At least four leaders of the Civil Rights Division resigned because the section’s head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
Top leaders of the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division have left their jobs to register their frustration with the department after the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon decided not to investigate the ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good last week.
The criminal section of the division would normally investigate any fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer and specializes in probing potential or alleged abuse or improper use of force by law enforcement.
The departures – including that of the chief of the section, as well as the principal deputy chief, deputy chief and acting deputy chief – represent the most significant mass resignation at the Justice Department since February. At that time, five leaders and supervisors of the department’s Public Integrity Section, which investigates public officials for possible corruption, resigned rather than comply with an appointee of Donald Trump’s orders to dismiss the bribery case against then-New York mayor Eric Adams.
if the doj won’t bring this asshole to justice, i really hope someone else will.
ICE in general should have really wanted the process to play out, or at least delay public reaction.
This just pisses people off, ups the temperature even more, and incites greater risk than just going through an investigation.
And they’ll be replaced by sycophants and suck-ups, and it will get even worse.
The good news is that many of these attorneys have formed boutique law firms in DC, each one focusing on different court challenges to MAGA policies, and they’re succeeding.
So every time they lose knowledgeable, experienced people, we gain strength. Worse for them, they weaken by both the loss, and the increase in their virtuosic incompetence.
is it because MAGAT cant hire competantent, lawyers, because they would be poison to thier law firms. so places like texas are making policies to becoming a lawyer more lax.
“Top DOJ officials caved to the slightest pressure, derelicted their duties and handed over their power to the fascist regime. America’s dictator will soon appoint more loyalists to their positions.”
Yep. I’ve gotten skewered online for pointing out how these protest resignations do nothing but serves the fascists interests, by opening up the slot to be filled by a loyal SS member.
It is a tradeoff. If they stay where they are, they can slow things down. If they leave and join the good guys, they can help them directly.
Both ways are valuable, but not all people can handle being an infiltrator.
You’re not wrong.
But I’ve also seen people saying that the government is fascist /Nazi. If you’re working for the government (especially somewhere like the DOJ) then that’s akin to saying you support the government.
So it’s a hard decision to make either way
At the end of the regime, sure. In these early phases, it’s acceptable to remain in power in order to loudly and publicly resist. Otherwise, their revolution will succeed simply because no resistance was offered.
Everyone is so concerned with the statement they’re making and the optics around it.
This is their career. They chose to work in civil rights. They have to go there every day. They have to look at themselves in the mirror at night.
Having personal standards and ethics is a thing to be celebrated, or it used to be. “How dare these people make a personal and professional choice they have to live with that offends my sense of strategy” is not exactly a great perspective.
Exactly, this is their career. And in the most critical moment of their career, they showed us what they’re willing to do, how far they’re willing to go on our behalf, to preserve our of life that places political power in the hands of democratically-elected officials, and not government-appointed loyalists.
And they could have very easily continued to do their job, while maintaining their ethics, and force the state to fire them. Then force the state to explain in court why they were fired.
Instead of just politely stepping out of the way and handing full control over to tyranny.
For sure. And everyone has a different line in the sand.
I’m not trying to say one option is good or bad, because there are merits in both arguments. It’s easy to say you’d do this or that when you’re spectating. But it’s much harder when you’re actually doing it.
And for me personally, I think they made the right call. But I’m just a guy sitting at home (who doesn’t even live in the states) so who am I to judge them?
Are these the officials of the same doj that has been blocking release of the epstein files?
All resigning does is let them easily replace you with someone that agrees with them.
If you think you need to resign, stay and make them go thru the hassle of firing you. Drag it out, file complaints, get the union.
Even if it’s the same result a year later, that’s a year without one more maga bootlicker doing your job.
Agreed. It’s hard and I get it from a mental health perspective, but the best way to fight them is to make it hard, be annoying, be inconvenient, not just walking away. That’s how they win. That’s how they stack the department with sycophants and yes-men.
If you don’t resign when your job demands you be complicit, at some point you are just following orders.
