Negotiating With The Taliban.

[derspiess]

Here's what a constitutional scholar had to say about it:

While it is legitimate for a president to issue a signing statement to clarify his understanding of ambiguous provisions of statutes and to explain his view of how he intends to faithfully execute the law, it is a clear abuse of power to use such statements as a license to evade laws that the president does not like or as an end-run around provisions designed to foster accountability. I will not use signing statements to nullify or undermine congressional instructions as enacted into law.

[Valmy]

If only we had elected that scholar president 

[derspiess]

If only we had elected that scholar president 

Yep.  We might also have ended up with the most transparent administration in history.

[Jacob]

Oh, okay.  I believe this is the first time I'm being asked.

I asked you, in a bit less detail, earlier in the thread.

You ignored me 

But it's all good now

I stated my case on page 8 of this thread.  Those three factors together (if verifiably true) would make it a fuckup IMO.  You'll undoubtedly disagree.  And before you try to exaggerate what I'm saying, I'll remind you that I am not worked up about the whole Bergdahl affair.  You & Raz seem to be the ones egging things on.

Alright, so I'll put you down as "kind of a fuckup, but not really a big deal." Gotcha.

The Administration has access to better info than I do.  If it turns out that they had good evidence that he was a deserter, then I disagree with the decision to give up the 5 bad guys for him.  In that case, I'd *personally* not even want him back, but would understand from a policy perspective making reasonable efforts to do so.

Fair enough. Thank you. I retract my allegations of "shameful dodging"




He could have notified congress in the appropriate time-frame and therefore stay within the law.  He could have held out for a more favorable deal.  And he could have avoided the big PR spectacle at the White House-- that one seemed destined to backfire.
[/quote]

[Valmy]

If only we had elected that scholar president 

Yep.  We might also have ended up with the most transparent administration in history.

Oh what might have been.

[CountDeMoney]

Yes, makes one pine for the days of Dick Cheney-style transparency.

[The Brain]

Freaks shouldn't have kids.

[derspiess]

Freaks shouldn't have kids.

 

[Eddie Teach]

Freaks shouldn't have kids.

Why do you hate humanity?

[The Brain]

Freaks shouldn't have kids.

Why do you hate humanity?

Flash mobs.

[Admiral Yi]

How could a signing statement be unconstitutional?  Pretty sure the 1st amendment covers that.

Ask the NYT, not me.  I thought they weren't a big deal when Bush did them and don't think they're one now.  If disregarding a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional, a memo by the president isn't going to change things.

[derspiess]

How could a signing statement be unconstitutional?  Pretty sure the 1st amendment covers that.

Ask the NYT, not me.  I thought they weren't a big deal when Bush did them and don't think they're one now.  If disregarding a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional, a memo by the president isn't going to change things.

I think the Boston Globe dude even won a Pulitzer for his series of anti-Bush articles.

[Valmy]

That's nothing.  People have won Nobel Prizes for anti-Bush statements.

[Admiral Yi]

 

[derspiess]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/us/bergdahl-is-set-to-resume-life-on-active-duty.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2

Bergdahl Is Set to Resume Life on Active Duty

WASHINGTON — Six weeks after being released from five years in Taliban captivity, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is expected to return to life as a regular Army soldier as early as Monday, Defense Department officials said late Sunday.

Sergeant Bergdahl has finished undergoing therapy and counseling at an Army hospital in San Antonio, and will assume a job at the Army North headquarters at the same base, Fort Sam Houston, the officials said.

He is also expected to meet with Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Dahl, the officer who is investigating the circumstances of Sergeant Bergdahl's disappearance from his outpost in Afghanistan in 2009.

Sergeant Bergdahl's transfer from the therapy phase to a regular soldier's job is part of his reintegration into Army life, officials said. He will live in barracks and have two other soldiers help him readjust.

The sergeant has been an outpatient at the hospital for about three weeks, during which time he continued to participate in debriefings about his time as a Taliban prisoner. He was released six weeks ago in exchange for five senior Taliban detainees.

Last Thursday, Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, released letters from each of the Joint Chiefs of Staff supporting the repatriation of Sergeant Bergdahl, a rebuttal to critics who said the swap should not have been made.

Lol, Ken Dahl.