US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3394

On March 19 2016 03:22 m4ini wrote:


But that's pointless too.

In the terrorist example, what if the person who was "recruited" believes he isn't a terrorist? A polygraph only reacts if you basically know you're wrong.

I don't think any terrorist considers himself a terrorist.

edit: this at least makes the polygraph "unreliable" at best.

On March 19 2016 03:22 m4ini wrote:


But that's pointless too.

In the terrorist example, what if the person who was "recruited" believes he isn't a terrorist? A polygraph only reacts if you basically know you're wrong.

I don't think any terrorist considers himself a terrorist.

edit: this at least makes the polygraph "unreliable" at best.

On March 19 2016 03:23 Reaps wrote:



They wouldn't ask that question though, they would be a lot more specific.

The problem is you guys are thinking of polygraphs as "yes or no" determinations of guilt, when they're more or less used as a determination of differences.

On March 19 2016 03:25 m4ini wrote:


The simple fact that Guantanamo Bay still exist shows that it's not as easy (or even possible).

On March 19 2016 03:25 m4ini wrote:


The simple fact that Guantanamo Bay still exist shows that it's not as easy (or even possible).

On March 19 2016 03:26 wei2coolman wrote:

Internal security audits with established baseline is vastly different than enemy combatants.

Not to mention, Guantanmo Bay is more of a holding cell, not "enhanced interrogation" site.

On March 19 2016 03:29 m4ini wrote:


You're taking the piss now, do you.

On March 19 2016 03:32 wei2coolman wrote:

We have allies and blacksites for that.

I have no doubt US does enhanced interrogation, but in the current state of Guantanamo Bay, that is not it's current usage.

On March 19 2016 03:35 m4ini wrote:


So you apparently missed the huge worldwide outcry regarding guantanamo bay? The ICRC report? The reports of released detainees? Suicides? Waterboarding?

Nothing like that rings any bells?

edit: is your real name by chance Dick Cheney?

On March 19 2016 03:37 wei2coolman wrote:

Talking about current usage, not past usage. Your argument was "still exists", talking about current usage.

A record number of Americans believe global warming will pose a threat to their way of life, new polling data shows, amid strengthening public acceptance that rising temperatures are being driven by human activity.

“I think a shift in public opinion and consciousness has been underway for several years now,” Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, told the Guardian.

A spokesman for 350 Action, the political arm of climate activist group 350.org, said meanwhile that politicians who cast doubt on climate science would soon have to take such polling into account. Republicans, he said, “are going to be screwed if they don’t change their tune”.

Polling firm Gallup, which has been tracking public sentiment on the topic annually since 1997, found that 41% of US adults feel warming will pose a “serious threat” to them during their lifetimes. This is the highest level recorded by Gallup, a 4% increase on 2015.

A total of 64% of those polled said they worried about global warming a “great deal” or a “fair amount”, the highest level of recorded concern since 2008. Just 36% of Americans said they did not fret about it, or only worried a little.

The results show a solidifying belief that changes in the climate are under way, with 59% of people thinking so. A record 65% of Americans said global warming was down to greenhouse gases released by human activity – a 10% leap on last year.

On March 19 2016 03:39 m4ini wrote:


So there isn't still 91 detainees in gitmo, and considering that it's proven that in gitmo torture was used.. How do you conclude the "no torture is happening" exactly?

On March 19 2016 03:42 KwarK wrote:

I believe his point was that by now they're happy they know all they're going to know about the current inmates and are just keeping them for lack of a better idea. Even if the current inmates did have something new to share that information would be a decade old at this point and irrelevant in a world in which ISIS, not Al Qaeda, is the threat.

His argument isn't that the US doesn't do torture, it's that it's not currently torturing the people held at Guantanamo which makes sense.

On March 19 2016 03:42 KwarK wrote:

I believe his point was that by now they're happy they know all they're going to know about the current inmates and are just keeping them for lack of a better idea. Even if the current inmates did have something new to share that information would be a decade old at this point and irrelevant in a world in which ISIS, not Al Qaeda, is the threat.

His argument isn't that the US doesn't do torture, it's that it's not currently torturing the people held at Guantanamo which makes sense.

On March 19 2016 03:45 m4ini wrote:


I did see that he said "i'm convinced we do torture" (edit: cute btw to call it "enhanced interrogation")

That wasn't really the point though, it's about usage of polygraphs. They didn't use them. Instead, they used waterboarding and other (worse, to some) means.

On March 19 2016 03:43 oneofthem wrote:
nothing that large scale is done to 'just make people nervous'.

the polygraph thing is not there to catch deep moles, it's for the amateurs that bumble their own leaking attempts.

On March 19 2016 03:52 KwarK wrote:

You're making an argument from an assumption of government competence? That if the government do it then surely they must have good reasons for doing it?

On March 19 2016 03:52 KwarK wrote:

You're making an argument from an assumption of government competence? That if the government do it then surely they must have good reasons for doing it?