KEK!!!
https://twitter.com/Liz_Wheeler/status/1624952867894267904
LizWheeler (Twatter) Apparently I’m the only person in Twitter who thinks Rihanna’s halftime show was terrible. Why is she touching her crotch in a show kids are watching? And why are her backup dancers dressed like hazmat COVID freaks that do those gross brain swab tests?
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/02/pentagon-balloons-surveillance-midwest
US military
Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US(TheGuardian.com)
Exclusive: the high-altitude balloons promise a cheap monitoring platform that could follow multiple cars and boats for extended periods
Editor’s pick: best of 2019. We’re bringing back some of our favorite stories of the past year. Support the Guardian’s journalism in 2020.
Mark Harris
Fri 2 Aug 2019 11.00 BST
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3 years old
The US military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveal.
Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois.
Travelling in the stratosphere at altitudes of up to 65,000ft, the balloons are intended to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”, according to a filing made on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, an aerospace and defence company.
The balloons are carrying hi-tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather. The tests, which have not previously been reported, received an FCC license to operate from mid-July until September, following similar flights licensed last year.
Google’s Earth: how the tech giant is helping the state spy on us
Arthur Holland Michel, the co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in New York, said, “What this new technology proposes is to watch everything at once. Sometimes it’s referred to as ‘combat TiVo’ because when an event happens somewhere in the surveilled area, you can potentially rewind the tape to see exactly what occurred, and rewind even further to see who was involved and where they came from.”
The tests have been commissioned by the US Southern Command (Southcom), which is responsible for disaster response, intelligence operations and security cooperation in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Southcom is a joint effort by the US army, navy, air force and other forces, and one of its key roles is identifying and intercepting drug shipments headed for the United States.
An aerial photograph of a residential development in Des Moines, Iowa. The US military is launching unmanned surveillance balloons over portions of the midwest.
An aerial photograph of a residential development in Des Moines, Iowa. The US military is launching unmanned surveillance balloons over portions of the midwest. Photograph: Alamy
“We do not think that American cities should be subject to wide-area surveillance in which every vehicle could be tracked wherever they go,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Even in tests, they’re still collecting a lot of data on Americans: who’s driving to the union house, the church, the mosque, the Alzheimer’s clinic,” he said. “We should not go down the road of allowing this to be used in the United States and it’s disturbing to hear that these tests are being carried out, by the military no less.”
For many years, Sierra Nevada has supplied Southcom with light aircraft packed with millions of dollars’ worth of sensors, which then flew over Mexico, Colombia, Panama and the Caribbean sea. But planes require expensive crews and can only fly for a few hours at a time. In a report to the Senate armed services committee this February, Southcom’s commander, Admiral Craig Faller, wrote: “While improving efficiency, we still only successfully interdicted about six percent of known drug movements [in 2018].”
The new balloons promise a cheap surveillance platform that could follow multiple cars and boats for extended periods. And because winds often travel in different directions at different altitudes, the balloons can usually hover over a given area simply by ascending or descending.
Neither Sierra Nevada nor US Southcom responded to requests for comment on this story. However, the rival balloon operator World View recently announced that it had carried out multi-week test missions in which its own stratospheric balloons were able to hover over a five-mile-diameter area for six and a half hours, and larger areas for days at a time.
“The very nature of [these balloons] is that they can operate for weeks and months,” said Ryan Hartman, the CEO of World View. “The challenge is how to harness the stratospheric winds to be able to create a persistent station-keeping capability for customers.”
Raven Aerostar, the company that is supplying the balloons for Southcom’s tests and launching them from its facility in South Dakota, told the Guardian that it has had balloons remain aloft for nearly a month. Raven also makes balloons for the Alphabet subsidiary Loon, which uses them to help deliver internet and cellphone service from the stratosphere.
The FCC documents show that Southcom’s balloons are carrying small, satellite-like vehicles housing sophisticated sensors and communication gear. One of those sensors is a synthetic aperture radar intended to detect every car or boat in motion on a 25-mile swath beneath the balloon.
