Drone Warfare, No Need for a Bounty, This one is on me

By: Julia Sieben / http://www.lady-patriots.com/drone-warfare/

 

Recently I wrote an editorial about the small town of Deer Trail, Colorado, drafting a bill to issue drone hunting permits, including bounties paid for successful kills.  This town is now experiencing the throws of being placed into the national arena from what one would call a novelty.

http://www.lady-patriots.com/defend-your-4th-amendment-take-up-drone-hunting/

Partly an earnest attempt to raise cash flow in a town that is only known for being the home of the first rodeo in the world, the sleepy town with a population of approximately 500 has gained not only the attention of hunters, but also Patriots, and Washington DC.

The FAA released a statement Friday in response to Deer Trail’s new ordinance that is under consideration.  The FAA administration out of Washington, DC made notice to the public in this statement that they regulate the nation’s airspace, including the airspace over cities, towns and residences.  FAA warned that firing guns at any drones would be endangering the public and property, and any violations could result in prosecution or fines.

In the statement it said, “A drone hit by gunfire could crash, causing damage to persons or property on the ground, or it could collide with other objects in the air.  Shooting at an unmanned aircraft could result in criminal or civil liability, just as would firing at a manned airplane.”

As stated in our previous editorial, Deer Trail would grant the hunting permits to shoot down drones for a fee of $25.00, and award in a bounty $100.00 for any successful kill.  Authentication of any downed drone would be an identifiable piece of the drone.  All permits issued would be kept anonymous, only requiring limitations that the petitioner was 21 years old or older, used Joe Biden’s choice of weapon (a shotgun), and that the recipient spoke English.

When Deer Trail resident Phillip Steel, author of the bill, was interviewed he indicated that he already had 28 signatures.  Under Colorado law, any petition that obtains 10 percent of an areas registered voter’s signatures, must be formally considered for adoption or put on the ballot for the next election. Mr. Steel has met this requirement, and anticipates that the counsel shall take up the bill in August.
“I don’t want to live in a surveillance society. I don’t feel like being in a virtual prison,” Steel said. “This is a pre-emptive strike.” As we previously quoted in our earlier edition.

When asked about the FAA warning to Deer Trail, Steel dismissed the warning,. “The FAA doesn’t have the power to make a law,” he said.

Actually what some may dismiss as a ranting of a redneck, gun toting, crazy conservative is mostly correct.  The FAA which is in charge of establishing regulations for the use of unmanned drones is far behind in developing the regulations.  Congress gave the agency until 2015, but very little is enacted law.  Most all the regulations are who can apply for a license to fly the drones, the airspace in which these drones may fly, and the qualifications of the type of drones.

What is not addressed is the use of these drones.  There are no limitations or requirements for licensing of any drone that is classified as a hobbyist.  Small drones, under twenty-five pounds, flown during daylight hours, and under the 400 feet above surface is pretty limitless.  In fact, as brought to our awareness by an article in USA Today, Blue Eye Investigations, touts the advertisement on their page, “authorized to operate aerial drone surveillance,” featuring a photo of Blue Eye’s eye-in-the-sky,  a large, mechanical spider lifted by four rotor blades, carrying a video camera under a glass dome.  Blue Eye’s business is a private investigation company.  One of those shady, sleazy companies that make a livelihood lurking in bushes and behind blacked out glass, while the take pictures of the cars in your drive way or peep in your windows.

Their ad even continues as such: “Blue Eye Investigation is now the ONLY Private Investigation firm in Kentucky currently authorized to operate areal Drone surveillance. What vehicles are located at the residence? Should he be working on the roof?? —I thought he was on workman’s comp? Who is he with??…His wife is in Chicago!”

In fact the owner of Blue Eye Investigations was questioned by USA Today about his claim on his website.  Richard Travelstead, owner of Blue Eye in Louisville, Ky., confesses that his site’s message contains what he calls a bit of marketing, given that no one authorized him to use his drone.

No one has to authorize him to spy on you on your private property, the rules and regulations of the FAA exempt him from such a license.

