Drones

Three NSA Drone Protesters Acquitted On Key Charge

October 11, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Drones, NSA

A quick but comprehensive trial today in US District Court in Baltimore, MD, for 3 women who protested drone targeting at the National Security Agency at Ft Meade, MD, resulted in acquittal on one charge and conviction but low fines on the other two charges. Allowed to speak rather freely, in less than 3 hours Marilyn Carlisle and Ellen Barfield of Baltimore, and Manijeh Saba of Somerset, NJ, and their activist colleague Malachy Kilbride of Camp Springs, MD, essentially put NSA surveillance for drone targeting on trial by showing photos, naming names and mourning children killed by drones, and asserted their First Amendment and Nuremberg justifications. As defendant Saba in the closing statement said, "Why would we, in a democracy, be expected to obey an order that violates exercise of our Constitutional rights and responsibilities?" Refusing to comment on drones or the NSA, Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan exclaimed that it was "way beyond my pay grade" to make rulings on government policies.

Challenging Drone Warfare In A U.S. Court

October 9, 2014 Kathy Kelly, www.warisacrime.org Resist! Drones, Law, Wars and Militarism

On October 7, 2014, Kathy Kelly and Georgia Walker appeared before Judge Matt Whitworth in Jefferson City, MO, federal court on a charge of criminal trespass to a military facility. The charge was based on their participation, at Whiteman Air Force Base, in a June 1st 2014 rally protesting drone warfare. Kelly and Walker attempted to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to the Base Commander, encouraging the commander to stop cooperating with any further usage of unmanned aerial vehicles, (drones) for surveillance and attacks. The prosecutor, USAF Captain Daniel Saunders, said that if Kelly and Walker would plead guilty to the charge, he would seek a punishment of one month in prison and a $500 fine.

Peace Activists In Court On 13th Anniversary Of Afghan War

October 7, 2014 Brian Terrell, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Drones, Peace, Wars and Militarism

On October 7, thirteen years to the day from the beginning of “Operation Enduring Freedom,” Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Georgia Walker, an activist in Kansas City, will be arraigned in US District Court in Jefferson City, Missouri. They have been summoned to answer charges that they trespassed at Whiteman Air Force Base during a protest against war crimes and assassinations carried out from that base using remotely controlled drone aircraft. This is the same court that in 2012 sentenced me to six months in prison, Mark Kenney to four months and Ron Faust to five years probation. Judge Whitworth explained our convictions and the severity of these sentences telling us that he was responsible for the security of the B-2 “Spirit” stealth bomber, also based at Whiteman.

Women Go To Trial For Drone Protests At NSA

October 5, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Drones, NSA, Wars and Militarism

Three long-time activist women will stand trial on Thursday 9 October, 2014, in US District Court in Baltimore, MD, for protesting National Security Agency surveillance which provides targeting information for US drone attacks around the world. Court Interpreter/Translator Manijeh Saba from Somerset, NJ, Headstart Case Manager Marilyn Carlisle from Baltimore, MD, and US Army veteran and full-time peace activist Ellen Barfield from Baltimore, MD, each face 3 charges with assessed fines totalling over $1300 for seeking on 3 May, 2014 to present at the NSA gate at Ft Meade, MD a letter requesting a meeting with National Security Agency Director Vice-Admiral Michael Rogers to discuss NSA drone targeting and citizen abhorrence of that practice. The women will go pro se, or defend themselves in court, with expert advice from DC Attorney Mark Goldstone. They hope to elicit expert testimony on NSA targeting for murderous US drone attacks from Medea Benjamin, a leader of women's peace group Code Pink, and Col. (Rtd.) Ann Wright, a former Army officer and diplomat now active with Veterans For Peace and Code Pink.

Drone Protesters Target Walmart Shoppers To Boycott Honeywell

October 2, 2014 Bad Honeywell, www.popularresistance.org Resist! boycott, Drones, Honeywell, Wars and Militarism

On Friday, Oct. 3, from noon to 1 pm, anti-war picketers will ask Wal-Mart shoppers at the downtown White Plains, NY store (275 Main Street) not to buy Honeywell consumer products such as heaters and humidifiers because Honeywell also makes engines for MQ-9 Reaper drones as well as other war materiel, including nuclear weapons. “We are now in a new war and our members of Congress can’t even call for a vote on it, much less stop it, because they are responsive only to big arms makers and energy-related companies like Honeywell,” said Nick Mottern, local organizer for the nation-wide Boycott and Divest Honeywell campaign. “It’s time to put pressure on the CEOs who are the real bosses of U.S. politics rather than expecting members of Congress like Nita Lowey and Eliot Engel, who take campaign money from arms makers, to represent our interests.”

