I'm with Stewie on this one. Had it been this kids brother who survived instead of him, then I could care less what happened to him as he would not be privy to our Rights. This kid is an American citizen though, and he has the same rights as everyone else. I think most of us can see where the power to declare American citizens as 'enemies of the State' could, and will be, abused. If anything, this should give us all pause about granting citizenship to millions of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Out govt couldn't even properly investigate this one kid who they were warned about in advance, twice. You would have to be an idiot to think they know who the hell they're granting citizenship to.
You can be with Stewart in principle. It's irrelevant. You need to understand the changes in the Justice Department's policy vs. US citizens that commit acts of terror on US soil. It's done. Obama and Holder had it pushed through. Read the Guardian article.
Maybe I don't get it, but the rush to mirandize "z" was an intelligence mistake. One that I think was purposely done by the protect muslim terrorists everywhere they can (without actually triggering a detonator or outright catch and release evidently is okay as long as the public doesn't find out) obama administration DOJ, state dept and others. Now as a libertarian one might think it hypocritical not to mirandize a US citizen on US soil. nope it just means you can't use what he says against him until you do. So there's a trade off .If you want information you have to be willing to weaken your case against him and only him. AFAIK that doesn't make his squealing on the rest of his accomplices , network operations $$ money trail void in prosecuting others. In this case, it certainly would have been rational to forego self incrimination info for info on the obvious potential goldmine of intelligence on jihadi activity.
Take it from me, criminals, like drug transporters [don't ask how I would know about that of course] know that the entire US Public Sector can't collectively find it's ass with both hands.. How else could a trillion dollar enterprise continue to thrive like no other sector of the economy? The Public Sector is just tens of millions of people with little job descriptions, all of whom are 100% invested in protecting their own jobs..
I agree with the author and it was a good read. I know stewart is a lib and did what he could to falsely or ignorantly place the blame squarely on the shoulders of reps, but as you said, in principle he is correct. And I disagree that principles are ever irrelevant. These changes will absolutely be abused, just like the jose padilla case which was referred to in the article. In any case, regardless of the changes to the law, this whole idea that an American can be labeled an 'enemy combatant' and detained indefinitely, or forced to incriminate him/herself and have it allowed in court is insane and outright ignores Constitutional rights. It is even stranger that the admin didn't apply this new power in this case.. what would be a better opportunity? I guess they're saving it for a white 'tea bagger'.
I get what you're saying Phoenix, and I can't say I have problem with questioning this kid before he was charged (in a practical sense) BUT what are the limits on that? Could he, an American citizen, be shipped to gitmo and water boarded until he cracks, or something similar? he got caught red handed, but what about someone who was simply accused or suspected, like maybe his roommates or his brothers wife? And what exactly is an act of terrorism, and who gets to draw that distinction? The govt does, and i don't trust these fools one bit so I would rather we lose intel than sacrifice our rights for some sense of security. Especially since I lost a whole bunch of faith in all of our domestic agencies after they couldn't id the older brother who was fucking handed to them twice by the russians.