It is not the “Richard Travelsteads of America” most Americans are worried about, as the residents of Deer Trail, it’s the government.  In fact until recently, use of drones inside our borders was basically denied by governmental officials, until it was disclosed that the FBI has been using them on a regular basis to monitor citizens.

FBI Director Robert Mueller revealed at the Judiciary Committee held June 19, 2013 that the bureau uses drones to conduct surveillance on U.S. soil. When Mueller was asked if the bureau had developed a set of policies governing drone use and privacy protections, Mueller said that such a process was just starting.

“We are in the initial stages of doing that,” Mueller said, emphasizing that the FBI drone program was in the nascent stages. “I will tell you that our footprint is very small. We have very few of limited use, and we’re exploring not only the use, but the necessary guidelines for that use.”

Feinstein asked again on what protections the FBI has in place to protect privacy; Mueller said the main safeguard is the way the drones are used.

“It is very narrowly focused on particularized cases and particularized needs,” Mueller said. “That is the principal privacy limitation we have.”

Should We Be Optimistic or Pessimistic about the Future of the Second Amendment?

Daniel J. Mitchell/ Townhall Finance Columnist

Fifty years from now (assuming we haven’t suffered a Greek-style fiscal collapse), will we still enjoy our constitutional freedom of private gun ownership?

Sometimes I’m pessimistic about what will happen because politically correct educators are brainwashing our kids. We’ve even gotten to the point where a deaf kid can’t use sign language if his fingers somehow resemble a gun! And if you think that’s bizarre, check out these other horror stories of anti-gun hysteria in government schools.

And even though there’s currently a majority on the Supreme Court in favor of the Second Amendment, it’s only a one-vote margin. That doesn’t give me much comfort, particularly since we’ve seen examples of Justices ignoring their oathwhen subjected to political pressure.

Moreover, it’s difficult to be optimistic when a local government imposes a $1,000 fine on a man who uses an unregistered gun (gasp!) to save a child’s life.

On the other hand, I’m somewhat optimistic because gun owners and defenders of the Constitution have done a remarkable job in expanding and extending our Second Amendment rights at the state level.

For instance, check out this map of concealed-carry laws in the United States. The first thing to notice is that every single state allows citizens to carry, with the only real difference being whether the law is “shall issue” or “may issue.”

I’m a bit mystified, for what it’s worth, that Alabama has a relatively weak “may issue” law. Do they really want to be in the same anemic category as California?!?

Now let’s look at this map of stand-your-ground laws. The right of self-defense is not as ubiquitous as the right of concealed-carry, but the trend is very positive with more states moving from blue to red over time.

I’m puzzled why Nebraska and Missouri have weak New York-style laws, but I imagine those colors will change in a couple of years.

By the way, state legislatures are not the only place where we’re making progress. Thanks to scholars such as John Lott, it’s increasingly clear that social science research leans in favor of private gun ownership.

And I challenge anyone to defend gun control after reading this Larry Correia article.

But the biggest sign of progress may be that honest leftists are beginning to acknowledge the benefits of the Second Amendment. If you have squeamish friends and colleagues who favor gun control, show them this article from The Atlantic and this column from the New York Times.

I’m also encouraged by polling data that shows cops overwhelmingly reject the gun control agenda.

So what does all this mean? To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. It does appear, however, that the political elite is moving in the wrong direction on the Second Amendment and the American people are moving in the right direction.

I don’t know what side will win, but it’s a safe bet that we’ll have some major political battles in the future.

P.S. If you enjoy anti-gun control humor, here are some amusing videos.

• A revealing look at how leftists think about gun control.
• A heartwarming adoption story.
• An amusing cartoon conversation between an anti-gun ideologue and a supporter of the Constitution.
• This Christmas greeting from the Second Amendment.
• Joe Biden’s self-defense advice.

And you can find lots of additional anti-gun control humor at this link.

P.P.S. If you outlaw tanks, only outlaws will have tanks.

P.P.P.S. Feel free to add your vote to my poll on the most important reason to defend the Second Amendment.

