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Hi Kids, Do You Like (Police) Violence? Trump’s DOJ Shuts Down Civil Rights Division
from the let-the-bad-apples-cook! dept
Well, we can go ahead and erase “perhaps” from this not-all-that-prescient-actually-given-the-circumstances headline:
DOJ Issues Perhaps The Last Law Enforcement Investigation Report We’ll See For The Next Four Years
It was inevitable. Trump’s DOJ kicked the Civil Rights Division to the curb faster than Trump cycled through Attorneys General during his first term. Trump promised the police a police state when he first took office following the 2016 election.
His few years away from the Oval Office haven’t softened his stance. Police are right (except when they’re standing in the way of insurrectionists), and the DOJ is good (so long as it isn’t prosecuting Trump supporters who assaulted police officers), and anyone complaining about abuses by law enforcement better just shut the fuck up for the foreseeable future.
2024 wrapped up with a lot of last-minute releases of DOJ investigations into local law enforcement agencies. Every investigation arrived at the same conclusion: plenty of bad people were wearing uniforms and badges and abusing their power regularly to the detriment of civil liberties and their relationship with the communities they were supposed to be serving.
Unfortunately, all we’re really going to gain from this flurry of DOJ Civil Rights Division activity is additional data that points to a systemic rot in law enforcement, something that’s actively encouraged by upper management personnel more than willing to be part of the problem.
Trump’s administration has made its assault on civil liberties official, as Perry Stein and David Nakamura report for the Washington Post:
The Justice Department has ordered the civil rights division to halt much of its investigative activity dating from the Biden administration and not pursue new indictments, cases or settlements, according to a memo sent to the temporary head of the division that was obtained by The Washington Post.
The letter instructs Kathleen Wolfe — designated by the Trump administration as supervisor of the division — to ensure that civil rights attorneys do not file “any new complaints, motions to intervene, agreed-upon remands, amicus briefs, or statements of interest.”
That brings a whole lot of stuff to a standstill. And this includes stuff that was already in motion before Trump was elected for a second time, including consent decrees and agreements that had already been put in place before the recent, extremely peaceful transfer of power.
A separate memo sent to Wolfe on Wednesday says the civil rights division must notify the Justice Department’s chief of staff of any consent decrees the division has finalized within the last 90 days. That directive suggests that police-reform agreements the Justice Department has negotiated with cities including Minneapolis, Louisville and Memphis could be in jeopardy.
As has often been said of (and so often proved by) the Trump Administration: the cruelty is the point. Trump isn’t simply content with ensuring no cop shop goes punished going forward during his second term. He wants to undo as much positive effort from his predecessor as possible to inflict maximum pain on the American public. We’re a nation once again being run by petty bullies and supported by the sort of people who love bullying, so long as the people they hate get beat up more often than they do.
Filed Under: civil rights division, doj, doj investigation, donald trump, excessive force, police misconduct
Comments on “Hi Kids, Do You Like (Police) Violence? Trump’s DOJ Shuts Down Civil Rights Division”
It’s a reflection of Trump’s most pervasive and obvious personality trait: cowardice. He is one of the most pathetically weak people in public life, unable to handle the slightest adversity or mildest criticism or minor sacrifice.
He’s doing his selfish best to reshape the government of the entire country for his personal benefit. This isn’t about ideology — Trump is far too stupid to even spell ideology or to grasp the concept — it’s about his fragile ego and his willingness to sacrifice a 250-year-old nation of 340 million people to ensure that the frightened little boy inside him is protected…from everyone and everything.
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Re: Patrick S. Tomlinson
No, child, it does not. No child, he isn’t. Enjoy prison, child.
Re: Re:
I wasn’t aware that insulting and/or disagreeing with the president was an offense punishable by jail time. Did we get rid of the First Amendment before or after Trump announced his plans to send 30,000 people to a concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay?
Re: Re:
Enjoy hell, nazi.
Re: Re:
Enjoy sucking Trump’s rapist cock like a good little Nazi.
Re: Re:
How do you put this sentence together without realizing you’re deeply disturbed?
Re: Re:
When you defend Trump this rabidly, you’re proving that you also believe he is fragile and in need of succor. When you condescend to others about a man who condescends to you, you’re admitting you’re a weak sycophant.
Grow a spine, realize that Trump doesn’t give a fuck about you, and find a new personality that isn’t based on worshipping sociopaths.
Re: Re:
Hey goat fucker where’s that citation you owe us?
Re: Re:
How do you put this sentence together without realizing you’re talking into a mirror?
Re: Re:
Matty, fake or otherwise. Stop being such a goddamn moron and sycophantic, fascist coward.
I’m here to read Sir Bennett writing on deregulation of police forces that is a very good thing for the people since police forces are very kind and blah blah blah…
Matt, I’m expecting a lot from you, so try a little harder than usual to not read this article and please provide your best nonsense.