The balloons also have advanced mesh networking technologies that allow them to communicate with one another, share data and pass it to receivers on the ground below.
The Ravenstar facility launchpad in South Dakota.
The Ravenstar facility launchpad in South Dakota. Photograph: Google Earth
The FCC filing notes that this networking includes video information. That suggests that the balloons might also carry a Sierra Nevada video capture system called Gorgon Stare. This wide-area surveillance system comprises nine cameras capable of recording panoramic images across an entire city simultaneously.
While Gorgon Stare is usually deployed on drones, Michel said that the US army has used tethered spy blimps in Afghanistan, and that US Customs and Border Protection has experimented with low-altitude balloons along the Mexico border.
But surveillance from stratospheric balloons is relatively new, said Michel, author of Eyes in the Sky, a recent book on wide area surveillance: “The higher the altitude of the system, the wider the area that you can cover. The trade-off is that depending on the area and the system, you may get lower-resolution images.” Balloons are also subject to fewer restrictions and regulations than drones.
It is unclear from the FCC documents whether Southcom’s tests within the US are linked to any active narcotic or counter-terrorism investigations. Also, none of the parties involved would say whether the midwest vehicle data would be deleted, stored or passed on to other federal or local agencies.
“[We would like to know] what they are they doing with that data, how they are storing it, and whether they are contemplating deploying this in the US,” said the ACLU’s Stanley. “Because if they decide that it’s usable domestically, there’s going to be enormous pressure to deploy it.”
The Southcom surveillance tests are probably just the tip of the iceberg. Scott Wickersham, the vice-president of Raven Aerostar, told the Guardian that it has also been working with Sierra Nevada and the Pentagon’s research arm Darpa on a “highly sophisticated and challenging development around the stratosphere”. This refers to the agency’s Adaptable Lighter-Than-Air (Alta) program, an ongoing effort to perfect stratospheric balloon navigation which has included multiple launches across the country, Wickersham said.
Ryan Hartman said that World View had also completed a dozen surveillance test missions for a customer it would not name, capturing data he would not specify.
“Obviously, there are laws to protect people’s privacy and we are respectful of all those laws,” Hartman said. “We also understand the importance of operating in an ethical way as it relates to further protecting people’s privacy.”
Meanwhile, World View is currently preparing for its next surveillance flight, and Sierra Nevada’s tests in the midwest continue.
Notables are NOT endorsements
@ Late Note
#791
>>157547, CodeMonkey (Twatt) US military just shot down another UFO over Lake Huron.
>>157548 JuanitaBroaddrick (Twatter) Eric Clapton: "I can't sleep because of the pain…the vaccine took my immune system and just shook it around"
>>157550 ANON: (Twatt) TRENDING:
>>157558, >>157559, >>157562, >>157564, >>157576 (Twatt) The massive explosion and poisoning of American citizens should be a much bigger story….why isn’t the media talking about Ohio more?
>>157560 CodeMonkey (Twatt) UFOs are at minimum distracting from the Project Veritas Pfizer exposé, and a poison gas cloud making its way towards New York.
>>157563 (Twatt) BREAKING | Another unidentified object was shot down today, this time over Lake Huron
>>157568 LooP (T.me) PUT YOUR ATTENTION WHERE THE MEDIA SILENCES
>>157574, >>157575 A 1-meter meteoroid (small #asteroid) has been detected and is expected to safely strike Earth's atmosphere over northern France between 3:50-4:03 CET.
>>157577 (TruSoc) The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro was hit by lightning Friday. February 10, 2023 at 6:55 PM
>>157580 TomMcDonald (Twatt) BASED: What the hell going on here?! 🤔👽
>>157581, >>157583, >>157584 (Twatt) Philadelphia fans are next level.