P.P.P.P.S. Last but not least, here are some serious videos on the folly of gun control

• Ted Nugent talking about gun ownership and the right of self defense.
• A look at the Switzerland’s strong gun culture and the importance of self defense as a protection against oppression.
• And some very powerful testimony to some weasels on Capitol Hill (make sure to pay attention around the 5:00 mark).
• Ice-T talking about the real reason to defend and support the 2nd Amendment.
• A Reason TV video with five facts for Vice President Biden’s task force.
• A look at how a young woman can defend herself.
• A 15-year old speaks truth to power.

Court prevents feds from enforcing abortion-drug mandate

'Tide has turned' against Obamacare demands

WND / Faith

A federal court Friday granted a preliminary injunction to Hobby Lobby, preventing the Obama administration from enforcing the Obamacare abortion-drug mandate against the Christian-run company while the case is in progress.

The case brought by Hobby Lobby is just one of dozens pending in courts now over the Obamacare demand that employers provide abortifacients to their employees – irrespective of whether such actions violate the employers’ beliefs.

The Becket Fund, which is representing the company, said the court found there is a “substantial public interest in ensuring that no individual or corporation has their legs cut out from under them while these difficult issues are resolved.”

“The tide has turned against the HHS mandated,” said a spokesman for the organization.

Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith.

“We commend the court’s ruling which is a victory for religious freedom and freedom of conscience,” he said. “The Obama administration claims ‘unwavering’ support for religious freedom, but the only thing unwavering is the administration’s tenacious opposition to that freedom.”

ADF also is representing a number of cases challenging the federal plan to fund abortifacients for all.

ADF is working on cases brought by Geneva College, Seneca Hardwood, Sioux Chief Manufacturing, Annex Medical, Louisiana College, Grace Schools, Grote Industries, Tyndale House Publishers, Denver manufacturer Newland, former Sen. Bill Armstrong’s mortgage company and Briscoe, which runs assisted-living centers.

Becket also represents Wheaton College of Illinois, East Texas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University, Colorado Christian University, the Eternal Word Television Network, Ave Marie University and Belmont Abbey College.

WND reported earlier this month a coalition of faith leaders – ranging from the president of the National Association of Evangelicals to an official for the Church of Scientology – reprimanded President Obama and his health care plan for infringing on the faith of employers by forcing them to provide abortion services to their employees.

“The government has neither a compelling interest nor the appropriate authority to coerce one citizen to fund or facilitate specific lifestyle choices of another,” the group says in a letter to Obama.

“If the federal government can force morally opposed individuals to purchase contraception or abortion-causing drugs and devices for a third party, what prevents this or future administrations from forcing other Americans to betray their deeply held convictions?”

Under Obamacare, employers fund the abortion, contraception and abortifacient demands of their employees under threat of federal government sanctions. The requirement is in the rules for the federal health-care program, which was written with the input of leaders of the nation’s abortion industry.

The letter came the same day the White House announced it was delaying the Obamacare mandate for businesses with more than 50 employees until after the elections in November 2014.

More than 100 prominent national religious leaders and scholars released the letter, called “Standing Together for Religious Freedom.”

It calls on the Obama administration and Congress to start respecting conscience rights and religious freedom.

“Through its contraceptive coverage mandate, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services continues to breach universal principles affirmed and protected by the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws,” the letter says. “While the mandate is a specific offense, it represents a greater fundamental breach of conscience by the federal government.

“Very simply, HHS is forcing Citizen A, against his or her moral convictions, to purchase a product for Citizen B. The HHS policy is coercive and puts the administration in the position of defining – or casting aside – religious doctrine.

“This should trouble every American.”

The letter, released in both English and Spanish, was signed by National Association of Evangelicals President Leith Anderson, Bishop Gary Stevenson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Bishop Andrew of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church of America, Randall Bach of Open Bible Churches, Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention, Susan Taylor of the Church of Scientology, John Ashmen of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, William Estrada of the Home School Legal Defense Association, John Garvey of the Catholic University of America, David Nammo of the Christian Legal Society and dozens more religious leaders.

