Well, he's not afraid his company might fire him..
He is also in the data business. If the government started enforcing privacy regulations his company might end up liable. There is also a big potential profit in getting ever more specific information about you that can be used or sold. Getting medical data to mine is a huge win on many levels.
You forget to disable the hyperbole filter before posting. You best be careful with that, miss. Were you to post on the wrong topic, you could find a constable at the door, and yourself up on charges.
. . . the very same words can be proof of two entirely different hate crimes. Iqbal Sacranie is a Muslim of such exemplary "moderation" he's been knighted by the Queen. The head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal was interviewed on the BBC and expressed the view that homosexuality was "immoral," was "not acceptable," "spreads disease," and "damaged the very foundations of society." A gay group complained and Sir Iqbal was investigated by Scotland Yard's "community safety unit" for "hate crimes" and "homophobia." Independently but simultaneously, the magazine of GALHA (the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association) called Islam a "barmy doctrine" growing "like a canker" and deeply "homophobic." In return, the London Race Hate Crime Forum asked Scotland Yard to investigate GALHA for "Islamophobia." Got that? If a Muslim says that Islam is opposed to homosexuality, Scotland Yard will investigate him for homophobia; but if a gay says that Islam is opposed to homosexuality, Scotland Yard will investigate him for Islamophobia. Two men say exactly the same thing and they're investigated for different hate crimes. ---- GAGGING US SOFTLY
The dual-axis head mirror can be operated with either analog or digital VME control electronics.
The dual-axis system provides improved image acquisition, improved target tracking, and maintains the sight aim retinal at the sight's center of view.
The dual-axis system is available in two configurations. The larger assembly is designed for the M1 Abrams head assembly envelope. The smaller unit will fit within the M60 tank or standard M36 sight head periscope sight.
If you are complaining about HP printer drivers, I think I can just about assure you that you haven't seen the bottom of the barrel - not by a long shot.
Had the software been around when I used a C64 (when they were the state of the art) . .
What do you mean? C64 still is state of the art . . . for 1982.
On the other hand, a clever hack borders on being timeless - for example and inspiration if nothing else.
Certainly in a time of ever greater bloatware it can border on mind-blowing to consider what people used to do, and some still do, in handfuls or hundreds of bytes: The Puzzle
Say, that's really great. Now could you show me the list of Hollywood stars out promoting that we put soy in everything? Corn in everything? Where is the parallel to the whole hemp advocacy culture in broader society for anything else? Feel free to get back to me on that.
By the way, I wasn't aware that one post constituted "harping." Maybe that post just seemed like it lasted a really long time to you . . . for some reason?
It should also be noted that super capacitors already have better power density than chemical batteries by a wide margin, and are more than sufficient to replace I.C. engines and gasoline in that respect.
On the other hand they don't provide yet another excuse to incorporate hemp into yet another product or process. I consider hemp to be a sort of "wonder" material, as in, "I wonder what they'll try to put hemp in next just because they can.*" Oh, look! Another item with hemp in it! Surely US hemp policy must be changed now! No doubt it is a useful material, but it is easy to get the impression that hemp advocates are trying just a little too hard. It's also funny how the hemp advocacy often seems to run in parallel with certain other policy advocacy.
capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment . ..
First set of key words being voluntary refusal. It isn't completely voluntary, is it?
The military has said that some prisoners are pressuring others to join the hunger strike, and that some of those being tube-fed occasionally eat regular meals or voluntarily drink nutritional supplements when they are removed from their cell blocks and are alone with medical personnel. . . -- American Medical Association questions Guantanamo force-feedings
Second set of key words being capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment.
Almost 100 Guantánamo prisoners were classified by the US army as having psychiatric illnesses including severe depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the prison camp files reveal. -- Guantánamo Bay files: Grim toll on mental health of prisoners
100 out of 179 is a pretty big fraction. It is also oddly close to the number of inmates on hunger strike.
