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jesse_dot_id
It seems as though you can basically do anything in this administration if the money is right, so selling state secrets free of punishment sounds about right to me.
King-Aaron
The rule of law does appear to be dead, instead it's a protection racket system in the US these days.
grehbies
To me, it's just another example of what the poor and marginalized in this country have known for generations, finally catching up to the comfortable class. It's easier to count the institutions that AREN'T pay-to-play, especially those associated with the law and courts.
Know what's fun? Facing down a trained attorney as a pro se litigant in small claims court. Want to beat the 70-90% loss rate for pro se litigants in a forum that was originally designed specifically for pro se litigants? Hire a lawyer, lol.
Small claims, true to the name, is the lowest of low stakes. It's downhill from there.
AngryData
It has been for decades now, they are just open and blatant now because the corruption is so deep rooted that there is little average people can do except choose to burn down the house around themselves.
pstuart
This administration has taken it to a whole new level -- basically an organized crime syndicate.
The system has always been corrupt in that the rich write the rules but this is pure kleptocracy. Remember that Nixon was told by his own party that his conduct was unacceptable and they would not support him...
harambae
> “These zero-day and exploit brokers tend to be unscrupulous," says Cole. “They sell to the highest bidder and they double dip. Many don’t have exclusivity arrangements. That’s very likely what happened here.”
I interpreted this a different way - that a shady supplier to the US Government double dipped to the other side.
kgwxd
You can get it for free if you have the right blackmail material.
stronglikedan
> this administration
and the one before it, and the one before that, and the one before that, and so on. that's politics and there is nothing new under the sun
alwillis
There are things that have never happened before in the 250 year history of the United States.
No sitting president has ever enriched themselves by billions of dollars.
We’re in a completely different universe from the days when Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in a blind trust so there would be no appearance of a conflict of interest.
Or when Lincoln was given some gifts from the King of Siam. Because of the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution, he went to Congress to check if he could keep them. Congress said no; Lincoln donated them.
It was understood a president could be prosecuted if he broke the law—that’s why Nixon needed to be pardoned by Ford; otherwise, he would have faced at least some consequences.
SCOTUS did a 180 degree turn by ruling a precedent is immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office.
SCOTUS just made that up out of thin air.
All of this and much more is unprecedented.
Last one: no president has ever gone to war without making a case for it to the country.
So no, what’s happening now is not the same old thing.
butILoveLife
Hierarchies can punish this. Note that the legislature and judicial branches exert their power. Epstein files got released if you need proof.
(However, if we are International Systems Realists, there are inevitable effects that happen. I have a feeling even Biden/Harris would be in Iran right now.)
dlev_pika
Some got released, and in the way the Executive wanted them to be.
This proves the opposite IMO - while the Legislative is co-opted, the Judicial branch has shown it is quite inadequate exerting control or punishment of the Executive.
alwillis
> I have a feeling even Biden/Harris would be in Iran right now.
I seriously doubt that; certainly not under the current circumstances of rising inflation with negative economic growth.
Obscurity4340
> Google also notes that Coruna checks if an iOS devices has Apple's most stringent security setting, known as Lockdown Mode, enabled, and doesn’t attempt to hack it if so.
markus_zhang
Many components of Coruna have never been seen before, he points out, and the whole toolkit appears to have been created by a “single author,” as he puts it.
dlev_pika
Binders with classified information were hosted in a bathroom at a country club, so…you know…
nameconflicts
So, under which government was this hacking toolkit developed?
Kiboneu
> Google also notes that Coruna checks if an iOS devices has Apple's most stringent security setting, known as Lockdown Mode, enabled, and doesn’t attempt to hack it if so.
:)
hulitu
> US Government iPhone-Hacking Toolkit in foreign spy and criminal hands
Why repeat yourself ? (US Government, criminal hands)
stock_toaster
With this administration? Color me unsurprised.
simulator5g
“The Coruna Virus”. Nice.
testaburger
does tahoe 26.3 protect against this?
LastMuel
> Google notes that Apple patched vulnerabilities used by Coruna in the latest versions of its mobile operating system, iOS 26, so its exploitation techniques are only confirmed to work against iOS 13 through 17.2.1.
testaburger
thanks! sorry I meant to say IOS 26.3
alwillis
> does tahoe 26.3 protect against this?
Apparently if you have Lockdown mode enabled, then yes.
shell0x
Trump ruined America's reputation forever imho.
He keeps changing his mind every day and keeps talking bullshit. At this point the trashy drug dealer trying to sell to school kids is more reputable than the USA
mindslight
No, Trump did not ruin America's reputation. No matter how many billions he steals, how many kids he rapes, how many Americans his terror squads execute, one man cannot ruin America's reputation. What has ruined America's reputation is all of the people continuing to support and enable this sick man - from the politicians and surveillance industry titans who are in on the con, to the grassroots supporters who won't set aside their (understandable!) grievances and would rather see our country destroyed. That is who has ruined America's reputation.
aa-jv
Americas reputation was ruined by decades of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of human rights at massive scales - and the American peoples' utter inability to reign in their own very, very real war criminals. Trump is just one in a long, long line of American war criminals who should long ago have faced justice in The Hague.
Americans can't understand this because Americans hate being embarrassed by their states' misdeeds, but its very real. The rest of the world sees the crimes, even if American's are too cowardly to also do so ..
mindslight
But was it really, though?
Don't get me wrong - I've long shared your condemnations, even as an American! Although for us who acknowledge them, I wouldn't say it's "too cowardly" - rather we're quite disenfranchised and the cognitive dissonance tendency is for Americans to see the government as something apart from themselves. So it's more like that I can't practically do much about these criminals acting in my name.
But I mean, the global community basically gave a Nobel Peace Prize to Obama for not being Bush. I'd say the relationships got patched up pretty quickly there. Global domestic surveillance? So nice for the US to take the heat for FVEY et al.
If anything starting a war in Iran is back to business as usual, with (the leadership of) most countries seemingly giving a tacit green light.
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