Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Illegal Immigration Propaganda [Simpson]

Guest post by James Simpson, Accuracy in Media

As we once again face the specter of illegal alien amnesty, and the permanent Democratic majority it will guarantee, it is critical to understand how the Left plays. They are unethical to the core, but we are so frequently deluded by their tactical use of language and emotion, that we are unequipped to deal with them effectively. The result: they win. This cannot happen again, unless we are all willing to start calling Obama “President for Life,” and Democrats, the “Commissars.”

Introduction

Changes in public perception happen gradually. This is a natural human survival strategy that mistrusts the unfamiliar. A campaign of public education has become necessary to help convince a wary public to accept new ideas or policies that might otherwise take too much time. But there is a difference between education and propaganda.

Our society relies for its security, stability and prosperity, indeed, its survival, on the rule of law. So the idea of giving special privileges to individuals whose very presence is prima facie evidence of lawbreaking, is instinctively rejected. It cannot be otherwise. To grant special privileges to criminals upends and subverts the rule of law on which we depend.

Our nation’s laws constitute a contract that every citizen implicitly agrees to respect. Those who violate it face sanctions of corresponding severity. If certain individuals can avoid sanction and gain special privilege through political power—despite their blatant violations—then the rule of law becomes meaningless, and is replaced by a society based on political power alone. That is called dictatorship. Yet this is what the illegal immigration lobby wants us to accept.

When individuals or organizations attempt to introduce ideas that are self-evidently destructive, like Nazism or communism, for example, a campaign based on propaganda is necessary. Unlike factual information, propaganda manipulates, using fear and instinct in combination with known psychological reactions. It is evident that the illegal alien lobby uses these methods.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

But don't worry, folks: Melissa Harris-Perry will succeed where Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot failed

Not only is the nutty professor -- Melissa Harris-Perry of MSNBC -- agitating for collectivization of child-rearing, now she's articulated her own "Bill of Rights":

Americans will always want some level of inequality, because it’s a representation of meritocracy. People who work hard and sacrifice and save their money and make major contributions — we think that they should earn a little more. They should have more resources, and that’s fine. But we also, however, have to have a floor under which nobody falls.


And if you’re below that — especially if you’re a child and you’re below that — we are not going to accept that. You do have the the right to health care, and to education, and to decent housing and to quality food at all times.

Alleged Professor Harris-Perry is either a Communist or unspeakably ignorant, because her bill of particulars bears an uncanny resemblance to the Soviet Union's Constitution of 1936, which guarantees the rights of the people including:

...Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to work, that is, are guaranteed the right to employment and payment for their work in accordance With its quantity and quality...

ARTICLE 119. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to rest and leisure...

ARTICLE 120. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to maintenance in old age and also in case of sickness or loss of capacity to work...

ARTICLE 121. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to education...

ARTICLE 122. Women in the U.S.S.R. are accorded equal rights with men in all spheres [including] prematernity and maternity leave with full pay, and the provision of a wide network of maternity homes, nurseries and kindergartens...

Not to worry, folks: Ol' Missy's certain she can get the whole central planning thing down this time. And if it costs 10 or 20 or 50 or 60 million lives to do so, as it did in the 20th century, that's okay. She's doing it for the children.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Our Response to North Korea [Papa B]

Papa B emails:


Ironic: the same Democrats that ridiculed Reagan's missile defense initiative are also the first to beg the Pentagon for protection using those very same systems.


Monday, April 08, 2013

Fed Training Material: Evangelical Christians, Catholics and Jews are Among the Most Dangerous Extremist Groups

And the hits just keep on coming:

The Obama administration ... was caught training U.S. troops that Catholics, orthodox Jews, and evangelical Christians are to be considered “religious extremists,” [PDF] even equating the major religions representing more than half of Americans with truly violent groups such as al-Qaeda, the Ku Klux Klan, and Hamas... Now, critics are calling for an immediate public apology to the soldiers exposed to the hateful propaganda, as well as to the Christian and Jewish communities targeted in the presentation...