If you can say “I resign” you can say “this is illegal and I’m not complying”.
Yeah that’s what they did. And if they stayed there you’d still be calling them fascists. There’s nothing they can actually do, it’s resign or get fired anyway.
This is incredibly shortsighted. It’s the same logic for “why don’t soldiers just refuse illegal orders?”
The reason is that this is real life and not a movie. What do you think happens after you refuse because your think you’re being asked for something illegal? Your boss high fives you and says sorry?
They tell you you are wrong, you either do it or you’re fired with cause and you can say bye bye to any sort of unemployment insurance.
Disagree? Okay bro go prove that in court. I hope you have better lawyers and deeper pockets than the company you’re now litigating with.
I also hope you don’t have any rent, family or need for groceries, because you ain’t getting any money while litigating and looking for a new job.
But yeah. Just refuse bro. Ez. Fascists hate this one simple trick.
Used to work at a company that was selling computer equipment to terrorist organizations. They wanted an engineer to work with compliance to basically, very illegally, “reclassify” components so that they could get them to shady organizations more easily (figured this out after I had already accepted the position).
I could’ve just quit. But then they would’ve found some other engineer to do the work, and probably quite easily (they were paying well).
Instead I just refused to do what they asked of me. Got yelled at, they tried everything possible to get me to quit (moving my desk alone in the warehouse where it was freezing, making up rumors about me, etc). Still, it took them a year to finally find a reason to fire me (and still, it was without cause, so I got unemployment too). That’s 1 year that I wasted for them.
Most companies aren’t going to go through the hassle of firing for cause, because that opens them up to lawsuits. They will likely just take the hit of having to pay into unemployment, and lay you off instead.
It is possible to say No. You might get yelled at and be treated like shit, but at the end of the day, I knew I was doing the right thing. And that’s what’s most important, in my opinion.
People say “well if I say No, they’ll just fire me on the spot”, but have you actually tried to say No? If they do fire you, then make them go through the hassle of firing you, and for fucks sake, fight back!
If I can do it, anyone can do it.
Don’t you lose any employment insurance coverage if you quit?
Yes. Unless you can prove a lack of workplace safety or demonstrate that they significantly altered the nature of your position. You can’t make an accountant scrub toilets, for example.
Probably, but on the flip side if you have retirement, you may be remaking it getting fired/discharged (in the military branches anyway).
My personal passive aggressive response to requests for work I disagree with is to drag my feet until it’s either forgotten or too late. It’s worked surprisingly well so far.
What do you think happens after you refuse because your think you’re being asked for something illegal?
What do I think or what do I know?
I’ve refused orders, been threatened with a legitimate mutiny case, saved people from being sacrificial goats…
If you want to ask questions that’s one thing, but I have no idea where any of your assumptions came from…
Like:
you’re fired with cause and you can say bye bye to any sort of unemployment insurance.
That’s just a wild opinion to have.
Have you ever even met anyone that works for the federal government in any capacity?
Just don’t do the illegal thing
Great advice. Thanks Nancy Reagan.
“Remember kids, Winners don’t do drugs!”
Also, get on the soapbox. Even if you can’t apply social pressure, you can at least inform the people.
Yeah I wouldn’t work under questionable and actively disingenuous leadership, especially if they’re also ethically clashing with mine, so I get their reaction extremely well.
I couldn’t do it, so I can’t expect others to, but it’s a sad and bitter fact that it just leaves more room for the rot to fester.
But I personally think that the more the rot spreads, the more immediate the threat will seem to most, the more obvious the need for change, then perhaps that’ll encourage more action elsewhere. At best, the rot spreads too fast for its own good and ultimately kills the host. Once the ship goes down, the people can get together to rebuild. With more safeguards and more robust systems.
I couldn’t do it,
If you can say “I resign” you can say “this is illegal and I’m not complying”.
“OK then you’re fired”
Resigning gives you control over the situation.
Why do people keep insisting they know about things and then immediately proving they have no idea what they’re talking about?