The ones that are left in Guantanamo are pretty much the hardcore. They were willing to give their life for the cause if need be. They have previously engaged in synchronized suicide attempts as a political attack. The suicide Jihad continues, just without bombs in this case.
Drug offences are not "ordinary criminal offences". Assault, fraud, and theft are ordinary criminal offenses. Drug prohibition is simply oppressive.
I think the number of countries without some sort of limitation, whether substance, quantity, purity, purpose, or other, is going to be very small. If you want to talk about minor edge cases, as marijuana, that is one thing, heroin is another.
Most of those in Guantanamo are known not to pose a threat, and about a third of them are known to be entirely innocent.
Guantanamo is pretty much down to the hardcore cases now. Of the "innocents" that were outright released, instead of transferred to prison in another country, at least 27% have been found back on the battlefield engaging in Jihad. Several of those released have engaged in infamous attacks.
Which is a war crime. When are the prosecutions going to start?
It could be a war crime . . . if they were protected persons. Unfortunately Al Qaida has made the commission of war crimes a focus of their strategy and thereby forfeits the conventions protections. (Where the "unlawful combatant" classification comes from.) The US has been gracious enough to treat them largely in accordance with the convention nonetheless. Now if this was the 1940s, and it was German soldiers we were talking about, or the 1950s and Korean soldiers, it would be illegal and the two of us would hold the same position.
"On the battlefield"? How about "attending a wedding party [wikipedia.org]"?
That would fall under the "theater of war" following the "battlefield or" part.
But, wedding parties are an interesting topic. It is an unfortunate fact of life that during armed conflict mistakes will occur, and attacks that shouldn't happen, do happen. To the best of my knowledge the NATO forces compensate victims and their families for mistaken attacks in the customary Afghan way. They also try to learn from the mistake and try to not repeat it. On the other hand, the Taliban propagandists aren't shy about accusing NATO forces of attacking "wedding parties" that consist of solely Taliban fighters. Of course, they have their own problems with weddings.
“Their spokesmen do not hold themselves to a truth standard,” the official said. “Common Taliban propaganda practices are to fabricate or inflate damage estimates and deflect blame away from their fighters for civilian causalities.”
As an example, the official cited a June suicide bomb attack on a wedding party in Kandahar Province which killed over 35 Afghans and injured more than 70. Following the event, Taliban spokesmen claimed area was bombarded by coalition forces. Evidence from an investigation into the event, including ball bearings found in the victims’ bodies, proved the Taliban spokesperson’s claim false.
KABUL, Afghanistan - Insurgents beheaded 17 civilians in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, apparently because they attended a dance party that flouted the extreme brand of Islam embraced by the militants, officials said Monday.. . .
The victims were part of a large group that had gathered late Sunday in Helmand province's Musa Qala district for a celebration involving music and dancing, said district government chief Neyamatullah Khan. He said the Taliban slaughtered them to show their disapproval of the event. . . .
No, waterboarding is not meant to maintain hygiene. It is clearly a coercive measure. But coercion doesn't necessarily imply torture legally. Torture has specific legal meaning and tests.
Medical procedures necessary to sustain life are sometime uncomfortable or even painful for a period of time, and can even result in significant damage to the body. Does that make them torture? If US forces found an Al Qaida member who had a suicide bomb charge that detonated prematurely and shredded one of his legs, it is quite likely that it would be medically necessary to preserve his life to apply a tourniquet and then amputate the leg. Is that torture? What if it is the exact same thing that had been done to US soldiers in the same situation, both before and since? Clearly, it isn't torture legally or ethically. If they did the same thing to a healthy, undamaged prisoner, it would be.
If the routine medical procedure is done in the customary manner for the same reason, it is difficult to see how it could be torture, logically.
I realize that was meant to be a frivolous statement, but there's an actual reason for that. The CIA has traditionally recruited from within the 'old boy network' of Ivy League fraternities and secret societies, people whose loyalty to the existing power structure they can pretty much guarantee because they were born into it.
You might want to ask someone how that can work out.
Although sometimes the torture is indeed deliberate policy.
