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[Bohandas]

North Korea is a little different than most brutal dictatorships, since they quite possibly have functioning nuclear weapons. Seoul would be a crater if the US tried anything overt.

It always puzzles me that the US spends so much on it's military but either can't or won't develop really subtle ways to assassinate people.

There were many many attempts to kill Castro with various devious means worthy of any comic-book spy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/638_Ways_to_Kill_Castro

"638 Ways to Kill Castro is a Channel 4 documentary film, broadcast in the United Kingdom on November 28, 2006, which tells the story of some of the numerous attempts of the Central Intelligence Agency to kill Cuba's leader Fidel Castro."

It's not a lack of devious plans. They're just very expensive and rarely work.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/aug/03/cuba.duncancampbell2

Have they tried blowing him up with a drone?

[scriver]

You can't fly drones through the Bermuda Triangle.

[ggamer]

Question: what the hell is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, because I just saw This article, and while it reads like complete tripe, it raises the quite legitimate concern that I have absolutely no clue what the fuck this thing is.

[Frumple]

Oh gods, in before bohandas ;_;

Here's the wiki page. It's a trade agreement that has been drumming up a fair amount of fuss due to how they've been going about constructing it, insofar as I'm aware of the broad strokes. The controversy section should shed some light.

From what I understand, one of the nastier bits of it would be allowing corps to sue signatory nations over... y'know, stuff like copyright infringement, and who knows how much legally pretzel'd tripe meant to drive profits through legislation. But there's apparently other stuff, too. I haven't really paid that much attention to it *shrugs*

[Morrigi]

North Korea is a little different than most brutal dictatorships, since they quite possibly have functioning nuclear weapons. Seoul would be a crater if the US tried anything overt.

It always puzzles me that the US spends so much on it's military but either can't or won't develop really subtle ways to assassinate people.

The CIA has a heart attack gun.

[Arcvasti]

North Korea is a little different than most brutal dictatorships, since they quite possibly have functioning nuclear weapons. Seoul would be a crater if the US tried anything overt.

It always puzzles me that the US spends so much on it's military but either can't or won't develop really subtle ways to assassinate people.

The CIA has a heart attack gunDeath Note.

FTFY

[Frumple]

... isn't any gun a heart attack gun if you shoot them in the heart?

E: Oh wow. Has anyone else noticed what the white house did with their lighting?

There's days you get the feeling Obama actually is having a bit of genuine fun in these last years of the presidency.

[RedKing]

You get the feeling that his last State of the Union address, he's just going to unroll a banner with a giant trollface and the caption "U MAD, GOP?"

Actually, hell...I'd vote for him in 2016 if he did that.

[ggamer]

Aside from these jabs every now and then (circle of life as his birth video, circulating copies of his birth certificate, literally painting the white house rainbow), and despite any political disagreements I have with his agenda, I do think President Obama is the most presidential president we've had since Reagan. You'll notice that he hasn't been looking like an idiot, similiar to Bush and Clinton; rather, he presents himself very well.

[Sheb]

To be noted that there is also another trade agreement, currently being negociated with the EU called the TTIP. It also include the investor-stade dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, aka a private court where corporations can sue states for laws that cut into their profits.

[Helgoland]

Maybe let me seize on that: Why is a method for companies (and individuals) to sue states such a bad thing? The way it's currently implemented is worthy of criticism, to say the least, but getting a proper system like that up and running appears to me as a great step towards a desirable relation between state and individuum.

[Sheb]

Oh, certainly. But companies can already sue the states in the national courts. The issue there is the method and jurisdiction of the proposed court.

[scriver]

And that part of the agreement is that companies fan sue states for "loss of planned profit due to changes made by governments".

[mainiac]

Maybe let me seize on that: Why is a method for companies (and individuals) to sue states such a bad thing? The way it's currently implemented is worthy of criticism, to say the least, but getting a proper system like that up and running appears to me as a great step towards a desirable relation between state and individuum.

A well functioning government needs to be willing to screw over individual companies for the greater good.  Otherwise you create an unhealthy status quo bias.  While there are some practices like dumping that want to be punished they are usually already covered through existing agreements.

[lijacote]

If a company fails to turn a profit in a country, they can sue. If a country refuses to give them access to natural resources, they can sue. How the hell do you turn this into a positive thing, Helgoland, Sheb? How?

I did not expect anyone to defend the "free" trade pacts here.