Drones - A report by John Oliver

And interesting discussion about our use of drones.



He's effectively talking about how scary it is the number of strikes we have, without much discussion about the whole issue in the media.

Thoughts?

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Haven't watched yet since I'm still at work but I do wanna say that Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is beyond amazing and all his episodes are worth watching.

originally posted by: tavi45
a reply to: tothetenthpower

Haven't watched yet since I'm still at work but I do wanna say that Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is beyond amazing and all his episodes are worth watching.

I've really been enjoying his show. It's not partisan which is nice, just a lot of facts and some comedy.

~Tenth

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
And interesting discussion about our use of drones.

He's effectively talking about how scary it is the number of strikes we have, without much discussion about the whole issue in the media.

Thoughts?

Can't see it yet in UK Tenth, but I'll look for another example.

He really makes some great points.

The reason they can't identify anyone is all that is left is a greasy spot.

For a President that wanted to limit Executive Power.

That kill anyone at any time for secret reasons...Nobody should have that much power.

yeah I am interested to check this out as well

The one on Australis prime minister and the one in nuclear weapons are particularly good. Scottish independence was also fantastic.

a reply to: tothetenthpower



Bravo John Oliver and your whole crew for putting this in the mainstream pool!

Keep up the good work!

a reply to: Swills

Alot of his content is stuff we should be talking more about.

IMO he's better at dealing with the facts than John Stuart or Colbert.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Firstly he's on HBO. He has the luxury of complete freedom to do his work. He actually has a bit about that very fact that is quite hilarious. Can't remember which episode.

Secondly he does one episode a week on a single topic so he can stay more true to facts. Colbert and Stewart have to produce 5 episodes a week which is much harder.

Thirdly (related to the first point) Colbert and Stewart must prioritize entertainment value over facts since they must maintain ratings. They are on Comedy Central which last I checked wasn't a news channel but a comedy channel.

a reply to: tothetenthpower
Okay, I am up to speed. For the UK, the show is today/AKA Tuesday evening and aired on Sky Atlantic. There are no show details other than NEW: so I can't even say for sure if it is this episode, however some of the previous episodes are available on Youtube, so it could be this one.

What shocked me today was that uber liberal/progressive Gov Brown of CA is for increased surveillance without a warrant of the population through the use of drones.

sacramento.cbslocal.com...

Wow, now liberals/progressives/Democrats are for survelliance without a warrant.

We know they are against free speech because they are constantly getting people fired for things they said in private or in years past.

We know they want to control what all children eat, even if it means starving athletes or having children who rely on school lunches have way too few calories in a day, just to meet their agenda of "controlling obesity in children".

We know they are against Christianity because they are constantly trying to get anything Christian thrown out of any and all public arenas even to the point of being absurd about it - suing bakeries and photographers and forcing them to shut down businesses when they could go elsewhere rather than have people hostile to their views serve them.

It seems to me the Democratic party is becoming the party of boot jack control of the "little people"

It is really scarey what the word liberal/progressive/democrat means now. When they used to be just the opposite, until they got control of the white house and senate.

So now the liberals/progressives/Democrats want drones to spy on you and me for no reason, without a warrant, so they can intimidate the public into going along with their agenda.

Just watched the video and my first thought afterwards is that the most frightening thing about it all is that the only reason I heard about some of this stuff is because of a comedian.

Amazing job by John Oliver yet again. That guy should get Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

There's a lot to be suspicious of in this next bit - it does come from Salon, and it is written anonymously. So, taking that into consideration, I think this should be part of the discussion:

Confessions of a drone veteran: Why using them is more dangerous than the government is telling you

As the Obama administration increased its reliance on the drone program, the pressure came from the top to increase missions and strikes. We were encouraged to fly missions – at great taxpayer expense – even when there was nothing of consequence to see, no targets to strike and no American ground forces to protect. Performance evaluations highlighted an airman’s number of “enemy kills.” I asked, “Why does it matter how many people we killed?” Is that truly the definition of success – death? I joined the Air Force to save lives, not take them.

As an imagery analyst, I was the only line of defense between keeping someone alive and providing the intelligence for a strike using technology not accurate enough to determine life and death. The psychological pressure of not knowing if strikes were accurate was debilitating at times.

Our team worked between 12- and 14-hour shifts in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, sometimes flying for hours seeing nothing, sometimes seeing unspeakable carnage. Then we returned home to spouses and families, where our security clearances prevented us from sharing our experiences in an effort to decompress from what we had witnessed. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and received some treatment in the military.

We must reconsider the military’s reliance on drones strikes. They are not as legal, targeted or accurate as the government makes them out to be, and they are not without consequences for our troops.

My government now illegally invades, interrogates from Black Sites, unlawfully imprisons without due process - and kills indiscriminately from the sky

I'm not sure what's left to say about any of it

this is a good report mixed with the comedy. But I can't tell is he really against drones and their use or is he just doing a Stephen Colbert.

originally posted by: American-philosopher
this is a good report mixed with the comedy. But I can't tell is he really against drones and their use or is he just doing a Stephen Colbert.

Is his viewpoint important? I thought the point of shows which seek to inform (using comedy in this case) is to inform not push an agenda.