The American Politics thread

[Top_Cat]

White paper putting forth the legal framework for drone strikes by the Obama administration

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/se...hite_Paper.pdf

The paper states that the US government can kill its own citizens overseas if:

(1) An informed, high level-official of the U.S. government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States.

(2) Capture is infeasible, and the United States continues to monitor whether capture becomes feasible; and

(3) the operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles.

It also has an interesting definition of 'imminence' as far as an attack goes;

"The condition that an operational leader present an 'imminent' threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons will take place in the immediate future,"

As you can see from the paper, there's NBC watermarks all over it. I wonder what the reaction would have been had this been leaked from, say, Wikileaks' server instead. No classification info in the doc so can't be sure but I'm guessing it might have been slightly different.

[silentstriker]

Well it was apparently released by an aide or something, or at least a Senator's staff, so if it was indeed classified, they might be in trouble.

But since this wasn't classified, I don't think it would have mattered.

[silentstriker]

I read that earlier - I hope a constitutional challenge is forthcoming really soon. I can see the rationale though - I mean if you're not on American shores, and the President believes that you are affiliated with an entity that the nation is currently in conflict with, does the government have to still treat you the same way or does it fall under the Presidents war powers? Note: I don't agree with the rationale - I think it's terrible, but I can see the supreme court upholding it. Might be time to donate some more to the ACLU....

What irks me a lot was that this justification went a LOT further than what they admitted to Congress and to the people.

[Fusion]

Jon Stewart blasts the Obama administration on drone strikes and a lack of transparency:

Part 1

Part 2

[Top_Cat]

While the gun debate is raging....

Christopher Dorner | Sacked LA cop suspected of revenge-killing rampage

Odds on this arsehole being a MRA type living in a video game must be about evens I'd have thought. The upside is that the killings clearly weren't random, the downside is that the killings aren't random and that he's likely still alive so he's not done yet.

[grecian]

Originally Posted by Top_Cat

While the gun debate is raging....

Christopher Dorner | Sacked LA cop suspected of revenge-killing rampage

Odds on this arsehole being a MRA type living in a video game must be about evens, I'd have thought. The upside is that the killings clearly weren't random, the downside is that the killings aren't random and that he's likely still alive so he's not done yet.

but, but, but, but surely he's a good guy with a gun....

[Top_Cat]

As if there weren't enough reasons to love Waleed Aly.

Justifying means to end bin Laden puts Bigelow on torturous path

Bit late to the party but I'm happy to let it slide for a man like him.

[Top_Cat]

Originally Posted by grecian

but, but, but, but surely he's a good guy with a gun....

Maybe so but we can all relax because he'll surely be stopped by one.

[Howe_zat]

Originally Posted by Fusion

Jon Stewart blasts the Obama administration on drone strikes and a lack of transparency:

Part 1

Part 2

You know all these links don't work outside the US?

[Top_Cat]

If anyone wants to read the above prick's manifesto;

Christopher Jordan Dorner Manifesto

Have tried to read a few of these sorts of writings before, honestly I lose interest so quickly. The self-serving nature of them permeates every page and, as much as I hate the term, this guy's has 'frustrated beta' written all over it. That said, all of the police terms he uses are authentic, this is an incredibly dangerous situation for any cop approaching a vehicle while he's still breathing.

I notice no mention in the news what weapon he's using which I find interesting.

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

You know all these links don't work outside the US?

Dammit, I did not. The link below has part one of the clip embedded via Hulu. Is that accessible outside the US?

Jon Stewart being awesome

[Top_Cat]

It's not but you can get around it by tooling about with the user agent add-on for Firefox. It sucks and it's slow as **** but it works.

Haven't tried this but it might work betterer:

http://www.tinkernut.com/2008/08/29/...from-anywhere/

[silentstriker]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

You know all these links don't work outside the US?

Who gives a crap about anything outside the US? Should move to a real country like the rest of us did and be part of American exceptionalism.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Top_Cat

As if there weren't enough reasons to love Waleed Aly.

Justifying means to end bin Laden puts Bigelow on torturous path

Bit late to the party but I'm happy to let it slide for a man like him.

Some of the comments attacking him are at best, misguided, and at worst, simply racist. Waleed is a proud Australian ffs.

The SMH website is an absolute toilet nowadays. Sooner or later I'm going to dump it and give up on Fairfax completely. Not even just because of the comments on political/societal issues. Just generally. When the headlines of the day consist of an analysis of My Kitchen Rules, I am not sure I can take it anymore.

[wellAlbidarned]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

You know all these links don't work outside the US?

They work in NZ but that's probably because we don't count as a country or something