Eric Holder: Drone Strike To Kill U.S. Citizen On American Soil Legal, Hypothetically
GASP!!!
This headline at the top causes the heart to stop within the chest and folks start getting really angry and scared . . .
The Problem?: The reality of this is FAR FROM THE HEADLINE!
You have to read on further to digest the nuance . . . but most folks will NOT DO SO!
They’ll see the headline and not really go further: Too busy, no time, generally apathetic due to years of ‘practice’, etc.
The problem is most folks won’t get to the more useful rendering of this ‘story’ that is framed with the relevant perspective.
In a curious turn of events, the administration will itself now be ‘droned’.
Now there are various definitions of ‘drone’ . . .
Drone means a male bee that is bred for one purpose.
Drone could refer to repetitive, constant, unchanging sound or from wikipedia:
“ . . . a continuous note or chord, or the part of various musical instruments that produces such a sound.”
The underlying meanings in the above definitions, taken together, is lack of sophistication, predictability, uni-dimensional, unwavering, mindless . . . and as a result impervious to outside stimuli or forces, circumstances . . . even facts or something as omnipresent as REALITY will not change the trajectory of the coming, expected ‘tact’ or actions.
So too will our media/press do the same, and almost at ‘their’ bidding, so too will my fellow Liberal pundits and personalities. The Entertainment Model of our Press strikes again . . . ‘Drone Strike’ if you will. Also, If I know my fellow Liberals, their arsenal of rhetorical and political ‘drones’ have already exited their various ‘e’ and media ‘silos’.
Sigh . . .
Holder said:
"The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States," Holder wrote.
But the Press will ONLY RUN WITH:
“It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.”
NO mention of:
"The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront.”
or the preceding:
The Obama administration, Holder said, rejected the use of military force where "well-established law enforcement authorities in this country provide the best means for incapacitating a terrorist threat."
Fact: We 'kill' US citizens on US Soil via the US Government EVERY DAY! We do so sometimes with extreme prejudice and sometimes without Due Process. This would be different . . . how?
Rand Paul asks a politically vituperative and 'noisy' question that is totally speculative with practically NO CHANCE of being a reality . . . in order to 'ding' the administration AS IF IT IS SOMETHING IN THEIR REPERTOIRE NOW!??
And my fellow Liberals are only happy to ‘help’ him out.
“It’s . . . it’s DRONES! Aaaugh!”
Yes us Liberals waxing poetically again in ‘fear-mongery’ ‘bliss’ that there is absolutely no circumstance under which drones should be used here . . . or overseas for that matter.
Fact: Administration AGREES with you, at least on the first part in that is HIGHLY UNLIKELY . . .
"The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront.”
Can’t take ‘Yes’ for answer?
Folks are making this sound like if the administration is just 'willy-nilly' thinking about bombing you while you walk your dog . . .!
Or something like that . . .
People STOP with the histrionics and hyperventilating!
The PRESS is ‘distracting you’ again and reaping the overreaction for ratings!
Be sane. Be grounded for crying out loud!
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
Unless you put Republicans totally in charge of all three branches of government and all levels of courts are stacked full of hard right Conservatives . . . then all bets are off!
The fact of the matter is this: THIS ADMINISTRATION will NOT be doing this ‘great evil’ to the public . . . BUT . . . unless Congress gets off their ASSES and passes some meaningful legislation to make such a possibility IMPOSSIBLE . . . then a Future President, a less scrupulous one out of the Cheney 2.0 mold might ‘try it’.
To stop this we need Congress to do ‘something’ but . . .
. . . Congress acts ONLY if IMMENSE PRESSURE is applied by ‘YOU’ out there and . . .
. . . ‘You’ won’t be able to do anything useful or effective until you’ve truly understand how your government works and start receiving REAL, and politically-useful info towards that end . . .
. . . and our Press CONSTITUTIONALLY is charged with that job!
They’ve STOPPED doing that ‘job’ DECADES ago . . .
Instead they’ve hyped-up our fears and leave out key disclaimers, neglect to air other relevant facts, cut and snip statements, present stories without the relevant perspective and all sorts of other ‘dishonesties’ frankly. This has resulted in an exponential growth of a ‘fear/ignorance/xenophobic/dogmatic’ ‘quotient’ in the public, that keeps us divided and distracted from the truth about what is going on at all levels of our society.
So now we’re easily ‘led around by the collective nose’ by stories like THIS.
Want more examples?
The Birther movement too is a DIRECT result of the Press’ failings.
That folks are actually contemplating replacing Evolution with Creationism in ANY school across this nation . . . is yet ANOTHER Press failing.
I could go on . . . Defense Policy, Economic Policy, Social Policy . . . the Press has failed us BADLY!
We exist in silos of rhetoric and policy that are divorced from and actually allergic to reality and facts . . . due to our Public Infotainment Complex . . . formerly known as the Press or the Fourth Estate.
So now I’ll have to endure days and days of a Rachel Maddow or some other Liberal or a Libertarian blowhard go off on the Administration . . .
“How could he . . .!??”
And all I’ll be able to do is shake my head and sigh . . . as my fellow Liberals and the Press ‘drone’ the administration repeatedly with pious, surreal, blatantly-sensational, commentary, ‘lamentations and wailing’ . . . while the fabric of this country . . . the very IDEA of this country, slowly burns in the burgeoning, nuclear, mushroom-cloud of political atrophy and self-mutilation . . . driven by the winds of apathy, proud ignorance, fear and a resurgent, ‘qualified/legitimized’ prejudices/bigotry . . .
. . . With this grotesquery that masquerades as our Press, ‘gleefully’ controlling the direction and wind speed of this ‘fan’ . . . as ‘spare change’ occasionally falls from the overly-bulging pockets of the operators, ringing with a sad echo on the charred, granite-like surface on which America’s Best Traditions once stood.
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