Federal employees aren’t the same as civilians.
You’re assuming there haven’t been personal threats.
No, I just know how well that worked out after the civil war when people bowed to threats from the KKK…
Do you know that there was a progressive and diverse set of politicians in the South after the war till people started resigning due to death threats?
Are you ignorant of history or do you just think shit will be magically different this time?
Resign? How does that help?
“There’s a lot of injustice happening here, so let me step aside to allow for more injustice.”
I see your point but I would counter with the fact that these are probably all lawyers who know the ins and outs of our justice system better than most people and should they join the ACLU or other organizations that are going to be suing the government over all of the civil rights abuses that they’ve been perpetrating these people will be invaluable.
Course that’s all predicated on our court system not being corrupted before we can put through a regime change in this year’s midterm elections. Trump is trying hard to shove in as many friendly judges as he can right now.
we can put through a regime change in this year’s midterm elections
It’s incredible how many people still think that this will be a thing.
If Trump is actually able to stop or delay elections this year we have bigger problems.
I don’t think you grasp just what it would take to actually stop elections.
I’d argue that you already DO have bigger problems, you just haven’t come to terms with it yet.
Doesn’t really matter what it would take. His plan is (and always has been) that if anything doesn’t go his way, he takes it to the supreme court who he handpicked and has in his pocket. So either:
- a) He manages to stop the midterms, or
- b) He doesn’t, but Republicans already have them rigged so as to not matter, or
- c) They lose the midterms, Trump takes it to the supreme court, who hand the republicans the win based on “hand waved evidence of voter fraud by democrats and ‘illegals’”…
Trump just gets bolder every time people say “oh we’ll get out of this at the midterms.” He’s laughing at America.
It’s not that we haven’t come to terms with it, it’s just that any resistance will need to be legitimized by outside forces to be recognized. If you look at the long history of tyrannical governments being overthrown, American and European figureheads always talk about whether or not the local resistance groups are legitimate in their concerns or not, which ultimately determines how much outside help is given.
Look at Gaza, there’s a resistance force over there that has been branded as a terrorist organization (in certain cases, deservingly) which they now also have to fight a PR campaign online.
Going full blown delegitimizes any movement, and can justify further fascist ratcheting vs them just “claiming” violence happened against them, which EVERYONE can fully see is not happening. Sure they will claim it regardless but that loses them potential allies and any high ground.
We still have a court system. We still have elections. And both of those take time.
For anyone talking about where the lines are, that’s them. Functioning legitimate courts, and functioning legitimate elections.
Until then, we are out there demonstrating peacefully, building up our communities, and giving them the rope to Nuremberg themselves with.
He doesn’t have to stop them, he just needs to make brown people afraid to show up
Please explain to me how the federal government can cancel elections that are run by the states.
Almost certainly it will be a thing but it will be more difficult than past midterms. In the meantime we got to keep fighting and doing everything we can to tank Trump’s popularity (things such as talking to people who don’t follow politics much) because the less popular Trump is and the less support the more likely people will refuse the risk of rigging/stopping the election.
This administration is already overreaching, they know Trump is about to die any moment and they’re trying to do way too much, too fast, and have a genuine belief that JD fucking Vance will still be able to hold the party and Trump’s base together. They are making wild mistakes because they know they have a chance of getting smashed in midterms.
Yes, midterms still have a very good chance of happening. There’s also a good chance they will try some bullshit to delay them or interfere, but the US is a very, VERY big place and our elections are very simple to keep secure, and they haven’t had enough time and power to really sabotage the entire thing. Yet.
Also, what else can we do? Have our own private midterms and the right isn’t allowed to touch it? We don’t really have a choice here but expect the system will be resilient enough that we can force political change. We don’t have alternatives yet.
edit: get mad, and then focus that anger somewhere productive. There is not going to be a coup, there is not going to be a general strike. Despite what the algorithm is feeding you, people are still broadly comfortable. Marches and protests are good, let’s keep doing that, but by already thinking you’re not going to have a vote, voice or representation in the midterms is resigning to defeat and fantasy and some secret desire to see the world burn.
