One Drone Thread to Rule them ALL

[justdrew]

well, hopefully some good will come of it, but all that's in the cards is saying "we wont commit extra-judicial murders of americans situated within the country via drones, any other humans are fair game"

I'll NEVER do THAT in THERE with THOSE for SO LONG ever again.

hoping for a more general correction.

[82_28]

Christ almighty. I mean, yeah, fuck Rand Paul. Of course. Except for tonight.
That mangy syphilitic rabid gift horse...still a gift.

Read the transcript of this filibuster when available.
Calculate what percentage of it is exactly, totally on the fucking money.
Marvel that it was this was the most publicized Senate speech in years.
This speech that probably could've been co-ghostwritten by you.

Fourthbase, I have come to really love you. Your shit is awesome and you mostly agree with me, and me you. But I do not need to see a rightist make an argument for something while the rest is left as dust to be swept under the rug. A winger will always be a winger. I do not care if he "was on the money". Fuck him, he is right wing in and of it is defined still to this day. Never trust a winger, ever. We'll see where this goes.

[Laodicean]

[FourthBase]

Christ almighty. I mean, yeah, fuck Rand Paul. Of course. Except for tonight.
That mangy syphilitic rabid gift horse...still a gift.

Read the transcript of this filibuster when available.
Calculate what percentage of it is exactly, totally on the fucking money.
Marvel that it was this was the most publicized Senate speech in years.
This speech that probably could've been co-ghostwritten by you.

Fourthbase, I have come to really love you. Your shit is awesome and you mostly agree with me, and me you. But I do not need to see a rightist make an argument for something while the rest is left as dust to be swept under the rug. A winger will always be a winger. I do not care if he "was on the money". Fuck him, he is right wing in and of it is defined still to this day. Never trust a winger, ever. We'll see where this goes.

Likewise, man.

Yes, some hefty amount of predictable dust swept under.
No, you don't need to see a corporate-whore libertard make that argument.
Yes, Rand Paul is a wingnut douche, for life.
No, don't ever trust him.

All true.

But...

What he did say -- in the opening hours especially, especially when it did not imply the Obama administration is some singular force of injustice -- was on the money, was right up the alley of pretty much anyone here, was spot-da-fuck-on. Would it have been better if Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky and Ayn Rand devotee and all-around dick, had delved more into all the deep politics and corporate forces ultimately behind the warfare in which these drones operate? Uh, yeah. Do you expect Chris Hedges or Sibel Edmonds to be delivering a filibuster tour de force anytime soon on the floor of the US Senate with the eyes of a nation upon him or her? No? Then this is pretty much among the best examples of what you can get now, for maximal exposure of certain righteous arguments against false pretenses for war and signature strikes and the police state and the destruction of civil liberties, etc. Are you, RI member, any more informed or convinced because of Paul's speech? Noooo, hell no. Of course not. You are, of course, in a rarefied percentile of that subset of Americans who care at all and know anything. But guess who is, who was? That semi-intelligent redneck who calls into CSPAN caller shows every week and who before tonight didn't give two diddly shits about drones. The wish-washy moderate local drycleaning tycoon with some disposable income to donate politically. The grandmother who voted for presidents ranging from Ike to Clinton and who loves nothing more than calling her congresswoman and complaining. And only god knows how many others. Frankly, you and I don't matter. We are an infinitesimal fraction of the country, demographic dust. If what one hopes for is not merely a perfect reflection of one's own privileged, complex, thorough perspective as a RI denizen, if what one hopes for in the case of these drone strikes and their treacherous potential to be unleashed at home is simply for none of that to happen, however it happens not to happen, then there can be really no other sensible reaction to Rand Paul's speech other than, well, glee. I'm not suggesting that we start suckling on Rand Paul's presumably tiny genitals. I'm not suggesting that we ever trust that piece of shit. Not even now. Not even a little. It's possible the asshole really does have some narrow ideological principle that happens to overlap a little with the Venn circle labeled "Justice", eh? But, of course: Maybe there's some ulterior motive, right? Hell, surely there is! And yet, if so? It doesn't really fucking matter! Not in any sense of progress toward maybe ending drone atrocities today and maybe preventing them tomorrow. For whatever reason, Rand Paul decided to expound -- at ridiculous length and on a ridiculously-large stage -- upon a set of blazingly good arguments against some aspects of a few of the worst things in the world right now. Don't trust him, ever. But an eternal mistrust for him should have nothing to do with appreciating what that obnoxious clown said and did last night. He struck the biggest, loudest blow against drones so far in history. Is that saying much? No. But it IS something, and it IS something good.