It turns out that this "torture" is a routine medical procedure performed daily for large numbers of people, from infants to the elderly: Feeding tube. Are they being "tortured" too?
So, question for you - if the US authorities were to stop forced feeding, and 60 detainees actually did starve themselves to death, would you complain? I expect so. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, isn't it? What do you think would happen if the threat of starving yourself to death becomes a "get out of jail free card?"
Major-General Ghayur Mehmood spoke to a group of Pakistani reporters on a rare trip to Miran Shah, the administrative center of North Waziristan.
The Pakistani general says that information the military has gathered from its sources suggest most of those killed in drone attacks are hardcore militants, and the number of innocent people being killed is relatively low.
The official paper distributed among reporters says that there have been 164 drone strikes in the militant-dominated region of North Waziristan since 2007, killing 964 "terrorists". There were 171 al-Qaida fighters among those killed, mostly belonging to central Asian and Arab countries.
------
I'm more than beginning to have the disturbing sense that the US government/military has stared too long into the abyss.
The media is having its intended effect.
If you have any brainstorms about how to do this better, I'm sure the Pentagon would love to hear about it. Send them a letter. Maybe something like, "Dear General, I know how you can get all the Al Qaida to stop fighting. All you have to do is....." If the next part is, "give up their fringe religious views and dreams of conquering the world for Islam," that isn't going to be very helpful.
Having a good overall human rights record doesn't necessarily mean that nothing bad ever happens, but the system should respond to it in an appropriate way.
The AP scandal is pretty fresh, but I have little doubt it will provide the administration some very uncomfortable moments in the months ahead.
The POWs in Guantanamo do get Red Cross visits. As to the rest of their status - in order to receive the full protection of the Geneva Convention as a combatant you have to obey the Law of War. Al Qaida doesn't do that, quite the reverse. Their basic strategy of directly targeting civilian noncombatants constitutes a war crime. They are quite rightly recognized as unlawful combatants. And do note, it isn't that this categorization is unknown internationally, but rather that various advocates refuse to acknowledge that it exists.
The black sites? Last time I looked they were for detention and interrogation.
Now, there are a couple of factors that make these discussions more interesting. First, is the fact that Al Qaida teaches its members to lie about their treatment and not cooperate.
. . . Police in Manchester, England, discovered the manual, which has come to be known as the "Manchester document," in 2000 while searching computer files found in the home of a known al Qaeda member. The contents were introduced as evidence into the 2001 trial of terrorists who bombed the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. . .
The closing chapter teaches al Qaeda operatives how to operate in a prison or detention center. It directs detainees to "insist on proving that torture was inflicted" and to "complain of mistreatment while in prison."
Chapter 17 instructs them to "be careful not to give the enemy any vital information" during interrogations.
Another section of the manual directs commanders to teach their operatives what to say if they're captured, and to explain it "more than once to ensure that they have assimilated it." To reinforce the message, it tells commanders to have operatives "explain it back to the commander."
One consequence of this lying, and international pressure on their behalf, is that committed terrorists have been released who then return to Jihad again, killing who knows how many.
(Reuters) - The proportion of militants released from detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay who subsequently were believed to have returned to the battlefield rose slightly over the last year, according to official figures released on Monday.
In a summary report, the office of the Director of National Intelligence said that 27.9 percent of the 599 former detainees released from Guantanamo were either confirmed or suspected of later engaging in militant activity
Second, as does sometimes happen in war, service members will occasionally exceed their instructions, lose control, or develop a mental illness, and then engage in behavior that constitutes a war crime. Some people want to pretend that those actions are deliberate policy rather than the illegal actions of an individual or particular group. One prime example is the incident at Abu Ghraib. It resulted in a number of American soldiers going to jail, including the infamous Lynndie England. An isolated incident by a small number of soldiers that took an extraordinary number of pictures in a very short time, and gave a black eye to the US military and the United States. The actual events were magnified by the work of the media - the New York Times put stories and/or pictures on the front page 47 times.
Pay? Nobody pays me to post. But I do like to see the discussion occasionally enter the realm of facts even if it aggravates some people.
