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Comey's Goddamn Book [A Higher Loyalty]

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Posts

  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    JoeUser wrote: »
    Oh ok, the RNC had someone in a squirrel suit to follow Hillary Clinton on her book tour

    Wasn't there stuff with Bill Clinton and a chicken? Or maybe that was Bush 1?

  • spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User, Transition Team regular
    Javen wrote: »
    JoeUser wrote: »
    Oh ok, the RNC had someone in a squirrel suit to follow Hillary Clinton on her book tour

    Wasn't there stuff with Bill Clinton and a chicken? Or maybe that was Bush 1?

    yeah this trend started with Democrats and Bush v Clinton.

  • TryCatcherTryCatcher Registered User regular
    On stuff, here's Comey learing that the House GOP requested a criminal investigation on him to the DOJ and the FBI...while he was on his interview on The View:
    https://youtu.be/liQxGN_RS00

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Is that the same interview where Meghan McCain said that Comey let down the legacy of J Edgar fucking Hoover? Which was painful as fuck.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    spool32 wrote: »
    Javen wrote: »
    JoeUser wrote: »
    Oh ok, the RNC had someone in a squirrel suit to follow Hillary Clinton on her book tour

    Wasn't there stuff with Bill Clinton and a chicken? Or maybe that was Bush 1?

    yeah this trend started with Democrats and Bush v Clinton.

    I also happen to find all versions of this hilarious. It's something they'd do on a late-night talk show.

  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Is that the same interview where Meghan McCain said that Comey let down the legacy of J Edgar fucking Hoover? Which was painful as fuck.

    If there's a legacy that needs to be dropped from a great height to make sure it shatters, it's Hoover's.

    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    Javen wrote: »
    spool32 wrote: »
    Javen wrote: »
    JoeUser wrote: »
    Oh ok, the RNC had someone in a squirrel suit to follow Hillary Clinton on her book tour

    Wasn't there stuff with Bill Clinton and a chicken? Or maybe that was Bush 1?

    yeah this trend started with Democrats and Bush v Clinton.

    I also happen to find all versions of this hilarious. It's something they'd do on a late-night talk show.

    And thus ends our discussion of mascot use in past elections.

  • TryCatcherTryCatcher Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Is that the same interview where Meghan McCain said that Comey let down the legacy of J Edgar fucking Hoover? Which was painful as fuck.

    Yes.

  • Kristmas KthulhuKristmas Kthulhu Currently Kultist Kthulhu Registered User regular
    Mayabird wrote: »
    People should not fear the law. Fear is an irrational gut emotion that makes people act stupidly, thus not acting as a good motivator or demotivator because it overrides thinking. An object of fear also attracts the absolute worst types of people to it, because people want to wield that fear as power over others. American law enforcement is full of assholes who just want to lord it over others; that's the entire stereotype of the small town sheriff right there. Fear also implies that the law does not exist to protect us from harm but to do harm to those who step out of line.

    In an ideal world, people should respect the law. Respect is a sober and rational feeling, and more positive. Respect is also a two way street - bad laws and enforcement are not respected. If people respect the law, they will work to keep it good and just, and if the law is good and just, people respect it. And this is absolutely not happening at any level in the US. People in power don't respect the law and just want to manipulate it to increase their own power and wealth. People without power don't respect it because it's wielded unjustly and against them.

    Respect of course cannot be forced from above. The power structure needs to change itself so that it can be respected (because people without power can't do anything about it), and advocating a rule by fear won't accomplish that.

    Thanks for writing this up, I was getting around to posting something similar about the difference between fear and respect. Sleep’s post about loving and fearing the ocean, while a great post, doesn’t really quite get to the heart of the matter.

    The ocean is not sentient, has no purpose, and doesn’t give a single bother about anyone or anything. Not so with our laws, legislators, nor LEOs, since they’re supposed to protect and (attempt) to make whole those that have been harmed. And Comey’s myopia about shitty Republican policies being a large contributor to crime (white collar and otherwise) is just trite at this point.

  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited April 2018
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    John. Former AG

    That motherfucker felt so bad over swearing?


