Spencer Ackerman writes,
Tiny 2-Foot Bomb Could Be ‘Months’ Away From Drone War:
The drone war could be shrinking faster than anyone expected. Raytheon’s teeny, tiny drone bomb might be ready to arm a small drone within months, the defense giant says.
Since 2009, Raytheon has been experimenting with what it understatedly calls a Small Tactical Munition. It’s a laser-guided bomb less than two feet long and barely a 10th the weight of the Hellfire missiles that the iconic Predators and Reapers pack. And the wait for it may be almost over: “We’re just tweaking the software and running some environmental tests,” a business manager for Raytheon’s missile division told AIN Online.
That would open new worlds of possibility for the U.S. drone arsenal. There are a lot more small drones than there are Preds and Reapers. The small-fry robots are used as flying spies, since they’re too lightweight to arm — until now. The Small Tactical Munition is supposed to arm the Shadow, a drone that’s only 12 feet long. The U.S. fleet of killer drones would significantly increase. Alternatively, the existing, large killer drone fleet could carry far more weapons than they currently do.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2009:
Notice that while Buffett thinks we may need more stimulus, he is also somewhat critical of the first round. Putting aside the question of whether his criticism is warranted or not, it should be a reminder that the Republican narrative about stimulus criticism is just one part of the story -- and a relatively small one.
The GOP would have us believe that everybody who isn't totally satisfied with the first stimulus thinks that its fundamental flaw was overspending, and that the only way to fix our economy is by "tightening the belt."
But as we see from voices like Buffett -- who is about as middle of the road as you can get -- to Paul Krugman, there's a broad group of people who were generally supportive of the first stimulus, but also don't think it was enough.
These folks -- who form a spectrum ranging from center to left -- recognize that our economy is in such a deep ditch that the government is going to have to continue playing a role in digging us out.
There's been a lot of debate over whether or not a second round of stimulus could pass, but the framing of that debate has so far benefited the Republican do-nothing position.
Now, however, as people like Buffett join Paul Krugman make their voices heard, that framing and narrative will change, because it will become increasingly obvious that to the extent there is dissatisfaction with the original stimulus, it is increasingly coming from people who don't feel there was enough of it.
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