re: #344 SixDegrees

Statements like Holder’s ought to scare the shit out of people; they do for me. What he’s saying is that the government has the power to lock people up indefinitely, without giving a reason, even if a court of law reviews the evidence and finds the person not guilty.

People used to whine about the Bush Administration’s “Star Chambers” and “secret courts,” and those were purely delusional. Here, we have the nation’s top justice official making the most chilling statement imaginable when it comes to curtailing personal freedoms, and I’m hearing very little opposition.

I agree — it was a very creepy thing to say. But in the real world, it’s extremely unlikely that this will happen. Holder was really just mouthing off, trying to avert political fallout from the decision to try Gitmo inmates in the criminal justice system. He was throwing a sop to the right wing.