Thoughts on the devolution of the conservative movement.

Editor's notes:  A deep search of this blog proves my metal as a fully committed conservative,  even before the teaparty  (late 2009 and beyond).  Over the years and [especially] since the rise of Trump,  I have watched teaparty giants such as Sarah Palin and Mark Levin run to the Trump campaign.  Of course,  Levin has backed off his support of Trump, but too late for me.  The very fact that he was willing to forego the conservative/teaparty mantra along with Palin,  has been among the greatest of disappointments to me.  

As the passing of time reveals,  the teaparty has devolved into a populace gathering of One Toothers and Cud Chewers hoping to re-fight the Civil War.  After Trump has destroyed all the advances made by true conservatives and his One Toother gathering of morons go back to the hills,  the conservative movement will have been set back at least two generations with no hope of assuming the same degree of influence it held a few months ago. 

A year ago,  if I had told you the teaparty conservative constituency would support a man who paid for the campaigns of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid (for gawd's sake) Chuck Schumer,  the traitor John Kerry,  and Hillary Clinton,  has no intentions of taking down Planned Parenthood,  uses the power of property seizers via eminent domain, supported partial birth abortion until 10 minutes ago and has no plan for balancing the budget,  you would have stopped reading this blog, but,  not before you accused me of being mentally ill.  

Well, that is where we are, today.  And why have I included the following story about the government flying drones in the skies over the United States?  Simple.  This story will become the latest conspiracy theory in the Right Wing Unprincipled Media as well as the more liberal, Truthers on the Left  . . . . . .   and there are plenty of these nutcases.  

The story is included as part of a cautionary note.  There is nothing wrong with drone/police surveillance,  especially in a day and time when we are under assault by those who are crossing our borders into this country, folks hell bent on our destruction in spite of Obama's refusal to accept that reality.  

Read the story and expect to hear hours and hours of fear mongering from both sides of the aisle   . . . .   but not here,  on Midknight Review. 

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From USA Today:   
The inspector general analysis was completed March 20, 2015, but not released publicly until last Friday.
It said that with advancements in drone technology along with widespread military use overseas, the Pentagon established interim guidance in 2006 governing when and whether the unmanned aircraft could be used domestically. The interim policy allowed spy drones to be used for homeland defense purposes in the U.S. and to assist civil authorities.
But the policy said that any use of military drones for civil authorities had to be approved by the Secretary of Defense or someone delegated by the secretary. The report found that defense secretaries have never delegated that responsibility.
The report quoted a military law review article that said "the appetite to use them (spy drones) in the domestic environment to collect airborne imagery continues to grow, as does Congressional and media interest in their deployment."
Military units that operate drones told the inspector general they would like more opportunities to fly them on domestic missions if for no other reason than to give pilots more experience to improve their skills, the report said. "Multiple units told us that as forces using the UAS capabilities continue to draw down overseas, opportunities for UAS realistic training and use have decreased," the report said.
A request for all cases between 2006 and 2015 in which civil authorities asked the military for use of spy drones produced a list of "less than twenty events,"  the report said. The list included requests granted and denied.
The list was not made public in the report. But a few examples were cited, including one case in which an unnamed mayor asked the Marine Corps to use a drone to find potholes in the mayor's city. The Marines denied the request because obtaining the defense secretary's "approval to conduct a UAS mission of this type did not make operational sense."
Shortly before the inspector general report was completed a year ago, the Pentagon issued a new policy governing the use of spy drones. It requires the defense secretary to approve all domestic spy drone operations. It says that unless permitted by law and approved by the secretary, drones "may not conduct surveillance on U.S. persons." It also bans the use of armed drones over the United States for anything other training and testing.