Predator Drones
Does Rand Paul Support Using Drones to Kill American Citizens? Yes!
It must be difficult to be a Republican these days. Since 2009 we've witnessed an ongoing strategy by party leadership of taking the exact opposite position of the White House, regardless of whether the opposite position will make Republicans seem unreasonable, ...read more
Glenn Greenwald Opposes Ban on Drones
I'll begin today's column with a serious disclaimer: this is not an April Fools' Day prank. By now, you've probably already stumbled onto three or four prank tweets and Facebook posts, not to mention more than a few headlines, so I'll spare you the silliness. With that out of ...read more
Alex Jones' Latest: Obama is the Leader of Al-Qaida
Remember the days when there were three television networks, you could fill up your gas tank for $15 and Guy Fieri was just a homophobic, talentless, annoyingly "stoked" tween named "Guy Ferry" rather than a homophobic, talentless, annoyingly "stoked" television mogul? Ah yes, ...read more
Greenwald: 'Drone Apologists' and 'Democratic Partisans' Are Racists
Glenn Greenwald's ongoing crusade against anyone who dares to see nuance in the debate over targeted killings and the war on terrorism has risen to a not-so-surprising new level. Namely, Americans who oppose targeted killings of American citizens on American soil today, but who ...read more
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The Most Terrifying Drone Ever! Run Away!
When I began the day, I promised myself I wasn't going to write about drones or Glenn Greenwald or the war on terrorism again, but after I read a tweet he posted today I simply couldn't help myself. In fact, I started an entirely different post today until the following tweet ...read more
My Continuing Adventures in the Drone Debate
Over the weekend, I spent several hours debating the overlapping topics of drones, the war on terror, Eric Holder, Rand Paul and, yes, semantics with Glenn Greenwald on Twitter. Not shockingly, several of my closest friends wondered out loud why on Earth I would engage in such ...read more
And, No. Drones Will Not Kill You While You Drink Coffee at Starbucks.
Every time I write about predator drones or anything associated with the technology, it seems I have to write two back-to-back items: one post laying out what I believe to be a rational, reasonable, historically-sourced argument which, at the end of the day, is skeptical of the ...read more
Rand Paul's Filibuster Ends After 13 Hours
The Daily Banter Headline Grab from TPM: Libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)'s filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency ended after nearly 13 hours on Thursday morning after a contentious debate on civil liberties, namely ...read more
No. Holder Didn't Say Obama Can Use Drones To Kill Citizens on American Soil.
As I've written before, it's becoming increasingly difficult to carry on a rational discussion about the use of lethal force against enemy combatants born in the U.S., as well as the use of drones as a military weapon. To backtrack by way of re-emphasizing my view: the president ...read more
How Does the U.S. Mark Unidentified Men in Pakistan and Yemen as Drone Targets?
By Cora Currier, Pro Publica Earlier this week, we wrote about a significant but often overlooked aspect of the drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen: so-called signature strikes, in which the U.S. kills people whose identities aren’t confirmed. While President Obama and ...read more
Drone Danger: Making War Too Easy
U.S. Marine uses the optic lens on his M4 carbine to scan the area in the Kajak district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Feb. 8, 2013. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kowshon Ye) By Ivan Eland Although so far, President Barack Obama seems to have less warlike ...read more
I Evidently Have to Scream 'Baby Killer!' or I'm an Obamabot
The harshest critics of my column, "No, President Obama Is Not 'Worse Than Bush' on National Security," posted both here at The Daily Banter and on The Huffington Post, were anti-Obama screechers to my left (I evidently have a left) and the most common refrain was that I'm an ...read more
Obama Defends Drone Program in Google Hangout
The Daily Banter Headline Grab (from the Yahoo! News): President Barack Obama defended his administration’s use of drones to target and assassinate Americans overseas believed to be working with terrorists, insisting the government is following the law on what it can and ...read more
Assessing the Laws of the Drone Wars
President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary (and former CIA Director) Leon Panetta review troops at Joint Base Myer-Henderson in Arlington, Virginia, Feb. 8, 2013. (White House Photo by Pete Souza) By Dennis J. Bernstein New disclosures regarding President Barack Obama’s use ...read more
CIA Director Nominee Defends Drones, Targeted Killing of Americans
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From AP: CIA Director-designate John Brennan strongly defended anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones Thursday under close questioning at a protest-disrupted confirmation hearing. On a second controversial topic, he said that after reading a ...read more
There's Evidently No Room for Nuance on Drones
They say if you move far enough to the left, you end up on the right. As such, throughout the last four or five years I've witnessed this phenomenon on way too many occasions, the most recent one being yesterday's reactions to the article I wrote about the Justice Department's ...read more
It's Time to End the War or Regulate the Drones
Contrary to what some readers might think, I haven't categorically supported President Obama's predator drone program. I haven't furiously opposed it either because, honestly, I haven't necessarily believed drones are the dystopian Killbots they're made out to be by the loudest ...read more
‘Kill List’ Rule Book Coming Soon to the White House Situation Room
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From AP: The White House "kill list"--a regularly updated chart showing the world's most wanted terrorists used by President Barack Obama during kill or capture debates--may soon be getting a rule book to go with it. According to the New York ...read more