Thursday, March 7, 2013

Washington's Blog — Are Attorney General Holder’s Statements on Banks and Drones Connected?


Connecting the dots.

Washington's Blog
Are Attorney General Holder’s Statements on Banks and Drones Connected?
WashingtonsBlog

And who has the high ground on this? Rand Paul, preparing for his 2016 bid.

9 comments:

Adam1 said...

Sometimes my enemy's enemy is my best friend... or... politics makes for strange bed fellows.

I'm not surprised really to find common ground with someone of a Libertarian bend on this topic - even though I'd consider them down right wacky on most topics.

The Rombach Report said...

"The Attorney General of the United States made the following 2 statements within 48 hours:"

"The president can assassinate American citizens on U.S. soil"

"The big banks shouldn’t be prosecuted, as that would destabilize the economy"

From these statements made by Attorney General Holder, does it mean categorically that the US government does not have the Constitutional authority and therefore will not launch any drone hell fire missile strikes against any of the big banks?

Tom Hickey said...

Good question, Ed. Some would say that the banks unleashed a reign of terror on the citizenry, and we are not talking about isolated instances, either.

Bob Roddis said...

What Holder Really Said
Posted by William Grigg on March 7, 2013 02:23 PM
It took a 13-hour filibuster from Senator Rand Paul to wring this terse statement from Attorney General Eric Holder:

“It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: `Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?’ The answer to that question is no.”

Like all statements from people who presume to rule others, this brief message from Holder – – who is Nickolai Krylenko to Obama’s Josef Stalin – should be read in terms of the supposed authority claimed thereby. This means removing useless qualifiers in the interest of clarity.

What Holder is saying, in substantive terms, is that the President does have the supposed authority to use a drone to kill an American who is engaged in “combat,” whether here or abroad. "Combat" can consist of expressing support for Muslims mounting armed resistance against U.S. military aggression, which was the supposed crime committed by Anwar al-Awlaki, or sharing the surname and DNA of a known enemy of the state, which was the offense committed by Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdel. Under the rules of engagement used by the Obama Regime in Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan, any “military-age” male found within a targeted “kill zone” is likewise designated a “combatant,” albeit usually after the fact. This is a murderous application of the "Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy," and it will be used when -- not if -- Obama or a successor starts conducting domestic drone-killing operations.

Holder selected a carefully qualified question in order to justify a narrowly tailored answer that reserves an expansive claim of executive power to authorize summary executions by the president. That’s how totalitarians operate.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/133455.html

Matt Franko said...

Hard to argue with Bob on this one.... RSP,

The Rombach Report said...

This is a good discussion to have because in my opinion the US has been gradually slipping into a state of totalitarian fascism for some time, and it did not start with the Obama administration. However, Rand Paul proved to be the indispensable man on the margin in a spontaneous act of heroism in the defense of Liberty. This is also a good discussion to have because MMT usually seems to avoid subject matter like this which I think only places limitations on its upside potential. I may not be a card carrying MMTr but I am a fellow traveler and I urge you to build alliances with the Libertarians in areas of mutual agreement. There little to lose and everything to gain.

Anonymous said...

Quote: "Hard to argue with Bob on this one.... RSP,"

Actually it's rather eay. You just say some nonsense about "free markets," the Mises' ECA, and voluntary exchanges with respect to history or context like Bob does.

Let me demonstrate wingnut Rothbardism 101:

Quote: "Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?’ "

The fact is President Obama has the authority of the free market. Obama's just Capitalist like the rest of the us only better...

He's a free market capitalist president for sale and the Capitalist Garchs spent good money and capital to have Obama Droning anyone they gawd damn want if you don't like then you spend the money to make the buying the media and buying the proper politicians.

Oh don't have the resources? Then why don't you it earn the old fashion way in the free market ala marrying up or screwing some unlucky workers in a contract where you get 90% of the profits and they have to work 18 hour days under horrid cause it's voluntary and actually a sign of progress.

If you don't think that's fair then you're just a damn commie complaining about the market's price determination of the so called rights of a American citizen versus the needs of the MIC of droning for profit.

The market has spoken and the American market needs flying killer Robots more than it so-called constitutional rights.

If you disagree then then obviously don't understand the
Von Mises' economic calculation argument and why it's necessary to having swarming of flying death machines over whatever central planner commie's like Bob Robbis thinks cause it's better to have free market Murder Drone than SWAT teams breaking down the doors of people engaging to perfectly voluntary exchanges like buying laws to support their police state industry of free market SWAT teams with Drones...oh wait...

Anonymous said...

Quote: "However, Rand Paul proved to be the indispensable man on the margin in a spontaneous act of heroism in the defense of Liberty."

Spontaneous? Really? Rand Paul opportunist politician like the just and the only he's carrying on this stunt is because he'll be trading for favors later.

If you are a real threat then they treat like Aaron Swartz and sue you to death or for problem Senators plane crashes are popular.

Matt Franko said...

Sept,

OK, you got me there.....

But, if it ever gets to the point where they start shooting drone missiles at US citizens without due process, I would look at that as if we were engaged in a true civil war at that point.... I view the chances of that occurring as slim to none....

Simply Holder is off the rails here and should be dismissed.

Holder is incompetent and if he is not at least reprimanded for this outrage so is his boss, President "We're out of money."

Rsp

PS Wash. Blog are morons look at the lower right of their page they have all of the moron 'debt clocks' ticking away over there .... Losers.

They offer no solutions except 'banker hate' which will create a few jobs for lawyers..

Hey Wash. Blog morons: We need 20 million jobs you f-ing idiots!