secret police disappears someone, they actually disappear. Families can spend years wondering if their loved one is still alive, or was murdered by organized crime, or ran away, or was secretly taken by the state. The US these days is pretty bad, but it's nowhere near that bad.
- jamincan 7mo ago
  Have you been paying attention? There are reports about hundreds of people going missing in ICE detention. Maybe they aren't being shoveled into mass graves, but if we don't where they are and can't reach them and ICE themselves don't know where they are because they no longer exist in their databases, is there any difference for their families?
- doom2 7mo ago
  The arrest of a Turkish graduate student in Boston looked a lot like a kidnapping.[1] More recently, ICE responded to a judge's order to release a detained refugee by threatening to detain her family and send them to Texas if they came to pick her up and then forced the minor child to stay in a hotel room with three agents. [2, p.8] These may not be cases where people are secretly being taken by the state, but it's not hard to see why people might call the government organization detaining people and moving them around so as not to be found "secret police" or "disappearings". [1] https://youtu.be/oRiQz7mOY6A https://youtu.be/oRiQz7mOY6A [2] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230526/gov.uscourts.mnd.230526.133.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230...

ajam1507 7mo ago

Just a few dozen more scenarios like this and we might have to start thinking something is wrong.

stared 7mo ago
And then it would be finally time to send "thoughts and prayers".