After all, facts that contradict some political view are "flamebait."
the US with its imprisoning of more people (by absolute numbers and percentage of population) than any other country
They are imprisoned for what are recognizable as ordinary criminal offenses, such as drug offenses. People in the United States are not imprisoned for things like singing songs that insult the president, such as this.
Indefinite detention
You are referring to Prisoners of War. Completely legitimate and a recognized standard. You can keep POWs in detention until the end of the conflict. Unfortunate that they made a bad choice of fighting for Al Qaida.
torture
The US waterboarded a total of three people, the most recent of which was 10 years ago. The US has waterboarded at least thousands, or tens of thousands, of military pilots and special forces personnel both before and since in the same way. It is certainly a form of coercion. But torture has a legal definition, and waterboarding under those circumstances didn't meet that at the time. Or would you claim that the US actually tortured its service members?
summary execution
Killing people on the battlefield or in the theater of war isn't summary execution, but simply killing, and in no way illegitimate. The people killed were in the same status as these people shot dead by the US Government without trial or warrant.
Yeah. The US has credibility when it comes to human rights.
No surprise - Putin has been trying to drag the US - Russian relationship back to Cold War times. He has become much more provocative with military probes around US territory, and has been dismissive of US diplomats. Apparently it plays well in Russia.
It looks like he is getting his wish. So much for the "reset" in relations.
You can't really make factor 10 improvements indefinitely. Eventually the numbers overwhelm you and you hit roadblocks. The only real solution will ultimately be new computing technology, such as quantum computers.
Oh yeah. You have a "work within the system" and "hope and change" response. Because that works out, so very well.
It's been working for hundreds of years, with degrees of success changing over time, in both the US and UK, and way better than the sort of socialist (or is that communist?) revolution you would prefer*. Why don't you try that in your native Canada first, so we can watch the results before it gets tried in the US?
A big part of the problem is that the news media isn't doing its job. They put their thumb on the scales in favor of Obama, and they still haven't really taken it off. Now, they are reaping their reward - multiple scandals breaking out at once, including the AP incident. It is a simple fact that about 90% of journalists in the US media contribute to Democrats, and probably vote the same. And that should be OK, as long as they report accurately and fairly even on policies they personally desire. But they aren't doing that. They are letting their personal political preferences interfere with their professional obligation. As a result, they cover for the Obama administration, ask friendly questions, continually post stories about "unexpected" outcomes that are bad when they can't otherwise be minimized. It is hard to make good choices for a country when the people and leaders aren't getting good, accurate, information, and that isn't happening. Well, their support of the Obama administration has become a bit strained recently, and it might very well turn shortly. When it does, it won't be pretty for the administration.
Republicans could not even have scripted this one. The agency most hated by voters, the Internal Revenue Service, admits to going on a Nixonian witch hunt against Tea Party and conservative groups during the re-election campaign.
This is a story even the most partisan Massachusetts liberal cannot defend. It’s so bad that even Ed Markey is calling for heads to roll.
Now we learn that the Justice Department has secretly obtained the phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors in what appears to be an investigation of an AP story that disclosed details of a CIA operation that stopped a terrorist attack.
Going after the Tea Party is one thing, but the media? What an outrage. Who knows, the press may get so mad they won’t laugh at Obama’s jokes during the next White House Correspondents’ Dinner. ..more
*No, this isn't a troll. The man is very left of centre.
One important difference: the things you list are wrongdoing by private companies. The scandals I listed are wrongdoing by Federal agencies or departments themselves.
But you are right, there does need to be more oversight of that sort of thing.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't begrudge them anything, but they are seriously in outer space.
That can happen when you rise to the heights of power in politics, or stand on really large mountains of cash in industry, or take up residence in much of academia.
Well, he's not afraid his company might fire him..
He is also in the data business. If the government started enforcing privacy regulations his company might end up liable. There is also a big potential profit in getting ever more specific information about you that can be used or sold. Getting medical data to mine is a huge win on many levels.
