If I could meet Barack Obama, I would ask him how he felt about expanding the state's capacity for programs extra-judicial murder and then handing it to Donald Trump. I hate to be the dude telling...
If I could meet Barack Obama, I would ask him how he felt about expanding the state's capacity for programs extra-judicial murder and then handing it to Donald Trump. I hate to be the dude telling people to wake up, but the nation needs to wake the fuck up to what is being done on our behalf in the name of "national security."
I think this is such an important point -- while Bush was one of the pioneers of many of these strikes, it was Obama that revved up their use to very high levels and now it's in the hands of a...
I think this is such an important point -- while Bush was one of the pioneers of many of these strikes, it was Obama that revved up their use to very high levels and now it's in the hands of a xenophobic, prejudice, ignorant, and unstable man. For all of the talks and actions about civility, social justice, equal rights under Obama, this was something I was amazed more people weren't infuriated about. The RS article even talks about Obama being a "sensitive constitutional lawyer" which is extremely hypocritical!
Ah, the president elected on hope and change, as a sensitive, constitutional lawyer whose hyper-brand-aware campaign revolutionized the use of private money in elections. We cheered him on as the...
Ah, the president elected on hope and change, as a sensitive, constitutional lawyer whose hyper-brand-aware campaign revolutionized the use of private money in elections. We cheered him on as the first president cooler than Clinton dismantled our civil liberties and bailed out the banks.
But he gets a free pass on that in everyone's minds because he was the first black person to ever roll back constitutional protections against state-perpetrated murders and kidnapping. We smiled and waved back at him eight years as he famously quit smoking and deployed an anonymous army of mercenaries on Standing Rock, where members of the Sioux tribe and allies were dismembered by water canons laced with pepper spray.
Gosh I sure do miss how good he was at talking though. His pleasant, powerful delivery, his rock solid baritone, his gravitas, the way his words would swell carrying skywards overtures about ideals and emotions. But obviously he could never really tell us what his policies were really about. That he only ever really Obama-cared about lining the pockets of the big hospitals and insurance giants that exploit us in our times of need.
I love my parents but they're very conservative and sheltered, and whenever they ask me why I'm so cynical about the government/don't share respect for the United States like they do, I wish I...
I love my parents but they're very conservative and sheltered, and whenever they ask me why I'm so cynical about the government/don't share respect for the United States like they do, I wish I could pull up articles like this.
If it were 10-15 years ago and/or I still lived with them, then maybe, but at this point it's not worth bringing up politics just to start stuff. If I get into a political discussion with them...
If it were 10-15 years ago and/or I still lived with them, then maybe, but at this point it's not worth bringing up politics just to start stuff. If I get into a political discussion with them (which is already rare as it is) then I'll reference articles, but I'm not going to specifically send it to them because I know they won't bother to read it.
There are a few things in this article that struck out to me: We (in the US) have a legal system that is so afraid of moving quickly and making mistakes that it refuses to evolve to the current...
There are a few things in this article that struck out to me:
We (in the US) have a legal system that is so afraid of moving quickly and making mistakes that it refuses to evolve to the current needs of the people.
The US Government using "algorithms" to decide on a short list of whether people live or die is truly indefensible. We are people, we make the computers, and I wish more people in government would understand that blindly doing what a computer tells you to is not ever going to be sustainable.
Also, I'm surprised Kareem hasn't been assassinated on the ground yet. This seems like the perfect case for sending in someone from any of the 3 letter agencies, or a allied spy agency to take care of. I'm not advocating that, but this problem would've been solved if they just did things without using drones. With much less pushback also.
It wouldn't. The reason why there are so many extrajudicial assassinations in the past 15 years are because of drones. Drones are almost perfect, politically. When you put operatives on the...
Also, I'm surprised Kareem hasn't been assassinated on the ground yet. This seems like the perfect case for sending in someone from any of the 3 letter agencies, or a allied spy agency to take care of. I'm not advocating that, but this problem would've been solved if they just did things without using drones.
It wouldn't. The reason why there are so many extrajudicial assassinations in the past 15 years are because of drones. Drones are almost perfect, politically. When you put operatives on the ground, it's a very politically risky move. They can very easily die or be captured, then that operative's family starts asking questions and possibly gets into the news. It's very difficult to quell that sort of thing, and public opinion very quickly turns against you. With drones, all you have to do is have some kid in Djibouti push a button. There's zero risk to an American, even if the thing gets shot down. If it goes badly, you won't even hear about it because there's no one pressing for the truth of what actually happened. The only people who are going to complain about it are the relatives of the people that got killed, and you can easily just say they were terrorists, and because they're poor and in a country in the midst of a bloody war, they don't have much of a platform to speak out about it anyway. They also don't vote in American elections, so the executive branch has very little reason to care about what they say.