[FourthBase]

Note if the television news stories today will tend to portray the speech this way:

1. Rand Paul last night tried his best to block Brennan's confirmation, and failed.
2. Rand Paul had to eat a granola bar in the middle of his speech, omg!
3. Oh, and something about drones, blah blah whatever.

This was essentially what ABC just did this morning, five minutes ago.

[elfismiles]

White House, Holder respond to Rand Paul: ‘The answer is no’
March 7, 2013 | 1:21 pm | Modified: March 7, 2013 at 2:00 pm

Attorney General Eric Holder wrote Sen. Rand Paul,R-Ky., to confirm that President Obama does not have the authority to kill an American on U.S. soil in a non-combat situation, Obama’s spokesman announced today.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney quoted from the letter that Holder sent to Paul today. “Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on an American soil?” Holder wrote, per Carney. “The answer is no.”

Carney added that, “if the United States were under attack, there were an imminent threat,” the president has the authority to protect the country from that assault.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., criticized Paul for posing the question. “I find the question offensive,” he said on the Senate floor this morning.


http://washingtonexaminer.com/white-hou ... le/2523555

Holder's Letter to Rand Paul: 'No,' the U.S. Can't Use Drone to Kill Citizen Not Engaged in Combat on U.S. Soil

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hol ... 06587.html

[Luther Blissett]

Would it have been better if Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky and Ayn Rand devotee and all-around dick, had delved more into all the deep politics and corporate forces ultimately behind the warfare in which these drones operate? Uh, yeah. Do you expect Chris Hedges or Sibel Edmonds to be delivering a filibuster tour de force anytime soon on the floor of the US Senate with the eyes of a nation upon him or her? No? Then this is pretty much among the best examples of what you can get now, for maximal exposure of certain righteous arguments against false pretenses for war and signature strikes and the police state and the destruction of civil liberties, etc.

Rather than any criticism of the deep state or the military-industrial-corporate complex, I saw the opposite. They expressed worry about threats to the free market, to capitalism, and the congressman from Texas who kept mispronouncing words and mis-comprehending cliches actually cracked Atlas Shrugged and read passages from it.

[FourthBase]

Would it have been better if Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky and Ayn Rand devotee and all-around dick, had delved more into all the deep politics and corporate forces ultimately behind the warfare in which these drones operate? Uh, yeah. Do you expect Chris Hedges or Sibel Edmonds to be delivering a filibuster tour de force anytime soon on the floor of the US Senate with the eyes of a nation upon him or her? No? Then this is pretty much among the best examples of what you can get now, for maximal exposure of certain righteous arguments against false pretenses for war and signature strikes and the police state and the destruction of civil liberties, etc.

Rather than any criticism of the deep state or the military-industrial-corporate complex, I saw the opposite. They expressed worry about threats to the free market, to capitalism, and the congressman from Texas who kept mispronouncing words and mis-comprehending cliches actually cracked Atlas Shrugged and read passages from it.

Yeah, fuck that fucking troll Ted Cruz, he sucks rancid donkey dick and is not worthy of the slightest admiration for even accidentally stepping in a pile of steaming truth, if he did at all. I turned the channel when he appeared. He is the devil incarnate, or might as well be. A living, breathing argument for abolishing high school debate tournaments where only winning matters.

I did not detect all that much of what you did in Rand Paul's opening hours, however.

[Luther Blissett]

Would it have been better if Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky and Ayn Rand devotee and all-around dick, had delved more into all the deep politics and corporate forces ultimately behind the warfare in which these drones operate? Uh, yeah. Do you expect Chris Hedges or Sibel Edmonds to be delivering a filibuster tour de force anytime soon on the floor of the US Senate with the eyes of a nation upon him or her? No? Then this is pretty much among the best examples of what you can get now, for maximal exposure of certain righteous arguments against false pretenses for war and signature strikes and the police state and the destruction of civil liberties, etc.

