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Lahore - Since 2004, the US has carried out over 350 drone strikes inside Pakistan, killing some of the top al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders. A number of civilians also died in the attacks. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who is poised to become Pakistan's new prime minister, today said he wanted to strengthen his country's testy ties with the US but insisted that the CIA's controversial drone attacks must end as it posed a "challenge" to national sovereignty. "Drones indeed are challenging our sovereignty. Of course we have taken this matter up very seriously. I think this is a very serious...

A former U.S. president is accusing the current president of sanctioning the "widespread abuse of human rights" by authorizing drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists. Jimmy Carter, America's 39 th president, denounced the Obama administration for "clearly violating" 10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writing in a New York Times op-ed on Monday that the "United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights." "Instead of making the world safer, America's violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends," Carter wrote. While the total number of...

A former U.S. president is accusing the current president of sanctioning the “widespread abuse of human rights” by authorizing drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists. Jimmy Carter, America’s 39th president, denounced the Obama administration for “clearly violating” 10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writing in a New York Times op-ed on Monday that the “United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights.” “Instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends,” Carter wrote.

Judging the ex-president by his own standards. “The United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights.” Thus begins former President James Earl Carter’s recent New York Times op-ed, in which he claims that the United States, through its use of unmanned aerial vehicles, consistently violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Whether drones are morally acceptable is, of course, a valid area of debate, and one might have principled reasons for opposing them. I propose, however, that we look into Carter’s own history of violating the UDHR. Unlike Ronald Reagan or both Bushes, who, like...

Hannity took a call on his radio show yesterday from 'Dave in Iowa' who claims to have been a drone camera operator who operated over Benghazi during the siege of 9-11-2012. He confirmed that the Obama Administration has been lying and covering-up what happened that night- a fact he says he 'knew immediately' when -'particularly Susan Rice'- came out with the utterly fictitious 'protest against a video' narrative while scrubbing Al Qaeda's name from wherever it appeared. He went on to say that he watched it unfold live on an infrared camera -with dozens 'if not hundreds' of fighters outside the consulate- and that...

Audio at link

What is the V1-VR terrorist runway kill zone (RKZ)? The RKZ is a zone on an airport takeoff runway between two points called V1 and VR that every large multi-engine jet aircraft, such as Air Force One, must pass through while taking off. Here is a cockpit video of a 747-400 where the co-pilot can be heard to call out “V1″ at 1:24 and then call out “rotate” (VR) at 1:30, as required for all takeoffs. The runway zone travelled by the aircraft in the 6 seconds between V1 and VR for this takeoff is the RKZ. If any two...

Where are today’s rebels?  Where is the counterculture? Ear-budded hipsters, with their sheep-like devotion to Apple products and the Obama administration, sit in on the April 20 “Day of Pot” in Denver, content and satisfied with their free birth control and legalized maryjane.  Meanwhile SWAT teams descend on Watertown, Massachusetts, trampling Fourth Amendment rights in search of a “person of interest”– while a Saudi National is quietly sent back to his homeland.These hipsters champion the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado while the war on Big Tobacco rages on.  Since 1997 the FDA inherited control over the $365.5 billion global...

Scientists in the US have created a robot the size of a fly that is able to perform the agile manoeuvres of the ubiquitous insects. This "robo-fly", built from carbon fibre, weighs a fraction of a gram and has super-fast electronic "muscles" to power its wings. Its Harvard University developers say tiny robots like theirs may eventually be used in rescue operations. The current model of robo-fly is tethered to a small, off-board power source but Dr Ma says the next step will be to miniaturise the other bits of technology that will be needed to create a "fully wireless...

Just as terrorists can use GPS guided drone/UAVs to target jet turbines in the Runway Kill Zone (RKZ) as explained in earlier posts to this blog (here), the quad-copter drone that was hovering in the JFK landing approach of an Alitalia jetliner on March 5, 2013 may have been the first terrorist attack in a Landing Approach Kill Zone (LAKZ). News coverage of the story can be seen here. Using Jeppesen maps, a terrorist can determine the altitude that jetliners are supposed to fly at for each descending leg of a landing approach to a specific runway. At JFK on...