But there are distinctions made among prisoners that determine where you end up. . .
Prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom
Assuming you make it so far as prison . . .
In soft-bellied Britain, it's hard to stay in prison for long. Even getting into jail is difficult
Might be a tougher ride in the future.
Do prisoners get a cushy ride in British jails?
You forget to disable the hyperbole filter before posting. You best be careful with that, miss. Were you to post on the wrong topic, you could find a constable at the door, and yourself up on charges.
. . . the very same words can be proof of two entirely different hate crimes. Iqbal Sacranie is a Muslim of such exemplary "moderation" he's been knighted by the Queen. The head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal was interviewed on the BBC and expressed the view that homosexuality was "immoral," was "not acceptable," "spreads disease," and "damaged the very foundations of society." A gay group complained and Sir Iqbal was investigated by Scotland Yard's "community safety unit" for "hate crimes" and "homophobia." Independently but simultaneously, the magazine of GALHA (the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association) called Islam a "barmy doctrine" growing "like a canker" and deeply "homophobic." In return, the London Race Hate Crime Forum asked Scotland Yard to investigate GALHA for "Islamophobia." Got that? If a Muslim says that Islam is opposed to homosexuality, Scotland Yard will investigate him for homophobia; but if a gay says that Islam is opposed to homosexuality, Scotland Yard will investigate him for Islamophobia. Two men say exactly the same thing and they're investigated for different hate crimes. ---- GAGGING US SOFTLY
Hmmm.... looks like the M1 Abrams might be a proper tank after all.
Line-of-Sight Stabilization Systems
The dual-axis head mirror can be operated with either analog or digital VME control electronics.
The dual-axis system provides improved image acquisition, improved target tracking, and maintains the sight aim retinal at the sight's center of view.
The dual-axis system is available in two configurations. The larger assembly is designed for the M1 Abrams head assembly envelope. The smaller unit will fit within the M60 tank or standard M36 sight head periscope sight.
A great book on the M1 Abrams: King Of The Killing Zone
Hats off to Her Majesty's research establishment for the development of Chobham armour.
If you are complaining about HP printer drivers, I think I can just about assure you that you haven't seen the bottom of the barrel - not by a long shot.
Had the software been around when I used a C64 (when they were the state of the art) . .
What do you mean? C64 still is state of the art . . . for 1982.
On the other hand, a clever hack borders on being timeless - for example and inspiration if nothing else.
Certainly in a time of ever greater bloatware it can border on mind-blowing to consider what people used to do, and some still do, in handfuls or hundreds of bytes: The Puzzle
Visual Transistor-level Simulation of the 6502 CPU
Say, that's really great. Now could you show me the list of Hollywood stars out promoting that we put soy in everything? Corn in everything? Where is the parallel to the whole hemp advocacy culture in broader society for anything else? Feel free to get back to me on that.
By the way, I wasn't aware that one post constituted "harping." Maybe that post just seemed like it lasted a really long time to you . . . for some reason?
It should also be noted that super capacitors already have better power density than chemical batteries by a wide margin, and are more than sufficient to replace I.C. engines and gasoline in that respect.
On the other hand they don't provide yet another excuse to incorporate hemp into yet another product or process. I consider hemp to be a sort of "wonder" material, as in, "I wonder what they'll try to put hemp in next just because they can.*" Oh, look! Another item with hemp in it! Surely US hemp policy must be changed now! No doubt it is a useful material, but it is easy to get the impression that hemp advocates are trying just a little too hard. It's also funny how the hemp advocacy often seems to run in parallel with certain other policy advocacy.
* Hemp trousers. Hemp ice cream, hemp sandwich cookies, hemp milk. Hemp capacitors. Really now.
capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment . . .
First set of key words being voluntary refusal. It isn't completely voluntary, is it?
The military has said that some prisoners are pressuring others to join the hunger strike, and that some of those being tube-fed occasionally eat regular meals or voluntarily drink nutritional supplements when they are removed from their cell blocks and are alone with medical personnel. . . -- American Medical Association questions Guantanamo force-feedings
Second set of key words being capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment.
