Concerned Citizens Petition President To Not Kill Them With Drones, Pretty Please
Jason Linkins
First, given the access the Times was accorded to write this story, it's pretty much a certainty that the White House is pretty happy with the finished product. Second ... wow, is there ever some cause for concern! Just check out the way the White House defines "militants" for the purpose of after-action review of these drone strikes:
... Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent. Counterterrorism officials insist this approach is one of simple logic: people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are probably up to no good. "Al Qaeda is an insular, paranoid organization -- innocent neighbors don't hitchhike rides in the back of trucks headed for the border with guns and bombs," said one official, who requested anonymity to speak about what is still a classified program."This counting method may partly explain the official claims of extraordinarily low collateral deaths," the Times reports. I'll say! It's a "counting method" that various characters created by Joseph Heller could love, in that it removes the word "count" from the word "accountability." These drone strikes only kill militants because "militants," strictly defined, means "military-aged males who are killed by drone strikes." (Not that anyone is performing rigorous background checks on these piles of corpses.)
Well, in response to this, one concerned citizen has taken to the White House's "We The People" petitions portal to request the creation of a "Do Not Kill" list, which perhaps should be known as the "Please Consider According Me the Due Process of Law That I'm Constitutionally Entitled to Before You Allow Me to Be Summarily Executed by Joystick-Wielding Sociopaths" list. The proposed petition is presented thusly:
The New York Times reports that President Obama has created an official "kill list" that he uses to personally order the assassination of American citizens. Considering that the government already has a "Do Not Call" list and a "No Fly" list, we hereby request that the White House create a "Do Not Kill" list in which American citizens can sign up to avoid being put on the president's "kill list" and therefore avoid being executed without indictment, judge, jury, trial or due process of law.The petition, which was posted Wednesday, requires 25,000 signatures by June 29 in order to be "reviewed by the Administration" and receive an official response. (Which will probably be something like, "LOL, sorry.") The petition currently has 272 signatures.
Well, it can't hurt, right? Unless, of course, signing the petition gets you one step closer to being put on the kill list.
Personal Liberty Alerts
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On Congress' Power To Tax Senate Republicans are softening their "hard-line stance against raising tax revenues to slash the deficit, with a number of Republicans willing to go further than their party's standard-bearer in the face of a looming showdown over the budget," Politico reported yesterday. More » |
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HUFFINGTON POST
BEIRUT
-- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Syria on Thursday to
stop its attacks, saying the U.N. observers monitoring the cease-fire
were not there to watch the killing of innocent people. The warning came
as activists reported that Syrian troops again shelled the country's
central region of Houla where more than 100 people were massacred last
week.
Demand Progress In Fighting CISPA and NDAA
It's a big day. We're teaming up with several other groups on a call-in effort to the Senate and hope to generate tens of thousands of calls.1) We're opposing the National Defense Authorization Act -- especially its provisions which would legalize the use of propaganda on American citizens and permit the indefinite detention of civilians.
These dangerous, detestable violations of our basic freedoms will have our own government treating Americans as though we're the enemy.
2) We're opposing the Lieberman-Collins cybser security bill -- similar to CISPA but not exactly the same -- because it will violate Americans' online privacy.
It will tear down barriers that prevent corporations from sharing your info with one another and with the government.
Will you help us kill two birds with one stone?
Please click here and we'll give you your senators' phone numbers and a call script you can use to tell them to oppose both bills.
Thanks for keeping up the fight.
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CNN Hits 20-Year Monthly Rating Low In May... I Wonder Why!
The news just went from bad to worse at CNN. After the cable news network delivered its lowest-rated month in total viewers in over a decade in April, May became CNN’s worst month in primetime among total viewers in over 20 years. From April 30 to May 27, the cable news network attracted an average of 389,000 viewers in primetime. It was also CNN’s second-lowest-rated month in primetime among the 25-54 demographic (114,000) since October 1991. Only May 2000, with 104,000 viewers in the demo, did worse. Piers Morgan Tonight received the lowest total viewer and 25-54 demo numbers that CNN has had in the 9 PM time slot in two decades. The interview show got only 417,000 total viewers and 117,000 among the 25-54 demographic. At 7 PM, Erin Burnett, another relative CNN newcomer, had the lowest 25-54 demo numbers in 20 years in the time slot for the network and the second lowest after June 2001, in two decades in terms of total viewership. Burnett’s show attracted just 89,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo from April 30 to May 27. The latest numbers follow CNN hitting its lowest-rated weekday primetime in 20 years during the week of May 14-18.
WND News Alerts
| Dem ex-guv to get schooled on Obama eligibility |
| Dr. Jerome Corsi, author of the best-selling "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama is Not Eligible to be President," is scheduled to appear today on former N.Y. Gov. David Paterson's WOR New York radio program.
The invitation for Corsi to appear came after Paterson stirred up a hornet’s nest by suggesting Barack Obama could be ineligible for the Oval Office and “got away” with it. Corsi says he can sum up the issue for Patterson in one word – "the rest is irrelevant." |
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Madrid-based investigative journalist who has spent years researching
the Bilderberg group – that shadowy organization of high-level leaders
in finance and government – is warning that there's no "conspiracy
theory" behind the group: "It's a conspiracy reality."
“Bilderberg is not a bogeyman. But it is a powerful organization," says Daniel Estulin, author of "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group." It’s a medium for bringing together financial institutions – the largest, predatory institutions in the world – which acts in ways that are now the worst enemy of society.” Decisions made in secret this week will influence your life in the years ahead ... |
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Reality Check: President Obama's "Kill List"
By Ben Swann - bio | email
(FOX19) -
Two big stories have now been run in the New York Times and Newsweek, featuring details of President Obama's so called "kill list".
A list of supposed terror targets, the President has personally ordered the deaths of.
But is a Presidential "kill list" even lawful?
Ben has the Reality Check you won't see anywhere else.
(FOX19) -
Two big stories have now been run in the New York Times and Newsweek, featuring details of President Obama's so called "kill list".
A list of supposed terror targets, the President has personally ordered the deaths of.
But is a Presidential "kill list" even lawful?
Ben has the Reality Check you won't see anywhere else.
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