Rather than any criticism of the deep state or the military-industrial-corporate complex, I saw the opposite. They expressed worry about threats to the free market, to capitalism, and the congressman from Texas who kept mispronouncing words and mis-comprehending cliches actually cracked Atlas Shrugged and read passages from it.

Yeah, fuck that fucking troll Ted Cruz, he sucks rancid donkey dick and is not worthy of the slightest admiration for even accidentally stepping in a pile of steaming truth, if he did at all. I turned the channel when he appeared. He is the devil incarnate, or might as well be. A living, breathing argument for abolishing high school debate tournaments where only winning matters.

I did not detect all that much of what you did in Rand Paul's opening hours, however.

I did not see any of the beginning, so the fears over threats to the capitalist way of life may not have been broached at that point. It seemed like such a silly thing, as I wondered if they ever considered the economic force behind Raytheon, Lockheed, and Boeing, or any other manufacturers of war machines. Perhaps the real confused libertarianism only set in after they started getting tired.

[Karmamatterz]

Elf,

Thanks for posting the letter from el facisto Holder. At least it's on record. Now we need posters and billboards of this plastered all over Amerika.

Oh shit, forgot, we're at war, how UNpatriotic of me to suggest WE ACTUALLY HAVE A FUCKING PRESIDENT WHO HAS THE BALLS TO STAND UP FOR THE CITIZENS. Obamer is a steaming pile of shit as are his sycophant supporters who worship his puny, hairless, impotent balls.

[justdrew]

nothing but lies and baseless fear-mongering to divide and dis-empower. way the fuck too many fall for it. The latest rightwing phantasm.

Bryan Fischer, the director of issues analysis of the fundamentalist American Family Association (AFA), is warning that attending a tea party could be an “excuse” for the government to “vaporize” citizens on U.S. soil.

During his Wednesday Focal Point radio broadcast, Fischer applauded Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for filibustering the confirmation of John Brennan to be the next CIA director over concerns that President Barack Obama was claiming the authority to assassinate American citizens.

“This is what a tyrant does,” the Christian radio host said of Obama. “Tyrants do not want to let people disagree with them, do not want to let them express their opinions if they are critical of the policies of the current regime. That’s how tyrants operate, and what Rand Paul is saying is, ‘That’s the direction we’re going here.’”

“Based on the way the administration is crafting their policy here on the use of drones, you’ve got to be concerned that something you might say at a tea party — something you might say at a tea party would be used as an excuse to drop a drone or a bomb from a drone — a missile from a drone on your house.”

Fischer added: “And you would not even find out about it until you’d been vaporized.”

But in a Thursday speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) lashed out at the paranoia coming from Paul’s supporters.

“The chance of you being killed by a drone because you go to a tea party rally or a MoveOn.org rally or any other political rally or you’re just chatting on the Internet quietly at home by your government through the use of a drone is zero,” Graham insisted. “Under this administration and future administrations. And if that day did ever happen, the president of the United States or whoever ordered such an attack would have committed murder and would be tried. I don’t worry about that.”

Watch this video from the American Family Association’s Focal Point, broadcast March 6, 2013.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/07/bryan-fischer-attending-tea-party-is-an-excuse-to-be-vaporized-by-a-drone/

[FourthBase]

I see people on FB linking to a Joshua Foust pseudo-takedown of Paul's filibuster.
Just in any case any of you here were unaware and saw the same article, this is Foust:

http://exiledonline.com/tag/joshua-foust/

And as evidence that Foust and many of his colleagues in the media across the spectrum were willfully full of shit in their criticisms of Paul's filibuster, here's a link to the entire transcript:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... full.story

Read the first two hours, at least.

[justdrew]

drone pilots, the "Chairborne" division

[justdrew]

[Karmamatterz]

While browsing Cryptome yesterday I found two links that provide a great deal of info regarding drones.

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B9eua ... hari&pli=1

Some of the docs on Scrib require a paid login, but there is still a ton of stuff.

http://www.scribd.com/collections/3807680/Drone-Info