
Terror Watch List Finally Reined In - Anon84
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-09/terror-watch-list-finally-reined-in
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bediger4000
After only 17 years or so. The watch list was unconstitutional on its face,
there were no criteria how to get on it, and no no-opaque way to get off it
(violating the petition for redress of grievances clause). It was also un-
American in spirit. Secret lists enforced by secret police in secret. Rubbish.
George Washington would be ashamed.

~~~
TomMckenny
What's most disturbing is that it took 17 years. And whatever it is in the
culture that uses liberty to zealously oppose regulation of fire arms and
corporations but lets this stand for almost a generation. It'd be interesting
to learn how these priorities came about.

~~~
mieseratte
You wonder how these priorities came about? Do you not recall 9/11 or are you
not an American? Scared people do irrational things.

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mindslight
"Scared people do irrational things" makes it sound as if the overall reaction
was somehow reasonable at the time or that the priorities were organic. Most
of the fear and panic was stoked by the mainstream media, in support of
traitorous politicians seeing an opportunity to act on longstanding
totalitarian wishes. Propaganda is a powerful weapon against Free people.

~~~
Fnoord
If the end goal of the terrorists was forcing the West into a more
totalitarian, less free society, then they succeeded.

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baybal2
I congratulate whomever fought it, the biggest infringement of fundamental
rights in a plain daylight in the free world.

I say it from a place completely antipodal from the free world. People who
live in totalitarian states still look up to you, America, even in your
current state of unending downward spiraling.

Think, if America in it current state is still kept in such esteem, and still
though of as a "moral etalon," think just how much you still have to loose,
and how deep is the abyss your country is edging on.

~~~
tick_tock_tick
I beg to differ it going to be very hard to top when Obama ordered an extra
extrajudicial killings of a US citizen
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-
Awlaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki).

~~~
mav3rick
He seems like an out and out terrorist. Easy to write something like this when
you haven't lost a loved one to a terrorist attack.

~~~
saagarjha
The point of a trial is to have a better justification than your feeling of
him being "an out and out terrorist".

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mav3rick
There is no feeling. He was clearly planning things. And the govt may have got
a confidential order from a judge.

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brokenmachine
I'm curious, would a secret order from a judge remain secret after his death?
Forever?

~~~
metiscus
Depending on what intelligence went into it, yes.

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ilaksh
Great. What website do I go to to make sure I'm not on the list?

~~~
chopin
There are websites you don't go to not get on the list...

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einpoklum
They should just replace the terror watch list with the CIA payroll list +
list of foreign donors to Washington think-tanks and their extended family
members.

I suspect that would increase the accuracy marvelously.

~~~
misterprime
Hah! Would we still get to watch them on TV news?

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diminoten
Man, I really need to keep better watch out for opinion pieces. Not that I
disagree with this guy, but I'm looking for information, not moralization.
Here's a NYT news article about the subject:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/us/politics/terrorism-
wat...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/us/politics/terrorism-watchlist-
constitution.html)

~~~
ergothus
I feel that as parties have learned how to abuse the "neutrality" of the
media, a lot of real reporting has moved to the opinions section.

...where it mingles with content that clearly belongs in the opinion section
and away from "news".

This creates a real problem - if people who want to know if any claim is TRUE
rather than just hearing the claims of the various parties to a dispute, they
move to these opinion sections (and opinion organizations). This gives the
credibility of objective reporting to those that aren't even claiming to be
objective.

I want my reporting to mention when something isn't proven...but also to not
be victims of battles over the Overton window.