...Between evangelical Christians and orthodox Jews was the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamo-socialist group ruling over [the same] Egypt that Obama is supplying with advanced military weaponry including fighter jets and tanks — not to mention billions more in aid. Along with the Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, the Nation of Islam, a Filipino Islamist group, and Hamas were listed, along with Sunni Muslims in general. The U.S. government claims to be at war with some of the Islamist groups, while others are openly receiving American taxpayer dollars, weapons, and training from the administration...

Well, that's not confusing.

Considering this administration now demands "obedience" of its trainees, portraying the most peaceful people on Earth as homicidal nut-jobs is par for the course.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Anonymous leaks sensitive data from Israeli defense firm Decell

BadBlue Tech, the automated tech news portal, points us to a file of sensitive data leaked a few hours ago by Anonymous (PDF):

1. #Anonymous #OpIsrael
2.
3. Greetings Citizens of the world,
4.
5. This is Anonymous.
6.
7. Decell Inc. is (apparently) a privately held company founded in
2000, fully owned by Israel ministry of defense.
8. Decell Technologies Ltd.,” Decell “ leverages its unique
technology to provide accurate, real-time traffic information to
public services, private traffic management companies and not
surprisingly Israeli intelligence services (MOSSAD & Shin Bet).
9. Using sophisticated analysis of different raw data sources such as
CFCD (Celluar Floating Car Data) and GPS (Global Positioning
System) Decell provides GIS (Geographic Information System)
services to both MOSSAD and Shin Bet.
10. Colonel Abraham (Avi) Peri acts as current CEO of Decell, He
served as CEO for number of high-tech companies, and earlier, as a
Colonel in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). He was in charge of
all computer centers and software development activities in the
IDF! (He is just too sexy!)
11.
12. Source:
(http://www.decell.com/About_Us/Board_of_Directors/board.html)
13.
14. Now after all of this impressive introduction it is our
pleasure to announce that we have managed to hack Decell servers,
acquiring some highly sensitive information, including exact GPS
coordinates of every City, Highway, Streets and of course every
sensitive buildings located within Israel boarders!
15.
16. We are asking every Zionist around the world to pay careful
attention to the following statement:
17.
18. You have a CHOICE to make, either
19.
20. STOP MURDERING CIVILIANS, WOMEN AND CHILDREN,
21. STOP MASS-KILLING PALESTINIANS,
22. STOP STEALING PALESTINIANS LAND,
23.
24. Or ELSE
25.
26. WE WILL PUBLISH MORE OF WHAT WE HAVE GOT, INCLUDING
COORDINATES OF SPECIAL BUILDINGS!
27. THEN HAMAS MISSILES WOULDN'T LAND IN DESERT OR OCEAN THIS
TIME..........
28.
29. Here are some sample of what we have access to:
30.
31. Decell customers usernames and passwords...

Of course, a quick review of the full, illustrated history of Israel would clear up any misconceptions about the Middle East. Namely, which side advances civilization and which promotes barbarism.


Saturday, April 06, 2013

HEH: Kim Jong-un Joins Swedish Morning Show

North Korea's pudgy, psychopathic, mass-murdering dictator Kim Jong-un appears to have a hobby:

Steven J. Gibbons points us to this “Unfortunate background graphic on Swedish morning TV.”


Un speaks Swedish? Who knew?


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Friday, April 05, 2013

PARTY ON, BARTH: Kim Jong-un targets Japan and U.S. with ballistic nukes as Obama parties and fundraises

Say, do you remember Hillary Clinton's anti-Obama commercials that depicted a hypothetical President Barack sleeping through a 3am emergency call?

Here's the President's schedule this week interspersed with some minor, inconsequential events like a foreign power declaring nuclear war on the U.S.


Back to Hillary Clinton's 3am commercials. Hell, she could have depicted the phone ringing at 3pm or any other damn time of day.

