Did Berkeley Just Save Us From Drones or Target Us With Drones?

By David Swanson.   Reprinted from  War is a Crime.org.

Cities and states across the United States have been taking various actions against drones, while the federal government rolls ahead with project fill the skies.

Robert L. Meola has been working for years now to get Berkeley to catch up with other localities and claim its usual spot at the forefront of movements to pass good resolutions on major issues. Now Berkeley has acted and Meola says “This is NOT what I/we asked for.”   Continue reading Did Berkeley Just Save Us From Drones or Target Us With Drones?

Commercial Drones and the Slippery Slope

Ed Kinane’s latest Op Ed, originally published on Truthout.org as:  The FAA’s Broadening Regulations: Commercial Drones and the Slippery Slope

The Federal Aviation Administration, bowing to persistent corporate and congressional drone caucus pressure, on February 15 issued “A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” seeking public input. The proposed rules seek to regulate the commercial and government flight of small (under 55 lbs.) domestic drones. The FAA, charged with keeping our airways safe, is opening wider the door to the multi-billion domestic drone industry…impairing both our safety and our civil liberties.

The drone industry is drooling. Continue reading Commercial Drones and the Slippery Slope

Export of Armed Drones Approved

predator-firing-missile1The United States government has just eased regulations on selling drones to other countries.  According to the New York Times, “The Obama administration is amending its regulations for weapons sales to allow the export of armed military drones to friendly nations and allies.”    In a later article they say that State Department Officials say “sales must be made through government programs and that recipient nations must agree to certain ‘end-use assurances.'”   However, one of the issues that triggered this is loss of contracts from Israel by armed drone manufactures.  Israel uses armed drones to police the border and prosecute wars against the people of Gaza.   Continue reading Export of Armed Drones Approved

Buffalo Letter to NYS Senators About Drones

Niagara Falls Air Force Reserve Station is currently being transformed into a drone operations center.

February 9, 2015

Dear Senators Gillibrand and Schumer,
During the week of February 2 – 9, 2015, across the state of NY, citizens are meeting with your respective staff members to express our concerns and provide important information on the use of weaponized drones, including current use overseas. Their use is illegal, immoral, and counterproductive.

We, members of the Resist Militarism! Taskforce of the WNY Peace Center and the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars, are vehemently opposed to our government’s policy of drone warfare. No one’s safety is assured by the slaughter of innocent children and civilians. Continue reading Buffalo Letter to NYS Senators About Drones

Confronting Senator Schumer on his Position on Drones

Report to Upstate Coalition to Ground Drones and End the Wars on a Visit to Charles Schumer’s Peekskill Office – February 10, 2015

On the afternoon of February 10, after three snow postponements, Kwame Madden and I met in the Peekskill, NY office of Senator Charles Schumer with Cody Peluso, his Regional Director, and Brandon Graham, a staff assistant.

In addition to providing Cody and Brandon with the ample background information from the Coalition, we gave them a letter to Senator Schumer that listed campaign contributions totaling $639,300 that he has received between 2009 and 2014 from makers of military drones and from financial firms that are invested in military drone makers.   The letter asked the senator to:

“…explain why you accepted these contributions and specifically what you think these firms hope to gain from their support.”

Continue reading Confronting Senator Schumer on his Position on Drones

Lack of transparency in the CIA and military drone killings

You Never Die Twice: Lack of Transparency in the CIA and Military Drone Killings

By Mickie Lynn,
Republished from her blog in the Albany Times Union, Waging Peace.

This week Women Against War and members of several other Capital District peace groups joined in a Statewide lobbying initiative of our two Senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer,  after having to re-schedule our Monday appointments due to the foot of snow and more that fell on the area. Women Against War had already held a long,  productive lobbying meeting on the topic of Weaponized Drones with David Connors, Senator Gillibrand’s Regional Director, in October.  So we decided to just deliver the excellent packet prepared by the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars to their office.  Continue reading Lack of transparency in the CIA and military drone killings

The Ghastly, Remotely Piloted, Robotic Reaper Drone

The Ghastly, Remotely Piloted, Robotic Reaper Drone

by Ed Kinane, Reprinted from Truthout, January 26, 2015

The MQ9 Reaper – now deployed 24/7 over Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere – makes killing too easy. It makes war easier to initiate and perpetuate. US drone wars are started with little or no public awareness or support – and with little apparent stake in the game. The weaponized drone cheapens honor. It cheapens life.

The Reaper kills and maims combatants and noncombatants, adults and children, infants and elderly. Drone victims are also those left widowed or orphaned, and those – in the hundreds of thousands – who flee the terrorized tribal countryside. Despite the propaganda that saturates US mainstream media, drones are not deployed in a “war on terrorism.” Weaponized drones are terror.  Continue reading The Ghastly, Remotely Piloted, Robotic Reaper Drone

Drones and Discrimination: Kick the Habit

Kathy Kelly talks about her recent trial, the action she was convicted for, and her pending jail sentence.   She talks about drone victims and the victims she is sure to meet when she arrives at whatever prison she is told to report to.

On December 10, International Human Rights Day, federal Magistrate Matt Whitworth sentenced me to three months in prison for having crossed the line at a military base that wages drone warfare. The punishment for our attempt to speak on behalf of trapped and desperate people, abroad, will be an opportunity to speak with people trapped by prisons and impoverishment here in the U.S.  Continue reading Drones and Discrimination: Kick the Habit