The Morning Roar: Obama Administration Must Explain Drone Killings, U.S. Troops to Poland & Baltics, and a Concerned Citizen's Letter to PA Police Chief
Welcome to your Wednesday edition of The Morning Roar! Obama Administration Must Explain It's Rationale for Murder by DroneEarlier this week a Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous ruling that allowed the Obama administration to keep secret it's legal rationale for murdering American citizens abroad via drone strike, as it has in the cases of Anwar Al-Awlaki and his teenage son Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki. Judge Jon O. Newman writes on behalf of the court:
We emphasize at the outset that the Plaintiffs' lawsuits do not challenge the lawfulness of drone attacks or targeted killings. Instead, they seek information concerning those attacks, notably, documents prepared by DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel ("OLC") setting forth the Government's reasoning as to the lawfulness of the attacks.
All of these lawsuits, and the issue at hand isn't even the legality of the assassinations themselves, but merely a request for information regarding the attacks. How many tax dollars are being thrown down the tubes just to try to get some explanation for the quaint little issue of murdering Americans without any sort of trial or legal proceeding?The plaintiffs in this case include the New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union. While the Times is likely pursuing the case for journalistic purposes, one would hope the ACLU will continue to pursue the issue of extra-judicial assassinations. This was impossible until now. In order to mount a legal case against something it is paramount to know the legal justification for it in the first place.Hopefully this ray of sunshine will help to continue to shine a spotlight on the unaccountable assassination program being carried out by the Obama administration, and one that will surely remain in future administrations regardless of party affiliation if it were to remain unchallenged.U.S. to Send 600 Troops to Poland, Baltics In "Message" to RussiaIn what is being described as a move to "reassure Russia's neighbors", the United States is sending 600 paratroopers to Poland and several Baltic countries in response to Russia's annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine. According to a report from Yahoo! News, a Pentagon spokesman reveals the details of the troop movements:
“I can announce today that a company-size contingent of paratroopers from the U.S. Army Europe's 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team airborne, which is based in Vicenza, Italy, will arrive in Poland tomorrow to begin exercises with Polish troops,” Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters at his daily briefing.
Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will get 150 American troops each. The full deployment will be complete “by the end of this weekend, maybe Monday,” Kirby said.
Even when those U.S. forces rotate back, new ones will take their place for new exercises throughout the rest of 2014, “but beyond that, it could go beyond the end of this year," Kirby said. "We just don't know. We're just going to have to see how it goes.”
That's sounds like a solid foreign policy - let's just "see how it goes!"The only "message" that these troop movements send is that the United States continues to desire to leverage it's imperial power halfway across the world, involve itself in political disputes in other nations, and most importantly to continue to really, really piss of Vladimir Putin.What exactly will these troop movements "reassure" Russia's neighbors of? Will it assure them that the United States will plot a coup in their countries as well, as it was caught doing in a leaked tape prior to the Ukraine coup? No really, that happened.http://youtu.be/LQ1ktLS4UhUThe United States government has proven time and time again that it's intentions cannot be trusted when it comes to foreign policy…or anything else for that matter. We can only pray that troop movements such as these are merely a political power play, and don't escalate into a real battle in that region - one that would likely affect the lives of individuals the world over.Concerned Citizen's Letter to a PA Police ChiefIn this past Monday's edition of The Morning Roar, we pointed out a story sent to us from friend, fan, and Lions of Liberty Podcast contributor, Trent Seaman, who witnessed a dangerous police chase that turned out to be over $140 in stolen merchandise.After experiencing first-hand the danger posed to the public by the actions of the North Fayette Police Department, Trent decided to put anger to keyboard and write a letter to Police Chief Mark O'Donnell regarding the incident: We print it here with permission:
Chief O’Donnell,I am writing to you as a concerned Citizen of the State of Pennsylvania and as a regular Patron of the Pointe at North Fayette, a popular retail center of which your department has jurisdiction.On the afternoon of Saturday, April 19, 2014 my wife and I were observing a stop light at the corner of Summit Park Drive and Home Drive in the Summit Park Drive West Bound Lane. As I completed my stop I heard police sirens increasing in volume rather quickly. As I looked into my rear view mirror I noticed one of your police cruisers closing on the rear of my vehicle at an alarming rate of speed. That particular stretch of road is void of a shoulder so there was no place to move my vehicle, nor was there any room for the vehicles of both lanes in front of me to move which were also observing the red signal. In what I suppose was an effort to avoid a rear end collision with my vehicle and those in front of me the Police Cruiser made an aggressive move into oncoming traffic in the East Bound Lane of Summit Park Drive as opposed to completing a stop. At this time there was a minivan completing a left hand turn from Home Drive onto the East Bound Lane of Summit Park Drive. Luckily, this minivan was in the outside lane and your cruiser was occupying the inside lane, otherwise there would have been a head on collision involving the minivan and Police Cruiser. I will further add that your Police Cruiser continued against traffic in the East Bound Lane and ran through the red light at a high rate of speed without even tapping on his / her brakes. Having witnessed the event I turned to my wife and said “I hope everything is ok, I cannot imagine would could possibly be so urgent at the Home Depot or Best Buy.”On Sunday morning I went to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette website to learn more about what would provoke such a reaction on the part of the North Fayette Police Department. I read the attached article to learn this was merely the genesis of a police chase that would result in a six car accident causing a considerable amount of economic damage to those innocent motorists involved. Perhaps even more shocking was that this incident was over $140 of stolen merchandise from Target.Chief O’Donnell, I am writing to express my concerns over your police department’s judgment. Clearly Ms. Young, 24 of McKees Rocks, was wrong by shoplifting. However, I do also believe that our Police Officers, whom we trust to “Protect and Serve” us should have the maturity to understand the risk / reward of pursuing a criminal at high speeds for a matter of $140. Would you not agree? I kindly ask that you respond to this letter outlining the disciplinary action that will be administered to ensure that your Police Officers do not participate in another such chase that could result in injury or death to innocent bystanders. I trust that you will respond and take hasty action to remedy this issue. If you do not agree that action is necessary please indicate as such so that I may pursue my inquiry with local state congressmen / women and more importantly so that my family and I can choose other retail outlets as to not be needlessly endangered by these rogue officers.Sincerely,Trent Seaman
This is the type of thoughtful, non-violent action people can take at the local level to hold police forces accountable. Unfortunately, police forces in the United States are typically held above-the-law, and are not held accountable for any damage or destruction they cause in the "line of duty." Even when police are held to account, typically reparations simply come from "the taxpayer", meaning that the citizens pay the costs of police abuses themselves.Some may say that Mr. Seaman's letter will have no effect and will be ignored. It's quite possible, and I'm confident that Trent will continue to pursue further inquiries as implied in his letter. But imagine if Chief O'Donnell received 10 of those letters? 50? 100? 1,000?At the end of the day, police chiefs need to keep their jobs too, and a watchful citizenry can preemptively force police departments to be more mindful about the safety of others when conducting their jobs.In any sort of sane, market-based world, police services would have to weigh the costs and benefits of their actions, and it is unlikely that a high-speed, dangerous car chase likely to cause damage and possible death and injury to others would take place in order to reclaim a mere $140 in stolen merchandise. And if a private company did engage in this sort of behavior, it certainly wouldn't be able to stay in business for very long.For more on how private police services could be provided sans a coercive government, check out this part of my series investigating the ideas of anarcho-capitalism. Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