>>157582, >>157587 GatewayPundit (Twatt) NFL Plays Divisive Black National Anthem Before Super Bowl LVII But Tried to Hide it From Viewing Audience (VIDEO)
>>157586 LizWheeler (Twatter) Apparently I’m the only person in Twitter who thinks Rihanna’s halftime show was terrible. Why is she touching her crotch in a show kids are watching? And why are her backup dancers dressed like hazmat COVID freaks that do those gross brain swab tests?
>>157588 ChuckCallesto (Twatt) BOMBSHELL REPORT: According to CDC and FDA, Booster Shots May Now TRIGGER STROKE Incidents..
>>157589 Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US(TheGuardian.com)
MTG (Twatter) East Palestine, Ohio is undergoing an ecological disaster bc authorities blew up the train derailment cars carrying hazardous chemicals and press are being arrested for trying to tell the story.
Oh but UFO’s!
What is going on?
Okay so wow, this is very real. WOW….. not that I didn't think it wasn't, but was also waiting for FF's.. and wasn't sure if this was legit or not, this is fucking CRAZY!!! THIS IS INCOMPETENCE AND CORRUPTION EXPLODING!!!!
https://twitter.com/unhealthytruth/status/1624917239567622146
(Twatt) Wow. Here’s a movie just made about a train derailing with toxins in Ohio - filmed in Ohio where it just happened, & many of the extras were locals from East Palestine Ohio who, in the film,evacuated. Then months later they had to do so in real life! Bonkers! 🤯 please share🤯
https://twitter.com/ErinBrockovich/status/1624503213142548481
ErinBrockovich (Twatter) I’m trying to gather information on this very serious situation in Ohio involving a train derailment with hazardous chemicals.
What I will say is this. Trust your eyes, ears and nose and get the hell out of there if your senses are telling you too.
https://twitter.com/NewsNation/status/1624226716230225920
NewsNation (Twatt) Dead fish are turning up near East Palestine, Ohio, after a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in the area.
Activist
@ErinBrockovich
received emails from residents about safety concerns in the area despite the EPA giving the all-clear.
More: https://trib.al/rw8VD21
https://twitter.com/ErinBrockovich/status/1624216450255708161
ErinBrockovich (Twatter) Lots of unanswered questions on this Ohio Train Derailment and now reporters are being arrested. There are real bad things going on… don’t be distracted by nonsense issues.
https://apnews.com/article/law-enforcement-pennsylvania-mike-dewine-ohio-aca9f89f4b6afe701aabf9ffd2b53d0f…
@NewsNation
https://www.wtrf.com/ohio/ohio-woman-finds-chickens-dead-questions-chemical-release-from-train/
Ohio woman finds chickens dead, questions chemical release from train WTRF.com
NORTH LIMA, Ohio (WKBN) – People across the Mahoning Valley — including those who live in Mahoning and Trumbull counties — reported smelling chlorine after Monday’s controlled release in East Palestine. Officials said it wasn’t dangerous, but one North Lima woman is skeptical about that statement.
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Even though North Lima is a little more than 10 miles away from East Palestine, Amanda Breshears said the smell caused her eyes to water when she went to let her dog out. She believes it could be the reason why her birds are now dead.
What caused the train derailment?
Breshears was going to feed her five hens and rooster Tuesday morning when she discovered them all lifeless, practically in the same position, with no signs of a predator entering their enclosure.
“I’m beyond upset and quite panicked, ’cause this, they may be just chickens, but they’re family,” she said.
Breshears said her chickens were alive and well on Monday.
She believes that the smell following the detonation of the train carrying chemicals that derailed in East Palestine is to blame for her birds’ sudden death.
“My video camera footage shows my chickens were perfectly fine before they started this burn, and as soon as they started the burn, my chickens slowed down and they died,” she said.
“If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it’s going to do to us in 20 years,” she added.
Photo Gallery: Train derailment fire in East Palestine
Officials have said that the smell wasn’t toxic or dangerous but still advised people in the Mahoning Valley to stay indoors Monday night as a precaution.
“For them to say the air quality is OK, I’m calling B.S.,” she said.