Mussolini was not dragged out of the capital by a band of plucky rebels with broad support, nor forced out by a general strike, he was handed over by his own party and the growing political pressure due to Mussolini’s poor management of the country. The king of Italy himself placed Mussolini under arrest and handed him over to the opposition. As much as we feel discouraged and disillusioned, we still need politics. We’re not getting an anarchist utopia out of this mess. You still need to get off your ass and vote and not resent anything that drags you away from this addicting slop.
The next idiot here who says voting is useless gets blocked, I don’t engage with children.
Also, what else can we do?
What a defeatist attitude.
Protest, strike, boycott, obstruct, organize, disrupt.
Those are all things you can do and they’re all proven to be successful around the world. Stop putting all your hopes in a process they’ve already broken.
What a defeatist attitude.
No, defeatist attitude is “there will be no midterms, lets instead put all our eggs in the basket that isn’t doing much.”
I didn’t say anything about not protesting and marching, only that there will probably still be midterms, the fact that you see that “defeatist” just tells me you don’t want change via politics and are fantasizing that the protests are going to turn into a coup. There will not be a coup.
It’s infuriating. People are literally laying down and taking it up the ass right now while saying, “it’s okay, it’ll be fixed a year from now”
How is saying that we “won’t have midterms” anything but lying down and taking it up the ass in advance? You’ve already given up and it’s only January.
I wish you doomers would go back to reddit.
I say it because we need to be taking action today assuming midterms aren’t happening. It isn’t doomer, fuck off with that bullshit.
“it’s ok, somebody else will fix my problems for me!”
I feel like suing the government under this administration does not do anything because the current federal government rules with an iron fist. they have proven time and time and time again they do not care what laws or the constitution say.
In a sane world where law is respected, yes, I agree with everything you are saying. however, we live in an age where logic and the rule of law do not prevail. i feel their radical actions will catch up to them eventually, but at what cost? what if they do something that ends my life? I won’t be able to enjoy when justice is eventually served…
currently, if someone is in a position of power and they have integrity, they should be holding onto that position for dear life while they weather this storm. the alternative leaves corruption to fill these vacant jobs with someone who has no integrity, in my opinion.
Doesn’t do anything? Have you been ignoring the news?
Know what, no here.
https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/
Looks like litigation is doing something.
Or if you want a more reputable source:
https://apnews.com/projects/trump-executive-order-lawsuit-tracker/
People here don’t like reading about the power our legal system has, they want to see drama and world wrestling stageplay. They want to imagine we’re going to have a glorious people’s liberation movement with molotov cocktails and guillotines. Everyone is the same, everyone rather escape into kayfabe.
It’s this same kind of romanticized attitude on the right honestly. “Just violence yourself into the right type of government!”
The French are successful because they seem to have a governance style built around the overthrowing of an elected fascist every decade or so, since the late-1700s. Like a magna carte blanche.
Exactly, it’s more kayfabe but on the left. It’s people who rather indulge in a storyline than get active in their community and start fixing things structurally by like, working to elect actual representation for their communities and states.
My problem with America’s leftists who want to violence their way to a better world is that in this country we don’t even have experience doing that kind of thing, we don’t have a plan, and nobody can give me a follow-through for what will happen if we magically end up with our glorious socialist leader who overthrows the government.
What about the millions of people we live next to who didn’t vote for or ask for a coup? What about the military who are not only the largest and most powerful fighting force in the world, but are dedicated to protecting the seat of power in the US? Who exactly are we going to depose? All of congress and senate? What about their aides? What about the various departments and cabinets? Do we have people lined up to run the new government? Or are we gonna raw-dog it like they did in Nepal?
I strongly feel most people have ZERO idea the scale of such things and amount of coordination and planning involved in the kinds of fantasy plans the average lemmy lefty indulges in.
They’re just as stupid as magats. How are they going to fight the most powerful military on the planet, with the largest police state backing that military up?
