USAF ponders what now for all those Predator and Reaper drones?

[eyebiter]

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130402/C4ISR02/304020012/Whither-Hunter-Killers-USAF-Ponders-Post-Afghan-Glut-Reapers-Predators

"Currently, the Air Force has 258 Predators and Reapers staffing 60 CAPs (combat air patrols). There are almost 300 Reapers still on order, largely to replace the Predators."

[Longdan]

They could use them to try and win that war I suppose.

[LongBlade]

We need them here at home. I understand there are role-playing groups on college campuses that are plotting nefarious deeds even as I type.

[Longdan]

They have to figure out how to make them not explode US citizens.
I do not like to think what they would be used for in the hands of Homeland Security.
Or the highway patrol.  Or Campus Patrol CSI.

[GDS_Starfury]

hows about border patrol and drug interdiction.

[Longdan]

^^Operation "BOISE".  Now lets see if I gets arrested by the mind police since that is supposed to be non-sharable but I do not work there anymore.

[Staggerwing]

Maybe we could use them to keep an eye on Dan. He's got to be up to no good up there- I can feel it in my bones...

[Longdan]

That is Star....behind you!!

[Arctic Blast]

We need them here at home. I understand there are role-playing groups on college campuses that are plotting nefarious deeds even as I type.

Only the threat of a Hellfire strike can keep DM's from overpowering that collection of Orcs the players are about to do battle with.

[Longdan]

They could bring all those drones home and turn them loose and let people hunt them.
Or do they have pensions?

[LongBlade]

We need them here at home. I understand there are role-playing groups on college campuses that are plotting nefarious deeds even as I type.

Only the threat of a Hellfire strike can keep DM's from overpowering that collection of Orcs the players are about to do battle with.

Hmmm. I always favored AoE weapons for orc hordes. But arming drones with cluster munitions shouldn't prove too much of a challenge.

[eyebiter]

hows about border patrol and drug interdiction.

There are several new drone bases along the Northern border.  Would guess something similar planned for the south.

[Longdan]

It is a good thing I am out of that business.  Drones aren't very good at maintaining VFR.  This can be good but not in a busy VFR traffic situation
which the Canadian border (not boarder, he's upstairs sleeping the lazy bum) is on any given summer weekend.
Wait until this gets to court like foto radar.  Lawyers sharpen your laptops!  You guys are going to wish your constitutional framers (who are all in heaven)
had foreseen drones.  "I'm not arresting you anymore."  Boom!  When you have several hundred hammers everything looks like a Taliban Number 2 guy.

[LongBlade]

You guys are going to wish your constitutional framers (who are all in heaven)
had foreseen drones.  "I'm not arresting you anymore."  Boom! 

I have to chuckle when I read comments like that.

Pause for a moment and reflect upon the context in which our Constitution emerged.

Go on, I'll wait.






















Give up?

OK. Let's look at the start of our humble republic.

20 odd years before we had just broken free of Britain's hold on us. What did that entail?

It's my understanding that the American Revolution was, like most endeavors, split into thirds. About a third of the people really supported it. About a third were apathetic. And about a third supported the Crown. Lucky for us, the rabble who opposed the Crown won out.

Does anyone think for a moment that there were similar challenges today? I don't mean all the high tech. Just get back to the basics. Benedict Arnold was a war hero and top general in the American army. One day he flipped, and decided to support the Brits.

What did that mean? If you couldn't trust your top general, who could you trust?

Even within that atmosphere of paranoia - hardly any worse than the "domestic terrorist" threats we have today - the Founders still concluded it was right and proper to have a 4th Amendment which forced those in charge of keeping us safe to have not just any old reason, but a pretty darn good reason before searches and seizures could be exercised.

The Constitution was never written to anticipate all the technological advances we see today. It didn't have to be. It was written to manage more important things. The eternal things: men. Men and their failings. Their avarice, their greed, their temptations, their loyalty, their honesty, and all the mixed mugglebuggle that goes with it.

The Constitution was forged to keep men in power in check and to allow people to pursue Life, Liberty, and an attempt to find Happiness.

Those things are eternal. The technological trappings are irrelevant in that context.

[Longdan]

You can chuckle and take off your halo.  That is eloquent and true but so is "Boom!".
I like your constitution it is a wise and venerable document.  It has been amended and amendments have been repealed.
What I appreciate is the continuous efforts to change, undermine, subvert, pervert and down right abrogate it, frequently
by those who wear it as a garment and would use it to crush their opponents.  That is why I am watching this robocop thing.
At what point will a robot acting as a defender of the constitution (and a good deal smarter than some cops) be authorised
to violate your constitutional rights?  At least your do not have to keep British Boarders.  That was foreseen.
I remark that they are all in heaven because sometime you just wanna ask them..."WHat the hell are we sposed to do about this?"
People are always telling us what the framers wanted.  As if.  That's why I wish they were here so those peeps would have to shut up.
:P