I think about the drone program a lot because the extraterritorial issues in it so directly intersect with my research and teaching, but also because it has a moral dimension that I consider essential to confront.

Butr closer to home I still worry about the killing with impunity that is the standard for local police forces, let alone the highly militarized wings of them.

It is again sadly easy again post a depressing story of police killing in the US to frame some of the outrage directed toward the Obama drone program.  I am sympathetic with the concerns, but I think we should be contextualizing it all with consideration of  Obama pointed out that we allow SWAT teams to kill people in the U.S. who are considered dangerous, such as snipers.

"or the record, I do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen—with a drone, or a shotgun—without due process. Nor should any President deploy armed drones over U.S. soil. But when a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against America – and is actively plotting to kill U.S. citizens; and when neither the United States, nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot – his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a swat team."

But what about people trying to pass bad checks? Should they be shot by police?  In Norfolk, this proved to be sufficient for police to kill an unarmed guy.  The guy trying to cash the check tried to drive off and was killed as a result.

DWB has always been a hazardous thing around here. Turns out CCWB ("check cashing while black") is also  dangerous here in parts of Norfolk as well.

I'm glad to see that there was a protest in Ghent, which is the fancy part of Norfolk. The shooting happens at a bank I go to all the time.

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