“Lose” the Drug War, Win the Moral War

Portugal was living in a drug-abuse nightmare in the 1990s. The nation had the highest rate of drug abuse in Europe. The registered “problematic” drug addicts (only the registered ones!) numbered about 100,000, that is, about 14 in 1,000 of adult population. The regular “non-problematic” drug users were even more. The law-enforcement was literally giving up on trying to stop the drug abuse and the traffic. Visitors to Lisbon in the 1990s surely remember the groups of youngsters passed out on the sidewalks in the middle of the night. It was a nation that was surely going to extinction.

And then, in 2001, the legislators did something very courageous and unusual: They ended the war on drugs. The government of Portugal admitted its defeat. Drug use was decriminalized. Instead of sending drug users to jail, the “non-problematic” drug users were left alone. Those diagnosed as “problematic” were only required to regularly appear before panels of psychiatrists and personal counselors for therapeutic sessions. The enormous expenditures for fighting the drug traffic were cut, and only a portion of them was now spent on therapy of the most serious cases of drug addiction.

Of course, it wasn’t so courageous after all. The Netherlands and Switzerland have had laxer policies about drugs for decades, and both countries have lower drug abuse than the rest of Europe. But Portugal, as a Latin, Mediterranean country, was expected to collapse under the weight of the increased drug abuse.

Ten years later, Portugal seems to be winning the moral war. Far from seeing an increase in drug abuse, the number of drug addicts have decreased to half of the number in the 1990s, before the end of the war on drugs. The streets of Lisbon are cleaner, and the drug traffic has declined in numbers. Drug use seems to be going out of fashion among the young people.

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February 14, 2012: Issa takes step toward holding Holder in contempt of Congress

On Tuesday Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took a major step toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to provide subpoenaed documents and other information about Operation Fast and Furious.

In a Jan. 31 letter, Issa had threatened Holder with such a move if he failed to provide all the subpoenaed documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal by Feb. 9. That deadline has come and gone, and Holder’s Department of Justice still hasn’t provided most of those documents. Issa’s subpoena dates back to Oct. 12, 2011.

On Tuesday in a seven-page letter, Issa revealed that Deputy Attorney General James Cole begged Congress to extend the Feb. 9 deadline. Issa wrote that the request was “ironic” and “ignores the reality that the Department has unreasonably delayed producing these documents to the Committee.”

“On its face, the requested extension demonstrates a lack of good faith,” Issa wrote to Holder. “With one exception, the Department has only produced documents responsive to the subpoena on the eve of congressional hearings in which senior Department officials testified. The Department appears to be more concerned with protecting its image through spin control than actually cooperating with Congress.”

“We cannot wait any longer for the Department’s cooperation,” Issa continued. “As such, please specify a date by which you expect the Department to produce all documents responsive to the subpoena. In addition, please specify a Department representative who will interface with the Committee for production purposes.”

Issa added that whoever Holder designates as the go-to DOJ official for delivering subpoenaed documents “should also serve as the conduit for dealing with the contempt proceedings, should the Department continue to ignore the Committee’s subpoena.” (RELATED: Full coverage of Eric Holder)

The California Republican slammed Holder, too, for claiming the congressional investigation into Fast and Furious was a political game for Republicans.

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Provocative Sex Pamphlet Printed at CA State Printer

Ironically, on the night that much of the state's gay and lesbian population was cheering Proposition 8's gay marriage ban being ruled unconstitutional, state workers were sounding the alarm about something they say marginalizes the gay community with its crassness.

It was a print order.

There would be nothing strange about a pamphlet provided by the state health department reviewing the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases and how you may be tested for them.

but a pamphlet with anatomically correct male stick figures engaged in various sexual acts.

That was just too much for man who works for the state printer and spoke out to FOX40.

MORE with video

Petition: Expunge The States Declaration That David Sarti Is Mentally Defective

Via NC Renegade

HERE

South Carolinians shoot down Yankee animal rights activists’ drone

Via SHNV

Animal rights group SHARK said a remote-controlled aircraft like this one was shot down near Ehrhardt. It planned to use the drone to video live pigeon shoots at the privately owned Broxton Bridge Plantation.

A remote-controlled aircraft owned by an animal rights group was reportedly shot down near Broxton Bridge Plantation Sunday.

Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness), said his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft from flying.

"It didn't work; what SHARK was doing was perfectly legal," Hindi said in a news release. "Once they knew nothing was going to stop us, the shooting stopped and the cars lined up to leave."

He said the animal rights group decided to send the drone up anyway.

"Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots rang out," Hindi said in the release. "As an act of revenge for us shutting down the pigeon slaughter, they had shot down our copter."