This president couldn't care less. His priorities are sleeping, partying, giving speeches, fundraising, and destroying the country -- starting with the Bill of Rights. Pretty much in that order. As the assassination of our ambassador to Libya proved and this week's troubling events confirm.


Hat tip: BadBlue Uncensored News.

Thursday, April 04, 2013

A Growing Jihadist Threat in Europe [Stratfor]

By Scott Stewart, Stratfor Research Vice President of Analysis, and Sidney Brown

On March 26, the Belgian federal police's counterterrorism force, or Special Units, conducted a felony car stop on Hakim Benladghem, a 39-year-old French citizen of Algerian extraction. When Benladghem reacted aggressively, he was shot and killed by the police attempting to arrest him. The Special Units chose to take Benladghem down in a car stop rather than arrest him at his home because it had intelligence indicating that he was heavily armed. The authorities also knew from their French counterparts that Benladghem had been trained as a paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion.

Additional intelligence showed that Benladghem had traveled extensively and that, through his travels and email and cellphone communications, he appeared to be connected to the international jihadist movement. Rather than risk a confrontation at Benladghem's apartment, where he had access to an arsenal of weapons as well as a ballistic vest and helmet, the police decided to arrest him while he was away from home and more vulnerable. The Belgian authorities did not want to risk a prolonged, bloody siege like the one that occurred in April 2012 in Toulouse, France, when French police attempted to arrest shooter Mohammed Merah.

The intelligence regarding Benladghem's arsenal was confirmed when a search of his apartment revealed several weapons, including an assault rifle, a submachine gun and a tactical shotgun. He also possessed a large collection of tactical equipment, including a ballistic vest, a Kevlar helmet, a ballistic shield and two gas masks. With such equipment and training, Benladghem would have been well-equipped to not only handle an assault on his apartment but also to conduct an armed assault -- intelligence indicating that he was preparing to conduct such an attack March 27 is reportedly what led the police to try to arrest him. Authorities are still closely guarding the identities of Benladghem's targets, but given France's involvement in the case, it is likely they were transnational in nature; there are a number of such targets in Brussels, which houses NATO and EU headquarters.

Belgian authorities are now undoubtedly working with their European and other allies to investigate Benladghem's contacts in order to determine the scope of the network he was a part of and what threat his associates still pose. This potential threat is a reminder of the challenges that radicalized European Muslims present for European authorities.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

THE CAUSE OF NORTH KOREA'S BELLICOSITY? Two of Kim Jong-un's Attack Submarines are Missing

Wondering why North Korea, after decades of low-level trouble-making, has escalated its rhetoric to "Condition Red"?


Perhaps two missing attack subs might explain it.

Chosun TV is reporting that South Korean military have lost contact with two North Korean submarines that left their naval base in Hwanghae Province a few days ago.


There has obviously been a lot of changes between last week and now and South Korean military officials suggested that while maneuvers in February were nothing meaningful, now it is provocation.

The two 'torpedo' subs are small 130-ton, 30-meter, 10-man machines that can stay submerged for three-to-four days.

If the situation wasn't so dicey, it would be hilarious. The same Democrats who condemned missile defense for decades -- beginning with ridiculing Reagan's SDI as "Star Wars" -- are now scurrying around trying to find Patriot-style systems to keep their own skins safe.

Pathetic, unpatriotic pond-scum. Which is why the Democrat Party is not-so-fondly known as the Party of Weakness.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

North Korean Deklaration of Konflict Kaption Kontest

North Korea announced Saturday that it has entered a state of war against South Korea. In a special statement, the North said it will deal with every inter-Korean issue in a wartime manner.

Therefore Zero Hedge is running the obligatory caption contest with this gem:


The best captions thus far?

• "...and the last nuke is for Florida Gulf Coast University for busting my NCAA bracket."
• "Why would I want billions, when I can have millions? How do you spell 'War'?"
• "For the love of God, where's Rodman?"

