# "Kinetic military action"? Seriously? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 18, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908 "2011-06-18T03:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/1 "2011-06-18T03:07:36Z")
It’s bad enough we’ve already had police actions, armed conflicts, and authorizations for the use of force. Did we really need a new term for what’s apparently become the w-word? And “kinetic military action”? Who thought that would sound good? Kinetic has apparently been a Pentagon catchphrase for several years now but it definitely should have stayed in-house. Shame on the Obama administration for playing these kind of word games. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/2 "2011-06-18T03:15:15Z")
Obama has [decided to ignore](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/africa/18powers.html) the Office of Legal Council’s opinion that his actions violate the War Powers Act. Apparently unmanned drone strikes don’t count as "hostilities. ":rolleyes: I’m extremely disappointed in Obama. This just seems to be a naked power grab on his part. I thought he was better than this. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/3 "2011-06-18T03:18:42Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Obama has [decided to ignore](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/africa/18powers.html) the Office of Legal Council’s opinion that his actions violate the War Powers Act. Apparently unmanned drone strikes don’t count as "hostilities. ":rolleyes: > > I’m extremely disappointed in Obama. This just seems to be a naked power grab on his part. I thought he was better than this. No President has ever accepted that the War Powers Act was constitutional, why would Obama suddenly decide to be the first? It’s not a power grab if it’s always been that way. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/4 "2011-06-18T04:02:44Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > No President has ever accepted that the War Powers Act was constitutional, why would Obama suddenly decide to be the first? It’s not a power grab if it’s always been that way. Ah, but he’s trying to be subtle. He’s claiming it IS constitutional, but what we’re doing in Libya isn’t war. It’s… something else. IMO, that’s exactly the kind of an opinion that Bush’s cronies would cook up for him to justify whatever he wanted. FYI, during the McNamara years combat was referred to as “violence processing”. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/5 "2011-06-18T05:09:36Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > No President has ever accepted that the War Powers Act was constitutional, why would Obama suddenly decide to be the first? It’s not a power grab if it’s always been that way. The standard procedure for Presidents has been to say that they acting “consist with” instead of “pursuant to” in order to leave open the possibility that they aren’t subject to the Act. The key distinction here for me is that Obama (AFAIK) is the first to **actually be in violation of the act** , instead of just vaguely dismissing while at the same time still complying with it like other presidents. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/6 "2011-06-18T06:19:48Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Obama has [decided to ignore](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/africa/18powers.html) the Office of Legal Council’s opinion that his actions violate the War Powers Act. Apparently unmanned drone strikes don’t count as "hostilities. ":rolleyes: > > I’m extremely disappointed in Obama. This just seems to be a naked power grab on his part. I thought he was better than this. Nope, he is not better than this. The audacity of hot air and posturing and having your proxies smear your opponents as racists. Obama is Bush with brains. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/7 "2011-06-18T06:32:32Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Nope, he is not better than this. The audacity of hot air and posturing and having your proxies smear your opponents as racists. Obama is Bush with brains. His opponents ARE racists, so that part’s ok ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/8 "2011-06-18T13:46:09Z")
Everyone who has different view to President Obama are racists? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/9 "2011-06-18T15:08:30Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Everyone who has different view to President Obama are racists? Everyone who thinks a larger portion of his detractors are racists than his supporters are thinks that they are ALL racists? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/10 "2011-06-18T15:11:21Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > His opponents ARE racists, so that part’s ok Little Nemo and Blalron. Are they racists? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/11 "2011-06-18T15:12:24Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Everyone who thinks a larger portion of his detractors are racists than his supporters are thinks that they are ALL racists? This is a different statement than “His opponents ARE racists…” If that statement is accurate, then so is, “His defenders are racists.” ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/12 "2011-06-18T15:43:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Little Nemo and Blalron. Are they racists? Some of them are. Whether we like it or not, racism is still a factor in our society. To give you a concrete example of this: there was a [study](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/29/national/main575685.shtml) of whether resumes with “black sounding” names got less callbacks than “white” names that had _identical qualifications_. Lo and behold, the black sounding names were 50 percent less likely to get a call back. So yes, I’m sure a lot of people “threw out” Obama’s job application (didn’t vote for him) because of his name (Barack HUSSEIN Obama), or his skin color. I’m sure if you actually caught up with those employers who threw out the applications, they’d swear up and down that they weren’t being racist. Being an overt racist has gone out of fashion in recent years. But racism still continues on an unacceptable level. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/13 "2011-06-18T15:57:40Z")
Not everyone, but most of them ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/14 "2011-06-18T15:58:19Z")
Still gets my vote if he’s on the ballot in Nov. 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/15 "2011-06-18T15:59:38Z")
What is a Static Military Action, Marines standing at attention? Inquiring minds want to know. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/16 "2011-06-18T16:05:01Z")
Nah, nah, you’ve got the terminology all wrong. The alternative to “kinetic” isn’t “static”; it’s “potential.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/17 "2011-06-18T16:38:02Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > > [@Bricker](#): > > > > Little Nemo and Blalron. Are they racists? > > Some of them are. I hope it’s you and not me. I don’t want to find out I’m a racist. I’m too old for that kind of lifestyle change. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/18 "2011-06-18T16:51:32Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > What is a Static Military Action, Marines standing at attention? Inquiring minds want to know. I haven’t seen an official definition of what “kinetic” means as a military term. But for its usage, it appears to mean “a military action where no American troops get killed”. I’ve seen threatening to use force described as kinetic. I’ve seen cyberwarfare described as kinetic. But I’ve also seen firing artillery or launching missiles called kinetic. Even flying a bombing mission can be kinetic if the other side doesn’t have anti-aircraft. The term apparently began being used back during the Clinton administration in reference to American actions in the Balkans. As far as I can tell, President Clinton himself never used the term. But it was used by Presidents Bush so it’s a bipartisan euphemism. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/19 "2011-06-18T17:20:57Z")
Why don’t we just declare war against the entire Middle East and get it over with. We’re halfway there already. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908/20 "2011-06-18T17:35:45Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Why don’t we just declare war against the entire Middle East and get it over with. We’re halfway there already. Good idea. Think of all that oil we could keep to ourselves. Mwah-ha-ha-haa. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinetic-military-action-seriously/585908.md?page=2)