Ban Weaponized Drones: International Day of Action on October 4th

September 30, 2014 Elsa Rassbach, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Drones, Wars and Militarism

More than 40 actions will take place in several countries. Founded at an international meeting in Berlin in December, Global Action Day is working together with the USNetwork to Stop Drone Surveillance and Warfare, the UK Drone Campaign Network'sWeek of Action and the Global Network's Keep Space for Peace Week. Both action weeks begin on October 4th. The locally initiated actions will take many forms: "Fly Kites Not Drones" events inspired by drone resistance in Afghanistan; demonstrations at drone warfare US military bases in the US, the UK and Germany; actions at businesses working with Israeli weapons manufacturers; and the initiation of an international consumer boycott against the Honeywell firm, which provides key parts for the armed US Reaper drones as well as for Apple computers. Lectures and conferences are also planned.

Global Day Of Action Against Drones

September 25, 2014 Global Day of Action, www.globaldayofaction.nationbuilder.com Resist! Direct Action, Drones, Peace, Wars and Militarism

We demand that all governments cease the production and acquisition of armed drones, as well as their research and development, and work towards a worldwide ban of these weapons. We further demand that our governments prohibit the use of drones for surveillance and prohibit using space satellites, ground stations, and military bases to enable drone surveillance and to trigger drone killings. We call on people all over the world to join us in the Global Day of Action on October 4. If you or your group are planning an action or event for October 4 and would like to post information about it on this website, please email a brief description to Anastasia of CODEPINK at anastasia@codepink.org.

Lawmakers Want To Limit Police Drones, Activists Seek Ban

September 18, 2014 Charles Davis, www.vice.com Resist! California, Drones, Protest, Surveillance

The police hate a bill just passed by California lawmakers, saying it unjustly limits their ability to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fight crime. The Los Angeles District Attorney hates it too, complaining that requiring police to obtain a warrant before deploying a drone to conduct surveillance goes “beyond what is required by Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution," which the seasoned political observer knows police and politicians are supposed to gut, not exceed. But there’s another, somewhat unexpected source of opposition to AB 1327, passed last month by the California State Senate: anti-drone activists. “We are gathered here today to reject the use of drones by law enforcement under any circumstances,” said Hamid Khan, an organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, at a September 15 press conference in front of City Hall in downtown LA. Activists here are particularly anxious about drones since the Los Angeles Police Department obtained two small surveillance UAVs from police in Seattle, who had to give them away in the face of overwhelming public opposition to their use. The drones have not yet been deployed, with Mayor Eric Garcetti promising to seek public input before ever letting them fly.

More Police Depts Consider Using Drones

August 28, 2014 Nadia Prupis, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Drones, Police, Violence

Police departments in the U.S. are increasingly considering the use of drones as a law enforcement tool, even as civil rights groups and media turn up scrutiny of police militarization in the wake of brutal crackdowns on anti-brutality protesters in Ferguson, Missouri and other cities. The Baltimore Sun reported on Sunday that agencies in several Maryland counties are considering testing drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), for intelligence gathering and “high-risk tactical raids.” That news comes less than a week after anti-war activists in California protested against “mission creep” by the Los Angeles Police Department, which recently acquired several of their own drones. Indiana police departments also recently announced their plan to pursue adding drones to their weapons arsenal. In a letter (pdf) to LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, Drone-Free LA spokesperson Hamid Kahn expressed “deep concerns about the recent ‘gifting’ of two Draganflyer X Drones” by the Seattle Police Department to the LAPD. “We believe the acquisition of drones signifies a giant step forward in the militarization of local law enforcement that is normalizing continued surveillance and violations of human rights of our communities,” Kahn wrote.

Americans Protesting The Use Of Drones By Police

August 27, 2014 Pete Demetriou and Mike Hellgren, www.cbslocal.com Resist! Drones, Police, Protest

Community activists Thursday held a rally at City Hall against the recent acquisition of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – or drones – by the Los Angeles Police Department. According to the LAPD, these small aircrafts can only stay in the air for about 20 minutes and would have limited use in certain circumstances, such as hostage situations. KNX 1070’s Pete Demetriou reports about a dozen protesters with the Drone-Free LAPD/No Drones, LA! campaign staged a demonstration across from LAPD Headquarters downtown. The group first called for limits on the use of drone technology by the LAPD in an Aug. 20 letter (PDF) addressed to Mayor Eric Garcetti. “We believe the acquisition of drones signify a giant step forward in the militarization of local law enforcement that is normalizing continued surveillance and violations of human rights of our communities,” said coalition spokesman Hamid Kahn. The letter addressed to Garcetti referred to potential “mission creep” in using drone surveillance technology in partnership with programs such as the Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) program, which the group claims “has resulted in the openings of thousands of secret files on people engaging in perfectly innocent behavior.”

