Posted on 03/18/2013 6:39:52 AM PDT by EXCH54FE
Less than two weeks ago, Sen. Rand Paul's demanded to know whether the president believed he had a right to kill an American citizen on American soil with a drone, finally getting an answer that had to be dragged out Attorney General Eric Holder. An equally important, but still unasked question is whether the president intends to build a federal, drone-based "public safety" force to police local communities.
Somebody had better ask the president about this quickly, because it appears that his administration intends to use drones to actively usurp what were once local police and sheriff's department functions.
Put it all together, and it sure looks like Obama is building the backbone for that national police force he wanted the first time he ran for office.
Worse yet, both Democrats and Republicans are now openly discussing a plan to put all the drones flown in America's skies, including those owned and operated by local police departments, under the ultimate supervision of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, consolidating the country's surveillance and law enforcement powers under one powerful federal police jurisdiction.
According to Wired.com, DHS is now experimenting with how its drones can be used in "first responder, law enforcement and border security scenarios."
The DHS's drones could also be used, Nextgov.com reported, "to support emergency and non-emergency incidents nationwide" and to give the department "situational awareness" in public safety matters or disasters, including forest fires. The department also plans to use its drones, and their attached cameras to surveil and police sporting events, political events and large public gatherings.
The problem with DHS's plans is that many of the above functions used to be handled by local law enforcement without any help from the federal government.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Ya don’t build a big bright and shiny police state and not use it!
Look for drones to be increasingly looking for regulatory violations from executive agencies like the EPA or to simply eavesdrop on US citizens. It is ironic that the same liberals who rant about how conservatives are going to end privacy by restricting abortions have no problem with a government drone spying on their movements or even peering in thweir windows.
Good question. Why do the police need 30 round magazines? They are trained shooters who shouldn’t need that many rounds to take down a suspect, especially since they operate in teams.
We should hope and pray that the local police will rebel at their authority being stolen - and that they will themselves become the opposition to this - with force if necessary.
Of course, that probably won’t happen in the blue states except perhaps the rural areas and smaller cities.....
Currently, the US has 16 major intelligence agencies, and over 100 federal police agencies. And because of a relatively new change in the law, non-police federal agencies may now procure and use weapons and even set up their own SWAT-like enforcement teams.
The most notorious use of these so far was when the Department of Education sent a SWAT team to arrest a woman who was in default of her student loan, breaking into the home of her ex-husband, who lived there with their child, but not the woman. The accusation against her was of student loan fraud, for concealing assets that could have been used to pay off her loan. Typically a civil offense.
And credit where credit is due. Though Obama and his bureaucracy are using it, these authoritarian police agencies were for the most part given broad and unconstitutional authorities under George W. Bush, who, while he was correct in taking the War on Terror to our foreign enemies, devoted just as many resources to creating a police state in the US, against its honest citizenry.
It will take decades of concerted action to dismantle this nightmare, and to set up deep constraints on the government against ever doing such things again.
Billions of bullets + 2,700 MRAPs + drones + Obama’s “force at home” statement = Bad news for white conservative Christians
....a drone is on your tail.....and the Hellfire Missile is Armed.
Look at Cyprus. They are confiscating 10% of people’s bank accounts. Is that a sign of what the ultimate goal is here?
The old saying follow the money. We’ve heard that the RATS have been talking about nationalizing 401’s.
No. Those intentions are indeed totalitarian...
No use pretending they aren’t.
“We don’t want to take all your guns - don’t be absurd!”
“Buy a shotgun”
Yep, they’re still trying to pretend they aren’t what they are.
And if it was not for the results of the 2010 election and getting obamacare passed taking up more time, they would have done it. They have not forgotten about it, time just ran out on them. Look for it to resurface again when they regain control of both Houses of Congress.
“Is Obama Building A Federal Police Force? ‘
Have they already done it? Starting in the KKKlinton administration many federal agencies including the EPA have become heavily armed.
Those DHS MRAPs even have shooting ports on the sides, little swivel mounts in the 4” thick bulletproof windows.
So they can stick the muzzles of their full-auto true assault rifles out and mow down their enemies, one must presume.
Is there really a doubt at this point?
I don't think so. As time goes by this will ONLY get worse. Totalitarians don't give up their power a little at a time until it's gone the way once free American's have given up their freedom. Communism can't be undone incrementally. It fails by either total collapse or war.
Some of the libertarians in this forum warned of this when Bush signed the National Security Act but were generally reviled as un-American.
No need to say "told ya' so."
Presumably, that's why the Marines bought them.
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