For those old enough to remember watching the first run episodes of Star Trek his passing is just another reminder that you might be getting old.

The first line about Osama Bin Laden is pretty much spot on and there are quite a few others who have gotten the same treatment. The rest of the post is incendiary non-sense.

The winners always get to decide what the rules are and determine if any of them were broken. And as far a following the rules of war goes the US or any other country could summarily execute every "enemy combatant" they get their hands under the rules spelled out in the Geneva Convention.

They are an ally because they have developed several weapons technologies that the US military uses. They are US allies because the US intelligence community comes in a distant second place when it comes to collecting data in that part of the world and need Israel to provide the information they are incapable of collecting on their own. They are US allies because it is the only thing keeping Israel from selling their weapons technology on the open market. China has already shown interest in the Israeli missile and drone technologies. And countries do not have friends they have interests and the Israeli and US interests are pretty well aligned most of the time.

Who is this "US"? Is that all 350+ million inhabitants? And you actually think a "Chinese" martial arts movie means it was produced in China? I suppose you think "The Interview" was produced in NK and they are really just upset about people violating their copyrights?

They won't. Last time I checked China does't have a mutual defense treaty with NK. Plus NK is a pain in the ass for China. NK rhetoric and vitriolic threats have weakened China's security. Thanks to NK the US has beefed up it's anti-missile batteries along the US West Coast and helped increase the military preparedness in the South Pacific region. The deployment of more anti-missile batteries to protect against a NK missile attack can also be used to intercept missiles aimed towards the US west coast. Instead of downsizing the yearly US-SK naval exercises NK threats have resulted in expanding the size of the exercises. Without NK there would be no reason for the sizable US military presence in SK which also threatens China.

If NK (or any one else for that matter) launched an nuclear EMP attack there would be retaliation and China be damned. Seoul can always be rebuilt if it is destroyed. Just look what happened when 3000 people were killed on 9/11 and you can pretty much imagine the US response to a nuclear EMP attack.

I think HW Bush was one of the more recent Presidents who did have the skill set and experience needed to be an effective President. He seemed capable of making independent decisions without being overwhelmed or maneuvered by those close to him. His served in the military in actual combat, was a US Senator, was the US UN Ambassador, was head of the CIA, and spent 8 years as the VP. That is an impressive resume even if you did not agree with his brand of politics or decisions.

The problem is that the people with the skill set needed to be a good President never run or get anywhere near politics. Being a US President is a nightmare of a job. Non-stop 24/7 scrutiny and shrill demands from both foes and friends. Unrealistic expectations and never ending criticism over every decision or statement made. The most critical part of being a good President is choosing the right inner circle policy advisers. These advisers are selected with very little or no legislative review process and they are the ones the President relies on to provide the information need to make wise decisions. These advisers have an enormous amount of influence on the President. Obama has been poorly served by his advisers. He ended up with to many relatively inexperienced idealists who have made the President look hesitant and indecisive on just about every major decision made.

Please give an example of a country that is? And the EU (and a whole bunch of other countries)works hand in hand with the NSA collecting and sharing data. Why do you think the EU politicians stopped their vitriolic accusations in record time? Could it be that their own intelligence agencies pulled them aside and quietly told them they were cooperating with the NSA so shut the hell up? The naivety displayed by the people raging about the NSA in particular and America in general is breath taking. By failing to recognize that there are other very powerful and intrusive state security agencies involved in the mix makes any complaints are meaningless.

The prohibition on hollow point ammunition was declared in 1899. The US JAG office formally repudiated the prohibition and therefore hollow point ammunition is legally used by US military personnel. To even argue this point is silly in the extreme. In war bullets serve one purpose and that is to kill whoever you are shooting at. Getting shot in the head with hollow point ammunition is no different than getting shot in the head with non-hollow point ammunition.

I think reusable orbital entry vehicles, Mars landers, and the half a dozen other probes scattered on missions throughout the solar system might be something to brag about. Granted it's no warp drive or space elevator but show me any other space agency, private or public, domestic or global, that has did anything but but use the past 50 years worth of NASA R&D to accomplish anything worth bragging about.

Humans have been fighting and killing one another ever since there were enough people to pick sides. It most likely began with a cavemen wielding a club and waving a sharp piece of flint to get a nicer cave and better women. The fact we pretty much fight over the same reasons today leads one to wonder whether confrontation, aggression, and violence is built into human DNA. Are we just hardwired for aggression, confrontation, and violence? I suspect that without those built-in traits the human race would have never made it to the top of the food chain. Maybe one day the human race will channel these built-in traits into deep space manned exploration.

It would have been interesting if the drone was detected and they actually tried to shoot it down using the ground to air missile battery installed around the WH. Talk about massive overkill. They are going to end firing the rest of the current Secret Service agents who kept their jobs after the last security breach when someone actually made it into the WH. This drone serves as an excellent proof of concept and the next one might not be so benign.

Storing your stuff in China or Russian jurisdictions only raises you to the top of the governments shit list. On the other hand you can always join the US expat group in Russia. At least until Russia and the US agree to exchange certain individuals that may be resident in their countries. The US and Russia have a long history of making these kind of deals.