this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
712 points (98.8% liked)

News

23599 readers
2912 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

Donald Trump’s transition team has bypassed standard FBI background checks for key cabinet nominees, relying instead on private investigators, as reported by CNN.

This breaks decades-old norms meant to vet candidates for criminal history and conflicts of interest.

Controversial appointees include Matt Gaetz (attorney general), Tulsi Gabbard (director of national intelligence), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (health secretary), all facing scrutiny for past investigations, pro-Russian views, or personal admissions.

Critics argue Trump seeks to undermine traditional vetting, with potential security risks tied to bypassing these checks.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Sanctus 230 points 1 month ago (4 children)

How much corruption can we take before he's even installed? For real. This is way fucken nuttier than last time. It seems so malicious.

[–] [email protected] 129 points 1 month ago (7 children)

We will take whatever he gives. The US voters approved him. They want this. They chose this, and everything that comes from it.

[–] GlitchyDigiBun 80 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This. There is no authority above the authoritarian. His word is law now. Whatever Our Glorious Cheeto wishes is now US doctrine.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] thevoidzero 27 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I tried. I can't do anything.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Sanctus 25 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Thats not true. There are at least 71 million people here who voted against it. Thats a lot of people.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 month ago (4 children)

He won the popular vote, and the electoral college. Majority rules. (Unfortunately)

[–] SomeGuy69 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Also people who didn't vote at all, are at minimum fine with Trump and not against him.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] AA5B 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is why we’re supposed to have separation of powers. Any competent senate, even if the same party would insist in this before confirming. A senate full of sycophants on the other hand ….

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

It seems so malicious.

I guess he was being honest about all that revenge talk, eh? I mean, it is actively and onerously malicious, but just like last time, everyone's just gonna let Trump steamroll them, because the federal government has long had hesitance to hold figures like presidents, senators, and supreme court justices to account, and this is just an extension of that.

I mean, we didn't prosecute Bush and Cheney for war crimes. Hillary Clinton was proud of her friendship with Henry Kissinger. Kamala Harris was proud of her endorsement by Dick Cheney.

"It's a big club and we ain't in it," but Trump and co. don't feel the need to put up the facade anymore.

[–] Kyrgizion 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

“It’s a big club and we ain’t in it,” but Trump and co. don’t feel the need to put up the facade anymore.

Bingo. Instead of "hiring" (paying off) politicians, they're just doing it themselves. They've lost any and all care about keeping up appearances. After all, what are we going to do? Sue them?

[–] FutileRecipe 10 points 1 month ago

the federal government has long had hesitance to hold figures like presidents, senators, and supreme court justices to account, and this is just an extension of that.

Because if they start holding others in similar offices to account, they might have to hold themselves as well, and that ain't happening.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

The 4 years of Trumpsanity isn't starting in January, it's starting right now. For fucks sake, I'm not ready yet. I need to start stockpiling popcorn and booze. Except this time I'll probably need less popcorn and more booze because I don't think it's going to be as stupid funny as last time. It's already not funny, it's been nosediving into "could it get any worse?" and so far the answer has been "Yes!".

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] villainy 175 points 1 month ago (5 children)

This breaks decades-old norms meant to vet candidates for criminal history and conflicts of interest.

Come the fuck on. The FBI background checks are a "norm" too? Do we have actual laws for anything?

[–] Soggy 98 points 1 month ago

The actual laws also don't seem to matter, in all fairness.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Up till now, we didn’t really need them because everyone agreed it was the smart thing to do.

We’re done with smart.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] clutchtwopointzero 34 points 1 month ago

America: relies on tradition because laws are for the poor

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

And the party of tradition won't care

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Furbag 111 points 1 month ago

A crook and convicted felon fills his cabinet with folk who probably can't pass an FBI security screening? Color me shocked.

The robber barons are back, baby

[–] lennybird 89 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Gabbard is the biggest threat here, in my view.

You couldn't dream of putting a spy in a better position than the DNI whose position is literally to oversee all intelligence agency silos.

Russia will know literally everything.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Trump is just putting a person between him and Putin this time around, Russia knew everything the first admin also. He hid meeting notes and visitor logs and nobody did shit, then the assholes voted him back in to finish selling us off because somehow that means "America First".

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] FlyingSquid 30 points 1 month ago (16 children)

She is literally in a cult.

People need to know that and they don't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_Identity_Foundation

load more comments (16 replies)
[–] MIDItheKID 14 points 1 month ago

"Nikolai Patrushev, part of the Russian president's inner circle and former Secretary of the Security Council, told the Russian newspaper Kommersant that Trump was duty-bound to act on his words.