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Gallup shows U.S. unemployment at 9%

Gallup released new information on Monday showing that the unemployment rate has managed to creep back up to 9.0 percent. Gallup gathers daily unemployment information of U.S. adults in the workforce, ages 18 and older, who are underemployed, unemployed, and employed full-time for an employer. However, unlike the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that the administration cites, Gallup's data are raw numbers numbers and not packaged with seasonal adjustments. With seasonal adjustments, BLS shows the unemployment rate at 8.3 percent. Gallup also shows the underemployment rate is at 19.2%. MORE

Study: 1.8 Million Dead People Still Registered To Vote

Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much. But they do agree that voter registration lists across the country are a mess.

A new report by the Pew Center on the States finds that more than 1.8 million dead people are currently registered to vote. And 24 million registrations are either invalid or inaccurate.

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Greece

Via The Donovan

Pilotage in the Bahraini Air Show. Part 2

HERE

Democrat Patrick Murphy calls Allen West a coward

Punk "Patty", who has never been in the service, may have bitten off more than he can chew, methinks.

Dem follows Rep. Allen West to new district, averts tough primary

A decision by a Democratic House candidate to switch districts mid-race has given Democrats a viable candidate against Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) and averted a potentially bruising primary in one fell swoop.

Democrat Patrick Murphy announced Tuesday he will follow West to a neighboring district, backed by national Democratic figures who lauded his decision.

Murphy and former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel (D) had both been eyeing a coup against West, a polarizing conservative figure who tops Democrats' list of 2012 targets. Both had been raising big-dollar figures, but nothing close to the $1.75 million West raised just in the last three months of 2011.

Redistricting made West's competitive district even more difficult for a Republican to win, and he announced in January he would run instead in the neighboring district of Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), who is switching to an open, Republican-leaning district.

The game of GOP musical chairs left West without a Democratic challenger in Rooney's former district, and also left Murphy and Frankel to battle it out without a common foe. Frankel made clear she planned to stick it out in the district that West was departing, while Murphy called West a "coward" for running from a fight and said he would continue to monitor the redistricting process, which is still in flux.

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Clinton: We need Assad's consent to put troops in Syria

Evidently Russia told her point blank that if they don't, there will be hell to pay.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a clear and unified message coming out of their meeting in Washington, D.C. Monday: They are looking for a political solution in Syria and won't consider putting international troops there unless the Syrian regime agrees.

Clinton and Davotoglu spent the afternoon preparing for the upcoming inaugural meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group this weekend in Tunisia. Following the meeting, they both urged the international community to support the Arab League's recommendations for Syria following their Sunday meeting in Cairo, which included a request for a U.N.-Arab peacekeeping force in Syria. But Clinton said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the State Department accuses of murdering civilians, would have to agree first.

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Fox’s Cancellation of “FREEDOM WATCH”, “Power & Money” and “Follow the Money”: Can Only Be Described as Kowtowing to Progressive Establishment

PumaByDesign

Verbatim Post

No doubt, Progressives are celebrating the cancellation of Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “FREEDOM WATCH”, “POWER & MONEY” with David Asman and “FOLLOW THE MONEY” with Eric Bolling.

REASON

“Bad news, freedom fighters! Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Freedom Watch, the best damned daily libertarian news & argument show in the history of television (name a better one!), has gotten the axe from Fox Business Network. From the press release:‘FOX Business Network (FBN) will debut a new primetime schedule featuring encore presentations of the channel’s top post-market programs, announced Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President of the network. Starting February 20th at 8 PM/ET, viewers will find additional airings of The Willis Report (5PM & 8PM/ET), Cavuto (6PM & 9PM/ET) and Lou Dobbs Tonight (7PM & 10PM/ET)…”

CONTINUE READING

After failing to renew Glenn Beck’s contract, if there remained any doubt as to the direction of where Fox is going, consider all doubt removed due to the cancellation of these programs that exposed crony capitalism, the never-ending assaults on liberty and the rights of Americans by a government gone rogue and the corruption that lies therein.

Fox has puts its employees on notice:

• speak the truth, you’re fired;

• expose injustice, you’re fired;

• expose the elitist Marxist rulers destroying our country, you’re fired;

• expose Obama’s crony capitalism, you’re fired;

• expose the war on capitalism and the free market, you’re fired;

• expose union thugs, their greed, violence and tactics, you’re fired;

• expose Islamic extremists, you’re fired;

• put a shining light on atrocities committed under Shariah Law, you’re fired;

• expose the Islamization of America, you’re fired;

• expose the Obama’s connection to CAIR/Muslim Brotherhood, you’re fired;

• expose anything remotely connected to Comrade Obama, the White House and Obama’s administration you’re fired;

• promote Ron Paul, you’re fired;

• promote Gary Johnson, you’re fired; and/or

• promote Libertarian ideals, you’re fired.

