XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: katt@gmail.com   
      
   On Sun, 4 Jan 2026 14:35:53 -0500 (EST),  Bradley K. Sherman says...   
      
   > In what universe is it okay to kill 40 innocent people to capture   
   > one suspect?   
      
   Pretty sure Obama killed a few more than 40 to get Usama bin Obama Ladeen.   
      
   During the period from 2009 to 2016, which covers the pursuit and eventual   
   death of Usama bin Laden, the number of civilians killed in the broader   
   counterterrorism campaign is a subject of significant debate. There are two   
   primary sets of data: official government reports and independent monitoring   
   groups.   
      
   The government's data is lower because it uses a more restrictive definition   
   of "civilian," whereas independent groups include 'military-age males" and   
   reported victims from local sources that the U.S. government often classifies   
   as combatants.   
      
   Civilian Death Toll (2009-2016)   
      
   The following table breaks down the estimated civilian deaths from U.S. drone   
   and airstrikes in the regions where Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were pursued   
   (Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan).   
      
   Region - Official U.S. Govt Estimate - Independent Estimates (e.g., Bureau of   
   Investigative Journalism, Airwars)   
      
   Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia (Non-Battlefield) - 64 - 116 - 380 - 801+   
      
   Afghanistan (Active Battlefield) - Not included in drone report - 24,841   
   (Total Conflict Deaths)   
      
   Syria and Iraq (Anti-ISIS/AQ) - Not included in drone report - ~1,400+   
   (Official) / 8,000+ (Independent)   
      
   Key Contextual Details   
      
   The "Obama Drone Report" (2016): Toward the end of his term, President Obama   
   released a report claiming that between 64 and 116 civilians were killed in   
   473 strikes outside of active war zones (Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia) between   
   2009 and 2015.   
      
   The Afghanistan Toll: The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)   
   documented that between 2009 and 2016, conflict-related violence claimed   
   24,841 civilian lives. While many of these were caused by the Taliban or IEDs,   
   the UN attributed roughly 250 deaths per year to pro-government aerial   
   operations in the later years of this period.   
      
   Definition Discrepancies: A major point of contention is how the U.S.   
   classified 'militants." Reports (such as those by The New York Times)   
   indicated that for a time, the administration counted all military-age males   
   in a strike zone as combatants unless explicit intelligence proved them   
   innocent posthumously.   
      
   =============================================================================   
      
   "Trump Derangement Syndrome" Is a Real Mental Condition   
      
   All you need to know about "Trump Derangement Syndrome," or TDS.   
      
   "Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a mental condition in which a person has   
   been driven effectively insane due to their dislike of Donald Trump, to the   
   point at which they will abandon all logic and reason."   
      
   Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com, wrote a piece in the   
   Los Angeles Times in 2016 that broke TDS down into three distinct phases or   
   stages:   
      
   "In the first stage of the disease, victims lose all sense of proportion. The   
   president-elect's every tweet provokes a firestorm, as if 140 characters were   
   all it took to change the world."   
      
   "The mid-level stages of TDS have a profound effect on the victim's   
   vocabulary: Sufferers speak a distinctive language consisting solely of   
   hyperbole."   
      
   "As TDS progresses, the afflicted lose the ability to distinguish fantasy from   
   reality."   
      
   The Point here is simple: TDS is, in the eyes of its adherents, the knee-jerk   
   opposition from liberals to anything and everything Trump does. If Trump   
   announced he was donating every dollar he's ever made, TDS sufferers would   
   suggest he was up to something nefarious, according to the logic of TDS.   
   There's nothing - not. one. thing. - that Trump could do or say that would be   
   received positively by TDSers.   
      
   The history of Trump Derangement Syndrome actually goes back to the early   
   2000s - a time when the idea of Trump as president was a punch line for late-   
   night comics and nothing more.   
      
   Wikipedia traces its roots to "Bush Derangement Syndrome" - a term first   
   coined by the late conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer back in 2003.   
   The condition, as Krauthammer defined it, was "the acute onset of paranoia in   
   otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency - nay -   
   the very existence of George W. Bush."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)