Patrushev said: "To achieve success in the elections, Donald Trump relied on certain forces to which he has corresponding obligations. And as a responsible person, he will be obliged to fulfill them."

So yeah, sounds about right.

[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So... About that "deep state" I kept hearing about for the past 30 years... Think maybe now it's probably the time, if there ever was one, to do something to preserve the world order.

Turns out the "deep state" are a bunch of rich people who don't want to pay taxes. Oops.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 month ago (2 children)

This all highlights how many loopholes and deficiencies there are in a system that prides itself so much on checks and balances.

[–] jettrscga 44 points 1 month ago

Apparently the balance was supposed to be one person with good faith checking one without. Now we see what happens when every dumbass stands on the corrupt side of the balance.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

No system of rules or laws can fully account for people acting in bad faith.

I think the founding fathers counted on social shame to limit bad faith actors in government. A dishonorable person used to become a social pariah and might even get killed in a duel back in the 18th century. People wouldn't associate with them, sign a contract with them, or lend them money. But now?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

You obliquely touched on a pet theory of mine. We s a society have for decades now rallied against public shaming and bullying and that kind of thing, but I wonder if we've gone too far with it —antisocial behaviours are left to run unchecked, whereas 100 years ago these people would have been mercilessly mocked to their face every day. Without the fear of that public mockery and ridicule, we get this.

[–] Curiousfur 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Trying to protect neurodivergent people unfortunately shelters bad behavior as well as benign. Yes, the antisocial guy trying to start fights and hurt animals would've been driven out of society, but so would the harmless kid who needs things to be arranged by the last letter of its name or something. I've got some idiosyncrasies that make certain aspects of "fitting in" require more effort than most, and I definitely felt the difference in attitude towards how I struggled as I got older. Another hard to control factor is that malicious people can game those same attitudes that help people who simply can't understand why they are different.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] finitebanjo 66 points 1 month ago (7 children)

No shit, one of his picks has white supremacist tats all over his body, one paid a minor for sex and gave them hardcore drugs, and the other is an actual Russian Agent.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I've needed FBI background checks for nearly every job I've ever had. If I need a background check to work in an elementary school, why don't these people need it to handle our nation's secrets?

[–] Magister 34 points 1 month ago (2 children)

don't worry, DOGE will abolish the FBI, you'll be able to work wherever you want!

[–] PriorityMotif 9 points 1 month ago

As long as it's a christian elementary school.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Bypassed standard FBI background checks ... to vet candidates for criminal history and conflicts of interest.

Those are features, not bugs now. They know exactly who they picked.

[–] kamenlady 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Exactly, they don't need the FBI to discover the things they already know about them. I would even say, those things are the reason why they were picked.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] RagingRobot 30 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's crazy that all these things I thought were laws my whole life turn out to just be "norms" that can be totally ignored

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] nutsack 26 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

to his supporters, this just looks like someone who gets things done. and they probably don't trust the FBI

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago

he'd just overrule anyway like he did jared and a couple dozen others before.

[–] Gammelfisch 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So, Cheeto is relying on private investigators...run by the Russian FSB. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the Deep State is going to filled with neo-Nazis, religious nutters and Russian agents.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago

Moves to cut out the FBI appear to be in line with a pre-election memo drafted by his legal advisers and fits with Trump’s enduring suspicion that the agency is part of what, without evidence, he believes to be a “deep state” machine within the federal government bent on undermining him.

Trump administration does something obviously illegal and unethical

FBI: "Hey, that's illegal, you can't do that."

Trump: "Look at this deep state organization trying to prevent me from doing my job"

[–] zeppo 14 points 1 month ago

I assume if they’re investigating or vetting anything it’s: will they be loyal to Trump? Anything good to hang on to as blackmail or extortion material?

[–] eran_morad 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My only confidence and hope is that these guys are such monumental fuckups that they won’t be able to string together enough executive function to realize their dark vision.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

The Banana Republicans up to a good start.

[–] psycho_driver 14 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Lemmy doesn't offer a way to filter posts by words in the title do they? I'm over hearing anything about this waste of oxygen and his buddies.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

Potential security risks?

Jfc these idiots.

[–] SkunkWorkz 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Tulsi Gabbard as the head of intelligence means the US intelligence community will have a blind spot in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East. Plus many field agents are going to die. It’s going to be massive set back for Ukraine. And she’s probably going to relay everything to dictators like Putin and Assad. Mahalo Tulsi /s. And fuck your sPiRIt of alOHa

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] WrenFeathers 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Things are going to be FAR worse than anyone has imagined thus far.

I just know it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] mombutt_long_and_low 10 points 1 month ago

Another “norm” that we thought was a requirement. The shittiest Civics class.

load more comments
view more: next ›