“When people are doing things that are detrimental to their own well-being then government should step in.” —
New York state Senator Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) on his justification for banning the use of cell phones and iPods while walking.
Do you agree? Does the government have authority to protect you from yourself? Is that a strong enough justification to infringe on individual liberty?
(via antigovernmentextremist)
The United States of Drones
The Electronic Frontier Foundation put together a map of all the places in the United States that has received authorization from the Obama administration to fly drones in American skies. The list of agencies that has received permission from the FAA includes the usual suspects, but also surprising ones:
This week the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finally released its first round of records in response to EFF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for information on the agency’s drone authorization program. The agency says the twolists it released include the names of all public and private entities that have applied for authorizations to fly drones domestically. These lists—which include the Certificates of Authorizations (COAs), issued to public entities like police departments, and the Special Airworthiness Certificates (SACs), issued to private drone manufacturers—show for the first time who is authorized to fly drones in the United States.
Some of the entities on the COA list are unsurprising. For example, journalists have reported that Customs and Border Protection uses Predator drones to patrol the borders. It is also well known that DARPA and other branches of the military are authorized to fly drones in the US. However, this is the first time we have seen the broad and varied list of other authorized organizations, including universities, police departments, and small towns and counties across the United States. The COA list includes universities and colleges like Cornell, the University of Colorado, Georgia Tech, and Eastern Gateway Community College, as well as police departments in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Arlington, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Gadsden, Alabama; and Ogden, Utah, to name just a few. The COA list also includes small cities and counties like Otter Tail, Minnesota and Herington, Kansas. The Google map linked above plots out the locations we were able to determine from the lists, and is color coded by whether the authorizations are active, expired or disapproved.
How long before we see armed drones roaming the skies of Los Angeles? And how long before we see our local communities suffer from “collateral damage?”
[video]
Soon, very soon in the skies near you
Pizza and bonfire in the middle of the desert.
Photograph by Jayel Aheram. Follow Jayel Aheram on Tumblr.
Fox & Friends pundits defend Obama's "kill list" -
This is what bipartisanship looks like.
“In related news, when Obama orders a drone strike that kills eight civilians — which is to say, his order results in both dead innocents and terrorist recruiting material — the mistake hardly makes news, and certainly isn’t held against him; whereas if, during roughly the same period of time, he makes a verbal gaffe that offends people in Poland, David Frum ends his column about the matter with the single word, “Shame.” In the War on Terror, America is losing its moral perspective.” — Hey Voters: The Kill List Is What Matters - Atlantic Mobile (via jeffmiller)
(via jeffmiller)
The lesser of two evils is not Obama
Just a reminder.
(Source: bazeoner)
[video]
At my party last Halloween (in 2007), I met his wife (dressed up as a gorgeous nurse). I was telling her how I enjoyed taking photos of her husband during that month-long training evolution.
“I know!” she squealed, “isn’t he gorgeous?!”
Photograph by Jayel Aheram. Follow Jayel Aheram on Tumblr.
He was mocking me, I think.
Photograph by Jayel Aheram. Follow Jayel Aheram on Tumblr.
Ooh! Another amazing poster from the Obama campaign! Please reblog or Romney will win! Peace! Love! Obama 2012! :)
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