    Julius on
  • spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User, Transition Team regular
    Mayabird wrote: »
    People should not fear the law. Fear is an irrational gut emotion that makes people act stupidly, thus not acting as a good motivator or demotivator because it overrides thinking. An object of fear also attracts the absolute worst types of people to it, because people want to wield that fear as power over others. American law enforcement is full of assholes who just want to lord it over others; that's the entire stereotype of the small town sheriff right there. Fear also implies that the law does not exist to protect us from harm but to do harm to those who step out of line.

    In an ideal world, people should respect the law. Respect is a sober and rational feeling, and more positive. Respect is also a two way street - bad laws and enforcement are not respected. If people respect the law, they will work to keep it good and just, and if the law is good and just, people respect it. And this is absolutely not happening at any level in the US. People in power don't respect the law and just want to manipulate it to increase their own power and wealth. People without power don't respect it because it's wielded unjustly and against them.

    Respect of course cannot be forced from above. The power structure needs to change itself so that it can be respected (because people without power can't do anything about it), and advocating a rule by fear won't accomplish that.

    Thanks for writing this up, I was getting around to posting something similar about the difference between fear and respect. Sleep’s post about loving and fearing the ocean, while a great post, doesn’t really quite get to the heart of the matter.

    The ocean is not sentient, has no purpose, and doesn’t give a single bother about anyone or anything. Not so with our laws, legislators, nor LEOs, since they’re supposed to protect and (attempt) to make whole those that have been harmed. And Comey’s myopia about shitty Republican policies being a large contributor to crime (white collar and otherwise) is just trite at this point.

    Can you help me understand where you're extrapolating this myopia from? This seems like yet another example of jumping four steps ahead in the argument. There's just nothing that I can find to base this attack on, except that he's been designated A Bad Guy by the left.

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    Comey helped sign off on a bunch of unacceptable civil rights violations during the post 9/11 years

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    I think the left generally has a pretty nuanced view of Comey.

    We think he’s a person with good intentions who fucked up in 2016 but didn’t deserve the treatment Trump and the right gave/have been giving him; in the context of this discussion he’s also emblematic of the way our nation’s law enforcement infrastructure and leadership seem largely blind to its flaws and inequities.

    But you know if you want to sum that up to “bad guy,” cool?

    ACsTqqK.jpg
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    I think he deserved to be tarred and feathered, with all his assets seized, and then forced to retire to a monastery in the Himalayas, personally.

    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    Julius wrote: »
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    John. Former AG

    That motherfucker felt so bad over swearing?


    That motherfucker put drapes on the statues lest we be tempted by their stony teats

    wbBv3fj.png
  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    I think the left generally has a pretty nuanced view of Comey.

    We think he’s a person with good intentions who fucked up in 2016 but didn’t deserve the treatment Trump and the right gave/have been giving him; in the context of this discussion he’s also emblematic of the way our nation’s law enforcement infrastructure and leadership seem largely blind to its flaws and inequities.

    But you know if you want to sum that up to “bad guy,” cool?

    Nah. Comey deserves it.

    But just because we think someone deserves comeuppance doesn’t mean we punish them because that is not how proper states work

    wbBv3fj.png
  • Styrofoam SammichStyrofoam Sammich WANT. normal (not weird)Registered User regular
    I think he deserved to be tarred and feathered, with all his assets seized, and then forced to retire to a monastery in the Himalayas, personally.

    Yes yes but how to get Nepal to accept him hmmm

    wq09t4opzrlc.jpg
  • milskimilski Poyo! Registered User regular
    edited April 2018
    Goumindong wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    I think the left generally has a pretty nuanced view of Comey.

    We think he’s a person with good intentions who fucked up in 2016 but didn’t deserve the treatment Trump and the right gave/have been giving him; in the context of this discussion he’s also emblematic of the way our nation’s law enforcement infrastructure and leadership seem largely blind to its flaws and inequities.

    But you know if you want to sum that up to “bad guy,” cool?

    Nah. Comey deserves it.

    But just because we think someone deserves comeuppance doesn’t mean we punish them because that is not how proper states work

    Comey doesn't deserve the bashing from the right because their reasoning for hating him is stupid and he's done them basically no harm besides not bowing to trump hard enough

    milski on
    I ate an engineer
  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    milski wrote: »
    Goumindong wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    I think the left generally has a pretty nuanced view of Comey.

