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Stealing the top comment:
See what's sad is that there could be real national security reasons for the FBI/DOJ actions, but because the pattern lately has been un-uniformed randos detaining people in the streets (and then disappearing them), I'm fresh out of benefits of the doubt for the government here.
If they're the subject of a criminal investigation, say so. If they're not, then explain why nobody has heard from these people in seemingly weeks. Are they green card holders? US citizens?
The Nazis historically did go after universities and professors. If you ever take a class on Heidegger, it’s overshadowed by his membership in the party, and the fact he participated in carrying out the parties policy - firing all Jewish professors, including his friend Hussarl.
Colleges are places where ideas compete, and fascism cannot compete as an idea but only through force. The crypto angle might be part of this case, but we’ve already seen Florida and Texas trying to set up their own controlled university systems - fucking with colleges and professors is on the table.
Yes, it's why when you meet a fascist in the wild or online they will always counterargument with trolling and non-sequitur nonsense. Fascism cannot survive sincerity.
Obvious possibilities:
The university de-listing him seems particularly interesting. Clearly they were told something that the public wasn't told.
While in normal times that would makes sense as a likely possibility from what little we know, today it seems equally possible he’s in Guantanamo as an illegal immigrant hardened criminal who is clearly a member of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang. I’m sure he’s responsible for half the Fentanyl in the US
Did he hide a shitload of national security secrets in his bathroom with the chandelier?
Oh no wait, if he did that they’d have done NOTHING
they’d have done NOTHING
That's not fair. They'd have elected him President
This man must not have the flesh of a sunburnt marshmallow.
Looks like they found Satoshi Nakamoto and now Hegseth is gonna beat him with a sock fulla quarters til he gives Trump “all the bitcoins”
Huh, another good reason for sticking with physical money. You can't beat someone with a sock full of bitcoin.
That's what cold storage is for.
I'm not so sure. I'd take a sock full of quartersocer a sock with a 3.5" spinning disc hard drive in it any day of the week.
The US government has known who Nakamoto was since like 2017
It’s probably Adam Back.
All the claims of who it might potentially be have been debunked one way or another. Someone was sure it was a Canadian guy not too long ago and he started getting harassed...
Trump would spend the Satoshi coins.
Going to guess they are in China.
FBI? It's an espionage case.
Does the FBI still investigate crimes? I thought they all got sent to help ICE and investigate college kids.
They don't have to be college kids. They will try to make anyone a terrorist. It's like the Mafia.
FALSE. ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES DIVERTED TO TESLA TERRORIST INSURECTION EMERGENCY ACT.
The modern FBI is not interested in counterespionage.
I mean technically it is possible that this is some leftover of their operation before they joined up with America’s adversaries, but usually for counterespionage they would explain what’s going on instead of just disappearing the suspect. This seems potentially much more dark than that.
No, they don't comment on ongoing investigations.
What? Yes they do.
I don't see any "FBI raids location" statements on that page. It's all arrests and other conclusions.
The dude is gone. No one knows where he is.
Plus, there should be public records related to some of this stuff. I don't actually know how it works if someone's presenting a FISA warrant or something for a search of a physical location, but even in that case, I think the woman or her lawyer would at least be able to give a brief statement to the press explaining what they can and can't talk about.
But definitely for the arrest of the dude itself, there should be a public record and a warrant signed by a judge. If he was arrested by the normal federal-court-inclusive-of procedure.
Plus, why is his employer pretending he never existed? That seems like a whole new chapter in this whole unfolding nightmare that we are progressively entering into.
Plus, why is his employer pretending he never existed?
Any university that accepts federal funds is beholden to the federal government. And since universities need that money, they will do everything they can to keep Big Brother happy.
Correction. Want, not need. American universities are not lacking in money.
Yes and no. The money given to universities is mostly earmarked for very specific things, as designated by those who donate the money. It’s not like they have a huge tower of gold that they can swim in to their liking. They have a lot of oversight and auditing to make sure money goes where it’s suppose to. And if they want to keep their many accreditations - and they do - then they need that money to jump through whatever hoops their accreditors require.
I wasn't expecting "pretending the guy that the feds disappeared had never existed" to appear on the bingo card quite this soon.
Some people were lecturing me just a few days ago about how we shouldn't freak out and exaggerate and say that someone had been "disappeared" just because they were in ICE custody without any charges being filed and no one knew where they were for a few days. They might have had a point or they might not. But... maybe there are some details I'm not aware of, but on first hearing, this really does sound like they just disappeared this person in the full literal historical sense. And the university is going along with it.
Any university that accepts federal funds is beholden to the federal government.
Historically, the government and university systems have worked symbiotically to produce useful technologies and professional experts for each others' benefits.
This isn't simply cash-for-service. There has historically been a big revolving door between state agencies and academic institutions.
The Trump Admin is both cutting financial support to universities and purging state officials with friendly school ties.
This is not just because of the Trump administration. If a university wants federal money, it has to follow certain rules for that money. Its not as symbiotic as you would think. The government can fund research from other, non-academic, institutions.
It makes sense that the rules aren’t arbitrary; e.g., university must accommodate the ADA. But, as we’re seeing these days, nothing stops them from imposing new rules; e.g., Executive Order 13985.
If a university wants federal money, it has to follow certain rules for that money.
You're just describing a grant. This goes well beyond the rules surrounding grant applications. Kidnapping students off of campus and shipping them to black sites in defiance of court orders is entirely outside the scope of securing university research grant funding.
I work at a university that is also part of a state system with their own rules (also driven by federal regulations).
You’re conflating the government coming on campus and exerting the power of the law with universities having to comply with said laws. And yes, universities will comply because they have no choice.
You’re conflating the government coming on campus and exerting the power of the law
Is that what they're doing? Quite a few judges seem to believe differently
Yeah, has all the hall marks.
Fled the country after family harassed by ice, and this is retaliation ?
Salt Typhoon is my guess. That team would've heavily benefit from someone with Dr. Xiaofeng Wang's connections.
My first thought was Bruce Schneier