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DOJ Closing Abbott Labs Case Spurs Wider Corporate Crime Retreat
- josefritzishere 3mo agoThe administration seems to be pro-crime, which is very problematic.
- vannevar 3mo agoGiven that the President is a convicted felon who maintains that what he did was fine, and that he has pardoned thousands of unrepentant criminals, and that the vast majority of his party enthusiastically endorsed all this, I would say "pro-crime" is an understatement.
- Kapura 3mo ago_strongly_ pro-crime
- br0ceph 3mo agoon a daily basis the current US president commits treason against the people of the united states, which im pretty sure even presidential immunity doesnt protect against. Just one of the shady dealings with foreign monarchies, laudering their bribes directly to the president thru billion dollar purchases of worthless crypto "assets" ala world liberty financial; should land the president and his entire family in capital punishment
- ourmandave 3mo agoWhen you view it through the lens of Graft First, everything makes sense. All the seeming stupidity, ineptitude, and hypocrisy is just to make a buck. Governing doesn't even appear to be an afterthought. I still haven't figured out how he's profiting from Trump Accounts yet. Kick backs I suppose.
- kevin_thibedeau 3mo agoThe stupidity and ineptitude is still real. These are a gang of nepo-babies who have mastered the art of failing up.
- bdavisx 3mo ago>I still haven't figured out how he's profiting from Trump Accounts yet I would guess that he could have been paid in many various ways (TrumpCoins anyone) by financial institution(s) that were set to benefit from the accounts. Have the trump crypto companies followed all of the KYC laws?
- br0ceph 3mo agoexactly, the trading kartels could kick back money, but also just funneling taxes into the market is a rising tide for the overall market
- red-iron-pine 3mo agodon't forget Trump's 90 minute call w/ Putin on the 4th of July a few days ago https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/05/europe/putin-trump-call-independence-day-intl https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/05/europe/putin-trump-call-indep... or that time multiple US congressmen were forced to spend the 4th in Moscow https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/395719-gop-senators-visited-moscow-on-july-4/ https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/395719-gop-senators-visi...
- AnthonyMouse 3mo agoI don't understand why people keep using things like this as their examples. JFK met with Khrushchev. Bush Senior and Reagan had regular contact with Gorbachev. It's not weird for heads of state to talk to each other. What's weird is for Trump to be paying tax dollars to cancel energy projects because he doesn't like windmills or using the FCC to investigate media outlets who criticize him. There are plenty of good examples to use that it makes no sense to resort to evidence-free innuendo.
- ceejayoz 3mo agoBecause it's not quite the same; JFK et. al. weren't dumb enough to trust the Russians during those contacts. This administration, though… https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/russia-ukraine-war-trump-envoy-witkoff-interpreter-kremlin-rcna205878 https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/russia-ukraine-war-trum... > President Donald Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin, a U.S. official and two Western officials with knowledge of the talks told NBC News. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/427505-trump-putin-talked-at-g20-without-us-translator-note-taker-report/ https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/427505-trump-put... > President Trump reportedly met late last year with Russian President Vladimir Putin without a translator or aide from his administration present.
- AnthonyMouse 3mo agoThis seems like the same class of complaining about something ridiculous. If Putin wants to lie to you about something, do you expect him to speak the truth in Russian and then have his translator tell you something else? What advantage would that have compared with lying to you in Russian and having it translated accurately?
- SomeHacker44 3mo agoI believe treason is literally defined in the constitution itself as taking up arms against the country. By that definition, I think there have been few to almost no treasonous people in recent decades.
- vannevar 3mo agoFrom Article III: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." For example, if Russia met the definition of an enemy, and if the President compromised the interests on the country in favor of Russian interests (presumably for his own personal benefit), that would probably count. The compromise would have to be knowing, though, mere incompetence is not enough. So if the issue ever arose, Trump has a pretty good defense.
- toyg 3mo agoStrong for crime, strong for the causes of crime.
- financetechbro 3mo agoCrime maxxxing
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- sandworm101 3mo agoPro rich people crimes. They remain very much against poor people who break the law.
- mindslight 3mo agoI don't think this quite captures it. The "Dual State" concept seems much more on point. https://www.thefunsinthefight.com/p/welcome-to-the-dual-state-of-ai-regulation https://www.thefunsinthefight.com/p/welcome-to-the-dual-stat...
- burnt-resistor 3mo agoIt's even more nuanced than that. Vaguely, there are 3 caste buckets: - A privileged state - for the rich and powerful to get away with crimes - A normative state - for ordinary people whom experience more prosecutions - A prerogative state - for poor and enemies whom experience arbitrary injustice and persecution for infractions or made-up crimes
- mindslight 3mo agoI'd say you're making a different framework. In the dual state framework, your privileged state/caste is just an aspect of the prerogative state. The dual state framework doesn't declare "which way" the illegality goes. I'd say that trying to define that directionality is already trying to impart normative state concepts (of illegality) onto the prerogative state. Was Alex Pretti a victim of your prerogative state, and his executioners were merely government agents executing a state imperative? Or was he a victim of gang violence and his executioners were part of the privileged state? In the dual state framework, the answer is wu. But don't let me discourage you from expanding upon your framework! It may be more effective at explaining some things. It just needs to be more substantial than trying to do a simple tweak in an HN comment.
- jackb4040 3mo agoLet's be honest, poor people in general.
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- hightrix 3mo agoThis admin is pro-money. Anything and everything can be bought. Pardons, contracts, legal outcomes, you name it. Bribe trump and he'll do whatever you ask.