The horrific crash of a 747-400 at Bagram (here) has yet to be fully investigated and claims are already being made that it was a stall caused by a loose cargo that caused tail of the aircraft to drop and the nose to rise depriving the wings of lift. Maybe. The Bagram 747 crash has many similarities to the even more horrific crash of AWACS flight Yukla-27, (here) which was caused by the aircraft striking at least two Canada Geese in the Runway Kill Zone (RKZ) as discussed on an earlier post on this blog (here). Terrorists familiar with the...

Day after F-16 shoots down drone from Lebanon off Haifa, Lebanese media reports IAF jets fly over villages in south Lebanon. Lebanese soldier peers at Israel along border Photo: Ali Hashisho/Reuters The Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL troops have increased their observation activities on the Israel-Lebanon border, the official Lebanese National News Agency reported on Friday. The increased activity came a day after the Israel Air Force shot down a drone that flew south from Lebanon over the Mediterranean Sea about eight kilometers off the coast of Haifa. Hezbollah, who had a drone shot down by the IAF in the...

A helicopter transporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a quick emergency landing Thursday after military officials spotted — then shot down — an unmanned drone that was entering Israeli airspace. This is the second time in seven months that an unmanned drone had entered Israeli airspace without authorization, NBC reported. “[Unmanned drones] pose a serious threat to the State of Israel’s security. The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to violate Israel’s sovereignty or harm its security,” Israeli Defense Force officials said in a statement published by NBC. The helicopter carrying Mr. Netanyahu landed in the northern part of the...

So, will Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Dianne Feinstein go to bat for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? In December, with many conservatives cheering him on, Paul (R., Ky.) railed against the “abomination” of designating American citizens as enemy combatants — i.e., detaining them indefinitely outside the civilian criminal-justice system. Mike Lee (Utah), a conservative favorite, was his principal Republican partner in the Senate effort.

**SNIP** Under the proposal, guns could have been carried on mass transit buses and trains but banned from taverns, schools, casinos, stadiums, child-care facilities, universities and government buildings, including courthouses, legislative offices and the state Capitol. Rep. Brandon Phelps, the legislature’s leading concealed carry advocate, challenged his colleagues to vote for what he viewed as reasonable parameters on where people could carry guns in public, who is allowed to carry, who decides whether a person is eligible and how much training should be required. “This could be our last chance,” Phelps said, saying he had made changes to address numerous...

The Pentagon is cancelling a controversial medal designed to recognize contributions of unmanned aerial vehicle pilots and cyber troops, according to a Monday memorandum signed by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel obtained by USNI News.

The influential head of Google, Eric Schmidt, has called for civilian drone technology to be regulated, warning about privacy and security concerns. Cheap miniature versions of the unmanned aircraft used by militaries could fall into the wrong hands, he told the UK's Guardian newspaper. Quarrelling neighbours, he suggested, might end up buzzing each other with private surveillance drones. He also warned of the risk of terrorists using the new technology. Mr Schmidt is believed to have close relations with US President Barack Obama, whom he advises on matters of science and technology. "You're having a dispute with your neighbour," he...

Islamabad - Musharraf's admission that Pakistani leaders agreed to even a limited number of strikes counters their repeated criticism of a programme they long claimed the US was operating without their approval. Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has admitted that his government had secretly signed off on US drone strikes. This is the first time a top past or present Pakistani official has admitted publicly to such a deal. Pakistani leaders long have openly challenged the drone program and insisted they had no part in it. However, Musharraf, during an interview in Islamabad, insisted Pakistan's government signed off on strikes...

New York - In a secret deal, Pakistan allowed American drone strikes on its soil on the condition that the unmanned aircraft would stay away from its nuclear facilities and the mountain camps where Kashmiri militants were trained for attacks in India, according to a media report. Under secret negotiations between Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and America's CIA during 2004, the terms of the bargain were set, the New York Times reported today. "Pakistani intelligence officials insisted that drones fly only in narrow parts of the tribal areas - ensuring that they would not venture where Islamabad did not want...

Converts any 12-gauge shotgun into an anti-aircraft platform with  1 km vertical range instantly... I honestly haven't done much research on the legalities involved here, but if somebody's bound-and-determined to nip unwarranted snooping/amateur peeping toms in the bud, the ammo's already commercially available- and with specially-formulated propellant and depleted uranium buckshot, no less:  Big Brother is watching, and with modern technology, if Big Brother can see it, he can turn it into a giant smoking crater with just the press of a button. Even your secret remote wilderness bunker is no match for today’s military drones. In partnership with Tacnition Ammo, Lucky...

