SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
When a U.S. citizen heard he was on his own country’s drone target list, he wasn’t sure he believed it. After five near-misses, he does – and is suing the United States to contest his own execution
...
With Reprieve’s help, Kareem did what the system asks a law-abiding American citizen with a grievance to do. He sued, filing a complaint in district court in Washington, D.C., on March 30th, 2017, asking the U.S. government to take him off the Kill List, at least until he had a chance to challenge the evidence against him.The case, still unresolved more than a year later, has awesome implications not just for Kareem but for all Americans – all people everywhere, for that matter.
It’s not a stretch to say that it’s one of the most important lawsuits to ever cross the desk of a federal judge. The core of the Bill of Rights is in play, and a wrong result could formalize a slide into authoritarianism that began long ago, but accelerated after 9/11.
He needs to take the matter to Information Retrieval, but heaven help him if he doesn't get his receipt stamped first.
[Ed note: It's a long read, but provides extensive background on the US government's kill list development, implementation, and complications in trying to do anything about it.]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:58AM (2 children)
I grew up in a family whose men all served in the military, mostly navy, with a couple in the army. When it came time to think about college I applied to ROTC programs thinking that would be the way to pay for college and do like the others in my family had done. After I had been awarded a couple and chose the University of Chicago, they told me I would have to get on a bus at 4am every morning and travel to the deep South Side, where all fear to go, to I.I.T. to drill. I turned down the scholarship on the spot.
Since then I have watched one friend who did take an ROTC scholarship at Washington University get endlessly jerked around by the Stop-Loss program, and two others who enlisted after the U. of Chicago found themselves trapped in endless deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Later I worked for Bill Clinton and had a direct window right into the heart of government and power in the world; those people hold the military in utter contempt, and are quite cavalier about the suffering and pain they cause those soldiers and the devastation they visit upon the people the soldiers are pointed toward.
All that confirmed that I made the right decision, but I hadn't quite put it into words until you did just now. "Pawn of the elites," is exactly what today's military are.
Then again, aren't we all, now?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:11PM (1 child)
it does annoy me (more than that, actually) to see human lives wasted and thrown away, due to the whims of the ultra rich and powerful.
it boils down to that.
let that sink in, people. stop giving your lives to richy rich. he would NOT do the same for you.
don't throw your life away for some dream that isn't real anymore.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:40PM
There are several facets to why this abuse continues. One is marketing. We techs can definitely kill that one, so let's.
Another one is material culture. Further to go on that one, but we've got some footholds with 3D printing and skill-sharing via platforms like YouTube and Instructables.
Washington DC delenda est.