• "Anyone notice the iMac on his desk!? Long live Jobs!"
• "...and clam chowder, and a large bowl of chili con carne, and a side order of bacon, with sour cream, and cream-filled doughnuts, ice cream with marshmallow topping, and chocolate syrup, and..."
• "Wasn't he the guy that made that Gangnam Style video?"

• "Dear Un, if you are going to take a shot, aim at the District of Criminals."
• "Hory shit! According to my carcurations, I rost f---ing errything in Cyprus! Damn you, Deeser-broom!!! Damn you straight to herr!!!"
• Is that a Bic pen he is using to plot the overthrow of western civilization?

• "Dear Pen Pal, I was so happy to get your letter. I have just returned home from a trip to threaten the world powers. I am 30 years old and have worked really hard to destabilize the region. It has been very difficult to carry on ever since my father died..."
• "Dear Steve, My dogs and I were working on this new nuke project plan, but every time I try the save on iCloud, I get 'Server not found - check your internet connection'. What is going on? Also what is this yellow cable for? Un"

• "Hmmm... So I can save money if I use FedEx"
• "It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip. It's probably the best drawing I've ever done."
• "Let's see ... they have three longbowmen to my two horse archers. They get additional strength for city defense. I'm going to need the war elephants."


Related: Don't miss The 15 Funniest Staged Kim Jong-un Military Photos.


15 Funniest Staged Kim Jong-un Military Photos

I don't know where these photos came from (they were emailed to me without attribution), but my guess is they don't do what they're supposed to do. That is, if the intent was to strike fear into the hearts of imperialistic running-dog lackeys otherwise known as Americans.

"So if you hit the asteroid with one of your missiles, it breaks apart like this."

"I'll be damned!  It is David Hasselhoff!"

"Hey, schmucks: does the lack of tread-marks anywhere on this field mean what I think it does?"

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Drug Cartels Now Control the Southern Border So Thoroughly That U.S. Media is Too Scared to Report on Border Crime

JudicialWatch reports that the U.S. southern border is so porous -- and violent illegals so prevalent here -- that American media has been frightened into submission.

Mexican, U.S. Media Too Scared To Cover Border Crime


Violence along the southern border has gotten so out of control that both Mexican and American journalists have stopped reporting it out of fear that drug cartels will retaliate against them and their families.

This means Americans will be kept in the dark about the crisis along the porous and increasingly dangerous Mexican border. We certainly can’t expect the truth from the government. Remember that the nation’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, insists that the region is “as secure as it has ever been.” This delusional assessment has been repeated by Napolitano over and over again in a seemingly desperate effort to make people believe it.

...First Mexican journalists dropped like flies, either as victims of drug-cartel violence or out of fear, and stopped reporting crime in the region. U.S. journalists located in American border cities soon followed and have stopped reporting on drug-related violence.

“Mexican journalists, because of fear for their own lives and the safety of their families, are increasingly reluctant to cover drug cartels’ violence and mayhem,” according to Lee Maril, the director of the Center for Diversity and Inequality Research (CDIR)... "What has occurred in recent months is that American reporters located in American border cities also have stopped reporting on drug-related violence across the border for the same reasons as their Mexican counterparts.”

That means no one really knows the true magnitude of the violence, though it’s apparent that the U.S. government is downplaying it. “It would seem that drug violence only stops at the Mexican border in the imaginations of Washington politicians,” Maril says, offering a recent example in Reynosa, the twin border city of McAllen in south Texas. A small local newspaper reporter dared to publish this: “Fear and panic filled the streets as rival gunmen battled during a three-hour firefight that saw automatic weapons and grenades used.”

Judicial Watch has for years reported on the discrepancy between reality and the administration’s line that the Mexican border is secure. The truth is that overwhelmed federal agents are increasingly attacked by heavily armed drug smugglers and the U.S. Border Patrol has ordered officers to avoid the most crime-infested stretches because they’re “too dangerous” and patrolling them could result in an “international incident” of cross border shooting.