A U.S. Justice Department document that says America can le­gally order the killing of its citizens if they are believed to be al-Qaida leaders uses the devastating and illegal bombing of Cam­bo­dia in the 1960s and ’70s to help make its case. American broadcaster NBC News first reported on the “white pa­per”—a summary of classified mem­os by the U.S. Justice Depart­ment’s Of­fice of Legal Council—on Monday. The 16-page paper makes a legal case for the U.S. government’s highly controversial use of un­manned drones to kill suspected terrorists, including some U.S. citizens. In making its argument, the docu­ment brings up the...

A whistle Blower released this footage ... Mirror it , SAVE IT !! They WILL eventually remove this .... It shows the enemy Burried an IED , WHILE the drone fimed it .... NO ONE SAID A WORD TO THE US TROOPS IN THE TRUCK THAT GOT HIT !! MAKE THIS INFO GO VIRAL ... IT SAVES LIFES !

Warning: A Drone video showing an IED being planted then American lives taken when a truck rolls over it.

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- The head of a U.N. team investigating casualties from U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan declared after a secret research trip to the country that the attacks violate Pakistan's sovereignty. Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said the Pakistani government made clear to him that it does not consent to the strikes - a position that has been disputed by U.S. officials. President Barack Obama has stepped up covert CIA drone strikes targeting al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border since he took office in 2009. The strikes...

Iranian military aircraft targeted a U.S. Predator drone over the Persian Gulf this week, administration officials said. It was the latest in Iranian efforts to thwart the U.S. military's airborne intelligence collections efforts in the region. Three administration officials have separately confirmed details of the incident, although the Pentagon has not publicly acknowledged it.

I was just interviewed by WMAL radio in Washington DC on real estate and mortgage rates. Of course, I was asked what is happening to mortgage rates. I mentioned that the US economy is in a liquidity trap (where injections of cash into the private banking system by a central bank fail to lower interest rates and hence fail to stimulate economic growth). In fact, interest rates have been rising over the past several months. Since last November, the 10 year Treasury yield has risen. The yield curve has risen since November. And mortgage rates have risen as well. The...

Last week, Rand Paul, the junior U.S. Senator from Kentucky, managed to squeeze an answer out of the nation’s highest ups. In constipated Washington, it sure wasn’t easy. Only via a 13-hour filibuster could Senator Paul capture the attention of the nation’s press corps, and thus, the American people . . . and in so doing, even reach the Obama Administration. Rising to the floor of what once was billed, straight-faced, as the world’s greatest deliberative body, Sen. Paul stated, “I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution...

Quietly and without much notice, the Air Force has reversed its policy of publishing statistics on drone strikes in Afghanistan as the debate about drone warfare hits a fever pitch in Washington. In addition, it has erased previously published drone strike statistics from its website. Since October, the Air Force had been providing monthly updates on drone strikes -- or in its words "weapons releases from remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)." But today, Air Force Times reporters Brian Everstine and Aaron Mehta discovered something was amiss: The statistics published for February "contained empty space where the box of RPA statistics had...

Rand Paul took the rare and risky measure of filibustering in an effort to illicit an answer from the Administration on a critical stray from the Constitution - drone strikes on American citizens in America.  In a show of solidarity with Paul's historically lengthy (almost 9 hours), and audacious move, twelve Republican Senators went to dinner with President Obama.   Alright, so there may be another term more appropriate than "solidarity" to describe their exit stage left - still, surely they must have wished him well while out dining and pretending to be negotiating spending cuts with Obama.  Or, perhaps they...

Attorney General Eric Holder has responded to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's question about whether the federal government can legally use a drone strike against an American citizen on U.S. soil if the person is "not engaged in combat": Earlier this week, Holder wrote in a letter to Paul that the president has the authority to order militarized drone strikes on American citizens within the United States, but only in “an extraordinary circumstance.” In protest, Paul spoke for 13 hours straight on the Senate floor Wednesday, arguing against the drone policy.

