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PapaJu

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Posts posted by PapaJu

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Oh gawd. Here we go again... How hard is it to realize that in the digital age, every one can see everything.

    What bothers me more is all of those people went through the process of putting that photo together without any of them saying, "Hey, is this disrespectful?"

    • Upvote 1

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Does the AFA have a FB page that you can link this article? Everybody on the AFA FB page should be able to enjoy his remarks as well.

    Gonna hazard a guess that he's not the only cadet saying stupid shit on Twitter. Or maybe he's doing it on purpose as part of some AFOSI ploy. Who knows.

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    That happened in about 90% of political science / international affiars classes I took in college. Spent a lot of days being the only, or one of two, dude(s) on that side of the room. Naturally the professor didn't even have the decency to stay at the front/middle to moderate...they were sitting on the other side. It was pretty ridiculous, but while many of those profs were approaching nutjob status, I will give it to them they were relatively fair when it came to grades.

    That's effed up, but yeah, Boulder.

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted · Edited by PapaJu

    From a few years ago...

    It was mandatory training for all 7,000-odd students in the University of Delaware dorms. The sessions were part of a thorough thought-reform curriculum, designed by the school's Office of Residence Life, to psychologically "treat" and correct the allegedly incorrect thoughts, attitudes, values, beliefs, and habits of the students. The ResLife staff considered students too intolerant of one another, too "consumerist," and in dire need of reeducation to become responsible world citizens who could meet the planet's environmental crisis and the requirements of social and economic "justice."

    http://thefire.org/article/9869.html

    Liberty, Rights, and the Constitution 2

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Do you honestly believe any Congressman/Senator would have been able to do anything for him if he remained in this country? He would probably end up pigeon-holed in some federal prison till it blew over and we would probably know little to nothing, especially since our own government agencies can lie to or ignore congress.

    He was going to those countries because our allies wouldn't touch him, doesn't leave many places left to go.

    Snowden's not the first NSA "whistleblower" in the past decade, but he's received a heck of a lot more attention than the others. Why? Because he ran off to Hong Kong and has created a, "What will he do next?" saga for himself. So while I can't disagree with your pessimism, that's also sort of the point of civil disobedience. If you're going to stand for something, be ready to face the consequences. Snowden would have had a better leg to stand on if he was willing to take the punishment; in my opinion, he's lost credibility by fleeing abroad and using classified documents unrelated to domestic spying as bargaining chips.

    • Upvote 1
    • Downvote 1

    Liberty, Rights, and the Constitution 2

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    So because his own country decided it wanted to keep breaking the law and therefore our allies wouldn't help him, just where was he supposed to go? I'm just trying to understand what exactly you would have liked him to do considering you admit the IG route wouldn't have worked.

    Well, he didn't seem to make an effort to reach out to some of the members of Congress that HeloDude mentioned that have made a stink about this issue (that was the route Ellsberg went with the Pentagon Papers). Or he could've restricted his leaks to the domestic stuff and not start spilling stuff about our foreign collection methods/targets (and perhaps remained anonymous or revealed himself while staying in the country). I find the "sincere guy worried about American civil liberties" argument hard to believe when he takes other documents and flees to another country. I don't think he's off to sell stuff off to the Chinese or Russians per se, in fact I'm having trouble determining what his motives actually are.

    He ended up in Russia by accident; I think his passport was revoked as he was changing planes to go to South America or something like that. He has stated multiple times that he'd rather be in a democratic country.

    He broke the law, certainly. Doesn't deserve to have a security clearance ever again. But sometimes laws need to be broken to serve a higher purpose. The guy who leaked the Pentagon Papers thought the same thing and never had to serve time for his leak. The scope of the NSA programs completely out of control and the American people deserved to know it.

    He was reportedly trying to go to Cuba, Venezuela, or Ecuador. Not exactly bastions of free media and government transparency, either. He did mention wanting to seek asylum in Iceland (after going to Hong Kong), but I have trouble buying that. Did he really think a democratic country with strong ties to the US was going to shelter him after he stole a bunch of classified documents and started giving them to the media? Either he's the most naive person on Earth or full of shit.

    Liberty, Rights, and the Constitution 2

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Ends don't justify the means. I don't think going the IG route would've done much (which is why I can empathize a bit more with Bill Binney's situation a few years ago, even though I don't condone the leaking of classified material), but the means by which Snowden did this does matter here. How can we support someone as acting in the interest of privacy when he proceeds to seek protection in authoritarian Russia? The fact that his supporters overlook this "minor" detail adds to my belief that so-called privacy advocates have become ideologically predisposed against anything the USG does rather than acting as objective watchdogs against abuse. Snowden is no hero.