Part IV, Data-Mining Tools To Track And Kill Activists

August 22, 2014 Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, www.occupy.com Educate! Data, Drones, Surveillance

Since 2008, the year of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the U.S. Department of Defense has funded a multimillion dollar university research program to probe the complex dynamics of mass social and political movements, anticipate global trends, and ultimately augment the intelligence community’s preparations for civil unrest and insurgencies both abroad and at home. Part of that has involved developing advanced new data mining and analysis tools for the U.S. military intelligence community to pinpoint imminent and potential threats from individuals and groups. Among its many areas of focus are ongoing projects at Arizona State University (ASU) designed to enhance and automate the algorithms used by intelligence agencies like the NSA to analyze "open source" information from social media in order to track the potential threat-level to U.S. interests. Formal organizations and broad social networks as well as individuals could be identified and closely monitored with such tools to an unprecedented degree of precision. Loosely defined concepts of political “radicalism,” violence and nonviolence, as well as questionable research methodologies, open the way for widespread suspicion of even peaceful activist groups and their members, and the equation of them with potential terrorists. Civil society organizations in the U.K., including both Muslim religious groups and non-religious anti-war networks, have been prioritized for study to test and improve the effectiveness of these data-mining tools.

Pentagon Funds New Data-Mining Tools To Track And Kill Activists

August 19, 2014 Nafeez Ahmed, www.occupy.com Educate! Activism, Drones, Surveillance

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is funding a multimillion dollar university research program to develop new data mining and analysis tools for the U.S. military intelligence community to track political radicalism among British Muslims and other activist groups around the world. Leading intelligence experts including former National Security Agency (NSA) official Thomas Drake – the whistleblower who inspired Edward Snowden – confirm that the tools are designed to enhance the intelligence community’s capabilities to identify potential terrorism suspects that could face a range of sanctions, from surveillance to no-fly injunctions to, at worst, being targeted for extrajudicial assassination via the CIA’s "kill lists." But, they say, inherent flaws in the program are instead likely to facilitate the criminalization of political dissent and the targeting of innocent civilians – and that such trends are increasingly likely to affect not just "hostile theatres" abroad, but even domestic populations in the U.S., Britain and Europe.

Film – Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars

August 17, 2014 Robert Greenwald, www.unmanned.warcosts.com Educate! Drones, Wars and Militarism

In Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars, the eighth full-length feature documentary from Brave New Foundation, director Robert Greenwald investigates the impact of U.S. drone strikes at home and abroad through more than 70 separate interviews, including a former American drone operator who shares what he has witnessed in his own words, Pakistani families mourning loved ones and seeking legal redress, investigative journalists pursuing the truth, and top military officials warning against blowback from the loss of innocent life. Throughout Unmanned, Greenwald intersperses in-depth interviews with never-before-seen footage from the tribal regions in Pakistan to humanize those who have been impacted by our drone policy. This footage, alongside interviews with Pakistani drone survivors, describes the brutal reality of drone attacks ordered during the Obama Administration.

Bad Honeywell: Call To Boycott And Divest

August 13, 2014 David Swanson, www.davidswanson.org Resist! Corporatism, Drones, Wars and Militarism

Honeywell International Inc., through its manufacturing of the engine and certain navigational, guidance and targeting equipment for the MQ-9 Reaper drone, is deeply complicit in, and profits from, United States drone surveillance and drone attacks that have resulted in the deaths of a total of more than 4,000 children, women and men in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somali and the Philippines. These killings are war crimes because they violate provisions of international law that require commitment to due process, the protection of life and rights to privacy, freedom of assembly and freedom of association, among other obligations. They also violate the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. War Crimes Act in a variety of ways, including violating prohibitions again assassination. They also violate the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), to which the United States is a signatory.

Global Action Day Against Drones For Spying & Killing

August 7, 2014 Know Drones, www.knowdrones.com Resist! Drones, Protest, Wars and Militarism

As global citizens who believe in justice and the rule of law, we oppose weaponized and surveillance drones because their deployment: violates democratic rights of freedom of speech and assembly and the right not to be unreasonably searched, is used for extrajudicial "targeted" killings based merely on suspicion -- murders -- even of children inside and outside of war zones, terrorizes populations in targeted territories, thereby fueling hatred and increasing the cycle of violence, lowers the threshold to war and initiates a new round in the arms race, leads to the development of autonomous killer robots, thereby making even more horrifying wars likely. We demand that all governments cease the production and acquisition of armed drones, as well as their research and development, and work towards a worldwide ban of these weapons. We further demand that our governments prohibit the use of drones for surveillance and prohibit using space satellites, ground stations, and military bases to enable drone surveillance and to trigger drone killings. We call on people all over the world to join us in the Global Day of Action on October 4.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

assetto corsa mods

Daily movement news and resources