I know its a crazy day when I agree with Van Jones! Wow: If a GOP prez implied he could kill US citizens on US soil without due process, we liberals would be marching down street #ConsistencyCounts— Van Jones (@VanJones68) March 7, 2013 The point is not whether OBAMA would abuse that kind of authority. The NEXT prez might. So we must be vigilant now & #consistent. #NoDrones— Van Jones (@VanJones68) March 7, 2013 And John Cusack too @cenkuygur: Great credit to Ron Wyden so far for being the only principled Democrat to join Rand Paul in arguing for the constitution.”— John Cusack (@johncusack) March 07, 2013The Huffington Post: Sen. Jeff Merkley...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Okay, folks, what we have here is a fascinating object lesson. What we have here is a golden opportunity. What is happening in the aftermath of the Rand Paul filibuster is very useful. This is extremely eye opening. The filibuster itself was eye opening and has its own educational aspects. But what's happening in the aftermath is almost as intriguing to me. The way I would put it is, the establishment decided to go out to dinner last night. Obama took McCain and Lindsey Graham and some others, went out to dinner. By the way, Obama's motorcade...

The anti-Rand Pauls, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, took to the Senate floor this morning to defend killing American citizens at presidential discretion. Graham is doing so live on C-SPAN2 right now, saying that everything you do is a danger to America no matter who or where you are, as long as the U.S. government has decided you have "joined al-Queda," whatever the hell that means....The Republican Party is at war, folks, and let's hope Rand Paul and his troops win.

My hunch is the American people will not stand for this and I will tell you why. The ‘Heavy Lock’ has been removed from the box without restraint or prejudice. The already illegal abusive powers projected by the Federal government have now been cauterized and sealed for use on the American citizenry. Attorney General Eric Holder with Obama’s blessing envisions a scenario where in their corrupt deliberate interpretation of the Constitution to carry out a drone strike against any American on American soil. Here is where this is put to a stop: IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration...

Judge Andrew Napolitano was on with Neil Cavuto today to discuss Barack Obama’s domestic drone policy. Napolitano says Obama’s policy of using drones to kill Americans without a trial is “Stalinistic.” “The Constitution couldn’t be clearer. If the government wants the life, the liberty or the property of a person, they have to do it through due process, which means a jury trial. They can’t just execute. That’s Stalinistic.“ Napolitano also said if Bush would have had this policy Barack Obama would have been the first one to criticize it… Because he did. Via Your World:

REVEALED: HOLDER SAYS PRESIDENT COULD AUTHORIZE MILITARY DRONE STRIKES INSIDE U.S. Mar. 5, 2013, by Billy Hallowell This morning, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Glenn Beck’s radio team that he had some new information about the U.S. government’s drone program — information that some individuals might find troubling. Later in the day, TheBlaze obtained letters that were sent to the senator by Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan. It is select contents in Holder’s letter that citizens and political experts, alike, might find most problematic. After Paul sent an inquiry to learn more...

Recently uncovered government documents reveal that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) unmanned Predator B drone fleet has been customize designed to identify civilians carrying guns and track cell phone signals. "I am very concerned that this technology will be used against law-abiding American firearms owners," said founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation Alan Gottlieb. “This could violate Fourth Amendment rights as well as Second Amendment rights." The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained a partially redacted copy of Homeland Security’s drone requirements through a Freedom of Information Act request; CNET uncovered an unredacted copy....

A possible drone sighting near JFK Airport has led to a federal investigation after a pilot spotted the unknown flying object as he landed a commercial jet yesterday. The Alitalia pilot was in his final approach into JFK over Brooklyn, New York, just after 1pm when he saw something hovering about 200 feet away. Sources told the New York Post that the 'drone' was black in color, and had helicopter rotors on its corners. The FAA said that all flights landed without incident, and the agency is currently investigating. The Post reported that the Joint Terrorism Task Force is also...

On Monday, an Alitalia pilot reported seeing a mysterious black drone flying above New York near JFK International Airport, which is one of the busiest in the world. Minutes later, another unidentified pilot reported a similar sighting of a black unmanned aircraft. The incident was first reported by ABC News. Government officials are currently launching a multi-agency preliminary investigation which includes the Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI. The Joint Terror Task Force is also looking into the matter to see whether there are any travel or homeland security threats and risks.