The Obama administration’s insistence that it can tell the faith community which religious beliefs members may follow hasn’t been well received.

One of the dozens of organizations suing the government over the issue, Belmont Abbey College, said it would not follow the government’s mandates no matter what.

President William K. Thierfelder told WND: “We cannot go against our faith, and we are not going to do it. We will never accept something that is antithetical to what we believe. I think all of us have to have the commitment the martyrs [had]. Not that we are going to be martyrs, but we have to have that kind of commitment. Sometimes the faith is bolstered by persecution.”

Hobby Lobby’s status previously was before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

A district court had refused to allow the injunction, and even Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told the company owners to start paying for abortifacients for their employees, in direct violation of their faith.

But the 10th Circuit said the store company has “established a likelihood of success that their rights under this statute are substantially burdened by the contraceptive-coverage requirement, and have established an irreparable harm.”

Newsmax

Secret Court Renews NSA's Phone Records Collection

By Todd Beamon

• 5
  inShare

The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court gave the green light to the Obama administration by recertifying a court order allowing the NSA to collect telephone records in bulk on millions of Verizon customers, the White House said Friday.

The court order was to expire at 5 p.m. Friday.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said its authority to maintain the program expired July 19 and the government sought and received a renewal from the secret surveillance court.

The FISA Court in Washington oversees U.S. surveillance programs. It consists of 11 federal judges, all whom have been appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

The White House disclosed the FISA's stamp of renewed approval of the court order in an effort at greater transparency after former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of the National Security Agency's secret U.S. surveillance programs to the media.

But bipartisan criticism continues to mount on Capitol Hill over the NSA's collection and stockpiling of millions of Americans' phone records without individual warrants or suspicions of connections to terrorism.

"By renewing the FISA court order, the Obama administration would reconfirm its support for the dragnet collection of telephone metadata, despite public outcry," Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican and a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, told The Guardian newspaper of London.

Meanwhile, Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, said the White House should have let the Verizon order expire.

"This type of secret bulk-data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans' privacy," he also told The Guardian. "If the administration feels this program is vital to our national security, it should declassify the secret court interpretations that justify broad data collection so Congress and the American public can debate it in the light of day."

Judge Roger Vinson, until recently a member of the FISA Court, approved the order for "all call-data records or telephony metadata" from customers of Verizon Business Services on April 25, The Guardian reports.

The court has reauthorized the bulk phone records collection, in secret, every 90 days for about seven years.

At least two other major telecoms, AT&T and Sprint, have reportedly received similar orders. The dates of their expirations are unclear, The Guardian reports.

Administration and intelligence officials describe the collection of the phone records — detailing telephone numbers dialed, duration of the calls, and the times they occurred — as critical to uncovering terrorist plots.

While the court orders allow the NSA to collect and store tens if not hundreds of millions of American phone records, NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander has cited the phone records collection as contributing to the discovery of about 10 domestic terrorism plots.

Officials argue that American liberties are protected because court criteria forbids the searches of the phone-records database, absent "reasonable articulable facts," The Guardian reports, although NSA officials decide themselves when those criteria are met.

The agency claims to have searched through the database fewer than 300 times in 2012, The Guardian reports.

And Israel is accused of denying Palestinian children their youth...pack of lies out of musim mouths

The suffering children of Gaza, 2013

From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

Elder of Ziyon (thanks to Ken Zevo) has the latest from the world's largest concentration camp:

Last April, the Dolphin Club and Resort opened south of Gaza City.

It's just like a concentration camp, just with a Facebook page.

He has more photos here.

Op-ed:
Obama and Holder...brothers in racism...brothers in hate
By: Diane Sori

AG Eric Holder and the infamous DOJ are mulling over whether to file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for his killing of Trayyon Martin in self-defense.  Mulling it over and spending our taxpayer dollars on a useless fishing expedition in hopes of finding anything NO matter how insignificant just so he can charge Zimmerman with a fabricated 'hate crime,' all while completely ignoring the fact that the FBI thoroughly investigated the incident and concluded that NO racial bias or animosity was involved...NO racial profiling...NO targeting based on race...NO nothing.

