Boston Marathon hit by explosions

[Gallstones]

So will he be sent to the terrorist housing unit we keep in Cuba?

Doubtful. He'll have some very uncomfortable moments with agents from the FBI, CIA, and NSA bearing down on him, though. Whether they give him the death penalty or not, his life is over. He would be killed if put in a regular prison, so he has to be in solitary and under guard all the time. He will likely beg for death before it's over.

Didn't Obama close that, anyway? Oh, wait....

don't diss the big O, he still has 2 1/2 years to make good on that promise, even if he ought to have done it during his first term.

So when will the kid be ready for waterboarding?

My understanding from the reports I've read is that the kid botched a suicide in the boat, and shot his throat out so can't talk, may not ever be able to talk. He is communicating by writing. Writing isn't a useful communication mode for waterboarding type interrogation.

[JimC]

Get out of your cave, come visit the US. Invite yourself to Bella's. Hell, come to California for the 2014 Train Wreck. You can save your pennies for that. See what the fuck you're talking about first hand.

'Zilla, I'm sure that an overseas visitor would have a great time, in almost all cases meet great folk, and not be hunted down by gun-crazed militias.

That, however, is not rEv's point.

The messages coming from the NRA, the gun lobby, the tea party and libertarian types are strongly present in world media; not just sensationalist TV, but serious print journalism. The fact that they are not necessarily toothless tigers is shown in many ways, ranging from Oklahoma, through Waco and onto their ability to completely frustrate the will of the majority in terms of tightening gun regulation.

This particular type of fervent, active and potentially well-armed political movement simply does not exist to any real extent in other western democracies. Seabass's dismissal via an appeal to the apathy of the vast majority is perhaps more of a worry than a dismissal - perhaps the militant right-wing in America can rely on too many people not caring too much what happens politically, as long as their own personal lives are uninterrupted...

[pErvinalia]

Get out of your cave, come visit the US. Invite yourself to Bella's. Hell, come to California for the 2014 Train Wreck. You can save your pennies for that. See what the fuck you're talking about first hand.

'Zilla, I'm sure that an overseas visitor would have a great time, in almost all cases meet great folk, and not be hunted down by gun-crazed militias.

That, however, is not rEv's point.

The messages coming from the NRA, the gun lobby, the tea party and libertarian types are strongly present in world media; not just sensationalist TV, but serious print journalism. The fact that they are not necessarily toothless tigers is shown in many ways, ranging from Oklahoma, through Waco and onto their ability to completely frustrate the will of the majority in terms of tightening gun regulation.

This particular type of fervent, active and potentially well-armed political movement simply does not exist to any real extent in other western democracies. Seabass's dismissal via an appeal to the apathy of the vast majority is perhaps more of a worry than a dismissal - perhaps the militant right-wing in America can rely on too many people not caring too much what happens politically, as long as their own personal lives are uninterrupted...

Thank you, Jim.

[Warren Dew]

The fact that they are not necessarily toothless tigers is shown in many ways, ranging from Oklahoma, through Waco and onto their ability to completely frustrate the will of the majority in terms of tightening gun regulation.

Wait, Waco? The only major irresponsible use of guns at Waco was by government agencies, and that was decades ago.

[Warren Dew]

No combatant status! How will they waterboard him now?

They found out he was breathing through a tube, so waterboarding won't work anyway.

[JimC]

The fact that they are not necessarily toothless tigers is shown in many ways, ranging from Oklahoma, through Waco and onto their ability to completely frustrate the will of the majority in terms of tightening gun regulation.

Wait, Waco? The only major irresponsible use of guns at Waco was by government agencies, and that was decades ago.

They had collected an arsenal, and it wasn't just for target practice. They were an instance of the armed political group that is unknown elsewhere. Law enforcement agencies may well have made a heavy-handed dog's breakfast of ending the siege, but it doesn't change the nature of the Branch Dravidians...