Breshears said she is going to be taking the birds to a veterinarian to have them examined in the hopes of holding someone responsible for their deaths.
Sources said this is not the only incident like this that they have heard of in the past day, however, those at the Ohio Department of Agriculture said they haven’t heard of any problems.
The Department of Agriculture released the following statement on Tuesday.
“The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) is assuring Ohioans its food supply is safe and the risk to livestock remains low following the East Palestine train derailment.
ODA has not received any reports regarding the wellness of animals related to the incident. As the Ohio EPA and area agencies continue to monitor the air and water quality, ODA is ready to assist as needed.
If you notice unusual behavior in your livestock or domestic pet, please contact your local veterinarian for further guidance.”
https://twitter.com/belet_seri/status/1623727966827020289
(Twatt) The fact that we aren’t seeing wall to wall coverage of the vinyl chloride train derailment and explosion in East Palestine, Ohio, is insane.
An entire town can’t return home because the water is contaminated, livestock/crops are destroyed, and reporters are being arrested.
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1624887289821245440
(Twatt) It’s interesting how every election year the national media obsessively focuses on the swing-state politics of Ohio, but then when there’s a mushroom cloud of carcinogens detonated over Ohio, the same national media barely even mentions it.
https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1624990784251645952
(Twatt) The ecological disaster in East Palestine, Ohio is spilling over into neighboring communities.
"These aren't storm clouds. This is the f-ing st they burn off in East Palestine! This is over Darlington."
https://twitter.com/realstewpeters/status/1624885466469175298
(Twatt) Ohio: Dead fish and cattle being reported as far as 100 miles away from the site.
Journalists covering the story have been arrested.
What the HELL is going on?
https://twitter.com/AhComfy/status/1624563772731056131
(Twatt) Do you guys realize how much farmland is in Ohio?
There are 75,000 farms. 90% of them are family farming operations.
There was just a TOXIC CHEMICAL INCIDENT there that was intentionally released with barely a whisper.
This has untold direct food supply chain impact.
https://twitter.com/KJ00355197/status/1625029442950115330
(Twatt) A massive chemical accident recently occurred in East Palestine, Ohio. A train carrying hazardous materials (polyvinyl chloride and other chemicals) derailed and exploded. Local wildlife is dying and reporters attempting to cover the story are being arrested.
Someone needs to get the FUCK in there and make some arrests and get the fucking place under control. Been going on over a week now. This is REAL.. REAL lives at risk here. What a fucking joke. This is why the fake and fucking gay Alien Invasion is taking place and every son of a bitch that covered up for it should fry.. give them a spot to live.. a fucking tent right next to where those tanks blew up (they set them on fire as a "controlled burn".. fucking IDIOTS). I am fucking serious about that. Have each and every one of those employees have to go out there and live in a fucking tent drinking the water from wells on site. Think they would care then?
The EPA and all the other piece of shit agencies cant keep from feeding their asses and wiping their mouths… they don't know what the fuck is going on yet can harm the "lil guy" systematically.
It is time to pull the plug on the bureaucrats and their tiny tyrant attitudes.
Sick fucking shit going down.
https://twitter.com/EVILWETBEAST/status/1624240779110621185
(Twatt) IMAGE CONTEXT: In Ohio, this train had derailed, and local police blew it up, the train was carrying very toxic and reactive explosive chemicals. the damage is so bad, it's actively killing wildlife in the rivers and contaminating soil. This happened last week.
https://twitter.com/NorCalGranny/status/1624838901356716032
(Twatt) Reporters getting arrested for reporting on the East Palestine, Ohio derailment. The vinyl chloride has contaminated a lot of water and live stock, and this should be on MSM.
https://twitter.com/thevivafrei/status/1624973762859786243
(Twatt) BASED: The air over East Palestine, Ohio, is safe.
The air over New York post 9/11 was safe.
The vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 is safe.
History doesn’t repeat. But it tends to rhyme.
https://twitter.com/CodeMonkeyZ/status/1624912798936633344
CodeMonkey (Twatt) Video of the alleged UFO shot down over Lake Huron was just brought to my attention by someone who wants to remain anonymous.