Sincerely,
you only fan.
Re:
Are you a member of the self-help group Only Fans?
Everyone deserves a fan, even if … only one fan.
Re: Re:
*whoooooooooosh!*
On the topic of civil rights, a SOPA-style bill has been introduced to the house committee. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/791/text
Re:
There’s also this site for it: https://lofgren.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-lofgren-introduces-targeted-legislation-combat-foreign-online-piracy
Which, reading the listed details, it kind of doesn’t seem like it has a lot of teeth to it? At least not as severely as SOPA/PIPA had.
Re: Re:
Nevermind, it’s super bad.
Fucking hell.
Re: Re: Re:
Could you mention the lowlights? Or a link to a review?
Re: Re: Re:2
Ars Technica has put out a fairly comprehensive article on it, by the looks of it: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/movie-industry-loves-bill-that-would-force-isps-to-block-piracy-websites/
Re: Re: Re:3
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr791
Seems to have a 2% chance of being enacted.
Re: Re: Re:4
Ah, thank you! I had been trying to find its page on govtrack without much success earlier.
I imagine we’ll see the odds of enactment properly play out as the bill spends more time in congress. If it’ll be enacted or not remains to be seen, as does the effect any potential media buzz may have on it.
I don’t think we’ll see another SOPA/PIPA blackout again, but civil efforts have tanked bad bills before even without that level of collective action.
Re: Re: Re:5
but civil efforts have tanked bad bills before even without that level of collective action
That’s true. 👍
Re: Re: Re:6
Now we just have to hope it still rings true this term.
Re: Re: Re:7
You never know what can happen.
Don’t worry, I bet Trump has his own ideas for police “housecleaning”. It’s just that being a goon isn’t going to put you on the new target list.
Quite the contrary, actually…
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Good.
I hope cops rape and murder. Americans deserve it.
Re:
You’re sick in the head.
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Nah.
I just think that Americans are murder loving, rape loving idiots who seem to need to see enough of their loves ones hurt to stop being idiots.
Re: Re: Re:
You wouldn’t by chance be referring to the Rapist-in-Chief, would you? The very same toddler who once espoused that a murder on 5th Avenue would not result in any repercussions at all?
Re: Re: Re:
That’s a broadbrush for 330+ million people. Is it possible you’re generalizing a bit much?
Re: Re: Re:2
There were a whole lot of us tolerating Nazis in our back yards to get to this point, to say nothing of the Nazis themselves.
Re: Re: Re:3
There might be one or millions of us who are opposing fascism though…
Re:
Let your mom get in line first, you chode.
A person is defined by their heroes, the enemies, and their friends
You can tell a lot about a person and group by who and what they consider their enemy, that ‘civil rights’ and ‘legal oversight’ is on the list for the MAGAt regime tells you so very much about them and none of it good.
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All we have to do is clap our hands & believe in Counter Speech With More Speech, and have faith in the First Amendment.
I have been told by a supposedly intelligent person on here that institutions will not save us, but that person seems to treat the First Amendment as an institution as sacrosanct, so I’m just gonna go with the flow and believe that if we just First Amendment More Speech at the people moving to make literal concentration camps, it’ll all be fine.
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Gee, I wonder who this passive-aggressive screed is aimed at. 🤔
Re: Re:
Interesting you responded to that one as if it were aimed solely at you when there are multiple commenters here who have engaged in the behavior alleged. Feeling guilty much?
Re: Re: Re:
Not really. I’ve had that kind of too-afraid-to-be-actively-aggressive bullshit tossed my way before because I refuse to endorse the idea of violence as a first/best/only solution to political problems.
That said: Just because I implied that the passive-aggressive bullshit was aimed at me doesn’t mean the poster intended to aim it at me. After all, they were too afraid to put a name to the source of their pain.
Re:
Ooohh. So you are one of those type to disengage your brain.
On The other hand, I believe most of BestNetTech staff encourages thinking.
As far as I know, most of the regulars here in the comment section (those that have… positive, reputations as least) probably would encourage the same.
Maybe you misunderstood what was said. But your brain would have to be engaged to reach that point.
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Alright then smart-ass, what’s YOUR idea, then?
Re: Re:
it’s most likely the user from Singapore that wants people dead
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Cool. Now you can shut the fuck up.
Dems who were just smugly patting themselves on the back and promising a “peaceful transition to fascism” must feel real good about themselves right now.
SO....HOWS THEM BOOTS TASTE?
now that the DOJ has once again been neutered! better get used to the taste of boot polish! because that STANDING ARMY our forefathers warned us about. just got a new 4 year contract to insure that boot on our neck just got a renewed blessing from government!
and the sad part….anyone under 30 don’t even know what freedom is! they think it’s what government tells them it is…
That’s clever forward-thinking of the Trump Administration.
A police force that is packed with military gear, has no fear of accountability, and is full of bad apples, will prove to be very useful after the next elections.