That is not going to happen. I’m sick of these keyboard agitators everywhere trying to stir up violence. That’s exactly what this regime wants. And if shit hits the fan you know none of these cowards will walk the walk. It’s so easy to bitch about what other people should be doing from the comfort of your home.
I see comments like that either calling for Trump to be deposed, or yeah, a full on civil war against Republicans at that point. The second is from people who can view chess only a few more moves in advance than those saying the first and know that we have a presidential line of succession and it’s just as bad all the way down. But both are extremely naive views because this is a cultural problem with Republicans as a whole. Even if somehow you were to Thanos snap every Republican in power, the next election cycle will be just as bad, if not worse.
To fix, you have to address the militant individualism thats been romanticized by billionaires; the only thing that seems to have tricked down from them, who’s only purpose is to get people to vote to lower taxes, but mainly benefit the rich. Democrats should start running on lowering or cutting taxes out right for anyone making less than 350k, and watch the cognitive dissonance happen with the hard core Rs who made their whole identity about not getting taxed.
Then we continue to build up our communities and homesteading hobbies and primary any Democrat who gives an inch to these fascists.
to clarify my statement: in my opinion, the wheels of justice are turning too slowly for a president that wakes up, waves a wand, and gets what he wants. his actions have real consequences for real Americans.
just last week, 10 billion dollars for child care was halted for states that are not republican. the effects malnourished children have every day they go hungry may last a lifetime… and im just supposed to wait for the litigation you posted to get things sorted out? unacceptable.
I have no doubt the law is accurately tracking and will get things done, but the wait doesnt work for people that depend on social services
Well, yes. I agree on that. But it’s what we have. And it’s exactly why they move fast and break things.
They’re hoping to demoralize the American public to get further power.
I agree it is what we have as well, but there has got to be a better faster way to clean this mess up that isn’t violent.
demoralization is working too, and its the only thing I have 100% control of, but I just cant give in.
im sure everyone’s social circle thats reading this has at least one person they know who only works to divide minds instead of unite them, and its absolutely draining.
OK im off my soapbox for awhile, thanks for the conversation… I feel better lol
You’re proving the point that the courts work: just after DHHS blocked TANF funds to five Democratic states, a judge blocked it with a TRO:
A federal judge in New York temporarily blocked the Trump administration from freezing roughly $10 billion in federal funding for child care and social services destined for five Democratic-led states, keeping funds flowing until a lawsuit against the government can progress. . . . The decision came less than a day after the five states targeted by the Trump administration — New York, California, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado — filed a lawsuit arguing that the freeze could create havoc among families with young children.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/us/politics/trump-child-care-funding-freeze.html
Outside SCOTUS the courts are holding, and moving quickly where warranted. You could easily have linked this information yourself, but chose not to. Stop spreading misinformation.
You could easily have linked this information yourself, but chose not to. Stop spreading misinformation.
?
I didnt choose not to post a link, do not make invalid assumptions when you know nothing about me.
It’s not an invalid assumption, it’s fact that you included only doomer, outdated news in order to support your wrong conclusion either a) without bothering to check to see if your information was correct, or b) you knew but decided not to mention it.
If you don’t like false accusations then don’t make them. I know that I have zero respect for that approach to posting, and between that and the lazy doomering that’s enough of you for me to know. Blocked, bye.
The road to facism, paved by resignation.
We are just laying down and taking it
But, if they carried on working wouldn’t that make them Nazis?
They have to refuse illegal requests. Refuse to do immoral stuff. They may be fired, but they make a paper trail of why they’re being fired and immediately sue.
It’s about standing up to the crap and obstructing it. Resigning does nothing.
hopefully it’s so that they can take positions where they can make a change
otherwise, yes I agree with you — they should be working from the inside to assist as much as possible, even though it may be frustrating. but that’s how you push back.
Let me step aside so some sycophant will take my place and make things even worse.
Yeah I think they can do a lot more good inside the government than outside. Protesters are getting everything from pushed to killed now.
