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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe U.S. just renewed the “State of Emergency” it declared after 9/11, for the 14th year.
The U.S. government just formally renewed the State of Emergency it declared in the aftermath of 9/11 for the 14th time since that attack occurred, ensuring that the country remains in a state of permanent, endless war, subjected to powers that are still classified as extraordinary even though they have become entirely normalized. As a result of all of this, a minority group of close to 3 million people is routinely targeted with bigotry and legal persecution in the Home of the Free, while fear and hysteria reign supreme in the Land of the Brave.
What happened in Irving, Texas, yesterday to a 14-year-old Muslim high school freshman is far from the worst instance, but it is highly illustrative of the rotted fruit of this sustained climate of cultivated fear and demonization. The Dallas Morning News reports that Ahmed Mohamed who makes his own radios and repairs his own go-kart hoped to impress his teachers when he brought a homemade clock to MacArthur High, but instead, the school phoned police.
Despite insisting that he made the clock to impress his engineering teacher, consistent with his long-time interest in inventing stuff, Ahmed was arrested by the police and led out of school with his hands cuffed behind him. When he was brought into the room to be questioned by the four police officers who had been dispatched to the school, one of them who had never previously seen him said: Yup. Thats who I thought it was. As a result, he felt suddenly conscious of his brown skin and his name one of the most common in the Muslim religion.
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/16/arrest-14-year-old-student-making-clock-fruits-15-years-fear-mongering-anti-muslim-animus/
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)and made this decision with full confidence that it was necessary.
GeorgeGist
(25,318 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)That's his primary job is to protect the United States.
malthaussen
(17,184 posts)Yep, that's what it says in the oath and all. I guess some people think the best way to save it is destroy it.
There's an old saw that lawyers are well-versed in circumventing the law. I wonder if, mutatis mutandis, the same may be said about constitutional scholars and that document.
-- Mal
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)The president's primary job is to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Without the Constitution, we don't have a United States of America.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)I was super worried we would not be in a state of emergency. Thankfully Obama stepped in and made sure we remained in such a state. I also count on him to tuck me in at night so I can sleep well, or else the bad men will come take me away... or worse!
nichomachus
(12,754 posts)malthaussen
(17,184 posts)... is the minor point that the U.S. has suffered exactly one verifiable external terrorist attack in all that time. If the "enemy" is such a threat, they seem to be doing a piss-poor job of it. I guess that must mean that our National Security State is doing a bang-up job.
-- Mal
daleanime
(17,796 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)looking over the pdf on that page.
An emergency is supposed to be temporary. This one seems to be going on 14 years. It is difficult to imagine we are still in an emergency due to 911.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)any emergency declaration that the President wishes to remain in effect. I don't trust
any declaration from a politician that some proposal will be "temporary".
BTW here is the text of the 14 year old elergency declaration that was just renewed:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2002-title3-vol1/xml/CFR-2002-title3-vol1-proc7463.xml
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,166 posts)Orange Alert Sirens To Blow 24 Hours A Day In Major Cities
WASHINGTON, DCAs an additional reminder that the U.S. is on high alert for terrorist attacks, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge announced Tuesday that Orange Alert klaxons will blare 24 hours a day in all major cities.
"These 130-decibel sirens, which, beginning Friday, will scream all day and night in the nation's 50 largest metro areas, will serve as a helpful reminder to citizens to stay on the lookout for suspicious activity and be ready for emergency action," Ridge said. "Please note, though, that this is merely a precautionary measure, so go about your lives as normal."
The sirens, Ridge said, will be strategically positioned throughout each city and will be audible within a three-mile radius. The noise will be loud enough to render conversation impossible within a 200-yard range.
"Some may find their normal sleep patterns disrupted, but it's a small price to pay to ensure our collective awareness of the heightened danger," Ridge said. "The key to preventing terrorist attacks is to have the threat constantly on your mind but still remain calm and act normal."
http://www.theonion.com/article/orange-alert-sirens-to-blow-24-hours-a-day-in-majo-135
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)hedda_foil
(16,371 posts)I voted for Obama primarily to restore the rights and civil liberties that were stripped away by the last administration.