We here at SooperMexy Headquarters were afeared for our lives when it was leaked that Obama had approved the unconstitutional drone strike program for Americans!! Especially after Robert ChubbyCheeks Gibbs admitted that he lied to the White House press corps about the entire program! However, we, at the SooperMexy Headquarters are completely reassured by the video posted by the White House to give Americans guidelines on how not to become a target for drone bombing!! We think you will too!

By KEVIN ROBILLARD | 2/22/13 1:50 PM EST Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants one thing before he’ll allow the confirmation of John Brennan as CIA Director to go forward; he wants assurances “someone eating at a cafe in Boston or New York” won’t have “a Hellfire missile [come] raining in on them,” he said Friday on Fox News. The libertarian scion sent a letter to Brennan’s office at the White House Wednesday asking if the administration has the power to order a lethal drone strike on an American citizen within U.S. borders. Until he gets an answer, Paul has pledged...

Quadrocopters turn into pixels at the voestalpine Klangwolke and form 3D-Modells in the sky. As a world-premiere, the Ars Electronica Futurelab has managed to fly a formation outdoor with so many quadrocopters, painting some moments of magic into the nightsky of Linz.

The Obama administration is refusing to hand over full details of its targeted killing programme in order to ensure John Brennan takes up his post as head of the CIA, according to a report. The White House is said to be considering handing over details of the Benghazi scandal to Republicans rather than give up the secrets of its drone strikes. The move is infuriating Democrats who have long called for full disclosure of classified legal memos in relation to targeted killings. nstead President Obama seems content to risk their wrath to win more support for Mr Brennan.

A drone strike in the eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa last month killed the top religious cleric for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a source close to the group said on Tuesday. "A drone strike had targeted Sheikh Adel al-Abab's vehicle but he escaped and fled to a mountainous region where a raid by another drone killed him immediately," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity. Abab had graduated from the Dawa Islamic studies center, in Sana'a and had served as the top religious cleric for AQAP. American drone strikes against Al-Qaeda terrorists are frequent in Yemen, home...

It appears a drone controlled by a Chinese agent masquerading as a journalist has shown the last minutes of Dorner's life as he shot himself and was burned in the ensuing fire he set when teargas was lobbed into the cabin. Sources say agent Man Hi Pau Pau was able to observe first hand the final scene in the Dorner cabin standoff incident at Big Bear.

We live in a country where the president has assumed the power to kill American citizens without due process and the Justice Department produces memos supporting the legality of it. Fortunately, we also live in a country where concerned citizens and their local lawmakers are waking up and defending civil liberties and the Constitution that protects them. For example, on February 4 the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, passed a measure declaring the use of drones in the United States to be “a serious threat to the privacy and constitutional rights of the American people. The resolution (passed by a vote...

Last week's controversy over Obama's assassination program forced into light many ignored truths that were long obvious This past week has been a strangely clarifying political moment. It was caused by two related events: the leak of the Justice Department's "white paper" justifying Obama's claimed power to execute Americans without charges, followed by John Brennan's alarming confirmation hearing (as Charles Pierce wrote: "the man whom the administration has put up to head the CIA would not say whether or not the president of the United States has the power to order the extrajudicial killing of a United States citizen within...

I found this link from Micheal Yon on Facebook. I haven't heard of Electronic Frontier Foundation before but I found there map very interesting. The have a Google map of all FAA approved drone operations. If you follow there link to larger you can see details on what they say they are doing with the drone.

SAN ANTONIO - Texas lawmakers will eventually have to figure out how to regulate drones, if at all. The unmanned aircraft, until recently most associated with larger, Air Force piloted models, have become much cheaper and much smaller in recent years. A simple search on Google Shopping returns dozens of results on where to buy drones, many under $300 with cameras already attached. Conceivably, those drones could be flown above homes, even used to take pictures. Texas does have laws that address improper photography, which ban photos from being taken without consent for the sexual gratification of the photographer. That...

A top secret CIA base in Saudi Arabia where lethal drones strikes have been launched from has been exposed on internet search giant Bing, it was claimed today. A blogger has spotted an unmarked facility that has runways, hangars and what appear to be living quarters and offices buried deep in the desert. It follows claims by the New York Times that it had revealed the CIA uses a base in Saudi Arabia to target Al Qaeda operatives in neighbouring Yemen. It was from this base that the American-born operative Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in 2011.