The House has voted 211 to 204 to refer the articles of impeachment filed against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to committee, effectively killing the impeachment effort spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Tuesday’s vote short-circuits any potential floor vote on the articles of impeachment, and virtually guarantees the measure will not be taken up before the current session of Congress expires.

The vote provided a surprise reprieve for President Trump’s embattled Defense Secretary, who was facing an impeachment vote by the full House as early as Wednesday.

Massie reintroduced the articles of impeachment on Monday, accusing Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanors in connection to the war with Iran and U.S. strikes against Iran and on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.

  • FishFace@piefed.social
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    20 hours ago

    Punishment can be counterproductive… in an environment of reconciliation where there is a consensus that the wrongdoing happened and was wrong and shouldn’t be repeated.

    • stoy@lemmy.zip
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      9 hours ago

      Oh definately, there are plenty of times when it far more productive to help rather than punish.

      One of rhe best examples was after WWII, the US and the allies vould have crushed Germany, but they recognized that they would rather have Germany as a strong ally in Europe and helped west Germany move forward after the war.

      Was this decision perfect? No, there were plenty of war criminals that escaped punishement.

      Was this decision good? Yes, I believe so, Germany was rehabilitated and is now a close ally to the US and Europe.

      The stituation here is different, Hegseth and the other MAGA guys will not conceede reason and won’t cooperate honestly, in these cases some people needs to be made an example of, and Hegseth is an excellent candidate.

      • FishFace@piefed.social
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        17 hours ago

        Indeed.

        (I don’t know if it was obvious but I do fully realise that we are not in the situation I described with Hegseth and MAGA!)

      • FishFace@piefed.social
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        18 hours ago

        Nope, this is one of the principles of truth and reconciliation. It’s predicated on the idea that all parties want to move on from the wrongdoing, rather than one or more wishing to continue it.

        • flandish@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          not punishing those doing war crimes is not moving on. it’s allowing it to continue.

          • FishFace@piefed.social
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            14 hours ago

            I see you’re doing your best not to understand and congratulate yourself on your success.

            • flandish@lemmy.world
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              14 hours ago

              what do we gain by their promising during an election cycle that which they never intend to do? how does not punishing literal criminals help?

              • FishFace@piefed.social
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                14 hours ago

                The prerequisites for truth and reconciliation are not met in the US at the moment, as I made clear, so that’s not what I am talking about.

                • flandish@lemmy.world
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                  13 hours ago

                  why would you think all parties want to move forward from the wrongdoing? and how do you think they want to implement that movement, and why are you ok with them not going after criminals?

                  • FishFace@piefed.social
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                    12 hours ago

                    why would you think all parties want to move forward from the wrongdoing?

                    I didn’t make this claim about any specific situation. Do you want to know about a situation where this has been the case, or did you misunderstand me?