The violence has inevitably spilled into U.S. communities near the southern border, forcing local law enforcement agencies to create special units dedicated to combating criminal activity related to illegal immigration and Mexican drug cartels. In the absence of federal action, border crime has risen sharply in the last decade and will only get worse, according to statistics provided to congressional leaders by frustrated Arizona authorities.

To sum things up:

• The Obama administration is preventing states like Arizona from enforcing immigration laws and reducing attendant violent crime.

• It is also trying to prevent states like Arizona from enforcing voter ID laws to ensure only legal citizens are able to cast ballots.

• And now that millions of illegal aliens are here -- including tens or hundreds of thousands of violent gang members -- the White House is letting them loose on our streets and insisting we put them on a path to citizenship (while keeping the border wide open).

Is it okay to question the Democrats' patriotism yet?


Image hat tip: PoliceMag.com.

White House Approves Program Allowing Saudi Citizens To Bypass Normal Airport Security, Wounded Marines Not So Much

As Weasel Zippers observes, "Because only 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 came from the Wahhabi kingdom:"

Special Travel Benefit for Saudis a "Slap in the Face"


Saudi Arabia, the nation which produced 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attacks, is about to become one of a handful of countries whose travelers can bypass normal passport controls at major U.S. airports. Sources tell the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) that this will mark the first time that the Saudi government will have a direct role in vetting who is eligible for getting fast-tracked for entry into the United States.

An agreement to accept Saudi Arabian applicants into the Global Entry trusted traveler program drew little notice when it was announced in January. Now, some officials question why the country merits such a benefit – which is similar to a theme park “fast pass” to avoid long lines – when other allies like Germany and France are not yet included...

Travelers approved for the program can skip the normal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lines starting next year and enter the country after providing their passports and fingerprints at a kiosk. Only Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands currently enjoy the benefit...

Would that the White House have as much concern for our military personnel:

TSA agents 'humiliated' wounded Marine with aggressive inspection: report


Transportation Security Administration inspectors forced a wounded Marine who lost both of his legs in an IED blast and who was in a wheelchair to remove his prosthetic legs at one point, and at another point to stand painfully on his legs while his wheelchair was examined, according to a complaint a congressman has registered with the TSA.

Rep. Duncan Hunter said in his letter Monday that the Marine, who is still on active duty and showed TSA agents his military identification, was still forced to undergo that scrutiny.

“A TSA office asked the Marine to stand and walk to an alternate area, despite the fact that he physically could not stand or walk on his own. With numerous TSA officers sitting and unwilling to assist, an officer then made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a secondary screening location where he was asked again to stand, with extraordinary difficult, while his wheelchair was examined for explosives,” Mr. Hunter said.

He also said TSA officers initially directed the Marine to the wrong line, then made him move lines but made no effort to help him. The incident occurred at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport last week, as a group of Marines was returning to San Diego.

Mr. Hunter included two photos of the inspection in his letter that appear to show a TSA agent patting down the Marine’s arm and examining the prosthetic leg.

It's all about priorities with this administration.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

RESET: White House Map of Israel Uses Pre-1967 "Holocaust Borders"

How many wars have been fought and tens of thousands of Israeli lives lost fighting for the tiny strip of land that is the last bastion of Western Civilization in the Middle East? Not enough, it would seem, for the Obama administration that has decided to travel back in time to the early 20th century.

The map of the Middle East displayed in an Obama administration video released days before President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel shows the Jewish state dispossessed of substantial parts of its current territory, including its capital.

The map of Israel, displayed repeatedly during the video, shows the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, northern Israel, and areas surrounding what is currently the West Bank as non-Israeli territory...