Without complaining and lashing out, is there a benefit from them resigning?
Can’t be held liable during the next set of Nuremberg trials?
Well, that’s good for them, but what about the American people?
Tbf its past time for The People to be in the streets on a general strike. The People need to take responsibility and act.
These individuals held out a good while, not sure how much evil they had to do personally on a daily basis.
To be fair, the question asked was only, is there a benefit and i did answer that. So, don’t go moving the goal posts!
On a serious note, to answer your question briefly as one of those “American people”: i do sense a change in the air. I don’t think it’s a general strike or civil war, but there’s definitely people paying attention who hadn’t otherwise before. And that engagement? They are pissed.
The long answer is this: Everyone just watched a government agent kill a white mother and then lie about what happened. They see the news coverage spreading that lie. Everyone knows the poem, “First They Came” by Martin Niemöller and with this, they realized we are already 4 lines into it. Racist fucks can’t just hand wave this away as a statistic anymore.
And it’s not like shit is getting any better for us, it’s not like prices are going down! Between the Epstein list shit, Venezuela and Greenland, inflation, shrinkflation, and products being recalled for listeria or lead/metal/glass shavings, now we have masked fat asses terrorizing/killing us then opening lying about it?! And then calling US the terrorists? Nah. That’s not even mentioning the absolutely bat shit levels of corruption happening that’s practically being admitted to right in the open.
So some good news about us. Something i noticed start in 2020 with covid lock downs was that our culture started to shift towards “homesteading” or trying to make everything yourself, because you knew the quality is better than store bought, and in the majority of cases, cheaper. But recently, people have started to go full in, and i think this is the angle where a general strike can foment from!
People DO NOT want corporate slop anymore. There’s a growing want for local businesses, and they will start to come back offering better, locally made items. Sure it’ll be a bit more expensive, but the prices for those lower quality goods are going up too.
This is hopefully going to reduce corporate influence and bring communities closer together, since not every individual can make everything they’ll ever need. With stronger communities, this “fear of the other” dissipates. I’ve started to see it in my neighborhood. As word spreads, more people start to see what is happening. I’ve already been to city and town halls discussing AI data centers and the places are FUCKING PACKED, to the point they move it to larger areas and it’s still over flowing out into the halls and parking lots.
We were already banding together, but every one of their fuck ups, brings us even closer together. Just look at those bad asses in PA; the Black Panthers, resurfacing and showing up for their community. More will come.
2nd am the killers.
deleted by creator
By resigning they’re just making things easier for them. Cowards.
I can’t remember the exact quote but it’s something along the lines of the path to hell is lined with people who stayed and tried to do a good thing in a bad world.
Sometimes all you can do is quit.
By resigning, they have helped to point out the fault of the regime. It’s a principled stand. If they thought they could do better work by staying there I’m sure they would. If they are stifled, holding the position is not a good use of them as a resource against fascism. They will now work elsewhere and continue to have morals. Hopefully, in direct opposition to these totalitarian sycophants.
The road to fascism is paved with resignations.
Yes, quit. THAT’LL show em.
Cowards.
- Try to fight the fire; or
- Leave the area to a safe distance
Here, the safe distance may be Australia.
I like how you wanted them to stay, with its strong “some of you may die, and that’s a price I’m willing to pay” vibes.
So they steal the scene evidence, refuse access to it by MN officers, and then refuse to do anything with it because the outcome was a forgone conclusion minutes after it happened when i-barbie, donnie, and vladimir futon all declared Renee a terrorist.
Nothing to see here, totally normal day in a fascist state…
also helping the “murderer” move out of his home secretely, so he doesnt get doxxed elsewhere.
Vladimir Futon.
Should have done it anyway. Make them publicly fire you for investigating the murder of an American citizen in broad daylight.
Nothing to see here. Move along, please.
Unfortunately, the MAGA crowd won’t be excited by this the way that they are currently excited about the Epstein files. Anyone with a single working brain cell, we’ll however understand what this means.
