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Oman says it has accepted 10 inmates from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay ahead of President Barack Obama leaving office.
[...] Oman said it accepted the prisoners at Obama's request. It did not name the prisoners.
"To meet a request by the US government to assist in settling the issue of the detainees at Guantanamo, out of consideration of their humanitarian situation, 10 people released from that prison arrived in the Sultanate of Oman for a temporary residency," a foreign ministry statement said.
19 of the remaining 55 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were cleared for release just days ago.
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Oman Receives Ten Detainees Released From Guantanamo
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The clothes have no emperor.
-- C. A. R. Hoare, commenting on ADA.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @06:30PM
> Let's just ignore the democratic super majority he had for nearly 2 years.
This excuse gets trotted out for everything the republicans obstructed.
It presumes that Obama could have done everything he planned to do in the first 2 years of his presidency.
Never mind the logistical issues with cramming it all in the 2 years that were the biggest political fight of recent memory - Obamacare. It also depends on Obama being a fortune-teller. He could not know that the republicans would be so unified in opposing every single thing the democrats would do. Maybe that is on Obama for not realizing how incredibly disciplined the republicans would be at nihilism. But its a stretch to blame the guy for having faith that people in government where there to make government work. That they might disagree on the means, but that they still agreed on the concept of good governance.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday January 17 2017, @07:04PM
You'll have to wait a few hours for mod points to refill, sorry.
Obama came in trying to undo the Bush-era divisions and hyper-partisanship. The democrats could have passed anything, but they spent too much time trying to get the republicans to buy in the ideas, so dems would be protected against accusations of abusing their power, which are so easily used in elections.
In the end, they lost the elections anyway, courtesy of a bunch of assholes who reward obstructionism and conspiracies (and quite a few reasonable people who just woke up and went to vote).
Obama should have been an ass pushing his agenda in the first two years. The reps played him and the clock masterfully. Even last year, he didn't fight for his right to nominate a SCOTUS justice, as he was entitled to.
Guy was too nice for the bully pulpit, and dealing with bullies. Amazing he achieved so much, though it's not clear how much will survive the next 2 years.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Bot on Tuesday January 17 2017, @07:18PM
> so dems would be protected against accusations of abusing their power, which are so easily used in elections.
The same dems so attentive not to abuse their power are now intentionally messing things up for the incoming Trump.
Let us face it, there is one to do list and it is split between blue and reds.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @07:27PM
I share your self-righteousness. Only Republican presidents are allowed that privilege.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @07:53PM
> The same dems so attentive not to abuse their power are now intentionally messing things up for the incoming Trump.
Bullshit. Name examples, don't just hand-wave like a pusillanimous partisan.
What I have seen the democrats do is get busy trying to secure as much of Obama's work as they can.
That's not obstructionism in any fashion, that's making sure what was actually accomplished stays accomplished.
Obstructionism is gridlock for gridlock's sake. That's not going to happen for at least 2 years, probably more, since not only do the republicans have the presidency, they've got majorities in both houses of congress and will soon have a majority on the supreme court.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:20PM
Can't stop the conservative white folk oppression meme. It's the flipside of the Civil Rights movement and the general tolarance/PC movement, except it doesn't have any moral integrity. The only integrity I've seen is with the concerns about offshoring jobs.
Civil rights? They're taking away muh bigotry! Abortions? They're taking away muh sense of moral superiority! Government programs of any type? They're stealin' muh monies!
This is why we can't have nice things, because a good portion of people want to bring their self-righteous boot down on things which do not affect their own lives. Then the politicians and media use that emotional naivety to split the public apart.
I will stick to the actual data which shows the Republicans on the losing side of progress, and the Democrats overreaching to create a police state. Let's see if we can take the good parts of each side and leave the ghouls behind.
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Tuesday January 17 2017, @11:46PM
Bullshit. Name examples, don't just hand-wave like a pusillanimous partisan.
One need look no farther than the headline: "ten detainees released from Guantanamo." Mr. Obama has also commuted Chelsea Manning's sentence.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @11:52PM
You're an idiot. Those detainees should never have been there in the first place. The main reason why they're still there is that it's illegal for the President to bring them to the US. There's literally a completely empty federal penitentiary that could have housed them.
As for commuting Chelsea Manning's sentence, that's well within his powers, the only real question is why he lacked the stones to do it earlier. At bare minimum he could have done it in November after the elections were over.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @12:35AM
In what way is following up on the very first executive order that he signed on entering office eight years ago being obstructionist to Trump?
Commuting Manning's sentence doesn't obstruct anything the republicans would do.
You need to take a good hard look at yourself and ask what could possibly posses you to believe those were legitimate examples of democrats obstructing Trump?
Because from where I am sitting it looks like your brain is so strung out on partisanship that you literally can't think straight.
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Wednesday January 18 2017, @01:38AM
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Poe%27s+Law [urbandictionary.com]
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday January 18 2017, @02:34PM
In what way is following up on the very first executive order that he signed on entering office eight years ago being obstructionist to Trump?
I was joking, but (I was surprised to learn) earlier this month Mr. Trump specifically asked Mr. Obama not to release the prisoners:
There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.