The Golan Heights is shown as part of Syria; Jerusalem is shown as part of the West Bank; and northern Israel is shown as part of Lebanon... The itinerary on the White House website also implies that Jerusalem is neither Israel’s capital nor even part of Israel.

The president’s schedule lists two stops in “Tel Aviv, Israel” and one in “Amman, Jordan” but his activities in Israel’s capital city are identified as taking place only in “Jerusalem” — with no country name attached.

If the Obama administration wants to return the Middle East borders to those of the early 20th century, I say: let's start with Saudi Arabia!


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

A New Reality in U.S.-Israeli Relations [Stratfor Research]

Guest post by George Friedman, Founder and Chairman of Stratfor Research

U.S. President Barack Obama is making his first visit to Israel as president. The visit comes in the wake of his re-election and inauguration to a second term and the formation of a new Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Normally, summits between Israel and the United States are filled with foreign policy issues on both sides, and there will be many discussed at this meeting, including Iran, Syria and Egypt. But this summit takes place in an interesting climate, because both the Americans and Israelis are less interested in foreign and security matters than they are in their respective domestic issues.

In the United States, the political crisis over the federal budget and the struggle to grow the economy and reduce unemployment has dominated the president's and the country's attention. The Israeli elections turned on domestic issues, ranging from whether the ultra-Orthodox would be required to serve in Israel Defense Forces, as other citizens are, to a growing controversy over economic inequality in Israel.

Inwardness is a cyclic norm in most countries. Foreign policy does not always dominate the agenda and periodically it becomes less important. What is interesting is at this point, while Israelis continue to express concern about foreign policy, they are most passionate on divisive internal social issues. Similarly, although there continues to be a war in Afghanistan, the American public is heavily focused on economic issues. Under these circumstances the interesting question is not what Obama and Netanyahu will talk about but whether what they discuss will matter much.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Sends Nuclear-Capable B-52s Over Korea as Warning to Non-Nobel Peace Prize Winner

As the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to direct the killings of over 4,700 individuals using drone-based warfare (including children, if the Puffington Roast is to be believed) and to reverse himself on a missile defense shield, President Obama added another feather to his hawk cap this week:

AP: Pentagon highlighting bomber missions in Korea


The United States is flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers on training missions over South Korea to highlight Washington's commitment to defend an ally amid rising tensions with North Korea, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said one B-52 flew over South Korea on March 8, and the deputy defense secretary, Ashton Carter, said during a visit to Seoul that another bomber mission is scheduled for Tuesday.

B-52 bombers are capable of launching nuclear-armed cruise missiles, but Little said those participating in the Korean exercise are not armed with nuclear weapons... the Pentagon used the occasion to draw attention to the role B-52 bombers play as part of an American nuclear "umbrella" over South Korea and Japan - both of which feel threatened by North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

"We're deeply concerned about North Koreans behavior and rhetoric," Little told reporters.

In a more dramatic demonstration of that concern, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday announced that the U.S. is beefing up its defenses against a potential North Korean missile attack on the U.S. He said that over the coming four years the Pentagon will add 14 missile interceptors to the 26 it already has in place at Fort Greely, Alaska, at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

Obama's reversal on a missile-defense shield is particularly troubling. As The Wall Street Journal puts it, his about-face represents a "A tacit admission that the U.S. will soon be vulnerable to attack."


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Stuxnet, the first known cyber-weapon, found to have been introduced into Iran years earlier than originally thought

Symantec recently released a fascinating report on an early version of Stuxnet that it dubs version 0.5. It too appears to have been specifically developed to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities by targeting the centrifuges hat perform uranium enrichment.

• Stuxnet 0.5 is the oldest known Stuxnet version to be analyzed, in the wild as early as November 2007 and in development as early as November 2005.
• Stuxnet 0.5 was less aggressive than Stuxnet versions 1.x and only spread through infected [Siemens Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)] Step 7 projects [which control centrifuges].
• Stuxnet 0.5 contains an alternative attack strategy, closing valves within the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, Iran, which would have caused serious damage to the centrifuges and uranium enrichment system as a whole.


