Of course. But those American citizens who were whacked were actual baddies, most likely, so not the best example. It belongs to the whole class of leftist propaganda and smarmy defense attorney rationales. Your honor, my client pleads guilty to spare the victim the stress of a trial. I heard that in person, about me, by the way. Ta…
Of course. But those American citizens who were whacked were actual baddies, most likely, so not the best example. It belongs to the whole class of leftist propaganda and smarmy defense attorney rationales. Your honor, my client pleads guilty to spare the victim the stress of a trial. I heard that in person, about me, by the way. Targeted assassinations can be like actual trials. So many good people have been put away by the criminal justice system. Should we scrap that too, because it could unfairly target good people? How about being careful and putting better people in charge, that could help.
Well, we don't know if they were actual baddies, you admit that yourself, and given the mendacity of the media and commitment to massive lying by the intelligence agencies and government in general, I'm not going to take their version of events at face value at all. And targeted assassinations are not actual trials, that's an absurd analogy, since a person killed (by drones, poison, gun, whatever) while going about his daily life has no chance to make a defense. Yes, innocent people go to prison in the criminal justice system--an argument for reforms--but they are still alive and the possibility of proving their innocence and being freed remains. As far as putting "better people" in goes, I personally think that is a fool's errand. The very nature of the institution corrupts. We need to get rid of the CIA, tout court. I'm not holding my breath, though.
I agree we need to get rid of the CIA, but this crying about those poor American citizens is flat out dishonest. If they were actually baddies. But as far as we know, they were. Can't people at least find better examples? Afghan wedding parties are a great example. They can be awarded posthumous American citizenship, why not? Anything goes nowadays.
The point that still escapes you is that you have no idea whether they were "baddies" or not. You only know what rogue agencies and a corrupt government chooses to tell you and somehow you still want to trust these people. Give it a rest, you are embarrassing yourself.
I have said repeatedly that all information is suspect, so my posts re this subject are more about the principle of targeted assassination of American citizens. Don't tell me to give it a rest or I'll tell you to read what I wrote.
We can agree to disagree on that. I offer: killing in self-defense, killing in battle, killing combatants out of uniform when caught in real time, political assassinations that would benefit humanity, and this is in the eye of the beholder, but the best example would be the attempted assassinations of Hitler, that would have worked for me...Caligula was assassinated by his own troops, it was probably good for Rome Sometimes these nicey nice show trials only buy time for bad people to do bad things. I think the rule of law, pacifism and other things are good things that come from civilized people, but sometimes they work against us. When lives are at stake, especially my life, I'm prepared to be less civilized. How about these mobsters and terrorists who direct operations from prison. How about child molesters in prison. Sometimes a little self-help protects the public. If a sentence isn´t long enough to protect the public...that´s why Dirty Harry and Paul Kersey are so popular. People want justice, not etiquette.
War is a different proposition to extra-judicial killings and Dirty Harry etc are just Hollywood creations, not to be taken that seriously. Whether a particular war is justified is of course another matter. You seem to favour free for all, with guns blazing across the country. Regrettably, your vision of a less civilised society does not seem that far away from being reality.
There you go again, pretending I favor something I don't favor. You're quite the creative reader, aren't you? BTW, vigilantism is alive and well in real life. I lived for 30 years in the SF Bay Area, in a small town liberal paradise. There was a case where a neighbor had molested a boy. The molester got a suspended sentence and went back to living in the neighborhood. He was found dead under suspicious circumstances. There was talk that the father of the boy may have done it--he wasn't living there, they were divorced, that's probably why the child was targeted. The police did a perfunctory investigation and closed the case. Letters to the editor were 100% positive.
Of course. But those American citizens who were whacked were actual baddies, most likely, so not the best example. It belongs to the whole class of leftist propaganda and smarmy defense attorney rationales. Your honor, my client pleads guilty to spare the victim the stress of a trial. I heard that in person, about me, by the way. Targeted assassinations can be like actual trials. So many good people have been put away by the criminal justice system. Should we scrap that too, because it could unfairly target good people? How about being careful and putting better people in charge, that could help.
Well, we don't know if they were actual baddies, you admit that yourself, and given the mendacity of the media and commitment to massive lying by the intelligence agencies and government in general, I'm not going to take their version of events at face value at all. And targeted assassinations are not actual trials, that's an absurd analogy, since a person killed (by drones, poison, gun, whatever) while going about his daily life has no chance to make a defense. Yes, innocent people go to prison in the criminal justice system--an argument for reforms--but they are still alive and the possibility of proving their innocence and being freed remains. As far as putting "better people" in goes, I personally think that is a fool's errand. The very nature of the institution corrupts. We need to get rid of the CIA, tout court. I'm not holding my breath, though.
I agree we need to get rid of the CIA, but this crying about those poor American citizens is flat out dishonest. If they were actually baddies. But as far as we know, they were. Can't people at least find better examples? Afghan wedding parties are a great example. They can be awarded posthumous American citizenship, why not? Anything goes nowadays.
"But as far as we know, they were."
The point that still escapes you is that you have no idea whether they were "baddies" or not. You only know what rogue agencies and a corrupt government chooses to tell you and somehow you still want to trust these people. Give it a rest, you are embarrassing yourself.
I have said repeatedly that all information is suspect, so my posts re this subject are more about the principle of targeted assassination of American citizens. Don't tell me to give it a rest or I'll tell you to read what I wrote.
The principle of killing people without a trial is inherently wrong and nothing you can say will alter that.
We can agree to disagree on that. I offer: killing in self-defense, killing in battle, killing combatants out of uniform when caught in real time, political assassinations that would benefit humanity, and this is in the eye of the beholder, but the best example would be the attempted assassinations of Hitler, that would have worked for me...Caligula was assassinated by his own troops, it was probably good for Rome Sometimes these nicey nice show trials only buy time for bad people to do bad things. I think the rule of law, pacifism and other things are good things that come from civilized people, but sometimes they work against us. When lives are at stake, especially my life, I'm prepared to be less civilized. How about these mobsters and terrorists who direct operations from prison. How about child molesters in prison. Sometimes a little self-help protects the public. If a sentence isn´t long enough to protect the public...that´s why Dirty Harry and Paul Kersey are so popular. People want justice, not etiquette.
War is a different proposition to extra-judicial killings and Dirty Harry etc are just Hollywood creations, not to be taken that seriously. Whether a particular war is justified is of course another matter. You seem to favour free for all, with guns blazing across the country. Regrettably, your vision of a less civilised society does not seem that far away from being reality.
There you go again, pretending I favor something I don't favor. You're quite the creative reader, aren't you? BTW, vigilantism is alive and well in real life. I lived for 30 years in the SF Bay Area, in a small town liberal paradise. There was a case where a neighbor had molested a boy. The molester got a suspended sentence and went back to living in the neighborhood. He was found dead under suspicious circumstances. There was talk that the father of the boy may have done it--he wasn't living there, they were divorced, that's probably why the child was targeted. The police did a perfunctory investigation and closed the case. Letters to the editor were 100% positive.