    We think he’s a person with good intentions who fucked up in 2016 but didn’t deserve the treatment Trump and the right gave/have been giving him; in the context of this discussion he’s also emblematic of the way our nation’s law enforcement infrastructure and leadership seem largely blind to its flaws and inequities.

    But you know if you want to sum that up to “bad guy,” cool?

    Nah. Comey deserves it.

    But just because we think someone deserves comeuppance doesn’t mean we punish them because that is not how proper states work

    Comey doesn't deserve the bashing from the right because their reasoning for hating him is stupid and he's done them basically no harm besides not bowing to trump hard enough

    “Deserve” doesn’t care about who meets out punishment. You’re thinking of revenge or righteousness. Deserve is attached the the person and their actions only. And Comey deserves it.

    Just because what Republicans are doing is also wrong doesn’t grant absolution to Comey

    wbBv3fj.png
  • spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User, Transition Team regular
    lol!

    Astaereth: actually we have a pretty nuanced view of Comey on the left and-
    Thread left wing: nah

  • Kristmas KthulhuKristmas Kthulhu Currently Kultist Kthulhu Registered User regular
    spool32 wrote: »
    Mayabird wrote: »
    People should not fear the law. Fear is an irrational gut emotion that makes people act stupidly, thus not acting as a good motivator or demotivator because it overrides thinking. An object of fear also attracts the absolute worst types of people to it, because people want to wield that fear as power over others. American law enforcement is full of assholes who just want to lord it over others; that's the entire stereotype of the small town sheriff right there. Fear also implies that the law does not exist to protect us from harm but to do harm to those who step out of line.

    In an ideal world, people should respect the law. Respect is a sober and rational feeling, and more positive. Respect is also a two way street - bad laws and enforcement are not respected. If people respect the law, they will work to keep it good and just, and if the law is good and just, people respect it. And this is absolutely not happening at any level in the US. People in power don't respect the law and just want to manipulate it to increase their own power and wealth. People without power don't respect it because it's wielded unjustly and against them.

    Respect of course cannot be forced from above. The power structure needs to change itself so that it can be respected (because people without power can't do anything about it), and advocating a rule by fear won't accomplish that.

    Thanks for writing this up, I was getting around to posting something similar about the difference between fear and respect. Sleep’s post about loving and fearing the ocean, while a great post, doesn’t really quite get to the heart of the matter.

    The ocean is not sentient, has no purpose, and doesn’t give a single bother about anyone or anything. Not so with our laws, legislators, nor LEOs, since they’re supposed to protect and (attempt) to make whole those that have been harmed. And Comey’s myopia about shitty Republican policies being a large contributor to crime (white collar and otherwise) is just trite at this point.

    Can you help me understand where you're extrapolating this myopia from? This seems like yet another example of jumping four steps ahead in the argument. There's just nothing that I can find to base this attack on, except that he's been designated A Bad Guy by the left.

    Comey is a Bad Guy in the same banal way most “Not Just Here for the Racism” Republicans are. He thinks his happiness doesn’t come at the expense of others, and therefore he doesn’t owe anyone anything.

    So spending his special tax dollars in ways he doesn’t agree with doesn’t sit right with him, and assumes anyone who isn’t currently a productive member of society would still not be if they could afford food, housing, and clothing through means other than criminal.

  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    spool32 wrote: »
    lol!

    Astaereth: actually we have a pretty nuanced view of Comey on the left and-
    Thread left wing: nah

    Just because we have a different nuance than he thinks doesn’t mean it’s not nuanced.

    Comey may not be “the bad guy” but if you were writing a novel then “overwhelming guilt over his cowardice and failures driving him to be a better person” would be the only spin you could put on it going forward and still have them be the hero.

    If that action were the last thing he had done in a novel with him as the primary character then it would have to end as a tragedy with his resignation in disgrace in order to have a sembalance of Justice rather than an object lesson in how you can get away with evil things.

    wbBv3fj.png
  • Kristmas KthulhuKristmas Kthulhu Currently Kultist Kthulhu Registered User regular
    Oh, and the whole torture thing. Also bad.

  • spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User, Transition Team regular
    spool32 wrote: »
    Mayabird wrote: »
    People should not fear the law. Fear is an irrational gut emotion that makes people act stupidly, thus not acting as a good motivator or demotivator because it overrides thinking. An object of fear also attracts the absolute worst types of people to it, because people want to wield that fear as power over others. American law enforcement is full of assholes who just want to lord it over others; that's the entire stereotype of the small town sheriff right there. Fear also implies that the law does not exist to protect us from harm but to do harm to those who step out of line.

    In an ideal world, people should respect the law. Respect is a sober and rational feeling, and more positive. Respect is also a two way street - bad laws and enforcement are not respected. If people respect the law, they will work to keep it good and just, and if the law is good and just, people respect it. And this is absolutely not happening at any level in the US. People in power don't respect the law and just want to manipulate it to increase their own power and wealth. People without power don't respect it because it's wielded unjustly and against them.

    Respect of course cannot be forced from above. The power structure needs to change itself so that it can be respected (because people without power can't do anything about it), and advocating a rule by fear won't accomplish that.

    Thanks for writing this up, I was getting around to posting something similar about the difference between fear and respect. Sleep’s post about loving and fearing the ocean, while a great post, doesn’t really quite get to the heart of the matter.

    The ocean is not sentient, has no purpose, and doesn’t give a single bother about anyone or anything. Not so with our laws, legislators, nor LEOs, since they’re supposed to protect and (attempt) to make whole those that have been harmed. And Comey’s myopia about shitty Republican policies being a large contributor to crime (white collar and otherwise) is just trite at this point.

    Can you help me understand where you're extrapolating this myopia from? This seems like yet another example of jumping four steps ahead in the argument. There's just nothing that I can find to base this attack on, except that he's been designated A Bad Guy by the left.

    Comey is a Bad Guy in the same banal way most “Not Just Here for the Racism” Republicans are. He thinks his happiness doesn’t come at the expense of others, and therefore he doesn’t owe anyone anything.

    So spending his special tax dollars in ways he doesn’t agree with doesn’t sit right with him, and assumes anyone who isn’t currently a productive member of society would still not be if they could afford food, housing, and clothing through means other than criminal.

    This just seems completely made up. Can you point me to places in the book where you're getting this interpretation? Or anywhere else?

  • Kristmas KthulhuKristmas Kthulhu Currently Kultist Kthulhu Registered User regular
    spool32 wrote: »
    lol!

    Astaereth: actually we have a pretty nuanced view of Comey on the left and-
    Thread left wing: nah

    ebum and Sammich are not the entire thread, so please don’t do this. Even I thought “Slow it down a bit” when I read that.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    spool32 wrote: »
    lol!

    Astaereth: actually we have a pretty nuanced view of Comey on the left and-
    Thread left wing: nah

    For someone who constantly complains about not being treated fairly by other people I sure do see a lot of posts from you that are totally without value. I don't know, maybe you're just kind of a jackass, and not a put upon voice of reason? I'll put it in my notes to investigate further.

  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    No, Comey is a bad guy because he violated his organization's ethics rules and the orders of his boss to interfere in an election. And did so when he knew that the person on whose behalf he intervened was the subject of a far more serious investigation, which he failed to make public, and in fact argued against making public. Or expediting that investigation when it was of critical national importance, because the country was facing the prospect of electing a president who was potentially compromised, and whose key advisers were definitely compromised, by a geopolitical rival.

    No amount of bloviating about his personal honor can overcome that. James Comey is an unethical villain who is now getting rich based off of his own lack of ethics. That he was treated terribly by an even more unethical, cruder villain doesn't change any of that. The unnuanced take is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • Styrofoam SammichStyrofoam Sammich WANT. normal (not weird)Registered User regular
    spool32 wrote: »
    lol!

    Astaereth: actually we have a pretty nuanced view of Comey on the left and-
    Thread left wing: nah

    ebum and Sammich are not the entire thread, so please don’t do this. Even I thought “Slow it down a bit” when I read that.

    Im joking for the most part about the "take all his stuff" business but when it comes to evaluating the personal morality of a guy who oversaw the Bush era FBI I'm not that interested in nuance because he carried around a nice quote.