And he's doing this because, I believe, Eric Holder hates white people...as in an in-your-face hatred of the white race simply because he still holds us accountable for slavery...for slavery that was over and done with here in America over a century and a half ago before anyone alive today was born. 

Eric Holder is fixated on this one chapter in our great nations history that happened so long ago...forgetting the simple fact that slavery for the most part was perpetrated by blacks on blacks.  Holder refuses to accept the fact that even after the European slave traders began shipping black slaves to America, most slave traders dealt in just that...trade... NOT in the barbaric corralling of people (made famous in Roots), because for the most part the European slave traders did NOT need to use any force to get their slaves. The slaves were 'sold' by their black owners and black tribal leaders (black on black slavery was an integral but grossly unreported on part of African history for centuries).  In fact, estimates show that about 12,000,000 Africans were sold by African blacks to European slave traders.

So Eric Holder needs to place the guilt for the start of slavery where it truly belongs...on his own ancestors NOT on the whites he so loves to hate.  And in NO way am I excusing what happened here in America while slavery was in fashion...it's just that he cannot keep holding today's white Americans responsible for what happened to his ancestors so many years ago...and he cannot be allowed to take that hatred out on a man found NOT guilty by a jury of his peers, done in an adjudication as per our laws.

And while Eric Holder continues to spew his race-baiting hatred, yesterday Barack HUSSEIN Obama called on Americans to respect the verdict handed down in the Zimmerman trial...and he should have left it at that..but NO...he had to start comparing himself to Trayvon Martin.

Trying to deflect attention off  his infamous comment that laid the ground work for all the racism involved in the Zimmerman case when he said, "If I had a son he'd look like Trayon," yesterday Obama said, "Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago".  So, is Obama admitting he was a thug 35 years ago, just like Trayvon Martin was when he was killed...just wondering...

Seriously though, his next comment just adds more fuel to the racial fire.

"There are very few African-American men who haven't had the experience of being followed in a department store — that includes me," Obama said.  Oh really...so what Obama is saying is that the vast majority of young black men in this country have been racially profiled, targeted, and followed simply because they are black.  And to that I say bull, because if that was the case there would have been a lot more George Zimmerman type incidents going way back, and that is just NOT the case.

Continuing on and saying that African Americans view the Zimmerman case through "a set of experiences and a history that doesn't go away," Barack HUSSEIN Obama just threw a log on the fire of racism for he was eluding to the very hatred that Eric Holder feeds on.

This miserable excuse of a president deliberately brought the Zimmerman case full circle back to racism NOT because racism was ever involved in this case but because racism is the cause de-jour for the 'small but very vocal militant black minority' even though the FBI said the case was NOT about racism...the trial judge said the case was NOT about racism...the jury said the case was NOT about racism...even the prosecutors said the case was NOT about racism...but the likes of Barack HUSSEIN Obama and Eric Holder, along with their outwardly racist buddies Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, like to make every case, every perceived wrong, every word spoken about NOTHING but racism.

And when Obama said that he and his White House staff were “bouncing around ideas” about racial profiling and were calling for a review of Florida’s 'Stand Your Ground' laws, a light bulb should have gone off in every patriotic Americans mind.  A light bulb moment when reality set in that Barack HUSSEIN Obama is NOT only butting into what should have been a local city's issue but butting into a state's rights.  Ignoring our Constitutional defined balance of power, Obama has now just told the American people that if a particular state's laws do NOT meet with his agenda he will overstep his presidential bounds and work towards getting said law repealed.

And that my friends is a very scary thought indeed along with being a willful misuse of power.  But NOT to worry...his good buddy Eric Holder will find, in a hastily arranged independent investigation done to sooth the masses psyche, that NO misuse of power was done. After all they will cover each others backs against their self-perceived racist white population that profiles, targets, and follows all young black men...for hate and instigation is their racist calling card...expiration date at this time unknown.