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Comment by peter422 | Hacker News Reader

That’s what they get for not donating enough to MAGA Inc

For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law

I think the problem is the opposite. “MAGA”, both the ideology and the workings of the administration, are largely internally self-contradictory and incoherent.

You might say “okay there’s still some corporate-cons who’ll take my money and do what I ask” but then there’s guys like Miller pulling the strings whose entire purpose is opposed to yours.

This might sound crazy, but maybe getting behind a stable and predictable gov't that has ensured corporate dominance for over a century would have been a smarter strategy? But hey what do I know…

But also maybe they got there by paying and lobbying previous admins to the detriment of the local workforce (though likely good fiscally for the orgs taking advantage of the program).

It is completely possible this is a legitimate issue, but the current administration has been so corrupt about everything else it is impossible to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Even if the claim is valid I’m sure the enforcement is targeted.

You think they’d go after palintir or spacex for the same issues?

My impression is that those companies might have many jobs requiring at least US citizenship or security clearances.

yes see last weeks of previous president and number of pardons there.

There is a likelihood of some targeting though this isn’t the only admin to do that. Remember when the IRS was directed to audit conservative organizations (you know maybe they had a higher likely hood of fraud, maybe, but that was not proven)

That said, it seems this is targeting body farms. Firms that specialize in corrupting the process. Yes some people they bring over have unique talents, but a lot of them are run of the mill folks looking to become “manager” so they can attract a mate back home.

> Remember when the IRS was directed to audit conservative organizations

It was directed to audit them less, because they were complaining about being audited as much as other organizations. Yet another case where conservatives make themselves victims out of nowhere, to get preferential treatment and then continue pretend they were victims after proven wrong.

Louis Lerner later apologized for subjecting the orgs to overscrutiny.

Generally apologizing to people with persecution fetishes is unhelpful. He shouldn't have apologized.

He admitted that the majority of the targeted auditing was against conservative orgs while also targeting a minority of liberal orgs. He admitted to the targeting and also that it greatly focused on conservative orgs.

I'm not against going after fraud, but you have to be even handed about it.

You can read NPR's take. They admit they targeted conservative groups but also had progressive bycatch.

https://www.npr.org/2017/10/05/555975207/as-irs-targeted-tea...

But did he admit it was because they were conservative or because they were committing more fraud?

I can't see any quotes there except claims of keyword searches. I haven't yet read the pdf.

If its true that it was based on keyword searches, then I would hope a future government gets the balls to do the same for the current Trump admin's keyword based banning/removal shenanigans.

There was no wrongdoing on his part. Only conservatives, as usually, feel like being persecuted when they cant defraud freely.

Which is why they created the most corrupt admin in history.

fwiw they donated everything they could; still not enough.

Will they learn their lesson? Find out next time!

> they donated everything they could

Citizens United means unlimited money in politics is free speech, they can always give more. Often, non-monetary tributes to king midus, praise or peace prizes, go much further.

The corporate-government corruption is out of hand and I am glad more people are making it a top political issue. I have my doubts this latest from the admin will make a positive difference. It's primarily performative politics for the base with zero consideration for secondary effects or real causes.

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