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"The anti-drone argument that ‘Star Trek’ goes for most is not one having to do with due process or civilian or collateral casualties…but an essentially emotional one: they feel strange. It doesn’t seem right, or like a fair, forthright fight."
— Amy Davidson on “Star Trek” as a drone allegory: http://nyr.kr/13G1xxg -
Idea of the Week: The Drone Economy. Click through for an interactive infographic showing A.U.V.S.I’s state-by-state economic projection for 2015, assuming F.A.A. drone regulations are in place: http://nyr.kr/19lLTqI
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Poll: Majority of Americans Opposed to Being Killed by Drone→
MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report)—In a possible setback for the Administration’s controversial drone policy, a new poll conducted by the University of Minnesota shows that a broad majority of Americans are opposed to being killed by a drone strike on U.S. soil. Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/X2Q7U7
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"Was that so hard?"
— Amy Davidson on Attorney General Eric Holder’s letter to Rand Paul, answering Paul’s question about the President’s authority to to use weaponized drones to kill Americans not engaged in combat on U.S. soil: http://nyr.kr/XVEH2i(Source: newyorker.com)
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Can a President Use Drones Against Journalists?→
Amy Davidson chatted about the ethics of drone warfare recently with Michael Walzer, the author of “Just and Unjust Wars”; Jeff McMahan, a professor of philosophy at Rutgers, who has also written about just-war theory; and The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, who is a master on the subject. After Walzer and McMahan suggested some criteria for strikes—criminality, risk of American lives—Davidson asked:
Doesn’t a journalist working abroad who is about to release classified information about a war crime—thus committing a crime—that will provoke retribution or a break with allies—endangering Americans—fit this definition of a target?
A look at their differing views: http://nyr.kr/13hK2Qt
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“Clearly there are plenty of troubling questions surrounding the Obama Administration’s targeted-killing program.” But, Jane Mayer asks, “are Obama’s drones comparable in terms of human-rights violations, to Bush’s Torture program?”
Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/XLGfeJ
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Live Chat: The Ethics of Drone Warfare
Years of secrecy surrounding the United States’ drone program have left many questions—about targeted killings, transparency and due process; the power of President; and where battlefields begin and end.
Today at 3 P.M. E.T., Michael Walzer, the author of “Just and Unjust Wars” and professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton; Jeff McMahan, a professor of philosophy at Rutgers and the author of “The Ethics of Killing”; and New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer will discuss the ethics of drone warfare in a live chat with readers.
Follow the link to help get the exchange started by leaving questions in the comments section, and be sure to return at 3:00 for the discussion: http://nyr.kr/WJNjcj(Source: newyorker.com)
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Teju Cole on the civilizing function of literature, and the disparity between Obama’s bookshelf and his use of targeted killings:
How on earth did this happen to the reader in chief? What became of literature’s vaunted power to inspire empathy? Why was the candidate Obama, in word and in deed, so radically different from the President he became?
Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/WYUGMz
Photograph: Pete Souza/The White House/Getty.
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The Borowitz Report: U.S. Cancels Regular Drone Strikes on Saturdays→
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Citing budgetary concerns, the United States announced today that it would discontinue regular Saturday drone strikes on U.S. citizens, beginning in 2014. Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/VYTJ5i
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When we hear that the President thinks he can kill Americans, which Americans do we picture?→
Amy Davidson on the Obama Administration’s rationale for killing American citizens without any proper due process, and which Americans are targets: http://nyr.kr/UBnOuE
