Indefinite Detention? But I Have Soccer Practice at 4: U.S. Politics 2012

BLUF: the best thing anybody can do right now about drone strikes and stuxnet shit is to put their weight behind existing advocacy groups and get organized. The political cost of supporting intelligence, counter-intelligence and defense encroachment on civil security needs to go up, and keep going up. If you really believe that black ops and robot ninja shit is distasteful, hone your message and cane that shit to the polls.

I can't believe I just used military middle management jargon in an ILX post after all these years. Jesus 30mm Christ. BLUF = "Bottom Line Up Front"

smdhbot

thanks, urban dictionary

it must be very hard to get individual civil servants to speak out when whistleblowers are getting bricked at a record pace.

tombot, always a man of the people

The importance of private citizens banding together to complain, bitch, whine and sue against the state security apparatus - and demanding more than bureaucratic "within 60 days of this memo, the agencies will name an ombudsman" non-answers to the problem - cannot be overstated.

the funny thing is, i'm sure obama would totally agree with this. then he'd sit down at his desk and OK the prosecution of yet another whistle-blower under the espionage act.

gets back to my point about increasing the political cost of such behavior.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/the-feds-violated-the-constitution-but-the-obama-administration-wont-say-how/260239/

This is a huge departure from what has traditionally been understood to be constitutionally permitted. We do not normally allow the government to indiscriminately make copies of everyone's private correspondence, so long as they promise not to read it without a warrant: The copying itself is supposed to require a warrant, except in extraordinary circumstances. It appears almost certain that a very different rule is in effect now, at least for the NSA.

The four star motherfucker who was and remains in charge of this overreaching, wasteful and illegal bullshit is speaking at DEFCON in Las Vegas this weekend. Overheard: "not sure where I'm gonna source the rotten tomatoes." That's not enough.

hehehe

http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/drone-court-advantage/

patronizing sarcasm has always been a powerful tool for reform

well hell reform ain't happenin'

patronizing sarcasm has always been a powerful tool for reform

well played, deploying patronizing sarcasm in the service of decrying the effectiveness of...patronizing sarcasm

it took Nixon to go to China.

true story, nixon is high highly regarded by chinese people :/

hehehe

http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/drone-court-advantage/

― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, July 26, 2012 2:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Indeed, Reid notes they’re the sort that, at a loss to explain record corporate profits — bye bye, Bush recession — turn to arguing “the government’s use of drones and waging of covert wars and the drug war are the most pressing problems facing the planet.”

http://blog.reidreport.com/2012/01/on-bullying-glenn-greenwald-and-the-nun-rape-smear/

gee I wonder why they chose that column to quote out of context. Mysterious.

jeez, that new inquiry thing is labored.

House and Senate leaders are nearing a temporary spending deal that would keep the federal government running for the first half of the next fiscal year, which will begin in October, aides in both parties said Monday, an effort to avoid a messy government shutdown fight on the eve of the November election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congressional-leaders-near-deal-to-keep-government-running/2012/07/30/gJQA9ryWLX_story.html?hpid=z1

This would be no fun!

lemme guess, more cuts to random shit, no taxes, still running huge deficits

yep

Congress moving towards pushing Office of Legal Counsel into releasing drone authorization documents.

Cornyn also noted that just because he wants to see the memo doesn't mean he'd necessarily disagree with its contents.

lol no kidding

still if it's something of an unintended consequence of this shameless partisan posturing that these memos are made public, that's a good thing

the sub headline is "But if they get it, they won't be allowed to show it to you."

regular Americans should know what kind of conduct could lead to them being blown up by a deadly flying robot

kind of sad that I lived to see this sentence in a news story tbh

http://www.fullmetalhero.com/attachments/34945d1341780741-transformers-movie-unicron.jpg

just wait until other countries get deadly flying robots and they engage in battle with ours! that'll be so fun for everyone!

http://www.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/45638-hugh-jackmans-real-steel-beats-george-clooneys-ides-of-march-at-box-office/1318193426_hugh-jackman-real-steel-b.jpg

some good news, sorta kinda: 20-week abortion ban fails by not getting enough of a majority to proceed to the Senate.

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/01/dont_chant_u_s_a/

It's liberal Americans' Olympic dilemma: How do they root for their countrymen without being jingoistic?

shit like this is why ppl hate liberals

yeah, bcz they watch the Olympics

The President’s lethargy on the matter of judicial nominations is inexplicable. So is his silence on the subject. George W. Bush complained loudly when he felt Democrats in the Senate had delayed or obstructed his judicial nominees. Obama has said little. Indeed, Bush had a public judicial philosophy as President, frequently calling on judges to “strictly apply the Constitution and laws, not legislate from the bench.” As a former president of the Harvard Law Review and long-time lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, Obama has a great deal of familiarity with legal issues but hardly ever talks about them. His legal philosophy, if he has one, is unknown.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/07/why-judges-matter.html

http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2012/07/catch-of-day_31.html?m=0

The one culprit I'd add here, on top of the Republicans and Obama, are liberal activists and interest group leaders, who in many cases (not all!) just ignored the problem.

Does blaming liberal activists and interest group leaders on this issue make sense? Would that have made a difference during the first 2 years of the Obama administration? Would it now?

shit like this is why ppl hate liberals

― Mordy, Wednesday, 1 August 2012 14:07 (6 hours ago) Permalink

yeah, bcz they watch the Olympics

― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 14:10 (6 hours ago) Permalink

televised sports, familiar bastion of liberaldom.

confusing rooting for the home team with 'jingoism' is so fucking ridiculous

"But if they get it, they won't be allowed to show it to you."

As long as there's some kind of accountability...

It is jingoism.

jin·go·ism noun \ˈjiŋ-(ˌ)gō-ˌi-zəm\
Definition of JINGOISM
: extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy

"marked especially" you secret republican

Plus you're gonna copy-paste the dictionary at me?

whoa guys fire up the DVR cuz Seacrest is gonna give us an update on what social media was saying about Phelps last night

u guys this fucking segment

oh no. u weren't joking and now i am watching it.

"pretty cool to get a tweet from the president"

televised sports, familiar bastion of liberaldom

most of the man-boys on here are liberals, and I'd say more than half like sports

lol, u must be anticipating the zing

they're americans. Americans love sports.

everyone loves sports tbh

Plus you're gonna copy-paste the dictionary at me?

a completely legit strategy when the meaning of words is under dispute man

everyone loves sports tbh

*AHEM*

^^^ why shakey is my bro

xxp If it meant, like, "dog" or something it would be fine. But if I and Slate dude and my friend who refuses to watch a minute of the Olympics coverage because of its jingoism think jingoism is (not necessarily exclusively) something in the ballpark of "nationalist chauvinism to an excessive degree," then throwing up a definition like that is failed pedantry. Which I expect from Kevin K. And you sometimes, too, tbh, even though you're an extremely smart, articulate guy.

That language essentialist bent of Kevin's is something he has in common with his buddy Antonin Scalia.