    At some point "nah fuck that guy" will suffice.

    wq09t4opzrlc.jpg
  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    Goumindong wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    John. Former AG

    That motherfucker felt so bad over swearing?


    That motherfucker put drapes on the statues lest we be tempted by their stony teats

    Like $2500 drapes

  • spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User, Transition Team regular
    edited April 2018
    Also, just watched that interview and the guy really does come off as entirely genuine. I like every single one of his answers.

    spool32 on
  • Kristmas KthulhuKristmas Kthulhu Currently Kultist Kthulhu Registered User regular
    spool32 wrote: »
    spool32 wrote: »
    Mayabird wrote: »
    People should not fear the law. Fear is an irrational gut emotion that makes people act stupidly, thus not acting as a good motivator or demotivator because it overrides thinking. An object of fear also attracts the absolute worst types of people to it, because people want to wield that fear as power over others. American law enforcement is full of assholes who just want to lord it over others; that's the entire stereotype of the small town sheriff right there. Fear also implies that the law does not exist to protect us from harm but to do harm to those who step out of line.

    In an ideal world, people should respect the law. Respect is a sober and rational feeling, and more positive. Respect is also a two way street - bad laws and enforcement are not respected. If people respect the law, they will work to keep it good and just, and if the law is good and just, people respect it. And this is absolutely not happening at any level in the US. People in power don't respect the law and just want to manipulate it to increase their own power and wealth. People without power don't respect it because it's wielded unjustly and against them.

    Respect of course cannot be forced from above. The power structure needs to change itself so that it can be respected (because people without power can't do anything about it), and advocating a rule by fear won't accomplish that.

    Thanks for writing this up, I was getting around to posting something similar about the difference between fear and respect. Sleep’s post about loving and fearing the ocean, while a great post, doesn’t really quite get to the heart of the matter.

    The ocean is not sentient, has no purpose, and doesn’t give a single bother about anyone or anything. Not so with our laws, legislators, nor LEOs, since they’re supposed to protect and (attempt) to make whole those that have been harmed. And Comey’s myopia about shitty Republican policies being a large contributor to crime (white collar and otherwise) is just trite at this point.

    Can you help me understand where you're extrapolating this myopia from? This seems like yet another example of jumping four steps ahead in the argument. There's just nothing that I can find to base this attack on, except that he's been designated A Bad Guy by the left.

    Comey is a Bad Guy in the same banal way most “Not Just Here for the Racism” Republicans are. He thinks his happiness doesn’t come at the expense of others, and therefore he doesn’t owe anyone anything.

    So spending his special tax dollars in ways he doesn’t agree with doesn’t sit right with him, and assumes anyone who isn’t currently a productive member of society would still not be if they could afford food, housing, and clothing through means other than criminal.

    This just seems completely made up. Can you point me to places in the book where you're getting this interpretation? Or anywhere else?

    Because that, racism, guns, and religion are almost the entirety of the Republican platform. I mean, is there anything in the book suggesting otherwise?

  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    Also, he set the precedent that the head of the domestic intelligence service can be cowed into reporting and trumping up whatever scandals a party can make up whole cloth. Which is really fucking dangerous for a democracy.

    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • MeeqeMeeqe Lord of the pants most fancy Someplace amazingRegistered User regular
    Having watched that clip as well, I agree that he's entirely Ernest in his uncompromising legalism.

    Uncompromising legalism is a scrouge of ethics and humanity.

  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    Also, he set the precedent that the head of the domestic intelligence service can be cowed into reporting and trumping up whatever scandals a party can make up whole cloth. Which is really fucking dangerous for a democracy.

    *stares at history of the FBI in the 20th century*

    ...eh

    It's only worse because it was related to an election.

    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    I like to ART
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    Doodmann wrote: »
    Also, he set the precedent that the head of the domestic intelligence service can be cowed into reporting and trumping up whatever scandals a party can make up whole cloth. Which is really fucking dangerous for a democracy.

    *stares at history of the FBI in the 20th century*

    ...eh

    It's only worse because it was related to an election.

    Well, it's a different kind of offense against democracy than the usual ones at the FBI. Which was usually focused on intimidating minorities or labor.

