Soon.
https://www.rt.com/news/351986-turkey-erdogan-death-penalty/
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In real democracies, you cannot invoke a penalty that wasn’t in the law at the time of the crime. But something tells me if they institute the death penalty in Turkey, this legal nicety will not be observed.
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In Western democracies, sure. But Erdogen isn’t all that interested in that. His model is more akin to Syria. Perhaps Iraq,
Yes, the OP is arguing that the Bush administration cynically used 9/11 as a chance to pass the Patriot Act, which was essentially already written, just like you said.
That’s really cute. Bush starts two wars and revokes a raft of civil liberties in response to 9/11, and you accuse his detractors of being overly dramatic. LOL!
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Ask the winner, as usual.
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I’m not accusing anyone of being overly dramatic, I’m accusing Cory of being partisan, when the awfulness of the Patriot Act was far from a partisan affair. I find it very difficult to believe that in an alternate universe President Al Gore didn’t sign the same damn legislation. Yeah, Bush is satan for the things you mention, but when it comes to the Patriot Act, which is what Cory was discussing, both parties have been equally eager to kowtow to law enforcement and the politicians who feed on fear of terrorism and crime.
Down the page in this article:
[quote]“Anti-terror” legislation
The next year, months before the Oklahoma City bombing took place, Biden introduced another bill called the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of “terrorism” that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detection of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review. The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode “constitutional and statutory due process protections” and would “authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations.”
Biden himself draws parallels between his 1995 bill and its 2001 cousin. “I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill,” he said when the Patriot Act was being debated, according to the New Republic, which described him as “the Democratic Party’s de facto spokesman on the war against terrorism.”
[/quote]
Well, I hear you on wanting to be less partisan etc. etc.
But I do think you’re overplaying the bipartisanship of the Patriot Act. Yes, Democrats overwhelmingly voted in favor. But that was in no small part due to the political climate at the time created by Republican and Fox News rhetoric. The bill was introduced by a Republican and signed into law by George W. Bush. Democrats are complicit, but I think the Republicans bear most of the responsibility by far.
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And my point was that a Democrat wrote it. And that a Democratic president would have done exactly the same. And the Democratic president after Bush lobbied for and signed its extension. The ratchet only ever moves in one direction, and debating which party owns the ratchet feels a little like arguing over whether it’s better to be choked or drowned.
And my argument is that the political climate that enabled the patriot act existed way before Bush was even elected, and has more to do with our culture of pants-wetting appeals to authoritarianism than who is in power at the moment.
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