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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
If you actually read the article, he's claiming that the FBI spent resources on prosecuting Zimmerman that could/should have been used in preventing the Boston bombing instead. I don't think it's true (and it's certainly hyperbole even if there is some truth to it), but it's not completely pants-on-head insane.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Al Gore: NSA program 'violates' Constitution
One major benefit to all the talk about PRISM, in my mind, is that on the side of the voters it's sparking awareness and dialogue on the issue of internal security and privacy, while on the Hill it's being divisive amongst Senators and Representatives. I've been a pretty good share of both Dems and Reps taking different sides on this issue.
As noted in the article, the FBI investigated the case to determine whether or not it constituted a federal civil rights violation
.
Congress votes once again to keep the Gitmo detention facility open and to keep the prisoners there.
edited 14th Jun '13 8:29:49 PM by Enkufka
Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen FryPersonally I don't see what some folks fixation with Gitmo is.
At least people know it exists and it's actual US Military running the place. If Gitmo closed, we would just send all terror-suspects to black sites ran by foreign countries instead. They act like Gitmo is such a horrible place by virtue of its existence, that even if we just kept it as a naval base and got rid of all the detainee operations there, people would still be like "OMG CLOSE GITMO."
I don't think people realize that if Guantanamo Bay closes, there will be even less accountability on what we do with terror suspects than there is currently.
edited 15th Jun '13 9:46:07 AM by Barkey
I'm not sure where else to put this, but:
This shouldn't have happened. Staring at the police doesn't warrant being assaulted like this.
edited 15th Jun '13 9:59:14 AM by chihuahua0
The problem with Gitmo is that it completely circumvents our justice system for very little justification and at great expense. If you're working under the assumption that a lack of Gitmo would = equally justice system-circumventing operations in other locations, then yeah, there's no point in closing it. But I and most people who want it closed explicitly wish to do so by incorporating the prisoners into the normal justice system, giving them regular trials and when required putting them into normal prisons.
I have yet to see a convincing argument as to why that would be a bad idea, even if it's completely shut down by Republicans every time it's proposed. Even a cursory examination shows that it's not a huge security risk - and even if it were, I consider it a moral imperative to not sidestep your own criminal justice system every time it turns out to be inconvenient.
(And for the record, since other posters seem to be confused by my sig, I have no problem with the naval base. My signature refers only to 'Guantanamo' because it's a parody of a quote about Rome destroying Carthage, which a Roman politician was famous for appending to his speeches habitually.)
edited 15th Jun '13 10:33:30 AM by Karkadinn
Furthermore, I think Guantanamo must be destroyed.Personally, I think we should have made a decision from the beginning on if this was going to be a military action or a police action. Either let us do our job and take folks like that as prisoners of war, or you can send NYPD to the frigging sandbox.
Not to say that matters in the context of torture, seeing as most types of torture are banned under our own rules regarding things like LOAC, but that's the problem with counter-terrorism, it blurs the lines between how we're supposed to treat this. I personally don't think POW's have any place in the normal criminal justice system, especially considering how limp-wristed ours is.
Doesn't mean I don't think we should be letting go the dudes who shouldn't be in Gitmo in the first place. That's an absolute travesty, I just don't think we should be showing any real kindness or humanity to the ones we know for sure should be there.
edited 15th Jun '13 11:04:17 AM by Barkey
Well, if we aren't in a war, then it's supposed to be up to local authorities to hold and prosecute prisoners. The NYPD have no place in Afghanistan because it's not their jurisdiction.
If we capture enemy combatants in a "police action", then we turn them over to the locals. If we're in a war, then we take them as prisoners of war and treat them according to the Geneva Convention.
Quasi-secret detention centers where people are held indefinitely without trial or even formal charges is against our Constitution, against the rules of war, against international law, and against common decency.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Rick Perry signs into law a bill protecting holiday celebrations in schools from legal challenges.
^^
I don't have a problem with it, it even has that caveat saying "As long as another religion is represented as well."
And this is kind of why I'm siding with Perry and co. on this one. It's not a fucking holiday tree, if you want to call it one, then go ahead. But I'm not even a Christian, and it's still a fucking "Christmas Tree". I've got no problem with teachers saying so as well.
That's cool, let's just have more of us die because we completely and utterly lack any form of HUMINT. We can let the corrupt locals cut them loose so they can keep coming at us over and over again until we kill them before they surrender, or we can give them 3 hots and a cot and tell them they don't have to tell us anything. That's smart when you're in a fucking war.
When it's my ass on the line, I don't particularly give a flying fuck about any of those turds that we manage to capture. They're only worth the intelligence that we can pry out of them. That being said, I would say my guidelines for what I consider torture are a little more.. stringent, than what the CIA considers "not torture". But they're the professionals, not me. I'll tell them they're going too far when I'm the one with a graduate level degree in psychology and can say what works and what doesn't.
edited 15th Jun '13 11:46:54 AM by Barkey

^
.... Huh?