    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    For most people, ESPECIALLY those you consider political enemies, it's just not productive at all to have a box labeled "evil bastards" to put them all in. It's actually better from an antagonistic standpoint to understand exactly why your enemy thinks they way they do instead of just saying, "total shitbird, got it."

    I actually do have a lot of respect for Comey, though that may be my Republican roots showing. I think he made bad, bad, bad decisions, but I believe his reasoning for why he made those decisions and understand why he though that was his only choice. And I don't think he's wrong in saying that fear of consequence is what keeps humanity from the brink. We have examples everywhere. To use another business example, It's the reason we don't believe telecoms when they say we don't need legislation on net neutrality because of course they won't abuse it, how could you think such a mean thing of them! You can go five more steps deep into "fear of consequence" and make it sound like something it's not, but I really don't know who that's supposed to help.

    "excuse my French
    But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
    - Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited April 2018
    This is from Comey with Stephanopolous:
    TEPHANOPOULOS: But do you think that the F.B.I. would be in better shape today, the institution you love, would be in better shape today if you had simply put out that one line statement, “We decline to prosecute”?

    COMEY: I don’t know. I’ve asked myself that a million times. It’s hard– hindsight is a wonderful thing. I’m not sure that it would have. And– here’s why I say that. Because we would’ve taken a tremendous amount of criticism for being fixed. The system fixed, no detail. And I still would’ve been dragged up to Capitol Hill all that summer to justify the F.B.I.’s work. And so surely, I would’ve said something about how we did the work. And so I– I’d kinda be in the same place, except I’d be playing defense like a cornerback backpedaling. There’d be this tremendous hit the institution would take. I’d be trying to explain to people, “No, no, we did it in a good way. We did it in a good way.” And none of it, by the way, would change what I faced in late October. Even if we’d just done the one liner, we’d still have the nightmare of late October.

    You'll note the FBI's actual rules on ethics don't factor into this decision. He did it because he was afraid of the right wing noise machine, if we're being generous. Cowardice is not a tragic flaw I can respect in a villain.
    COMEY: Yeah-- I think it was in August, I volunteered that-- that I would be-- I remember saying that I'm a little bit tired of being the independent voice on things, after the beating I'd taken after the July 5th announcement. But I said in a meeting with the president, "I'm willing to be the voice on this and help inoculate the American people. But I also recognize why this is such a hard question, because if you announce that the Russians are trying to mess with our election, do you accomplish their goal for them? Do you undermine confidence in our election by having the president of the United States, or one of his senior people, say this publicly? Will the Russians be happy that you did that?" And so I-- I wrote an op-ed, was going to go in a major newspaper that laid out what was going on. Not the investigation, 'cause that was too sensitive to reveal, but that, "The Russians are here and they're screwing with us. And this is consistent with what they've done in the past," and they never took me up on it. The Obama administration deliberated until the beginning of October.
    STEPHANOPOULOS: Eventually the-- administration does announce-- that they've found that Russia is interfering-- yet, and this is-- this confounds me. I-- I'm-- I'm puzzled by this. Yet, when they decide to come out with a joint statement of the intelligence committees, you as the FBI director refused to sign it. Why?

    JAMES COMEY: Because of the way we approach action in the run-up to an election. The-- it's not written down, despite what you might have heard, but there's an important norm that I've lived my whole government career-- obeying. If you can avoid it, you should not take any action in the run-up to an election that could have an impact on the election. By that, I mean the FBI or the Department of Justice. And so, we were being asked, in October, to sign onto a statement that says, "The Russians are messing with our election." In my view and the view of the FBI leadership was it's too late. And we can avoid action here. Because the goal's already been accomplished. The American people already know this because lots of government officials have been on background talking to the press about this, members of Congress have been talking about it, the candidates are talking about it. So, the inoculation has already been achieved, and it's October. So, we can avoid action here consistent with our policy that, whenever possible, we try and avoid action. So, we won't sign this.

    Suddenly, the ethics of not interfering in an election matter again.

    The simple truth of the matter is that both presidential candidates were under investigation by the FBI in the 2016 election. Even if you think the whole email thing was an actual offense (I do not, but sure), the threat to national security represented by a private email server of the Secretary of State is far less than the president or their key advisers being blackmailed or assisted by a hostile foreign power.

