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Domain: joemiller.us

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Comments · 7

  1. Re:Slashdot will hate me for saying this. by cold+fjord · · Score: 2, Insightful · on Death By Metadata: The NSA's Secret Role In the US Drone Strike Program

    Do you see this news story?

    17 Beheaded in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan for Attending Wedding Party with Dancing

    They would gladly do it to you, just like they did it to those 17, and to Daniel Pearl. Their goal is to impose that sort of rule on the entire world even if it takes 1,000 years. As of today there are people willing to put their body between you and them, putting their life and limb and risk, to prevent them from endangering you. Frankly, I'm not sure that the sacrifice of any of them is worth you. But they still do it. So it would be great if you would either grow up, or stop providing evidence you may be a moral idiot and a fool. (I realize that asking you to show some gratitude for the defense of your life is wasted breath. Some people only learn the hard way.)

  2. Re:For some, thinking is *impossible* by MisterSquid · · Score: 3, Informative · on Accenture Faces Mid-March Healthcare.gov Deadline Or 'Disaster'

    Like the original contract for this website which went to a college buddy of the POTUS' wife, without open bidding.

    The executive whose company won the no-bid contract is Toni-Townes Whitley and the only association she and Michelle Obama have had is that they were classmates at Princeton.

    The right-wing media attempted to twist this fact of attending the same school at the same time as proof of cronyism. Fortunately for those of us who would be informed rather than manipulated, the biggest evidence of this failed smear campaign is the blasted Google landscape around the search terms "michelle obama yale classmate".

    The only people repeating this as proof of corruption are biased right-wing media organs and poorly informed /. readers.

  3. Re:Key paragraph by cold+fjord · · Score: 1, Flamebait · on FBI's Secret Interrogation Manual: Now At the Library of Congress

    Try that in Texas... hell, try it in any state in the union. A foreign aggressor who pulled that on Americans would without doubt create new "terrorists" more quickly than they could kill them.

    No, a foreign aggressor that did that would be in a war, just like al Qaida is. Yet somehow you fault the US for defending itself in this case. There is a key difference between the US and Pakistan, for example. The US government controls all of its own territory whereas Pakistan's central government does not. The tribal territories in Pakistan are largely outside the control of the central government. That is where various guerillas and terrorists flourish. That is where much of the drone activity that you decry occurs. There are without a doubt occasional mistakes made in targeting, but the US has made efforts to avoid that, and probably has caused much less collateral damaged that most wars in the past. The Pakistani army has a view about that.

    Pakistani General: Actually, The Drones Are Awesome

    There is an unacknowledged asymmetry in your grievance. You only complain about the occasional random mistake by the US, but you have nothing to say about the regular, planned, and deliberate brutality of the Taliban and al Qaida, including at weddings.

    17 Beheaded in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan for Attending Wedding Party with Dancing

    A massacre of 17 deliberate beheadings at a wedding versus the unfortunate rare accidental strike on a wedding. The regular occurrence, versus the rare occurrence. Do you think that the Taliban should worry about its wedding massacres too? Or just the US?

  4. Re:MORE DISINFORMATION by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 1 · on Leaked Documents Detail Al-Qaeda's Efforts To Fight Back Against Drones

    You take issue with referring to the ever fun-loving Taliban and al Qaida as enemies?

    17 Beheaded in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan for Attending Wedding Party with Dancing Taliban Hangs Afghan Boy, 7, for Spying I was one of the Taliban's torturers: I crucified people

    How do you think they should be referred to? As the, "Asian gentlemen with a minor beheading problem?" "The life of the party with a suicide vest?" "The local representatives of Crucifier's Anonymous - the 12 step program to kill all your enemies?"

    And how is this our problem? It's not nice, for sure, but why is it our job to fix it? To stabilize the region? Why should we care? For Israel and Saudi Arabia? The Saudis can go fuck themselves and Israel is only our friend when they want something (usually guns and money). Are we trying to impress Europe? All they ever do is complain anyway. Don't tell me it's for `stopping human suffering', because you know damn well that that shithole was a shithole for the previous century and it will be for the next few centuries too.

  5. Re:MORE DISINFORMATION by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Insightful · on Leaked Documents Detail Al-Qaeda's Efforts To Fight Back Against Drones

    Designed to create the belief:
    1 - Intelligence intercepts and interrogations are effective at getting information that "protects" "us".

    And you dispute that? People seem to be pretty eager to read them for what you think are ineffective methods.

    2 - Drones are an effective weapon against "our" "enemies" and not principally dangerous to villagers and local civic functions.

    Pakistani General: Actually, The Drones Are Awesome

    You take issue with referring to the ever fun-loving Taliban and al Qaida as enemies?

    17 Beheaded in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan for Attending Wedding Party with Dancing
    Taliban Hangs Afghan Boy, 7, for Spying
    I was one of the Taliban's torturers: I crucified people

    How do you think they should be referred to? As the, "Asian gentlemen with a minor beheading problem?" "The life of the party with a suicide vest?" "The local representatives of Crucifier's Anonymous - the 12 step program to kill all your enemies?"

  6. Re:Hey look at us, we are still relevant! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1 · on Wikileaks Releases A Massive "Insurance" File That No One Can Open

    Sorry, but you're wrong on this. The phrase, “sensitive intelligence sources or methods” specifically refers to spy satellites and signals intelligence. The Wikileaks disclosures were still a compromise of intelligence sources, just not the ones being referred to by that phrase. It was still a bad thing.

    As to “there has not been a single case of Afghans needing protection or to be moved because of the leak.”" - The Taliban made it clear that they would hunt down anyone identified in the leaks. What isn't clear is if any of the spokespersons making claims that nobody was harmed were actually in a position to really know anything, or if they can actually personally attest to the safety of everyone on the list. I doubt that they can.

    Afghans are not simply translating, they are turning against the Taliban. That is kind of dangerous. The Taliban have been known to hang 7 year old children suspected of being informants (or simply as revenge), when they aren't beheading people for dancing at weddings.

    I note that you reference Greenwald. He doesn't really seem to be interested in stopping the barbarism of al Qaida and the Taliban.

  7. Re:Seems fishy by cold+fjord · · Score: 1 · on Revealed: How the UK Spied On Its G20 Allies At London Summits

    To expect anything less than the worse from the NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA... etc is just a little naive.

    I think your concept of "anything less than the worse" is poorly calibrated.

    Taliban Hangs Afghan Boy, 7, for Spying
    17 Beheaded in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan for Attending Wedding Party with Dancing
    Torture, Al-Qaeda Style