Bernie Sanders wants to turn the U.S. Postal Service into a bank soit can put out loans. He told Fusion.net last week how awesome of an idea it’d be because it would fight back against those dirty, rotten payday lenders.
A federal judge has barred the state of Indiana from enforcing a new law that prohibits voters from taking photos of their election ballots and sharing the images on social media.
On Friday, students from Atascocita gave Summer Creek students a decorated Halloween bucket along with a watermelon, coconut, pineapple and watermelon gum.
America no longer has any tanks in Europe, and the number of US troops stationed there has decreased by more than a third since 2012. Many of the weapons used for Nato exercises rotate between bases in the US and in Europe.
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In a scathing decision, a federal court in California has ruled that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s interpretation of a recent medical marijuana bill “defies language and logic,” “tortures the plain meaning of the statute” and is “at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law.” The ruling could have a broad impact on the DEA’s ability to prosecute federal medical marijuana cases going forward.
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Lenders are no longer just interested in whether you pay your bills or not. Increasingly, they are looking at how you pay those bills to determine whether they want you as a customer.
Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Texas student arrested last month after bringing a “homemade” clock to school, met Wednesday evening with President Omer Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, who is accused of war crimes and orchestrating genocide.
So where does the 40 percent figure come from? It is derived from studies that were based on data collected from a survey in 1994, the same year that the Brady Act requirements for background checks came into effect. In fact, the questions concerned purchases dating as far back as 1991, and the Brady Act went into effect in early 1994 — meaning that some, if not many, of the guns were bought in a pre-Brady environment.
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Wayne Simmons, a recurring guest on Fox News who claimed to have 27 years of experience with the CIA, was arrested Thursday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied about his service.
Known Simmons for yrs. Can't comprehend how he could've pulled off such an extravagant, disgusting lie over so many: http://t.co/ZDFDKTkqDs
The family of a Michigan teen fatally shot by a sheriff’s sergeant during a traffic stop filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Eaton County and the officer who shot 17-year-old Deven Guilford in February.
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Texas high school sports officials have punished two football players and coaches involved in an intentional hit on a referee, showing some leniency to a former assistant who denied allegations he ordered the players to blindside the game umpire.
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Congress may update digital copyright law affecting aggregator sites, like the Drudge Report and Real Clear Politics, along with news sites in the near future.
The Federal Aviation Administration now has the technology to hijack drones in the middle of the air, adopted as part of an effort to keep personal and commercial drones away from sensitive areas.
“The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future.” ~ Economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1943) Campaign contributors 2016: Politicians famously fail to follow through on their campaign promises once elected. Just look at the track record of our current leadership…
Asked to name the enemies that she is most proud of during Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton cited industries represented by lobbyists who are among her top campaign fundraisers.
A Wisconsin graduate student and Iraq war veteran is surprised that he is under disciplinary review, barred from campus outside of attending classes, after a confrontation in which he accused a classmate of stolen valor.
A look at the new landscape of sex education published by The New York Times contains an eye-opening anecdote: In California, teachers are telling kids to get consent every ten minutes during sex to avoid committing rape.
A racial equality officer, gay rights, and anti-rape activist at Oxford University is resigning her positions after admitting she engaged in “not consensual” sex while at a student conference.
The debate has raged for some days now … was the killing of al-Awlaki in Yemen illegal?
Rep. Ron Paul says it was, but he says everything is illegal.
There are two primary arguments alleging the illegality of al-Awlaki’s killing.
First, he was a US citizen, and as such, was due a trial.
Second, the US violated international law by assassinating him in Yemen.
Neither argument holds up, both morally or legally.
First I’ll address international law.
Neither the Hague Convention of 1899, or the Protocol Addition to the Geneva Convention of 1949 forbid al-Awlaki’s killing by international law. Right off the get go, proponents of this argument are off to a bad start. In fact, the international law community has often taken the stance that killing an adversary can often fall within the confines of international law.
The clauses that traditionally have been construed as prohibiting “targeted killings” are far from clear prohibitions. In the Hague Convention (II) with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land (29 July 1899), Article 23b states that it is prohibited “to kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army.” Treachery is not explicitly defined, and it can be argued that using missiles to attack a car in which a target is traveling, while brutal and having a high probability of injuring bystanders, does not fall within the purview of treachery. Similarly, targeted killings can be argued to fall outside the Protocol I Article 37 prohibition on killing, injuring, or capturing “an adversary by resort to perfidy”—described as “acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence.” Article 37 gives examples of perfidy including “the feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or surrender” and “the feigning of civilian, non-combatant status.”
Basically, you can’t ‘assassinate’ under false-flag circumstances. No such circumstance existed with the al-Awlaki killing. It should be noted that this provision addresses someone belonging to a hostile nation OR army. While al-Awlaki did not belong to a hostile nation, he did belong to a hostile army. This is important later when I argue the relevance of his US citizenship.
In addition to this international law, the US has NO LAW forbidding foreign assassinations. We do, however, have a policy of not undertaking assassinations. Policy does not equal law.
The second component to this operation is that Yemen fully approved, and supported the killing of al-Awlaki. So no argument can be made that we violated the sovereignty of a foreign nation.
The other argument making its way around is that al-Awlaki’s killing was illegal because he was a US citizen. As such, an assassination order by the President of the United States would violate his constitutional right of due process. It should also be noted that al-Awlaki was not the only American killed in the attack.
Al-Awlaki’s ties to terrorism are not in dispute, his actual influence is. So can the president order his killing, or not?
8 U.S.C. § 1481 addresses the issue of US citizenship in situations like this.
(a) A person who is a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any of the following acts with the intention ofrelinquishing United States nationality –
(1) obtaining naturalization in a foreign state upon his own application or upon an application filed by a duly authorized agent, after having attained the age of eighteen years; or
(2) taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, after having attained the age of eighteen years;
The law also addresses taking up arms against the United States in section 7. Considering al-Awlaki’s Yemeni citizenship, which does not recognize dual-citizenship, and his taking up arms against the US, it would appear that he renounced his US citizenship long ago.
Section 7 automatically revokes his citizenship because of his terrorist activities, but requires capture and tribunal. Since he was in Yemen, we revert to international law which permits his killing in order to prevent a further loss of life. More relevant is local Yemen law. Again, they assisted in the killing of al-Awlaki.
Is his killing a gray area? Only in the perpetually unrefined laws of US citizenship. Laws that most Americans agree need to be revamped, but the law nonetheless.
The only component missing to classify al-Awlaki as a non-citizen appears to be a mere formality of choreographed theater that would only serve to satisfy the selfish needs of third party citizens, not the parties directly involved. It’s pretty clear that al-Awlaki, the US, and Yemen were all on the same page.
Both al-Alwaki and Yemen agree that he is a citizen of Yemen. The US agrees that he revoked his citizenship. Who are you to swoop in and negate those facts?
The only sources of outcry appear to come from the ignorant, and those with a vested interest in ideological pacifism. Not from a position of morality or legality.
Ultimately, this is a debate that will fall upon opinion. If you think al-Awlaki’s killing was illegal, you’ll likely never change your mind. Same goes for those who think it was legally justified. Each individual will have to decide for themselves if international law, US law, or Yemeni law should reign supreme.