    And yet, one of these investigations had be publicized by Comey ON THE RECORD in July and then obviously going to be leaked in October, but the far more serious investigation did not require such an intervention because it was "too late" in October for them to interfere, and the discussions administration officials were having on background were sufficient.

    There is absolutely no way in my mind to square those two actions that allows you to consider Comey anything other than villainous or pathetic.

    enlightenedbum on
    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    Personally, I think he's lying and did it because he's a partisan Republican who knows the Clintons are monsters and the Weiner laptop would finally reveal it. But I understand how others could come to different conclusions. I just don't think any of them are flattering to him.

    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • ElkiElki get busy Moderator, ClubPA Mod Emeritus
    Reading the excerpt about Martha, I still see Comey as a guy who's pretty savvy in cultivating his self image and striving to protecting both it and the image of the institutions he's attached to. That's the reason I never really saw him as a partisan political hack. There is a kind of selflessness in that hackery. You're giving up your self and your image to the service of the larger (most likely shitty) cause. Comey doesn't strike me as the sort to go willingly like Isaac to the altar. His pushback against Obama over mass incarceration is part and parcel of that. Putting aside his pedantic quibbling over the phrase, the subject and the phrase being in wider use probably does negatively affect the image of law enforcement, because they are one of the main tools that helped achieve mass incarceration. And that's negative image is enough to raise the objection, no other consideration needs to enter into it.

    It seems to be pay pretty well. $2 million advance, and still waiting for the royalties to roll in? Not bad.

    smCQ5WE.jpg
  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    Sleep wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    Sleep wrote: »
    Mayabird wrote: »
    People should not fear the law. Fear is an irrational gut emotion that makes people act stupidly, thus not acting as a good motivator or demotivator because it overrides thinking. An object of fear also attracts the absolute worst types of people to it, because people want to wield that fear as power over others. American law enforcement is full of assholes who just want to lord it over others; that's the entire stereotype of the small town sheriff right there. Fear also implies that the law does not exist to protect us from harm but to do harm to those who step out of line.

    In an ideal world, people should respect the law. Respect is a sober and rational feeling, and more positive. Respect is also a two way street - bad laws and enforcement are not respected. If people respect the law, they will work to keep it good and just, and if the law is good and just, people respect it. And this is absolutely not happening at any level in the US. People in power don't respect the law and just want to manipulate it to increase their own power and wealth. People without power don't respect it because it's wielded unjustly and against them.

    Respect of course cannot be forced from above. The power structure needs to change itself so that it can be respected (because people without power can't do anything about it), and advocating a rule by fear won't accomplish that.

    I think that respect would likely include a healthy dose of fear.

    I liken it to the ocean. I love the ocean, I grew up around it. I also have a healthy fear of the ocean... because at some point it could gravely injure or even kill me. That fear of it is what gives me my respect and reverence for it. The ocean is important, it is life giving, without it we'd all die, and it can be quite fun and refreshing to experience, but you always need to be wary and alert around it because fooling around with it too much will result in injury and death. Moreover it should be feared not just in the micro and individual case, but also in the macro case. Eventually it will consume the very ground I stand on. I love the ocean, but I also have a healthy and prudent fear of it that informs a respect and reverence when in its presence.

    The ocean is not a system set up by us.

    I can hold a healthy fear and respect for my system of laws while also thinking that parts of said system of laws should be drastically rewritten. If I didn't fear and respect the law changing it to make it better wouldn't be a concern.

    Not my point. The ocean is neither a moral entity nor a system we have set up to regulate aspects of our society. It is quite literally a force of nature. Much like the god comparison, the analogy breaks down because while you might argue that one should fear the ocean, it is hard to argue that you should fear your fellow man. That is, that it is just to fear your fellow man. The ocean simply is, there is no justice involved. But the system that is our society is controlled by us and thus can be just or unjust. You could certainly fear to be dragged out of your bed in the middle of the night by the secret police, but that's not the same as saying that you should fear that.

    You don't need to fear or respect the law to appreciate it, or want to change it. The law, in a moral sense, should simply reflect justice. My concern for changing the law is out of a sense of justice, not fear.

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