[Warren Dew]

The fact that they are not necessarily toothless tigers is shown in many ways, ranging from Oklahoma, through Waco and onto their ability to completely frustrate the will of the majority in terms of tightening gun regulation.

Wait, Waco? The only major irresponsible use of guns at Waco was by government agencies, and that was decades ago.

They had collected an arsenal, and it wasn't just for target practice. They were an instance of the armed political group that is unknown elsewhere. Law enforcement agencies may well have made a heavy-handed dog's breakfast of ending the siege, but it doesn't change the nature of the Branch Dravidians...

You're seriously buying into leftist political myth. In fact, David Koresh had offered to let the BATF inspect their firearms and paperwork, as all their purchases had been legal, but the BATF elected to do a seige and frontal assault instead. Yes, the problem was gun nuts, but it was government gun nuts at the BATF, not private individuals.

[Gallstones]

At least 20 of the people who died at Waco with Koresh were children.
The Branch Davidians had a gun shop business buying and selling and as such were FFL dealers doing legal business in firearms. It would not be out of character for them to be receiving deliveries of arms and arm parts or to have an inventory of firearms and ammunition.

[Hermit]

Who are you or they to interpret the consitution? It's the role of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution. If they don't have a problem, then why should a bunch of nutjobs be allowed to attack the gumbint because they personally don't like a civil society?

It is a role of the SCOTUS to interpret the constitution, but it is also everyone else's role too.

...

We all interpret the Constitution. The Constitution is safest that way. Suggesting that the Constitution is only what a certain person or few people say it is, and the rest of us don't have an opinion is where we run into bigger problems.

That's a recipe for disaster. (as you can see by the large number of whackjobs you have in the US who talk about overthrowing the gubmint). The ordinary citizen, let alone the very poorly educated citizen is in no position to make interpretations of complex issues like this.

Sounds like you advocate democratic government be replaced by a meritocracy, rEvolutionist. That would be a disaster.

[Warren Dew]

Charges unsealed. Plus, we find out why they didn't kill the guy whose Mercedes they carjacked:

On Thursday night, the two brothers stole a car at gunpoint from a man in Cambridge, Mass., authorities said. The brothers told the victim "that they were the Boston Marathon bombers and wouldn't kill him because he wasn't American," according to a report by the Cambridge Police Department. The victim was described as an Asian-American male.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... TopStories

[Gallstones]

Terms like "Asian-American" and "African-American" are segregationist. They establish that there are catagories of citizenship.

[Hermit]

regular bombs aren't "illegal" - they're regulated. REGULATED. Licenses - permits -- etc.

In other words, it is illegal to possess bombs without the appropriate licenses - permits -- etc. In the absence of such they could be termed what? Illegal, perhaps?

[Warren Dew]

Terms like "Asian-American" and "African-American" are segregationist. They establish that there are catagories of citizenship.

Hey, it's salon.com. They're a leftist publication; of course they're racist.

[cronus]

Waterboarding would require less water with a tube yet still might spur him onto coughing up what he knows. Squeezing the tube even....might get him to squeal.

[pErvinalia]

Who are you or they to interpret the consitution? It's the role of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution. If they don't have a problem, then why should a bunch of nutjobs be allowed to attack the gumbint because they personally don't like a civil society?

It is a role of the SCOTUS to interpret the constitution, but it is also everyone else's role too.

...

We all interpret the Constitution. The Constitution is safest that way. Suggesting that the Constitution is only what a certain person or few people say it is, and the rest of us don't have an opinion is where we run into bigger problems.

That's a recipe for disaster. (as you can see by the large number of whackjobs you have in the US who talk about overthrowing the gubmint). The ordinary citizen, let alone the very poorly educated citizen is in no position to make interpretations of complex issues like this.

Sounds like you advocate democratic government be replaced by a meritocracy, rEvolutionist. That would be a disaster.

Bullshit. Government can remain democratic with meritocratic oversight of issues that are simply too complex for Joe Bloggs to understand. What on earth is controversial or disastrous about that?

That's what every fucking country has now. It's what the public service is.