Posted on 05/17/2012 3:43:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
Earlier this week, the federal government announced that the Air Force might be dispatching drones to a backyard near you. The stated purpose of these spies in the sky is to assist local police to find missing persons or kidnap victims, or to chase bad guys.
If the drone operator sees you doing anything of interest (Is your fertilizer for the roses or to fuel a bomb? Is that Sudafed for your cold or your meth habit? Are you smoking in front of your kids?), the feds say they may take a picture of you and keep it. The feds predict that they will dispatch or authorize about 30,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles across America in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, more than 300 local and state police departments are awaiting federal permission to use the drones they already have purchased -- usually with federal stimulus funds.
The government is out of control.
If the police use a drone without a warrant to see who or what is in your backyard or your bedroom, or if while looking for a missing child the drone takes a picture of you in your backyard or bedroom and the government keeps the picture, its use is unnatural and unconstitutional.
I say "unnatural" because we all have a natural right to privacy; it is a fundamental right that is inherent in our humanity. All of us have times of the day and moments in our behavior when we expect that no one -- least of all the government -- will be watching. When the government watches us during those times, it violates our natural right to privacy. It also violates our constitutional right to privacy. The Supreme Court has held consistently that numerous clauses in the Bill of Rights keep the government at bay without a warrant.
Even when we don't have an expectation of privacy, we do have a right to be left alone. But merely watching us in public isn't enough for the police, as many street corner cameras are equipped with listening devices and tiny megaphones. We can expect that these devices will soon bark commands: "Put down that BlackBerry." "Look to your right before crossing." "Don't kiss her; a car is coming." Actually, Big Brother is coming, and he's not smiling.
Big Brother is watching from the skies, as well as the streets. This started when the Department of Defense decided to offer help to police -- and they are prepared to accept. Never mind that the military may not lawfully operate within our borders, except in the case of rebellion, and then only when publicly authorized by the president. Never mind that the military may not lawfully be used for law enforcement, except in the case of disaster, and then only when publicly authorized by the president. And never mind that this use of drones by the Air Force was not the result of legislation debated and enacted by Congress, but was done under the authority of the president alone.
Add to all this the use of drones to kill people. President Obama has argued that he can use drones to kill Americans overseas, whose deaths he believes will keep us all safer, without any constitutional due process whatsoever. His attorney general has argued that the president's careful consideration of each target and the narrow use of deadly drones are an adequate substitute for due process. Of course, no court has ever ruled that way. The president's national security adviser has argued that the use of drones is humane since they are "surgical" and only kill their targets. Of course, that's not true, but it misses the point. Without a declaration of war, the president can't lawfully kill anyone, no matter how humane his killing.
How long will it be before the Air Force and the police adopt the unconstitutional arguments of the president's wrongheaded advisers and use the drones not only to spy but also to kill Americans in America?
The whole reason we have a Bill of Rights is to assure that tyranny does not happen here, to guarantee that the government to which we have supposedly consented will leave us alone. Do you think the government accepts that? Would you feel safe with a drone in your backyard? Would you feel like you were in America?
Too late already done, who cares if it is in the US or Yemen. It is still an assassination of a US citizen, not engaged with arms against the US, without a trial nor in an act to capture or arrest him. If the drone had not worked they were going to us the US military to kill him. These drones are just the next step here at home.
We have already lost the argument.
Plenty of plans. Scarcity of backbones.
“... I may want to stop running around in my back yard with just undies on”
Dang, Hoosiermama... you are WILD!!
Well.... sounds like you don’t have to worry about tan lines! LOL! Your property must be beautiful... even with some helicopters and “cultivated plants”. If I step on my front porch, I have eyes on me. In my backyard... eyes. One day... I want to live somewhere where I can walk outside and not have human eyes on me.
Sadly agree. We're all owned. We don't own our property, even if we have deed to it.
Hold muh beer.
LOL... Though they might be out of shotgun range, I'm thinking a .308 could take one down. Or at least leave a mark! :-)
Well....
One --->could<--- rig up a model airplane with a nose camara, and suitable armament, for strafing runs, or even kamakaze attacks.
It is my theory that drones are now in the front-line of anti-drone defense as part of the protective envelope surrounding VIPs, such as POTUS and summits of leaders. Drones, including hobby UAVs can be used in a variety of ways as offensive weapons.
These drones in IL can be part of a NOTAM enforcement screen putting teeth into FAA no-fly orders near VIPs.
For example, if a DHS drone detects an individual attempting to launch a potentially deadly UAV near POTUS, such as near Air Force One or an outdoor speaking engagement, deadly force could be pre-authorized to take out the persons attempting such a launch, especially if intelligence already had the launcher on a watch list...kind of like the Israelis preemptively taking out Palestinian rocket launching teams.
Our pre teen grandson wanted a remote controlled plane with a camera. That model was sold out, and we bought him a remote helicopter with a camera from ToysRUs.
After seeing some of the pictures our grandson took in his neighborhood, his parents no longer allow him to fly it in town.
Rumors about hunters and fishers using similiar devices to find game or fish are filtering in.
The future may find our wars being fought by guys and gals who grew up flying these so called toys.
As, our govt turns overtly tyrannical, they have tools at their disposal to find and eliminate “enemies of the state” that Hitler, Stalin and Mao could only have dreamed of.
Just a little editing my friend.
I hope we miss all the excitement.
Spy Drone Almost Causes Mid Air Collision With Jet Over Denver
FYI Post #54
Thanks, I was wondering how long before a drone and a commercial jet had a close call, now how long before they actually collide?
Exactly. The problem is they don’t show up on radar. So you have a 3-400 mile an hour plane full of people and expect the pilot to be operating on VFR for a small hard to see drone?
Well if they are going to put up 30,000 or so drones like they say. It WILL happen.
When the Denver mid air near misshap story was posted here, some of us brought up drones.
Apparently that was/is a real probable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.