    US flags at half-mast for Nelson Mandela--thoughts?

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Stop arguing feelings and attacking the source and use facts, sweetie. What was the unemployment rate for South Africa in 1993 compared to the end of 1999/2000? What is it today? What was the average per capita income when he took office vs 2000? What is necklacing, and who was Winnie Mandela? What was Mandela's relationship to the ANC? What was the Marikana Massacre? Was the quality of life improved for all South Africans? Even white South Africans?

    Asking the, "Was South Africa better before or after Apartheid?" question is absurd in the first place. Better for whites during Apartheid, potentially better for blacks after.

    • Upvote 1

    US flags at half-mast for Nelson Mandela--thoughts?

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    He is lucky he wasn't executed for his crimes, but that is a different discussion. So we honor someone just because they serve 27 years in prison for crimes? Are we going to honor Terry Nichols if and when he gets released after 27 years? I mean, hey, he may apologize, you never know. He and McVeigh were fighting to restore our Rights under The Constitution (so McVeigh said). See what happens when it comes down to opinion?

    By the way, I did a fairly extensive google search for Mandela in regards to 'regretting' and 'apologizing'...one or two things come up for 'regretting' and nothing for apologizing. Semantics? Perhaps. But you'd think I'd be able to find more on the subject if it was more widespread. By all mean, share what you have as I'm truly about more education.

    And for the record, I'm not saying we drag the guy through the dirt when he dies just because he's dead...but you hear very little about the atrocities he committed/was involved in, and I think that is the same to equating to sweeping those things under the rug because it doesn't further the desired narrative. So to be fair, I believe an honest debate needs to occur. You also didn't answer my question about Fidel Castro. A lot of people think he's done some positive/remarkable things over the years--suggest we lower the flags him as well?

    By the way, isn't it funny that people like to call Obama a communist and the Tea Party/GOP terrorists...but when we actually have a guy that was both then we're afraid to call him out on it?

    **Edited for spelling/grammar...and I'm sure I'm missed even more errors.

    I actually agree with you in part--a lot of people aren't quite educated about who Mandela was and wasn't. He's often thrown into the same vein as MLK/Gandhi when, in fact, his past is much murkier. Still, Chief does have a point: you can't underestimate how tempting it was for Mandela to just pull a Mugabe and play the revenge game on those who had been part of the Apartheid regime. He didn't, and a lot of people who did really awful things (both under the previous regime as well as ANC people) weren't punished as a result of pursuing national reconciliation instead.

    • Upvote 1

    Question about the Coast Guard

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Is the Coast Guard still part of the actual military? I met a guy the other day who claimed to be a commander in the CG and got furious when I asked him about them being under the DHS and not DOD. He rambled on about how they are still military and blah blah. So do we actually salute higher ranking coasties? I'm not trying to insult the CG. There are a lot of organizations who are not military that do some tough work (CIA, DEA, FBI, etc). I'm just trying to figure out if they are still considered military and why. They protect the homeland, but they don't take the fight to the bad guys like the four main branches.

    God forbid we use the military to do that...

    • Upvote 1

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    IF it was a Tea Party flag (and some would argue it has become a de facto symbol of the tea party) the CITY cannot be seen as endorsing one party over any other party.

    Yes, the Tea Party has significantly increased the flag's usage since 2008. That doesn't change the fact that it has a longstanding, non-partisan place in American history (well, at least in the left/right sense). Would it have been ok if they flew the US Navy jack instead? ssn716.jpg

    Boston Marathon Bombing

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    This seems fairly obvious to me that these dudes did not have any sort of formal training in terrorism. The news was all about how sophisticated this attack was...bullshit. This was amateur bomb making, a poorly developed plan/strategy, and absolutely not consistent with any of the attacks being carried out by Chechen extremists or AQ in other parts of the world in terms of lethality. I am very thankful these idiots were not more successful, this could have been a lot more deadly. The bombs that are being used in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria etc. are generally much more sophisticated and much more lethal. These bombs seem to be the result of google searches and very little prior experience. I do think these dudes were probably motivated by radical Muslim beliefs, but I do not think they were backed or sponsored by AQ or Chechens.

    "2"

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