The only reason we're even hearing this story is because it involves an American, after all.
This clears a lot about that up for me, thanks. I'm still generally unhappy about disassociating drones from the people who control them, but that's not something that's going to change anytime soon.
This clears a lot about that up for me, thanks.
I'm still generally unhappy about disassociating drones from the people who control them, but that's not something that's going to change anytime soon.
The whole article left me with a really sick and disgusted feeling for the first two points you mentioned. But I think what they show on the whole is a pure disregard for human rights to the point...
The whole article left me with a really sick and disgusted feeling for the first two points you mentioned. But I think what they show on the whole is a pure disregard for human rights to the point that we have actively regressed in our moral standing as a society.
If I could meet Barack Obama, I would ask him how he felt about expanding the state's capacity for programs extra-judicial murder and then handing it to Donald Trump. I hate to be the dude telling people to wake up, but the nation needs to wake the fuck up to what is being done on our behalf in the name of "national security."
I think this is such an important point -- while Bush was one of the pioneers of many of these strikes, it was Obama that revved up their use to very high levels and now it's in the hands of a xenophobic, prejudice, ignorant, and unstable man. For all of the talks and actions about civility, social justice, equal rights under Obama, this was something I was amazed more people weren't infuriated about. The RS article even talks about Obama being a "sensitive constitutional lawyer" which is extremely hypocritical!
Also related: US never dropped as many bombs in Afghanistan as it did in 2018
Ah, the president elected on hope and change, as a sensitive, constitutional lawyer whose hyper-brand-aware campaign revolutionized the use of private money in elections. We cheered him on as the first president cooler than Clinton dismantled our civil liberties and bailed out the banks.
But he gets a free pass on that in everyone's minds because he was the first black person to ever roll back constitutional protections against state-perpetrated murders and kidnapping. We smiled and waved back at him eight years as he famously quit smoking and deployed an anonymous army of mercenaries on Standing Rock, where members of the Sioux tribe and allies were dismembered by water canons laced with pepper spray.
Gosh I sure do miss how good he was at talking though. His pleasant, powerful delivery, his rock solid baritone, his gravitas, the way his words would swell carrying skywards overtures about ideals and emotions. But obviously he could never really tell us what his policies were really about. That he only ever really Obama-cared about lining the pockets of the big hospitals and insurance giants that exploit us in our times of need.
I love my parents but they're very conservative and sheltered, and whenever they ask me why I'm so cynical about the government/don't share respect for the United States like they do, I wish I could pull up articles like this.
I mean, why can't you? Sure, it may be shocking to them but I think that's better than them remaining ignorant.
If it were 10-15 years ago and/or I still lived with them, then maybe, but at this point it's not worth bringing up politics just to start stuff. If I get into a political discussion with them (which is already rare as it is) then I'll reference articles, but I'm not going to specifically send it to them because I know they won't bother to read it.
There are a few things in this article that struck out to me:
in governmentwould understand that blindly doing what a computer tells you to is not ever going to be sustainable.It wouldn't. The reason why there are so many extrajudicial assassinations in the past 15 years are because of drones. Drones are almost perfect, politically. When you put operatives on the ground, it's a very politically risky move. They can very easily die or be captured, then that operative's family starts asking questions and possibly gets into the news. It's very difficult to quell that sort of thing, and public opinion very quickly turns against you. With drones, all you have to do is have some kid in Djibouti push a button. There's zero risk to an American, even if the thing gets shot down. If it goes badly, you won't even hear about it because there's no one pressing for the truth of what actually happened. The only people who are going to complain about it are the relatives of the people that got killed, and you can easily just say they were terrorists, and because they're poor and in a country in the midst of a bloody war, they don't have much of a platform to speak out about it anyway. They also don't vote in American elections, so the executive branch has very little reason to care about what they say.
The only reason we're even hearing this story is because it involves an American, after all.
This clears a lot about that up for me, thanks.
I'm still generally unhappy about disassociating drones from the people who control them, but that's not something that's going to change anytime soon.
The whole article left me with a really sick and disgusted feeling for the first two points you mentioned. But I think what they show on the whole is a pure disregard for human rights to the point that we have actively regressed in our moral standing as a society.
Fuck.