Almost 100 Guantánamo prisoners were classified by the US army as having psychiatric illnesses including severe depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the prison camp files reveal. -- Guantánamo Bay files: Grim toll on mental health of prisoners
100 out of 179 is a pretty big fraction. It is also oddly close to the number of inmates on hunger strike.
The ones that are left in Guantanamo are pretty much the hardcore. They were willing to give their life for the cause if need be. They have previously engaged in synchronized suicide attempts as a political attack. The suicide Jihad continues, just without bombs in this case.
Drug offences are not "ordinary criminal offences". Assault, fraud, and theft are ordinary criminal offenses. Drug prohibition is simply oppressive.
I think the number of countries without some sort of limitation, whether substance, quantity, purity, purpose, or other, is going to be very small. If you want to talk about minor edge cases, as marijuana, that is one thing, heroin is another.
Most of those in Guantanamo are known not to pose a threat, and about a third of them are known to be entirely innocent.
Guantanamo is pretty much down to the hardcore cases now. Of the "innocents" that were outright released, instead of transferred to prison in another country, at least 27% have been found back on the battlefield engaging in Jihad. Several of those released have engaged in infamous attacks.
Which is a war crime. When are the prosecutions going to start?
It could be a war crime . . . if they were protected persons. Unfortunately Al Qaida has made the commission of war crimes a focus of their strategy and thereby forfeits the conventions protections. (Where the "unlawful combatant" classification comes from.) The US has been gracious enough to treat them largely in accordance with the convention nonetheless. Now if this was the 1940s, and it was German soldiers we were talking about, or the 1950s and Korean soldiers, it would be illegal and the two of us would hold the same position.
"On the battlefield"? How about "attending a wedding party [wikipedia.org]"?
That would fall under the "theater of war" following the "battlefield or" part.
But, wedding parties are an interesting topic. It is an unfortunate fact of life that during armed conflict mistakes will occur, and attacks that shouldn't happen, do happen. To the best of my knowledge the NATO forces compensate victims and their families for mistaken attacks in the customary Afghan way. They also try to learn from the mistake and try to not repeat it. On the other hand, the Taliban propagandists aren't shy about accusing NATO forces of attacking "wedding parties" that consist of solely Taliban fighters. Of course, they have their own problems with weddings.
ISAF Discusses Insurgent Propaganda Messaging
17 Afghans beheaded by the Taliban because they danced at a party
No, waterboarding is not meant to maintain hygiene. It is clearly a coercive measure. But coercion doesn't necessarily imply torture legally. Torture has specific legal meaning and tests.
Medical procedures necessary to sustain life are sometime uncomfortable or even painful for a period of time, and can even result in significant damage to the body. Does that make them torture? If US forces found an Al Qaida member who had a suicide bomb charge that detonated prematurely and shredded one of his legs, it is quite likely that it would be medically necessary to preserve his life to apply a tourniquet and then amputate the leg. Is that torture? What if it is the exact same thing that had been done to US soldiers in the same situation, both before and since? Clearly, it isn't torture legally or ethically. If they did the same thing to a healthy, undamaged prisoner, it would be.
If the routine medical procedure is done in the customary manner for the same reason, it is difficult to see how it could be torture, logically.
I realize that was meant to be a frivolous statement, but there's an actual reason for that. The CIA has traditionally recruited from within the 'old boy network' of Ivy League fraternities and secret societies, people whose loyalty to the existing power structure they can pretty much guarantee because they were born into it.
You might want to ask someone how that can work out.
The Cambridge spy ring
Continuing the long Slashdot tradition of "facts are flamebait."
Although sometimes the torture is indeed deliberate policy.
It turns out that this "torture" is a routine medical procedure performed daily for large numbers of people, from infants to the elderly: Feeding tube. Are they being "tortured" too?
So, question for you - if the US authorities were to stop forced feeding, and 60 detainees actually did starve themselves to death, would you complain? I expect so. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, isn't it? What do you think would happen if the threat of starving yourself to death becomes a "get out of jail free card?"