The video shows the "ufo" as it loses control into a downward spiral.
I did not take this video myself and have no way to verify it.
Notables are NOT endorsements
@ Late Late Note
#791
>>157547, CodeMonkey (Twatt) US military just shot down another UFO over Lake Huron.
>>157548 JuanitaBroaddrick (Twatter) Eric Clapton: "I can't sleep because of the pain…the vaccine took my immune system and just shook it around"
>>157550 ANON: (Twatt) TRENDING:
>>157558, >>157559, >>157562, >>157564, >>157576, >>157592, >>157593, >>157594, >>157595, >>157596, >>157597, >>157598, >>157599, >>157600, >>157601, >>157602, >>157603, >>157604, >>157605, >>157606, >>157607, >>157608, >>157609, >>157610, >>157611, >>157612, (Twatt) The massive explosion and poisoning of American citizens should be a much bigger story….why isn’t the media talking about Ohio more?
>>157560 CodeMonkey (Twatt) UFOs are at minimum distracting from the Project Veritas Pfizer exposé, and a poison gas cloud making its way towards New York.
>>157563 (Twatt) BREAKING | Another unidentified object was shot down today, this time over Lake Huron
>>157568 LooP (T.me) PUT YOUR ATTENTION WHERE THE MEDIA SILENCES
>>157574, >>157575 A 1-meter meteoroid (small #asteroid) has been detected and is expected to safely strike Earth's atmosphere over northern France between 3:50-4:03 CET.
>>157577 (TruSoc) The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro was hit by lightning Friday. February 10, 2023 at 6:55 PM
>>157580 TomMcDonald (Twatt) BASED: What the hell going on here?!
>>157581, >>157583, >>157584 (Twatt) Philadelphia fans are next level.
>>157582, >>157587 GatewayPundit (Twatt) NFL Plays Divisive Black National Anthem Before Super Bowl LVII But Tried to Hide it From Viewing Audience (VIDEO)
>>157586 LizWheeler (Twatter) Apparently I’m the only person in Twitter who thinks Rihanna’s halftime show was terrible. Why is she touching her crotch in a show kids are watching? And why are her backup dancers dressed like hazmat COVID freaks that do those gross brain swab tests?
>>157588 ChuckCallesto (Twatt) BOMBSHELL REPORT: According to CDC and FDA, Booster Shots May Now TRIGGER STROKE Incidents..
>>157589 Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US(TheGuardian.com)
>>157613 CodeMonkey (Twatt) Video of the alleged UFO shot down over Lake Huron was just brought to my attention by someone who wants to remain anonymous.
>>157614 EmeraldRobinson (Twatter) When CIA mouthpiece @NatashaBertrand starts pushing UFO's, that's when you know: it's a totally false story.
https://twitter.com/FightHaven/status/1624830701727272962
(Twatt) NYC Drill Rapper / Youtube Prankster pulls out knife and threatens to cut a random man’s face open after YouTube “prank” goes left…
Nothing "joking" about this… wtf are people doing??
https://twitter.com/laurenboebert/status/1624827803609841666
LaurenBoebert (Twatter) America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM.
Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!?
Do football, not wokeness.
https://twitter.com/RWMaloneMD/status/1624828204274880513
DrRobertMalone (Twatt) Almost £1bn spent on anti-Covid drug that makes ‘no significant difference’- Molnopiravir
https://twitter.com/_Janey_J/status/1624733817092075521
(Twatt) “They intend to inject each of us ten times over with mRNA ~ I think that will kill everybody” Dr Mike Yeadon
Night.
https://twitter.com/chitterbug/status/1625023142354644994
(Twatt) ABSOLUTELY the MOST CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. This was all a set up by the crooked DOJ, FBI, DC MAYOR, PELOSI, SCHUMER, SCHIFF, MOST DEMS & TRUMP HATING RINO'S. ABHORENT.