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Comment Re:Surprised? (Score 1) 149

Assuming people are too young to personally remember this, were they also asleep during their history classes?

What, young people get history classes now?

Being somewhat older, and having spent a sizable chunk of my childhood near the Inner German Border, I remember this quite well.

My daughter? Not so much....

Comment Re:stop being a pussy (Score 3, Insightful) 310

I think the killing of a US citizen who is located in a foreign state who is preaching violence and providing religious indoctrination for those carrying out acts of violence against the state and it's citizens

Note that if he were in the US, "preaching violence and providing religious indoctrination", he would be protected by the First Amendment, at least up to the point that an actual act of violence occurred.

At that point, I think they could get him for incitement, perhaps, but that crime doesn't carry a death penalty....

Comment Re:Obligatory (Score 1) 310

So let me get this straight, it's perfectly OK to kill people with drones as long as they're not American citizens?

A lot of rules are different for citizens and non-citizens.

As an example, I expect that there isn't a country in the world that can legally deport its own citizens, but there's no problem with deporting illegal aliens (non-citizens in a country in violation of immigration laws).

Likewise, in the US, it's not illegal to shoot enemy soldiers, but it is illegal to shoot American citizens without that whole "trial by jury of your peers" thing. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to shoot them even after the trial by jury (though Utah used to use a firing squad as an execution method).

Comment Re:There's a broader question to be addressed here (Score 1) 310

Since when is it permissible for any government to employ military force against its own (civilian) citizens?

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them

You forgot the rest of Article 3, Section 3. Here's the relevant part(s):

No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

and

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason,

Not sure as how "blowing them away with a Hellfire fired from a drone" is a punishment set by Congress, nor am I sure that "the Pres decided this one had to go" is the same as "convicted".

Comment Re:Obligatory (Score 1) 310

Drug dealers cost America more money and kill more americans than terrorism by about 100000x

Hmm, 100000x the 3000-odd killed when the Twin Towers were hit. So drug dealers have killed 300,000,000 million Americans?

Exaggerating for effect is nice, and all, but try to make your exaggerations at least semi-believable - it's hard to take seriously someone who says, in effect, "drug dealers have killed 90% of the population of the US"....

Comment Re:Stupid? (Score 2) 204

If pulling teams are animal cruelty, then so is playing fetch with your retriever.

This particular group of animal-rights types is not PETA (though they may be affiliated with, or have membership overlap with, PETA).

That said, PETA does, in fact, believe that you should not be allowed to have a retriever (or any other pet). Much less make the poor dog "play fetch".

For the record, I have a lab. Nothing he likes better than run and fetch the stick (except run and fetch the steak).

Comment Re:The geology department is trying to... (Score 4, Insightful) 135

Maybe it doesn't have life because it's being scorched by a nuclear furnace????

Whew! Good thing Earth isn't being heated by a giant thermo-nuclear oven too!

Venus gets about twice the solar irradiation we do here. If we got 2.5kw or so per square meter here, this planet would be uninhabitable too.

And since the Great Oxygen Event had a biological cause, it's probable we'd have a CO2 atmosphere too, with or without plate tectonics, if we had Venus levels of solar irradiation.

Comment Re:obamacare says "no way" (Score 1) 288

It protects you and your family from unexpected medical expenses that would bankrupt anyone but the 1%ers.

If that were true, it would require catastrophic coverage (y'know, like your auto insurance does, or homeowner's insurance does), rather than coverage of routine expenses (which would be like auto insurance that paid for carwashes and new wiper blades or homeowner's insurance that paid for someone to mow your grass)....

Comment Re:Dumbass (Score 2) 168

Treason is "a citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the parent nation."

This may be the generic definition of treason, but it is NOT the American definition.

Read Article 3, Section 3 of the US Constitution for the US definition of treason.

Note also that what Snowden did does NOT qualify under Article 3, Section 3, much as some people (including possibly Snowden) would like to think so.

Comment Re:Dumbass (Score 2) 168

And you imagine that Putin told the truth, why?

Though if you look closely at his answer, it was quite possible that it was the truth. Of course, his answer wasn't quite an answer to the question, now was it?

Yes, Russia is a nation of laws. I agree. Has nothing to do with the question.

I will even accept that it requires a warrant (or Russian equivalent) to listen in on "any particular person". Which also has nothing to do with the question, since the question was about mass spying a la the NSA.

Note, by the by, that the USA is a "nation of laws", and requires a warrant (or equivalent) to spy on "any particular person", yet still manages to spy on pretty much everyone....

Comment Re:Big Whoop. (Score 1) 87

My problem is that the entire thing still relies on government. If there is value in a "private" space industry, it hasn't been found yet.

Hmm, you haven't heard about the market for launching satellites, have you? Which is mostly private. Which 3.5 of the Falcon 9 launches have been.

Projected launches for Falcon 9 over the next few years include eleven launches for the US government, and 17 other launches.

Comment Re:Obamacare exists because... (Score 1) 288

If you have a medical issue that requires several $90 office visits, and the choice is between paying that or feeding your family (or possibly buying gas to get to your minimum wage job so you don't lose it), how is that "can't be bothered?"

Of course, if you have a minimum wage job, you're not making enough for the subsidies to kick in, so you don't actually get cheap medical insurance under the ACA.

What you get with a minimum wage job is the same Medicaid you got before....

Comment Re:Big Whoop. (Score 2) 87

the design of the NASA space stations were done by NASA.

Alas, no. The NASA work on the space stations was limited to design studies that were limited to 'this is what we want a space station to do, and this is the space we have to do it in".

When it came to the engineering part of the design, McDonnell Douglas did Skylab and various companies did ISS (hell, ISS had parts from other countries, much less from outside NASA).

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