Keep in mind that the Islamists fighting the West do not fight alone, they have allies.
The Leftist-Islamist Alliance in Pictures
It's Official: Leftist-Islamist Alliance against the West
On a related note, can you post any facts on whether the CIA had or has a policy of followup drone strikes . . .
Maybe this will help:
Pakistan Says Drone Strikes Have Been Effective
------
I'm more than beginning to have the disturbing sense that the US government/military has stared too long into the abyss.
The media is having its intended effect.
If you have any brainstorms about how to do this better, I'm sure the Pentagon would love to hear about it. Send them a letter. Maybe something like, "Dear General, I know how you can get all the Al Qaida to stop fighting. All you have to do is ....."
If the next part is, "give up their fringe religious views and dreams of conquering the world for Islam," that isn't going to be very helpful.
Before you think about such a thing, you might want to read up on Al Qaida's goals.
The Future of Terrorism: What al-Qaida Really Wants
That is why there are checks and balances.
Obama waits for probe before condemning IRS; Congress pounces
Having a good overall human rights record doesn't necessarily mean that nothing bad ever happens, but the system should respond to it in an appropriate way.
The AP scandal is pretty fresh, but I have little doubt it will provide the administration some very uncomfortable moments in the months ahead.
The POWs in Guantanamo do get Red Cross visits. As to the rest of their status - in order to receive the full protection of the Geneva Convention as a combatant you have to obey the Law of War. Al Qaida doesn't do that, quite the reverse. Their basic strategy of directly targeting civilian noncombatants constitutes a war crime. They are quite rightly recognized as unlawful combatants. And do note, it isn't that this categorization is unknown internationally, but rather that various advocates refuse to acknowledge that it exists.
The black sites? Last time I looked they were for detention and interrogation.
Now, there are a couple of factors that make these discussions more interesting. First, is the fact that Al Qaida teaches its members to lie about their treatment and not cooperate.
Al Qaeda Manual Drives Detainee Behavior at Guantanamo Bay
. . . Police in Manchester, England, discovered the manual, which has come to be known as the "Manchester document," in 2000 while searching computer files found in the home of a known al Qaeda member. The contents were introduced as evidence into the 2001 trial of terrorists who bombed the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. . .
The closing chapter teaches al Qaeda operatives how to operate in a prison or detention center. It directs detainees to "insist on proving that torture was inflicted" and to "complain of mistreatment while in prison."
Chapter 17 instructs them to "be careful not to give the enemy any vital information" during interrogations.
Another section of the manual directs commanders to teach their operatives what to say if they're captured, and to explain it "more than once to ensure that they have assimilated it." To reinforce the message, it tells commanders to have operatives "explain it back to the commander."
One consequence of this lying, and international pressure on their behalf, is that committed terrorists have been released who then return to Jihad again, killing who knows how many.
Recidivism rises among released Guantanamo detainees
(Reuters) - The proportion of militants released from detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay who subsequently were believed to have returned to the battlefield rose slightly over the last year, according to official figures released on Monday.
In a summary report, the office of the Director of National Intelligence said that 27.9 percent of the 599 former detainees released from Guantanamo were either confirmed or suspected of later engaging in militant activity
Second, as does sometimes happen in war, service members will occasionally exceed their instructions, lose control, or develop a mental illness, and then engage in behavior that constitutes a war crime. Some people want to pretend that those actions are deliberate policy rather than the illegal actions of an individual or particular group. One prime example is the incident at Abu Ghraib. It resulted in a number of American soldiers going to jail, including the infamous Lynndie England. An isolated incident by a small number of soldiers that took an extraordinary number of pictures in a very short time, and gave a black eye to the US military and the United States. The actual events were magnified by the work of the media - the New York Times put stories and/or pictures on the front page 47 times.
Pay? Nobody pays me to post. But I do like to see the discussion occasionally enter the realm of facts even if it aggravates some people.
After all, facts that contradict some political view are "flamebait."
