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We've had satellites for decades that could read a license plate on the ground. Where was the concern?
Law enforcement has performed warrantless aerial surveillance for decades. Where was the concern?
DONES! may be the chic topic du jour but the time to start being concerned and look at very real threats to our freedoms was many years ago. Exemplified by all the feigned outrage we've seen over 'innocents' killed in drone strikes when none of those feigning outrage ever gave a rat's ass about 'innocents' killed in strikes by manned aircraft.
I can hardly wait 'til this mass hysteria spawns a new Tailgunner Joe seeing DRONES! behind every bush and under every bed.
Citizens of the United States are granted certain rights spelled out in the Constitution. Apparently you nor does Obama care about those rights. I do know however if Bush had Ok'd this little jump to tyranny every one of you liberals heads would have exploded. You are pathetic. You take loyalty to Obama over country.
Just WHAT privacy concerns does a drone present that other vehicles do not?
This is an EXTRAORDINARILY rare thing, so take note, but I actually agree with burdell on this.
People freak out when they hear or read the word "drone," but a drone can't do anything that a helicopter can't do. Freaking out about some capability that they're outfitting drones with without showing the same outrage about it being fitted to other vehicles (which, in most cases, has been going on for a lot longer) is hypocritical and/or ignorant.
Please volunteer to be the first home to be droned on a daily basis then. Would you complain if a police chopper hovered outside of your house every day or would you just say oh well I'm doing nothing wrong. You won't know if a drone is doing that very thing. I guess that doesn't bother some folks.
This DHS buildup just gets better and better. A couple left leaner supporters of our Imperious Leader have done the usual poo pooing and calling tin foil, but , that dog won't hunt anymore.
I remember when Bush created the DHS that a lot of liberals were horrified. They pointed out what is the point in creating a cabinet level department that is supposed to do the same job that the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice. Plus they also criticized that the very title of "Homeland Security" implied that the US was an aggressive imperial power and that the Department of Defense was so focused on the rest of the world that it was no longer intended to protect the security of the US itself.
Of course not that a Democrat is in power, the Department of Homeland Security is awesome.
When will you Obamabots wake up? DHS is gearing up with BATTLEFIELD equipment. These aren't just any old drones, these are Predators. What part of these current aquisitions by DHS is so confusing? I will say it, yet again, that DHS is Federal LE, not US military special forces. This is military hardware, designed for offensive action.
Are the Obamabot really OK with LE having an automated weapons platform? Capable of mounting anything from rotary cannons to rockets and a whole slew of really cool smart ordinance?
Anx all that ammo and 2700spare MRAPs too. Hmmm...AND a realy slick new assault weapon just for the DHS. Folks who aren't just even raising an eyebrow at all this must be taking wayyyyyy to much Xanax.
To be fair, Predators weren't originally built to carry missiles or other weaponry they were intended for recon. Those capabilities were added later when it became obvious that adding a few missiles to them would allow them to kill terrorists and insurgents instead of just identifying them and waiting for an attack aircraft to make its way over to the area while the target might just slip away.
It's not necessarily drones that are the problem (it's just new technology that does what helicopters can do now), it's the fact that the US government has this need to spy on huge portions of the population. That every year the US becomes closer to an Orwellian surveillance state.
You also mentioned how come that the DHS is buying huge quantities of ammo (not necessarily a problem as a lot of law enforcement agencies buy in bulk and like to have sizable reserves of ammo) and (much more worrying) is the mass purchase of armored vehicles and other heavy weapons. I always thought the best ways to fight terrorists on domestic soil is through thorough investigation and cooperation between intelligence agencies and civilian law enforcement with cooperation with their foreign counterparts. What the DHS seems to be becoming is basically a "Department of the Interior" in the Soviet sense of the word complete with internal troops.
Does this mean that some type of coup or dissolving of elections is imminent? No. I cannot see it in the near future. However, the government is definitely putting the infrastructure in place to make it happen much easier and the latest series of politicians have been less tolerant of criticism, more willing to brand their opponents as traitors and criminals, and a lot of their supporters seem to be making more and more veiled (and not so veiled) threats like they are hoping for a Civil War because it will give them the opportunity to kill their opponents with impunity.
I'm talking about both liberals and conservatives here. Remember Jonah Goldberg and Ann Coulter throwing around words like sedition and treason (which are capital offenses even in countries that don't have the death penalty for murder)? I see more than few liberals almost lick their lips at the idea of conservatives resisting a gun ban so their Messiah can unleash Homeland Security on millions of Republicans and poor whites.
What is going to happen when the US eventually elects someone like another Richard Nixon (someone not opposed to using Federal law enforcement to harass and spy on his enemies) who will have access to this massive apparatus that will allow him spy on and harass (and possibly imprison or kill) his critics and the opposition with complete impunity and with a large internal army and ability to completely shut down telecommunications in the US just might not resign if the tide starts to turn against him after a scandal breaks.
I find it funny that I get called paranoid when I bring up the possibility of stuff like this happening (when history has shown us that it is VERY possible), but the same people who make those accusations are usually the type that are terrified of being killed by some random guman/terrorist when the odds are much less likely.
Just WHAT privacy concerns does a drone present that other vehicles do not?
The equivocation and obfuscation, and NO, you're not necessarily smart because you can type big words, appears to be yours along with your delusion that DRONES! are the new red menace deserving of their own drunk Senator ranting about them.
Typical consertvative whiny BULLS**T short on facts and long on paranoia.
The deflection is that retarded hypothetical you tried to bring up.
Would you complain if a police chopper hovered outside of your house every day or would you just say oh well I'm doing nothing wrong.
I live near downtown Las Vegas. I DO have a police helicopter hovering outside my house every day, and at night, it's common for their spotlights to pass through my backyard.
Did you get similarly upset when they started adding FLIR systems to helicopters, some years ago? If not, why not?
What about when they added cameras with zoom lenses? Heck, every news helicopter has one, with image stabilizers and crazy magnification.
And how about those spotlights? Were you as concerned when they started putting lights on them?
Every new technology has the potential to be abused. The fact that it exists is not an indication that it is being abused. It's just another tool in the toolbox, and like any tool, it can be used properly, and it can be used improperly. It's our job as citizens to ensure that it's not used improperly, but that doesn't mean that we have to take the tool away.
So folks in Las Vegas have helicoptors hovering outside of their homes every day and night?? Like I said I guess that doesn't bother you. Everything the government touches it abuses. Vegas has 7 choppers in their inventory yet one hovers over your home day and night? They must be watching you pretty close for some reason.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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Whether they take you out with SWAT teams or with drones... I really don't see the difference. And even Superman can't see thru lead-lined boxes (just kidding.... wanted to see if the gun nuts will start driving up lead prices even further...LOL)!!
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may be the chic topic du jour but the time to start being concerned and look at very real threats to our freedoms was many years ago. Exemplified by all the feigned outrage we've seen over 'innocents' killed in drone strikes when none of those feigning outrage ever gave a rat's ass about 'innocents' killed in strikes by manned aircraft.
