During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the military conducted only a handful of drone missions. Today, the Pentagon deploys a fleet of 19,000 drones, relying on them for classified missions that once belonged exclusively to Special Forces units or covert operatives on the ground. American drones have been sent to spy on or kill targets in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Libya. Drones routinely patrol the Mexican border, and they provided aerial surveillance over Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In his first three years, Obama has unleashed 268 covert drone strikes, five times the total George W. Bush ordered during his eight years in office. All told, drones have been used to kill more than 3,000 people designated as terrorists, including at least four U.S. citizens. In the process, according to human rights groups, they have also claimed the lives of more than 800 civilians. Obama’s drone program, in fact, amounts to the largest unmanned aerial offensive ever conducted in military history; never have so few killed so many by remote control.
See also: Drones Won’t Be Taking Over Our Wars Anytime Soon, C.J. Chivers
This is a remarkable story. Read it!
(via purplegem)
One hundred and eight Syrians near the town of Houla have been murdered amidst a bloody crackdown on dissidents.
The White House must be telling itself there are still five months between now and Election Day, so the jobs picture could brighten. After all, we went through a similar mid-year slump in 2011 but came out fine.
But however you look at today’s jobs report, it’s a stunning reminder of how anemic…
(via nutsanddolts)
Priorities…
And we’re still cutting from Education -_-“
(via aretodeetoo)
JC Penney’s new ad for Father’s Day
The text reads:
“First Pals: What makes Dad so cool? He’s the swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver—all rolled into one. Or two.”
The text at the bottom reads: “Real-life dads, Todd Koch and Cooper Smith with their children Claire and Mason.”
(via myhodgepodgeblog)
There is a little known regulation at the FCC called the Zapple Doctrine, which is an offshoot of the Fairness Doctrine and of Section 315(a) of the Communications Act, which says that, in the 60 days prior to an election, if a broadcaster offers free airtime to one major party candidate, it must offer free airtime to the other major party candidate. Zapple expands this definition to include supporters of candidates.
The only programs which are exempt from this definition must qualify as “Bonafide News.” To qualify as “bonafide news,” programs must be non-political and not support any candidates.
[…]
So we found five monitors and had them count how many minutes each program was specifically supporting Scott Walker or bashing his Democratic opponent Tom Barrett, or supporting the GOP and bashing Democrats, and vice versa, how many minutes they were supporting Democrats in the race.
We discovered that each Right Wing Talk radio station in Milwaukee is giving about 80 minutes every day to the GOP side. Out of fifteen hours of programming, that doesn’t sound like much, but it would cost between $34,000 and $68,000 for supporters of Tom Barrett and the Democrats to buy that time. That’s $34,000 -68,000 - every single day.
[…]
But the FCC needs to hear from people all over the country who want this narrow rule, that in the 60 days prior to an election, stations must provide comparable airtime to BOTH major political parties, to survive.
Please sign the Media Action Center’s petition to help this once in a lifetime effort to change the Talk Radio dynamic for once - and for ALL.
(Only 626 people have signed?! C’mon we can do better than that!)
(via kp777)
