Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

Fortunately for Trump, Obama reinstated the former president secret service protection, so Trump will receive bodyguards for the rest of his life, which will probably be necessary given how angry he's made a lot of people.
 
Fortunately for Trump, Obama reinstated the former president secret service protection, so Trump will receive bodyguards for the rest of his life, which will probably be necessary given how angry he's made a lot of people.
So... Praetorian Guard scenario still in play even after he's left office.
 
There’s still the chance that the stress of the office will do him in before his term ends, considering his level of physical, mental, and emotional health.

—Patrick
 
There’s still the chance that the stress of the office will do him in before his term ends, considering his level of physical, mental, and emotional health.

—Patrick
This is a man who doesn't believe in exercise and eats garbage. That he's not dead yet it is solely because he's from New York and all the rat poison in the hot dog's he's eaten have preserved him.
 
Should Kim be negotiated with or not? Should N. Korea be invaded or not?
Well, he has nukes, so invasion is out of the picture, and you can only negotiate... but you should do it carefully, and not as a PR-stunt, and take into account that they always pretend to want to deal, when they're just buying time.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Well, he has nukes, so invasion is out of the picture, and you can only negotiate... but you should do it carefully, and not as a PR-stunt, and take into account that they always pretend to want to deal, when they're just buying time.
Even if nukes were out of the picture, the first US boot to set foot on Nork soil would precipitate 5, possibly 6 digit casualties in Seoul from all the conventional artillery dialed in on every house, school, market, and hospital.

But I think Terrik was asking about the status of the ethical/moral imperative, not the consequences of various options.
 
Seeing the Democrats freak out that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat the incumbent career Democrat Senator in the NY primaries makes me yet again wish for Congressional term limits.
I know! She’s only 28 yrs old, which means we could potentially have a woman in the house for twenty, even thirty terms! And a Porto Riccan one, at that! She could be harder to dislodge than Santa Anna!

—Patrick
 
Even if nukes were out of the picture, the first US boot to set foot on Nork soil would precipitate 5, possibly 6 digit casualties in Seoul from all the conventional artillery dialed in on every house, school, market, and hospital.

But I think Terrik was asking about the status of the ethical/moral imperative, not the consequences of various options.
Oh, look at you thinking that's more of a deterrent then getting your own troops nuked...

As for morals... i was implying no one really cares about them when it comes to geopolitics...
 
Seems a lot of people disagree with Kissinger when it comes to geopolitics... and yet are more then happy to let their government follow his playbook still...
 
And Clinton, and Bush, and Obama.

I'm glad people are finally paying attention, but I wish it hadn't taken Trump becoming president for people to see how screwed up things have been in the U.S.
Nah, the media will ignore it again as soon as a Democrat's in power, like you did with Guantanamo.
 
Nah, the media will ignore it again as soon as a Democrat's in power, like you did with Guantanamo.
I think EVERYONE is just trying to forget about Guantanamo these days; we effectively can't shut it down because we can't dump the inmates we have into their countries of origin, they (and everyone else) refuse to take them. So it's going to stay open until the day they all die or we work out more deals to get them accepted somewhere. We're down to 41, the last group out was at the end of Obama's term in office in January 2017.

Somehow, I doubt this is something the Trump administration considers "pressing".
 
I think EVERYONE is just trying to forget about Guantanamo these days; we effectively can't shut it down because we can't dump the inmates we have into their countries of origin, they (and everyone else) refuse to take them. So it's going to stay open until the day they all die or we work out more deals to get them accepted somewhere. We're down to 41, the last group out was at the end of Obama's term in office in January 2017.

Somehow, I doubt this is something the Trump administration considers "pressing".
Now this might be crazy, but couldn't we have a trial and send them to normal jail?
 
Now this might be crazy, but couldn't we have a trial and send them to normal jail?
It would take an act of congress to pass them into the US.

There are a lot of complexities surrounding their detention, but ultimately your suggestion can only happen if congress makes it happen.

Note that the Democrats had control of both congress and the White House early on in Obama’s term, just after his campaign promise to close Guantanamo, and they chose not to act, so it’s a bipartisan choice to keep them incarcerated.

It’s really a Gordian knot, though, and I know if obama could have cut it he would have. To his credit he did all he could for all those he could release through deals with other governments.
 
Note that the Democrats had control of both congress and the White House early on in Obama’s term, just after his campaign promise to close Guantanamo, and they chose not to act, so it’s a bipartisan choice to keep them incarcerated.
Wasn't it just 2-3 Blue Dog Dems?
 
Wasn't it just 2-3 Blue Dog Dems?
There are a lot of complexities surrounding it, and it can't be boiled down to just one thing. If you want to blame a few dems, you also have to blame Obama for moving slowly and believing that it was a bipartisan issue. If you're going to blame Obama you might as well blame Bush who expanded it (it had prisoners prior to bush, but no one cared) - it held over 700 prisoners, and during his presidency he only got it down to some 200+, which Obama nearly decimated. People blame Obama because it was a major part of his campaign platform, and one of the bigger things separating him from Hillary during the primaries.

A lot of ink has been spilled over it, and if you're really interested you can dig in, but it's like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland:

https://www.google.com/search?q=why+didn't+obama+close+guantanamo

It's a legal (semi-legal, or illegal, depending on your perspective) convenience for the US, but, As Obama pointed out in his campaign speeches it's one place where the US sacrifices its most sacred principles in the name of "security".

Keep in mind its mission isn't imprisonment. It's an intelligence gathering facility. Imprisonment is a collateral cost of the primary mission.

And it's a terrible human tragedy.
 
It's admitting defeat in Cuba, though. And there's a TON of people in FLA who would vote against anyone who'd choose to shut down Guantanamo Bay.
 
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