- ck2 3mo agoTrump Inc is a white-collar crime family which is why he pardons every white-collar crime they can find BTW you know those classified records he took to Mar-a-lago that almost put him in prison? They were all the records about his family businesses, it's documented, they were unique investigation records and he was trying to end all investigations
- complianceowll 3mo ago[flagged]
- solid_fuel 3mo agoThis urge to defend the indefensible and “both sides” the most corrupt administration in American history is exactly the problem. Go take a look in the mirror.
- sculper 3mo agoWorth noting that the commenter you're replying to is only LARPing as a centrist. The comment history of his other (now-banned) accounts are directly at odds with some of the "truths" he claims to have realized. https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=complianceowl https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=complianceowl https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=owlcompliance https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=owlcompliance
- solid_fuel 3mo agoThat’s very often the case with these guys. No one can seriously look at the modern political landscape in the United States and seriously claim that both parties are effectively the same, or even that they both bear equal responsibility for the terrible state of government. The Republicans have been in the business of scrapping the US for parts since the 90’s, it’s just accelerating. At worst, the Democrats have been ineffective opposition and overly captured by corporate interests.
- complianceowll 3mo ago[flagged]
- solid_fuel 3mo agoWhat a truly pathetic life it must be, just lying about your politics on hacker fucking news because you know they’re so indefensible.
- sharts 3mo agoEvery administration caters to its donors.
- Kapura 3mo agodamn, maybe we should limit how much people can donate? oh, that already exists, just not for corporations? cool. cool cool cool.
- dabraham1248 3mo agoI mean, _kinda_? This kind of reflexive both-sides-ism works to obfuscate the _huge_ difference in scale, _and_ the occasional, small-but-real attempts of mostly democrats to do something about it. Now, if the democrats had more big donors than republicans, maybe they wouldn't? But that's a counterfactual that we can't know. But we do know that Bush 1 vetoed a soft money limit passed mostly by democrats, and that Clinton pushed for one, but didn't get it done. McCain-Feingold passed the Senate with 48 out of 50 D votes (96%), and 11 of 38 R votes (29%) (and one I (100%)), the House with 198 of 210 D (94%), and house, 41 out of 217 R (19%), 1 out of 2 I (50%). Then it was a mostly R appointed Supreme Court that gutted it. Then a _more_ R appointed court that has continued to whittle it down. For all that the Democrats don't go far enough, there is a _huge_ difference between the parties on this.
- cyanydeez 3mo agobeing pro-crime is being pro-american, now.
- expedition32 3mo agoOnly if you support Trump. Americans seem to have no spine or ego so bow down to your god emperor I suppose.
- burnt-resistor 3mo agoMany average Russians and Americans share the features of indoctrinated learned helplessness. They live on their knees and are unwilling to face reality because their lifestyle and/or salary may depend on it.
- eunos 3mo ago> criminal case against Abbott Laboratories over contaminated baby formula In Communist China they would be shot
- pavel_lishin 3mo agoHey, here in America, sometimes CEOs get shot as well.
- Kapura 3mo agonot by the state, however. important distinction.
- morkalork 3mo agoNow that justice by official channels is closed, one wonders if a grieving parent will seek it out by unofficial means
- garyfirestorm 3mo agoParents could file a class action? RICO? How is this any different from organized crime?
- jyounker 3mo agoIt will take a bit more in general. I don't think we're at the point of Blair Mountain yet, but if things don't change, then it's coming.
- JumpCrisscross 3mo ago> here in America, sometimes CEOs get shot as well No, they don't. The UnitedHealth dude who got shot had a CEO title, but Thompson was ultimately a middle manager. The actual CEO of UnitedHealth Group–the one who signs off on its financial statements and fields quarterly calls–and the billionaire owners were fine. Which explains, in part, why nothing changed after the shooting.
- tracker1 3mo agoThis is just more than a little fucked up... I think we've "limited" liability way too much in terms of corporations... it's the investors that are meant to be protected, executives and board members are not meant to be immune. And I do think in the worst cases, the death penalty should be on the table. edit: to be clear, IMO, corporate power is an expression of govt power, which should be minimized.
- dd8601fn 3mo agoAt some point the broad strokes of libertarianism became exactly what we expected. Naked corruption and public harm, without consequences.
- tracker1 3mo agoI'm literally talking about libertarian values and that we aren't getting consequences because they aren't followed. Libertarians aren't generally in favor of limited liability. Read it again, slower.
- mmooss 3mo agoIronically, it's not just the ineffectuallity of the DOJ (intentional, in that case), it's the ineffectuality of the political competition, the Democratic Party, to hold the GOP accountable. The Dems inability to cash in on these things is so absurd that people just accept it: The Trump administration and GOP are letting a company get away with contaminating baby formula. That should be repeated by the Dems from now until the end of time. Everyone should associate Trump and the GOP with it. But as always, the Dems will not make Trump and the GOP pay any price, no matter how awful events are (and this one is hardly the worst), and so why would they stop doing these things? Part of the duty of the political competition is to hold the other party responsible. It is also very obvious and basic self-interest.
- ChrisLTD 3mo agoThe Supreme Court gave Trump immunity, stymieing Democratic attempts at holding him accountable for crimes he was accused of in his first presidency. Holding him accountable this time would require some workaround for the Supreme Court.
- lux-lux-lux 3mo agoWhy not just ship him to CECOT? Official acts bro
- mmooss 3mo agoThat is legal accountability. I am talking about political accountability: When Trump or the GOP do something awful, the Democrats are unable to score points on it. In the reverse situation, the GOP is very good at it. When the GOP screws up, they should be losing votes and reputation. The Dems have failed to do that.
- getcrunk 3mo agoYea things like this make more sense when you model the Democratic Party mostly as controlled opposition for the actual uniparty outside of a handful of instances
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- LocalH 3mo ago"For my friends, everything. For my enemies, the law."