You seem confused, so I'll help you sort it out.
the US with its imprisoning of more people (by absolute numbers and percentage of population) than any other country
They are imprisoned for what are recognizable as ordinary criminal offenses, such as drug offenses. People in the United States are not imprisoned for things like singing songs that insult the president, such as this.
Indefinite detention
You are referring to Prisoners of War. Completely legitimate and a recognized standard. You can keep POWs in detention until the end of the conflict. Unfortunate that they made a bad choice of fighting for Al Qaida.
torture
The US waterboarded a total of three people, the most recent of which was 10 years ago. The US has waterboarded at least thousands, or tens of thousands, of military pilots and special forces personnel both before and since in the same way. It is certainly a form of coercion. But torture has a legal definition, and waterboarding under those circumstances didn't meet that at the time. Or would you claim that the US actually tortured its service members?
summary execution
Killing people on the battlefield or in the theater of war isn't summary execution, but simply killing, and in no way illegitimate. The people killed were in the same status as these people shot dead by the US Government without trial or warrant.
Yeah. The US has credibility when it comes to human rights.
Yes, it does.
Turnabout is fair play.
How the FBI Busted Anna Chapman and the Russian Spy Ring
No surprise - Putin has been trying to drag the US - Russian relationship back to Cold War times. He has become much more provocative with military probes around US territory, and has been dismissive of US diplomats. Apparently it plays well in Russia.
It looks like he is getting his wish. So much for the "reset" in relations.
Klingon Grammar Warriors - stricter than even Grammar Nazis.
Today is a good day to conjugate! Qapla'
It will certainly make designated drivers even more popular.
You can't really make factor 10 improvements indefinitely. Eventually the numbers overwhelm you and you hit roadblocks. The only real solution will ultimately be new computing technology, such as quantum computers.
Oh yeah. You have a "work within the system" and "hope and change" response. Because that works out, so very well.
It's been working for hundreds of years, with degrees of success changing over time, in both the US and UK, and way better than the sort of socialist (or is that communist?) revolution you would prefer*. Why don't you try that in your native Canada first, so we can watch the results before it gets tried in the US?
A big part of the problem is that the news media isn't doing its job. They put their thumb on the scales in favor of Obama, and they still haven't really taken it off. Now, they are reaping their reward - multiple scandals breaking out at once, including the AP incident. It is a simple fact that about 90% of journalists in the US media contribute to Democrats, and probably vote the same. And that should be OK, as long as they report accurately and fairly even on policies they personally desire. But they aren't doing that. They are letting their personal political preferences interfere with their professional obligation. As a result, they cover for the Obama administration, ask friendly questions, continually post stories about "unexpected" outcomes that are bad when they can't otherwise be minimized. It is hard to make good choices for a country when the people and leaders aren't getting good, accurate, information, and that isn't happening. Well, their support of the Obama administration has become a bit strained recently, and it might very well turn shortly. When it does, it won't be pretty for the administration.
It may be already starting.
Obama knee-deep in Nixon-esque scandal (Note: As of posting, this is a front page story on the Boston Herald.)
Republicans could not even have scripted this one. The agency most hated by voters, the Internal Revenue Service, admits to going on a Nixonian witch hunt against Tea Party and conservative groups during the re-election campaign.
This is a story even the most partisan Massachusetts liberal cannot defend. It’s so bad that even Ed Markey is calling for heads to roll.
Now we learn that the Justice Department has secretly obtained the phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors in what appears to be an investigation of an AP story that disclosed details of a CIA operation that stopped a terrorist attack.
Going after the Tea Party is one thing, but the media? What an outrage. Who knows, the press may get so mad they won’t laugh at Obama’s jokes during the next White House Correspondents’ Dinner. . .more
*No, this isn't a troll. The man is very left of centre.
One important difference: the things you list are wrongdoing by private companies. The scandals I listed are wrongdoing by Federal agencies or departments themselves.
But you are right, there does need to be more oversight of that sort of thing.
Doom as a tool for system administration