Throwing in the towel and surrendering to the Progressive establishment on both the left and right, Fox has put Americans on notice that if you are looking for reports that reveal injustice, constitutional violations, crony capitalism, government corruption and illegalities or the elitist Marxist agenda, look elsewhere.

In addition, if you’re looking for news in order to make an educated decision this coming November regarding POTUS45, Ron Paul and potential candidates other than those chosen by the Progressive Republican establishment, look elsewhere.

Anyone who despises big government as much as I do, loves freedom, our country and seeks a free and less tax burdened America for our grandchildren, great grandchildren and the eradication of big government should not only be suspect but outraged at the cancellation of these programs.

The termination of the only three television programs on the air that exposes crony capitalism, the Progressive agenda from the streets to the Oval Office, our trek down road to serfdom, big government and the war against the free market and capitalism has only shed more light on the long arm of Obama tyranny.

As I indicated in the title of the post, this is all about keeping Americans in the dark and clueless. After all, the awakening of the American people and all avenues leading thereto is a menace to the Progressive agenda and, therefore, must be destroyed. Hence, Americans should be more determined than ever to eradicate the disease that plagues America, i.e., socialism.

I consider the rationale behind Fox Business’ Executive VP, Kevin Magee decision to cancel these programs a sham.

If the programs were not in line with the platform over at Fox Business, then every attempt should have been made to move the programs over to another venue rather than cancel them out totally. Said cancellations, in particular, the cancellation of FREEDOM WATCH, are for me, the final straw.

UPDATE: Once news of the cancellations surfaced, Fox immediately began receiving countless emails from patriots demanding that Fox reverse its decision.

On Napolitano’s FB page, there is a request “supposedly” from Napolitano asking patriots to discontinue the email campaign.

However, as one scrolls down the page further through the comments, there are one or two statements suggesting that the updates now being posted on Napolitano’s FB page are not from Napolitano but someone else employed over at Fox who has now been assigned to update Napolitano’s FB page.

You be the judge.

Without Freedom Watch, Follow the Money and Power and Money, Fox has lowered its standing to that of CNN and MSNBC.

Strangely enough, someone created a petition over at Change.org entitled, “DO NOT CANCEL FREEDOM WATCH!”. The letter appended to the petition states the following:

“Millions around the country tune in to hear the state of our country and threats to our American freedom every day of the week to Freedom Watch. All of the fans of this show immediately became aware of the news. No one wants this show cancelled, and due to it being one of your most popular, truthful show–you should NOT cancel this program. Judge Andrew Napolitano is one of the only remaining preachers of freedom and liberty on television today. Please know that the only reason most people ever tune into FOX Business Network is to watch this very show. Please do not cancel freedom watch, freedom watch is my favorite program to watch on TV.”

Not so strange is that after gathering less than 7,000 signatures, the petition was closed under the guise that the petitioner reached his goal.

It is more than likely that someone up the Progressive food chain caught wind of the petition and shut it down fast.

FOX contact info:

FOX News Digital
Digital Media Sales
1211 Avenue of the Americas, 22 Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 301-5473

Direct Response/Paid Programming Sales
Lisa Bortolato
Director, Direct Response
(212) 301-5418

Political and Issue Advertising
Digital Media Sales
John McCann
VP, Political Advertising Fox News Networks
(212) 301-5009
Email us at:
advertise@foxbusiness.com

Irena Briganti, Senior Vice President
Media Relations
Phone: 212-301-3608
Fax: 212-819-0816
E-Mail: irena.briganti@foxnews.com

Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President
Fox Business
Email: Kevin.magee@foxbusiness.com

See also, Lew Rockwell’s More Ways To Protest the FOX Cancellation of ‘Freedom Watch’

Keep the pressure on patriots, per Rockwell, Fox is stunned at the backlash.

Please do feel free to pass this information on.

NC Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”

Via Don, L&P

The inmates are in charge of the asylum.

State agent inspects sack lunches, forces preschoolers to purchase cafeteria food instead

A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.

The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.

The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs — including in-home day care centers — to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.

When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones.

The girl’s mother — who said she wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter from retaliation — said she received a note from the school stating that students who did not bring a “healthy lunch” would be offered the missing portions, which could result in a fee from the cafeteria, in her case $1.25.

“I don't feel that I should pay for a cafeteria lunch when I provide lunch for her from home,” the mother wrote in a complaint to her state representative, Republican G.L. Pridgen of Robeson County.

