Earlier this week, we wrote about a significant but often overlooked aspect of the drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen: so-called signature strikes, in which the U.S. kills people whose identities aren’t confirmed. While President Obama and administration officials have framed the drone program as targeting particular members of Al Qaeda, attacks against unknown militants reportedly may account for the majority of strikes.
The government apparently calls such attacks signature strikes because the targets are identified based on intelligence “signatures” that suggest involvement in terror plots or militant activity.
So what signatures does the U.S. look for and how much evidence is needed to justify a strike?
Take a look at this satellite photo:
NORTH DAKOTA: Kuwait on the Prairie
ND is lit up like a Xmas tree! (see upper left corner on photo)
Turn on the lights North Dakota. Many of the people who live there are unhappy about the “boom” because they know it will eventually “bust”. We’ve been through ND on the train several times and it isn’t a pretty place. I’m sure now it’s even worst–people living in make-shift shelters, living in their cars or small travel trailers…….but if you’re desperate for a job, one will do what they need to do.
We are so doomed.
So let me get this straight, we spend millions and possibly billions of dollars on aerial assault vehicles to kill people we do not know because they look suspicious? Then if that is not bad enough we make our own citizens suffer because we choose to spend beyond our means on this slaughter.
We have become the very definition of ‘evil nation’ and unless we cease our aggression will continue to reap the pain of our ‘evil nation’ Karma.
Time for new leadership, these people suck.
Slightly different topic, but it fits…
Den — I read a piece @ the WSJ this a.m. about Bradley Manning — the comments were UGLY, and largely calling for his immediate death.
Some said he should be tried for treason. Others said, No! He didn’t deserve a trial. He should face a firing squad. One commenter said before “our nation’s disintegration” he would have been long gone, but now we “coddle these overzealous so-called patriots.” (paraphrasing slightly)
I think, unfortunately, we have the leadership “we” deserve.
(For some reason, I couldn’t make a link or copy the comments.)
Violence is on the uptick, it’s not surprising there is bloodlust from the stupids, unfortunately they are growing in number.
Redneckification is well underway
Totalitarianism
Fascism promotes the establishment of a totalitarian state.The Doctrine of Fascism states, “The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State—a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values—interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people.” In The Legal Basis of the Total State, Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt described the Nazi intention to form a “strong state which guarantees a totality of political unity transcending all diversity” in order to avoid a “disastrous pluralism tearing the German people apart”.
Fascist states pursued policies of social indoctrination through propaganda in education and the media and regulation of the production of educational and media materials. Education was designed to glorify the fascist movement and inform students of its historical and political importance to the nation. It attempted to purge ideas that were not consistent with the beliefs of the fascist movement and to teach students to be obedient to the state.
@ WIKI
Karma is when one reaps what they sow. “Every cause has its Effect, every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation; but nothing escapes the Law.”
…….The Kybalion
I guess Senator McCain would choose to disagree with you Den and the Law.
Isn’t he one of our oldest “war heroes”? Or should it be “war monger”?
This map shows wells in the new oil boom region of North Dakota
The dots mark the (over) 3,000 wells (all existing wells, including inactive ones are plotted). Each of them extends underground in gigantic 1 or 2-mile long pipes (the gray lines) along an oil-rich layer of oil called the Bakken formation.
The pipes are used for hydraulic fracturing — franking.
This is quite a transformation of a rural area. Self-destruction, American-style.
On another note — Pam should see this cartoon:
Teachers: No such thing as a stupid question
..oops…fracking
OMGosh…….that is so funny…….thanks for the LOL Micki.
Would be funny if the question were not so completely ignorant.
Having some of Michael’s friends over for lunch today. They’re the ones retired Den. Anyway, thought an easy way to entertain them would be to go to my favorite deli and order sandwiches…..then we can enjoy their company instead of spending 50% of the time in the kitchen.
I’m home for the day, so I’ll check back later. I’ve actually been visiting DWF later at night the past week but haven’t posted anything much. AAUW’s next big fundraiser is coming up at the end of March–The Trivia Bee. Committee work will be getting really busy from now on.
Hongry. Gunna gweet.
Gweeted.
What’s It Like to Wake Up From a Tea Party Binge? Just Ask Florida!
Florida is a piece of shit now. Of course, we’ll all soon be as bad as they are. Doomed.
From the link:
WHEN HE RAN FOR governor as a political neophyte in 2010, Rick Scott’s main credential was his vast wealth, much of which he accumulated running Hospital Corporation of America.
During Scott’s tenure, HCA was caught systematically defrauding federal health programs of millions of dollars through elaborate schemes to overbill the government for various services, including care it never provided. In 2000, the company pleaded guilty to 14 federal felony charges and paid $1.7 billion in fines in what was the largest government fraud settlement in history. A few months after the federal investigation was announced, Scott was forced to resign, but not before snagging a $310 million golden parachute.
Scott was not the choice of the state’s GOP establishment, but tea partiers loved him for his opposition to Obamacare and devotion to fiscal austerity, and he won the governorship by a single percentage point in 2010.
In reading comments at various websites, I have come to the conclusion that most Americans are so beholden to the “smaller government, lower taxes” meme that we are, indeed, doomed. Even people who claim to support SS, Medicare and other social safety programs buy into the austerity, lower the deficit hype as the answer to the nation’s problems.
Yup. Lower the DoD, CIA, etc. drain on federal revenue by about US$700 billion.
Comedy