I mean I guess I'd rather be vaporized by a drone than pay the interest rates on my apartment
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
"The most civilized peaceful time in history" might suddenly look different if toddlers in a Park Slope sandbox got turned into hamburger by erratic drones now and then. "sigh, the price of world peace, pass the macarons"
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
if they got turned into hamburger why would you need macarons?
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:35 (eleven years ago) link
Alfred, I read that as the president wanting to kill ppl in Times Square (which I can partially understand tbh) but getting it out of his system by killing random dudes in Yemen.
― sive gallus et mulier (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:35 (eleven years ago) link
or are Park Slopers vegetarian
xpost
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
It's like everyone on ilx learned about irony from that alanis song
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
Have you ever noticed the structural similarity between hamburgers and macarons? Think about it.
― sive gallus et mulier (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
Good thing Afghan women worry only about drones and not Taliban
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:38 (eleven years ago) link
i am aware that there are still other ways to die besides american drones
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:39 (eleven years ago) link
to my great regret
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:40 (eleven years ago) link
I can't wait for the great World Drone War of 2018, tbh
― sive gallus et mulier (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BYyDusJYJo
― the new dire homonomoreboobsativity (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:42 (eleven years ago) link
what if someone hijacks all the planes
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:43 (eleven years ago) link
LOL yes can you imagine if New York City was subjected to random, indiscriminate death from above? xxxp
― Marco YOLO (Phil D.), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:44 (eleven years ago) link
for the record i don't necessarily object to the use of drones and appreciate the fact that they can help reduce (civilian) casualties, i'd just like there to be some rules - for starters, no using them to kill people in countries we aren't at war with; no using them to kill american citizens. i'm more objecting to the "we've met you halfway, now let the adults handle this" thing tombot was selling.
i think you can simultaneously appreciate that we live in one of the most civilized peaceful times in history (cf Pinker's recent book) and think that we should protest the things that are still wrong + immoral. that's why the sentiments are unrelated.
― Mordy, Tuesday, July 17, 2012 12:28 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
^^basically this. it needn't be one or the other
― Al S. Burr! (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:47 (eleven years ago) link
Yep, if I didn't have access to any global information about fatalities, health, purchasing power, access to food, infant mortality rates, etc, but only access to my personal experience living in an undeveloped country that Obama sends drones to, I might feel triple-outraged instead of only normal outraged.
Also global warming is a farce cause it was really cold this winter.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:47 (eleven years ago) link
no using them to kill people in countries we aren't at war with
this seems like a rather arbitrary distinction tbh
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
never declared war on Vietnam etc
That's a response to this obsessive move to subjective over and over, not to k3v xp zing posting ftl
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
i don't think anyone is arguing that statistics have not improved
the question was whether or not those improved statistics make you an ignorant whiner for having problems w executive robot murder
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:50 (eleven years ago) link
i feel like we could improve infant mortality rates even if drones didnt and had never existed
― max, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
LOL yes can you imagine if New York City was subjected to random, indiscriminate death from above?
#reichstagfireneverforget
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
they do if your whining equates the war crimes of the past with the war crimes of the present (cf Morbz "Worst US Murderer President Ever" etc)
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:52 (eleven years ago) link
I don't award medals in the Blood Olympics
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:53 (eleven years ago) link
look if leftism has to answer for morbz all the time then it'll go nowhere even faster than it already is
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:53 (eleven years ago) link
(<3 you morbz)
executive robot murder
When you put it this way, it sounds so sexy, though
― sive gallus et mulier (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:54 (eleven years ago) link
also again this is not a "war crime" it is a New Rule
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:54 (eleven years ago) link
leftism? where?
also I've never had a macaron, why the fuck do they spell it almost like macaroon?
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
Morbz owns this clusterfuck - now is not the time to change horses midstream for a new clusterfucker in chief
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
Did Morbz just go Full Lorax or . . . ?
― Marco YOLO (Phil D.), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
I don't even know what a macaron is who is the leftist now huh huh
isn't an executive robot murder what a President Romney would commit
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
Sadly, I do. I don't trust ppl who never get their hands dirty but I do want to know what the filth is thereupon and how much of it there is.
― sive gallus et mulier (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:56 (eleven years ago) link
no that would be if someone murdered President Romney
xp
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:56 (eleven years ago) link
wait are macarons different from macaroons
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:57 (eleven years ago) link
that's ridiculous
in the most peaceful time in history, too
people pay like $3 for a macaron, my grandma gave me macaroons for free.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
morbz discretely (lolz as if) keeps giving blood Olympics gold to Obama. Assad meanwhile all wtf when do I get mine
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
i bought a girl a $5 truffle the other day, a single truffle, it was so obscene it was almost a sexual act
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:59 (eleven years ago) link
i had a bite and it was like where the fuck did my $5 go because it's not in here
see but Assad's personally murdering his citizens one by one with a rusty switchblade, whereas Obama's being a pussy with all this robodrone assassination from a million miles away crap
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:59 (eleven years ago) link
my basic stance is that the executive has grown too powerful and unitary in a lot of ways, especially in foreign policy. (the same holds for 'executive' powers in lower levels of gov't = cops)
this has happened because congress have given the executive that power and most people are either happy with it or view the status quo as natural. this is an ancient problem tbh, older than this country even.
for elected bodies to assert their power over warmaking would require congress to be 'fixed' and that's a whole other set of problems.
in one sense there's nothing wrong with a low level drone war in yemen, but it's something that just kind of happened because of this or that other thing that was happening nearby, of which congress was informed.
― goole, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:00 (eleven years ago) link
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, July 17, 2012 12:48 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
vietnam wasn't exactly a bright spot on our resume either. again my problem isn't with the drones themselves (although tbh this is a bit of a lie - there are legitimate moral issues [and questions of legality] wrt dudes sitting back playing halo like this) but rather with the fact that it makes more practical and less messy the types of actions i'd like our country to avoid in the first place.
― Al S. Burr! (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:00 (eleven years ago) link
i didn't know Assad was a US president, I am mortified
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:01 (eleven years ago) link
Oh so Obama is only bloodthirsty in comparison with other presidents? I didn't realize we were playing with such low stakes- generally Olympics get participants from throughout the world.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:07 (eleven years ago) link
http://blog.purentonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/laduree-macarons-paris-pic2.jpg
Macaron
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CmCvh8DaqIM/TAv3dGVrgQI/AAAAAAAAA0k/MkfHSVXd1ac/s1600/May+31+pic.jpg
Macaroon
― sive gallus et mulier (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:08 (eleven years ago) link
Look, in both the Bush and Obama administrations the argument has been that we're going after bad guys. I neither dispute that generally nor think that fewer ppl would likely end up as that lovely euphemism, collateral damage, if we sent in a swat team, I just think that:
(a) Killing ppl in foreign countries w/o declaring war is bad consitutionally and bad foreign policy in the long run, and
(b) W/o 'due process' (currently defined as we didn't roll any dice, we picked some dudes off of an intel list that was supposedly vetted) there's no accountability for psychopaths, rogues and hotheads and our constitutional guarantees are either negated or severely cheapened. It's bad enough that our local police forces can waste ppl almost indiscriminately but when the military is doing it, it's not such a good look.
We can afford such a military but we can't set up a 24/7 court dedicated to oversight? I know the Constitution is supposedly not a suicide pact but c'mon...
― sive gallus et mulier (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:15 (eleven years ago) link
Mordy, instead of an Olympics I should've said it's more like an All-American episode of Steve Allen's 1970s dress-up fictional talk show Meeting of Minds, only with mass murder.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link