The girl’s grandmother, who sometimes helps pack her lunch, told Carolina Journal that she is a petite, picky 4-year-old who eats white whole wheat bread and is not big on vegetables.

“What got me so mad is, number one, don’t tell my kid I’m not packing her lunch box properly,” the girl’s mother told CJ. “I pack her lunchbox according to what she eats. It always consists of a fruit. It never consists of a vegetable. She eats vegetables at home because I have to watch her because she doesn’t really care for vegetables.”

When the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to know what she ate instead. Three chicken nuggets, the girl answered. Everything else on her cafeteria tray went to waste.

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The President's Budget in 62 Seconds

Via Theo Spark

POLICE STATE - Man Gets Arrested For Not Giving Cops His Cell Phone

Via The Battle of Atlanta

The European Cold Snap

We obviously need more green energy.........

Something again about power of media and human stupidity, or i can call it human laziness to check some simple facts.

Right now in my region we have something like two weeks of very bad weather, snow, -15 or -20 C temperatures (getting finally better now), roads are blocked by snow, whole cities are completely cut off, infrastructure in some regions is falling apart, ambulance services can not reach patients, stores are mostly closed in worst hit cities, electrical power is off. Deaths from cold temperatures are more than 600 now.

Now this all is temporary, maybe few more days, week, and life is coming back to normal way. But still from this “small” scale event there is again some important lessons to be learned for us.

In my country political elite rule the mainstream media, i guess in every country in the world it is something like that, sometimes more obvious sometimes less. Free media barely exists. Maybe politicians in other countries have “smoother” ways to control media, but at the end all come to same.

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GOA Action Alert: Huge Issue Looming Under the Surface of Presidential Politics

Gun Owners of America

Dear Friend of the Second Amendment,

While most people would rate the economy and jobs as the most important issues in the 2012 Presidential campaign, another issue of overwhelming importance would be the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

Many Americans have never heard of this treaty. But President Obama and Hillary Clinton reversed the position of President Bush and are pushing a UN treaty that could ban large classes of firearms (such as semi-automatic firearms) and license everything else.

In secretive, behind-closed-door meetings, the UN committee charged with drafting the Arms Trade Treaty language has covered lots of ground. From deciding how to force the US to reduce its military strength, to deciding if every American should give up our guns, these folks have every intention of weakening our ability to protect our nation.

If this treaty were to be ratified by the United States Senate, every American citizen's Second Amendment rights would be threatened by the United Nations. If that doesn't scare every freedom-loving American, nothing will!

This is one of the biggest reasons why Gun Owners of America believes the most important elections in 2012 after the Presidential race are in the United States Senate, where we must take the gavel away from left-wing dictator Senator Harry Reid.

There is only one Republican candidate running for President who has not committed to reversing the Obama/Clinton position on the Arms Trade Treaty -- Mitt Romney.

While every other candidate still in the running for the Republican Presidential nomination has said they would oppose this treaty, Mitt Romney has refused to state his position, refusing to answer the Gun Owners of America questionnaire on this and many other gun-related issues.

Many in the media have tried to coronate Mitt Romney as the eventual nominee, but we think the nomination is still up for grabs. This is why we want to get every Republican on record.

There is too much at stake to allow Mitt Romney a "pass" on this issue. With the field getting smaller--we need an answer from Romney.

Gun Owners of America is asking every person who reads this alert to contact the Romney campaign and ask why he is ducking our Questionnaire, especially on the question of the UN Arms Trade Treaty.

You can email the Romney headquarters at info@mittromney.com, or call 857-288-3500. Let him know what you think and tell him you would like an answer.

Time is running out. It's time to get EVERY candidate to answer the tough questions. Stop dodging, Mitt . . . start answering.

Sincerely,

Tim Macy
Vice Chairman

PS Of the four Republican candidates remaining in the race, only Mitt Romney has refused to take a stand on important issues such as opposing a UN gun control treaty. Please contact the Romney campaign at info@mittromney.com, or call 857-288-3500 and urge him to return the Gun Owners of America Presidential Questionnaire.

Sheriff Babeu: Fast and Furious mastermind should ‘face criminal charges’

Via bigtimer, AWD

Pinal County, Ariz. Sheriff Paul Babeu, a Republican congressional candidate, told The Daily Caller he thinks Attorney General Eric Holder “perjured himself” before Congress when testifying about Operation Fast and Furious.

“I believe that [Holder], and many sheriffs in Arizona believe that, he has perjured himself,” Babeu said during an interview with TheDC at this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. “His story has changed. After there was evidence produced that he did know — he was given briefings, he was given emails — he then started to walk back his statements to say that, ‘well, I misunderstood the question.’”

