Episode 93: Is This a Buddy Podcast?

Spotted: A rare episode of the National Security Law Podcast clocking in at under one hour!  And yet there was much to discuss, including: T-Shirts!!!! At long last, the much-anticipated NSL Podcast t-shirts are for sale.  All profits go to charity (ALS Texas, to be exact; they support patients and research for victims of ALS).  Start shopping now! Detainee Stuff: We've got an all-too-predictable Doe v. Mattis update, and a set of notes about the denial of cert. for GTMO detainee Saifullah Paracha (who made an ill-fated bid to challenge GTMO transfer restrictions as bills of attainder).  Perhaps most interesting: the reminder that Justice Gorsuch will recuse on GTMO matters that in some sufficient fashion touched upon his service in DOJ circa 2004-05. Courts & Accountability Stuff: The cert. petition in Hernandez II survived the First Monday in October, with the Court calling for the views of the Solicitor General. Mil Coms Stuff: The CMCR has emerged with an opinion!  But, no, it's not about the abatement issue, at least not in a helpful way. It's a ruling about the issues raised by former Judge Spath's new gig as an Immigration Judge. Tune in to hear the sound of Steve's head exploding... Use of Force Stuff:  We've got some recommended reading for you: the International Law Association's long-awaited "Report on the Use of Force."  This document is a handy primer on the jus ad bellum/UN Charter rules relating to force, armed attack, and aggression.  We give a brief TLDR, and then use that as a springboard to discuss... Staying in Syria to Boot Out...Iran?  News that the US military might be tasked with staying in Syria in a post-Islamic State mode (in order to counterbalance or even drive out the Iranian military presence) raises some hard questions both as a matter of the UN Charter and domestic separation of powers law.  Your hosts can't manage to generate much debate over this one; without further facts, it's hard to see how such a mission could be squared with either set of rules. Trumplandia: Both the Rosenstein Watch and the Sessions Watch are at threat condition: yellows.  Don't expect much drama there until after the election, we think. But nevermind all that, for we have grade-A frivolity this week:  What exactly qualifies a movie to be a "Buddy Movie," and what are the classics of the genre?