The success of Stuxnet 0.5 remains unknown. However, the chart in figure 4 references uranium enrichment production at Natanz to key milestones of Stuxnet development. Interesting events are dips in feed or production amounts and lower levels of production given the same or greater feed amounts (shown as gaps between the two lines).

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Shocker: Vintage Media Censored News of Sen. Paul's Historic Filibuster

For the drones, progressives, and other miscreants who rely upon the likes of The New York Times or The Washington Post for their "news", suffice it to say that they missed out completely on yesterday's historic and bi-partisan filibuster led by Rand Paul. It's like it never happened.

Yesterday, Rand Paul embarked upon a nearly 12-hour-long standing filibuster. The filibuster’s ostensible purpose and practical effect was to delay a vote on John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA. It’s real purpose, though, was to force Attorney General Eric Holder to answer a straightforward question: “Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?” ...


...Paul not only managed to derail the scheduled vote for John Brennan, he forced Eric Holder to answer his question [with a 'no'.]

As Senator Ted Cruz, a renowned litigator, observed last night, Holder's obfuscations and deflections are outrageous. The question isn't a difficult one:

If a citizen of the United States is, say, sitting in a cafe inside the country -- not posing an imminent threat to anyone -- does the president have the authority to order a drone strike and assassinate that person?

Of course not. Any pre-law student could tell you that.

As for antique media? For the most part, they completely ignored this historic question and resulting filibuster of the ostensible CIA director, just as they censored news of Operation Fast and Furious and Benghazi-gate.

The basic information surrounding these deadly scandals, which resulted in the murders of at least a half-dozen U.S. officials -- has never been released by the Obama administration.

And legacy media could care less.

Which is why I use BadBlue News to go around the media. I don't need any progressive Statists censoring my news.


Wednesday, March 06, 2013

ERIC HOLDER: You know, on second thought, maybe the President isn't allowed to randomly assassinate American citizens on U.S. soil

I love Ted Cruz. I mean, in an extremely manly and purely platonic way. The guy is a mensch, which is why so many conservatives adore the man. Not that I expect the ludicrous Karl Rove-Jeb Bush-John Boehner-Beltway Cocktail Circuit-Neo-Statist Wing of the Republican Party to understand.

Cruz gets it.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice sent shockwaves through the nation when Attorney General Eric Holder informed Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in writing that the White House would be within its legal authority to execute an American citizen via drone on U.S. soil if that person was determined to pose a threat to national security. On Wednesday, testifying before a Senate panel, Holder was prodded repeatedly about this assertion by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Holder eventually admitted that it would not be constitutional to execute an American citizen without due process.

“In your legal judgment, does the Constitution allow a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil to be killed by a drone?” Cruz asked Holder pointedly.

“For sitting in a café and having a cup of coffee? ... I would not think that that would be an appropriate use of any kind of lethal force,” Holder replied.

“With all respect, Gen. Holder, my question wasn’t about appropriateness or prosecutorial discretion. It was a simple legal question,” Cruz clarified.

“This is a hypothetical, but I would not think, that in that situation, the use of a drone or lethal force would not be appropriate,” Holder replied.

“I have to tell you I find it remarkable that in that hypothetical, which is deliberately very simple, you are not able to give a simple, one-word answer: no,” Cruz added. He said he think that his scenario would constitute a “deprivation of life without due process.”

Holder agreed and added that lethal force in Cruz’s case “would not be appropriate.”

You keep saying appropriate – my question isn’t about propriety,” Cruz goaded. “My question is about whether something is constitutional or not.”

When Cruz was about to abandon his line of questioning after a number of equivocations from Holder, the attorney general clarified that he was saying “no” such actions would not be constitutional.

Gee, I'm glad we clarified that part of the Constitution, which admittedly is confusing because it is well over 100 years old, right, Ezra Klein?


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.