FALLINDSRONES- No matter how you slice it, Mary Fallin's endless zest for courting and promoting the drone industry equals shameless disregard for the rights and concerns of the people she was elected to serve. Continue reading →
"Reapers feature a maximum payload of 3,000 pounds, or 1.5 tons. That means they can carry a combination of Hellfires and larger 500 pound bombs like the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBD-38 JDAM. Those have an 'effective casualty radius' of about 200 feet. That means that about 50 percent of people within 200 feet of the blast site will die. Those odds improve — or worsen, depending on how you look at it — the closer you get, obviously. So imagine if you took a football field and shrunk it by a third. A Reaper attacks one endzone with a GBU-12. If you’re on the field, you have a 50 percent chance of dying." Continue reading →
"The U.S. Army chose a quiet community in central Utah as the training ground for Special Forces soldiers needing to develop Jason Bourne-like skills and to learn how to build a resistance movement by infiltrating the town leadership. With the deeply religious culture present in Manti, Utah and the desert landscape of the area, residents were deemed ideal candidates by the Defense Department to role play with soldiers in the 10th Special Forces as part of a two week training exercise in July on unconventional warfare tactics. Now that sequestration is in full effect, the Utah mission was called on Thursday to the relief of residents." Continue reading →
"None of this is exactly shocking, particularly given Croatia’s history in the 1990s of being a conduit for secret arms shipments with American backing. Zagreb’s military took a significant cut of the weapons – funded by Iran and Saudi Arabia – destined for Bosnia’s Muslims during that country’s civil war, which were routed through Pleso airport as well. America’s deep involvement only emerged later, when no one was really interested any longer. Similarly, no one wanted to ask too many questions back in 1995 when mysterious 'black flights' were dropping weapons to Bosnian Muslims, in violation of the UN arms embargo." Continue reading →
"How can the U.S. be at war with al-Qaeda and be providing material support to it in overthrowing governments in Libya and Syria? It cannot. How can the U.S. be at war with al-Qaeda and maintain Saudi Arabia as a close ally, when that country is a major source of al-Qaeda people and teaching? The idea put forward by two administrations that the U.S. is at war with al-Qaeda is a 'Big Lie' that is designed to provide cover for other motives for their military actions. It is a very simple and convenient cover story that sells to the public as a rationale for all sorts of U.S. military activities in many countries, all of which have other explanations." Continue reading →
"The administration's outrageous response to the most serious Constitutional question of all − when a government can kill its own citizens − is clear evidence of an executive branch out of control. Many of the drafters of the Constitution envisioned the presidency as an office with very limited powers, but even the most dedicated proponents of a strong presidency at the time would be shocked to see the concentration of power in the modern presidency. Today the presidency is viewed as the center of the federal government, with each successive administration expanding the power of the executive at the expense of Congress and the people." Continue reading →
"Consider these numbers: Hundreds of thousands of people locked in detention centers and subject to violent punishments. Millions imprisoned. Hundreds hanged, shot or beheaded. Tens of thousands killed by government forces and non-state actors. Thousands beaten and abused to extract information, and abused in government or private 'treatment' centers. Millions denied life-saving medicines. The U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board has refused to condemn torture or 'any atrocity' carried out in the name of drug control, claiming it was not its mandate to do so." Continue reading →
"Sitting at computer banks lining the expansive room, the Air Force analysts watch the video feeds streaming from surveillance drones and other military assets monitoring U.S. forces around the globe. Photos, radar data, full-motion video and electronically gathered intelligence flows across multiple screens. In 15- to 20-minute shifts, the airmen watch and interpret the information. While they are thousands of miles from the gritty combat in Afghanistan, the analysts in the cavernous room at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia relive the explosions, the carnage and the vivid after-battle assessments of the bombings over and over again." Continue reading →
"The odd couple is getting odder: first, Dennis Rodman and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un took in a hoops game side-by-side. Now they’re planning a holiday together. The retired and flamboyant 51-year-old Rodman, who announced the vacation plan Monday, became the most high-profile American to meet Kim, doing so during a recent trip to Pyongyang which came against a backdrop of increased North Korean saber-rattling on the peninsula. Officials in Washington have played down the significance of the trip, stating that the former Chicago Bulls star does not represent the views of the United States." Continue reading →
"Legal and medical experts are questioning the decision of a judge inColorado to allow James Holmes, the suspected gunman in the Aurora cinema shooting, to be tested with a 'truth serum' should he plead not guilty by reason of insanity. William Shepherd, chair of the criminal justice section of the American Bar Association, whose members include both prosecutors and defence lawyers, said that the proposed use of a 'truth drug' to ascertain the veracity of a defendant's plea of insanity was highly unusual in the US. He predicted it would provoke intense legal argument relating to Holmes's right to remain silent under the fifth amendment of the US constitution." Continue reading →