Secret drone court? No, thanks!
The idea of establishing a secret “drone court” modeled on the FISA court is an exceptionally bad one. Here in brief are some of my objections:
The court and its proceedings would be secret. It would be even worse than the infamous English Star Chamber. Even in the Star Chamber you had to be accused of doing *something*. As I understand it, the standard being articulated by the US administration now is “imminent danger”. Hello, “Minority Report” scenario anyone?
These death warrants would constitute a “Bill of Attainder” which is very expressly and categorically prohibited in the US Constitution Article I Section 9.
It is a fundamental and blatant violation of customary international law, in particular the 1923 Hague Convention. No you cannot bomb civilians. No you cannot bomb mosques and hospitals. No you cannot bomb people away from the battlefield.
Granted these prohibitions were blatantly ignored in the latter phases of WWII by all major participants. Nonetheless the principals in the German V-1 and V-2 rocket program were tried for war crimes in the Dora trial of 1947. But they were acquitted of all charges and found refuge in the US, where their work became the basis of the US space and missile programs. The drone is the modern inheritor of the Nazi V-1 buzz bomb both in scientific development and in the shocking lack of ethics.
It is murder. It is lying. It is covert and unaccountable. It is a grim violation of international law and simple human decency. It is clearly unconstitutional.
Come on Congress and President Obama. Think about this. How hard can it be to see what is right?
International Law on the Bombing of Civilians
Copyright © 2013 Henry Edward Hardy
I ran into Santa on the 87 bus
I ran into Santa on the 87 bus coming home from the dentist today.
At least he was dressed more or less as Santa with a red suit and red floppy hat and answered to Santa when I addressed him as such.
“Hello there Santa, you’re kind of early this year aren’t you?
Well you know I have to get down from the North Pole and all.
What about the reindeer.
They don’t fly except on Christmas. I gunna have to bring Rudolph again this year.
Doesn’t Rudolph have to you know, light the way?
Yeah that’s what he does at night.
And in daytime?
You don’t want to know. Are you just coming home from work?
I was at the dentist.
I hope they gave you something for the pain.
It was just a checkup the pain comes later.
You know I have an elf with a sore tooth. It’s so bad he can’t work or nothin’.
I hope they gave him something for the pain.
They gave him Percocet.
That must be a happy elf!
(black lady with a ton of shopping bags): Ha ha ha. Yep that’s one happy elf. Ha ha ha.
Yes he ain’t feelin’ no pain now. But he still won’t work.
Are we going to be getting messed up toys with an apology saying this elf had a sore tooth and then he was too stoned to work?
No I got enough elfs. Everything is under control. Don’t you worry about nothin’!”
(/me gets off at Teele Square)
You have to have a sense of fantasy! :) :) :)
Copyright © 2012 Henry Edward Hardy
So Call Me Ishmael, Maybe
So Call Me Ishmael, Maybe
I stab at thee from Hell.
Doth magnetic virtue tell
the compasses of all
those ships bring them this way?
I trade my soul for a fish
at last then we must kiss.
I was looking for this
and now you’re in my way.
Your stare was holding.
Ripped skin, blubber showing.
Cold day, wind was blowing.
Where do you think you’re going baby?
Hey I just found you, and this is crazy
But here’s my harpoon, so call me Ishmael maybe.
In ev’ry light, at you lady
777’s a number, so call me Ishmael maybe.
So Call Me Maybe
—
“Moby Dick”, modern edition
Sung to the tune of “So Call Me Maybe”
Copyright © 2012 Henry Edward Hardy
Beloved Malala
Around the world, something quite extraordinary is happening. Muslim and Hindu, Shiite and Sunni and Sufi, religious and secular, Pakistani and Afghan, are united in praying for the swift and complete recovery of Malala, who is called, “beloved,” “The Ambassador of Peace and Education,” “braveheart,” “the brilliant brain,” “saviour of girls.” Pakistan and Afghanistan have both held special ceremonies and a national day of prayer. People have been photographed in the streets with tears running down their faces. We see pictures of girls holding up signs saying, “I am Malala.”
Though she has been transformed by myth and the coincidence of her name to the national heroine of Afghanistan, Malalai of Marwand, we should not forget that Malala is a 14-year-old girl with dear friends and a loving family whose hearts ache for her.
My Malalai is living, and they praise others’ beauty.
Though they have eyes, they are blind.
–Ajmal Khattak
“When gun-toting men stopped their school wagon in Mingora last Tuesday around 12.45 p.m. asking for Malala Yousafzai, none of the three girls inside spoke. This, despite the terrorists threatening to shoot all of them if they did not identify Malala.
Today, stirred by the braveheart, who dared to stand up to the Taliban, and her friends, Shazia and Kainat, who refused to identify her even under threat, girls across Pakistan are saying ‘I am Malala.’
This is happening not just on the social media – which offers a degree of anonymity and security – but also on television and on the streets; some with their faces uncovered. ‘I-am-Malala’ has been trending not just in Pakistan but also in Afghanistan where girls’ education is equally at risk from the very same elements.
On Saturday, the Afghanistan Education Ministry organised a nationwide prayer for her at schools. She is being likened to ‘Malalai of Maiwand,’ the ‘Afghan Joan of Arc’ who rallied the Pashtun army against the British in 1880.”
see also:
Friends of Pakistani girl shot by Taliban vow ‘never to be subdued by militants
Malala Yousafzai: a young Pakistani heroine
OVER A COFFEE : Attacking Malala: the soul of Pakistan — Dr Haider Shah
Copyright © 2012 Henry Edward Hardy
More Shoes Dropping about Benghazi Attack
Okay more shoes are dropping about the “Consulate” and “safe-house” in Benghazi where a total of four American personnel were killed.
The “Consulate” was not a Consulate. The Libyans just called it that. “What is clear, however, is that those who arrived at the mission — not officially a consulate, though Libyans call it that informally — came intending to inflict maximum damage on the building.”
The “safe-house” was not a safe-house. The Libyans just called it that. “Neither was heavily guarded, and the second house was never intended to be a “safe house,” as initial accounts suggested. “The seven un-uniformed, but very heavily armed men who broke through the two ambushes awaiting them and rescued the remaining US persons along with our allied militia? They were never there. “At no point were the Marines or other American military personnel involved, contrary to news reports early on.”
The first incoming mortar, in the dead of night, hit square on the “alternate location’s” gate and killed the two ex-Seals. Terrorism? You bet.
Did Ansar Al-Sharia have support from a state or states with significant HUMINT, SIGINT and satellite capability? Almost certainly.
www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/world/africa/after-attack-in-libya-ambush-struck-rescuers.html
About Scanlyze
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Scanlyze is an online magazine of essays, commentary, satire, and analysis. Were we half as clever, for inspiration we would take Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Swift, Montaigne, or Seneca.
“The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.”
John F. Kennedy, October 26, 1963
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