Imperial Presidency

Kill Lists Will Continue

"What media attention there has been has focused far too narrowly on the lists maintained by the White House and National Security Council that include American citizens. The reality is that kill lists have metastasized across the government to include the Pentagon and the CIA and are symptomatic of a transformation of U.S. foreign and defense policies. They have all become part of a ten year government created master plan to confront Islamic fundamentalism worldwide using drones and special operations teams, with little or no consideration for the local conditions that have led to the rise of religious extremism nor any concern for the consequences." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKill Lists Will Continue

Obama urged to fulfill Guantanamo closure pledge

"Rights groups challenged President Barack Obama on Thursday to use his second term to close Guantanamo and end drone attacks, warrantless surveillance and extrajudicial killings. Shortly after he took office in January 2009, Obama declared that he would shutter the prison camp for 'war on terror' suspects within a year, saying it served as a recruiting tool for militant and hurt US national security. Rights groups have strongly criticized the president for his Guantanamo failures and for maintaining other stringent security tactics put into practice under his predecessor George W. Bush." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama urged to fulfill Guantanamo closure pledge

4 More Drones! Robot Attacks Are on Deck for Obama’s Next Term

"Civil libertarians rightly point to Obama’s reversals on expanding warrantless surveillance; the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects; military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay; prosecuting whistleblowers; and embracing an expensive definition of the war on terrorism’s executive powers. But there’s little evidence that Obama will change course. The evidence is staring everyone in the face. Obama has elevated a practice of stealthy robotic warfare to the tactic of choice for U.S. security priorities, and built around it a system that operates it practically on bureaucratic inertia." Continue reading →

Continue Reading4 More Drones! Robot Attacks Are on Deck for Obama’s Next Term

Crony Capitalists: The Biggest Winners From President Obama’s Re-Election

"Ultimately the biggest winners may be those who finance municipal and state debt. Owing his election to the fiscal failures of New York, Illinois and California, Obama could have to use his executive power to forestall looming bankruptcies at the local and even state level. Ironically the biggest winner here in the crony capitalist sweepstakes will be firms like Goldman Sachs, who turned so vehemently against Obama, but have historically made much of their money on financing government operations. Some people never seem to lose no matter what the result of the election." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCrony Capitalists: The Biggest Winners From President Obama’s Re-Election

Obama Bombs Yemen Hours After Winning Reelection

"Not even a full day had passed before newly reelected President Obama ordered another drone strike in Yemen. 'A U.S. drone strike targeted a group of al-Qaida militants on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday night, killing at least three terrorists, government officials said.' The drone war violates both domestic and international law, and the Obama administration’s vehement disdain for transparency in government is the only thing keeping it from public and legal scrutiny. Beyond the law, it’s terrorism." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Bombs Yemen Hours After Winning Reelection

Pakistani flagmakers may see boost in sales after Obama victory spurs more effigies

"Demonstrations against Washington’s programme of missile strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants are common in Pakistan, and no protest is complete without a Stars and Stripes being sent up in flames. Nadeem Shah, the owner of a flag business in Rawalpindi, the twin city of the capital Islamabad, said he expected more drone strikes — and more protests. In Rawalpindi, US flags start at around 120 rupees ($1.25) but in Nadeem Shah’s shop 1,500 rupees will get you a three-square-metre number in cloth." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPakistani flagmakers may see boost in sales after Obama victory spurs more effigies

The Winner of the Election: George W. Bush

"Both Obama and Romney have adopted the worst elements of the Bush agenda: perpetual and preventative wars, punitive trade sanctions, violations of traditional civil liberties, warrantless surveillance, extrajudicial detentions, regressive credit expansion, the revolving door between the White House and Wall Street, increases in domestic spending in the name of free enterprise, cronyism and national regimentation in the name of social welfare, regulatory expansion, deficit-based anti-recession measures, bailouts of banks and other major corporations, and colluding with special interests over major decisions behind closed doors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Winner of the Election: George W. Bush

U.S. Constitution Created an Empire

"The continent lay before the framers and Americans. Land lay before the framers and Americans. Untold riches and wealth in land beckoned. Land speculation was an American constant. Empire as a form of government was the chosen vehicle for expansion into these lands. Dreams of liberty also prevailed, and the framers thought that empire and liberty could co-exist. This illusion has never been shattered, not even by the bloodiest of all American wars. Today, we inherit the problem that empire and liberty, in the final analysis, cannot be reconciled. One or the other must prevail." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Constitution Created an Empire

Support for Kill List and NDAA make Obama and Romney unfit for office

"It wasn’t so long ago that the following statement could only appear in a dystopian novel or movie script. The U.S. President has killed an American citizen without due process, without even charging him with a crime. His decision to do this has been challenged by members of neither party. While the media-fueled frenzy goes on about how supposedly different Romney and the conservatives are from Obama and the liberals, no one even raises an eyebrow about this terrifying political development. Not even the left, which quite correctly howled at the Bush administrations’ assaults on freedom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupport for Kill List and NDAA make Obama and Romney unfit for office

Obama granted clemency to just 22, less than any modern president

"Obama has parceled out forgiveness far more rarely than his recent predecessors, pardoning just 22 individuals while denying 1,019. He has given pardons to roughly 1 of every 50 individuals whose applications were processed by the Justice Department. At this point in his presidency, Ronald Reagan had pardoned 1 of every 3 such applicants. George H.W. Bush had pardoned 1 in 16. Bill Clinton had pardoned 1 in 8. George W. Bush had pardoned 1 in 33. Obama also has been stingy with commutations, applications for early release by those still serving federal prison sentences." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama granted clemency to just 22, less than any modern president