“As a police officer before I was a sheriff, when somebody I’m talking to starts to change their story — that’s a clue they’re not telling the truth,” Babeu continued. “So, this guy is in charge of the Department of Justice, still — to this day — from Dec. 15, 2010, so it’s been over a year and there’s still been no accountability, we still don’t know who’s approved this program. How can that be? In the Department of What?”

MORE

Including this gem:

Babeu also said that he thinks there’s now enough evidence to support the claims that Fast and Furious was an attempt on the part of the Obama administration to “go after our Second Amendment rights.”

“It used to be dismissed as a wild-eyed right-wing conspiracy that the government could be behind this, could be giving weapons to the cartels and then blaming it on America, blaming it on our law-abiding gun dealers,” Babeu said. “Well, low and behold, that’s exactly what’s happened.”

========

Another.

Would you listen to a man who joined the Army National Guard as a private and retired 20 years later as a major? What if I told you that he did a tour in Iraq and also served as the commander of Operation Jump Start and Southwest Border Mission where he oversaw 700 men and women on the US – Mexico border where he reduced illegal entries by over 90%.

He started out as a city police officer and eventually ran for county sheriff and won. As county sheriff, he busted a theft ring in the county recorder’s office, reduced emergency response time in the county by 40%, cut his own budget, had been reducing traffic of illegal drugs and was elected as 2011 Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff’s Association.

His name is Paul Babeu and he is the county sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona. Pinal County lies between Phoenix and Tucson. Its location makes it one of the most actively used locations for illegal drug trafficking. When Sheriff Babeu became sheriff, it was estimated that the county contained 75-100 drug cartel cells and listening or observation posts. Babeu has waged war against these drug cartels and as such has been reducing those numbers. Sheriff Babeu has also been active in enforcing immigration laws and fighting the tide of illegals coming over the Mexican border.

Now, Babeu is running for a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives. In a recent interview, Sheriff Babeu spoke about Operation Fast and Furious and Attorney General Eric Holder. He said that there is enough evidence to support the claim that Obama’s administration purposely used Operation Fast and Furious as a tool to attack our Second Amendment rights to own and bear arms. He went on to say,

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Second USPSA Match of 2012!

All week I’d been looking forward to my second USPSA match of the year, despite knowing it was gonna require another three-hour drive to get there. Then at practice on Saturday my shooting partner showed up sick and begged off for the trip. I was hemming and hawing over whether to go, but decided I really needed the exposure to the match environment so off I went. About an hour into the trip I was white-knuckle driving through blowing snow and thinking about how much my husband was going to enjoy spending my life insurance money… but I made it there safe and sound and right on time. :)

I felt like I had a great performance. It was a four-stage classifier match and I shot it clean. My shooting partner tells me that means I need to shoot faster. Hah! I managed to shanghai other shooters into helping me get video so I could do a critique:

3 more brief videos with commentary.

Surprised? DOJ Supposed to be Reporting Its Wiretapping, but Its Been ‘Lazy’ for 4 Years

Right........

Via Don, L&P

According to Wired’s Threat Level, Congress should annually be compiling reports of the number of times the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) allows authorities to sneakily tap into the phone line or Internet of an individual or organization. For at least four years, Congress was lax on this duty and DOJ was not ponying up the information either.

Wired reports that a Freedom of Information Act revealed that from 2004 through 2008 information about when the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms used a pen register or trap-and-trace was not recorded as it should have been. The reports have since been published with Wired pointing out that during that time this type of surveillance, which does not require a warrant, nearly doubled – 10,885 in 2004 to 21,152 in 2008.

Wired has more on the FOIA and thoughts on the reporting, or lack thereof:

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Hooking Kids on Sex - Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood exposes children to sexual material in order to seed a generation of sex addicts, who will become future customers for the abortion giant.

WARNING: This report exposes Planned Parenthood's sex programs using images from Planned Parenthood's own websites and events.

The announcer states: Do not let children watch this video.

Build yourself a Drone NOW (before they become illegal)

Francis Fukuyama isn't your standard tech guy. He's a policy guy at Stanford that writes hefty books on very philosophical topics. That's why his detailed blog post on his efforts to build a surveillance drone are so cool. Here's a little video of the test of his drone outside of his office at Stanford.

Francis makes two simple observations that are worth repeating. Here's the first one:

"I don’t have to spell out the implications of this. I want to have my drone before the government makes them illegal."

The Inevitable Ban on Drone Tech

I agree with Francis, it's pretty clear that drones will become illegal sooner than later. Let me run through a scenario for you. I'm going to have some fun with it:

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