-- https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/816333480409833472 [twitter.com]
The Miami Herald had a story about it. [miamiherald.com]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday January 18 2017, @01:32AM
> ten detainees released from Guantanamo
You're right, it's very misleading.
"Ten innocent people finally freed from arbitrary decade-long imprisonment, while at least 9 more innocents still face excessive release delays" would be better.
The version addressing the other 36 extrajudicial/tortured/rendered/Gulaged/too scary for SuperMax/too scary for actual justice but still technically innocent persons was getting a bit wordy.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday January 18 2017, @11:55PM
> Bullshit. Name examples, don't just hand-wave like a pusillanimous partisan
Nice troll anon, let us pretend it worked
- 35 diplomats expelled while infusing units near NATO borders with Russia, Putin does not reciprocate ending up looking like the moderate one.
- US abstains as UN demands end to Israeli settlements, strange time to wake up about israel, less than one month before leaving office.
- Trump says good things about FCA
Next day FCA is on the news for dieselgate. Problem, they were under scrutiny for the past year, yet it comes out now.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @08:38PM
But even Obamacare has been questionable at best. All it really did was legally force people to buy insurance that many people simply cannot afford. Why did he not pursue single payer? Why did he try to force the TPP through congress which would have severely hurt the American worker? Why did his "landmark environmental treaty" (phrasing according to the media) with China allow them to increase their pollution levels literally as high as they want until 2030? Why has not only ignored the fact that the vast majority of new jobs created during his administration have been go nowhere McJobs but even pretended that the creation of these jobs was a desirable accomplishment? Why did he make constant references to rolling back the warmongering of Bush only to end up bombing more countries than any president since World War 2?
I mean I think if you take an honest and objective look at what Obama did, he is not what he seems. It's hard to do this because he is an absolutely incredible orator. I got goose bumps from some of his older speeches. The man knows how to say all the right things and seem incredibly genuine while doing so, yet very little of it has panned out. I now believe ultimately there's not that much difference between republicans and democrats. There's a very distinct rhetorical contrast between them, but ultimately they're both corporatists. They both keep us all divided on trite issues while jamming through every single thing corporations and big donor types ask for.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @09:34PM
Bingo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:12PM
> All it really did was legally force people to buy insurance that many people simply cannot afford.
Said like someone with zero understanding of how obamacare actually works.
The vast majority of people on obamacare proper have subsidies - it is common for them to pay less than $100/month for insurance that actually costs $1000/month.
Furthermore it did a bunch of other stuff behind the scenes that applied to all plans, not just those sold on the exchanges.
It required insurers to accept people with per-existing conditions without charging them extra.
It let parents keep their kids on their plans until age 26 - up from age 18.
It mandated maximum profit margins for insurance companies to keep them from exploiting their middleman status to reap unearned profits.
It mandated a minimum set of 10 zero-fee services, including yearly check-ups, age-appropriate screenings and prenatal care.
(Score: 2) by PocketSizeSUn on Wednesday January 18 2017, @04:00AM
And yet my insurance went from $80/mo to $500/mo and I have no pre-existing conditions and haven't needed to see a doctor in 20 years.
Go Obama care, just fning go away please.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:00PM
>It presumes that Obama could have done everything he planned to do in the first 2 years of his presidency.
>It presumes that Obama could have done ANYTHING he planned to do in the first 2 years of his presidency.
Made the middle east worse, intervened in Ukraine to protect Biden's son's oil interests, kept poking the Russian bear in the eyes, allowed the healthcare reform to be a huge bailout of the healthcare industry, allowed the bailouts to help only the banks and do nothing for infrastructure, and failed to close gitmo. The dem majority got us a healthcare bill that refused to include tort reform, which would have been enough to get even a few republican votes.
Its like we reelected Bush but this time with a funnier VP.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:20PM
> Made the middle east worse, intervened in Ukraine to protect Biden's son's oil interests, kept poking the Russian bear in the eyes,
Gee, he gets involved and it gets worse and he stays out, like Syria and it gets worse. Funny, maybe the middle-east was getting worse all on its own?
As for Ukraine, WHAT THE FUCK? Russia is the only country to violate a territorial treaty since WWII. Whatever minor interests biden's kid had in an oil company is FUCKING NOTHING compared to what putin did.
> The dem majority got us a healthcare bill that refused to include tort reform, which would have been enough to get even a few republican votes.
Easy to say that, but nobody who has actually paid attention would believe it. The republicans strung the democrats along with false promises trying to run out the clock. In the end every concession they made had no effect at all. One more concession, one that has demonstrably produced worse care in the states that have implemented it with no actual cost savings, would have done nothing but further "bailout" the insurance companies.
Its damn easy to take potshots and when you don't have to worry about where all the missed bullets end up. Its also irresponsible as fuck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @01:18AM
If you think they didn't get involved in Syria, you haven't been paying attention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @03:20AM
> If you think they didn't get involved in Syria, you haven't been paying attention.
If that counts as getting involved, then I turned the entire ocean into a superfund site the last time I took a piss while diving.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 18 2017, @03:33AM
" Funny, maybe the middle-east was getting worse all on its own?"
We'll never know, will we? Had we not invaded Iraq to start with, maybe the mideast would have gotten worse. But, there's no real reason to think that it would have.