San Bernardino County Offers $75K Reward For Names Of Drone Operators Who Interfered At Wildfires

Excellent money for drone operator headhunters; a new and sure to be booming business in addition to homeowner shoot-down technology    

LA TIMES

By Matt Hamilton and Veronica Rocha

07/28/2015

San Bernardino County supervisors unanimously agreed Tuesday to offer $75,000 in rewards for help in tracking down drone operators who interfered with firefighters during three major wildfires this summer.

Scumbag, moron drone operators put firefighters,

aircraft crews, property at risk with their infernal,

illegal machines

After the unmanned devices were spotted flying above flames and smoke from the blazes this year — which altogether burned about 36,000 acres — fire crews were forced to ground water-dropping aircraft. Officials said the delays allowed the fires to spread, resulting in devastating property losses. The five-member board hopes that by offering the rewards — $25,000 for each fire that saw interruptions by drones — investigators can get tips to identify the drone operators and prosecute them. “This type of activity is not going to be tolerated when first responders are trying to put out fires that drastically affect the constituents of San Bernardino County,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos. 

None of the drone operators has been identified. The reward will allow county officials to launch a hotline to collect information about suspected drone operators, Ramos said.

Drones first became a problem in the county during the Lake fire, which ignited June 17 and burned through more than 31,000 acres of wildlands in the San Bernardino National Forest and nearby San Gorgonio Wilderness.

Idiot criminal drone operators must be prosecuted for ALL property damage, injuries or deaths to firefighters, aircraft personnel and private citizens

Low-flying aircraft were preparing to drop fire retardant over flames in the Barton Flats area when a 3- to 4-foot drone was seen buzzing between two planes. Fire officials immediately grounded the aircraft. Fire officials later saw a second drone in the area.

On July 12 — the first day of the Mill 2 fire — officials had to briefly suspend a tanker after a drone was spotted flying over Mill Creek Canyon near California 38.

A bounty needs to be offered not only for drone operators

but also for the remains of their shot down machines

And for about 25 minutes, officials had to halt tankers over the July 17 North fire, which jumped Interstate 15 near California 138 and destroyed dozens of vehicles, U.S. Forest Service officials said. Drones pose a major risk to firefighters, pilots and aircraft, officials say. A collision between a drone and aircraft flying at low altitude could result in major damage and potentially injure the pilot and crew on board.

U.S. Forest Service officials said they will continue to stop helicopters and air tankers from dropping fire retardant over a fire until they can confirm the devices have left the area.

New legislation, if passed, could allow firefighters and law enforcement to take down any drones hindering emergency operations.

Firefighters and rescue personnel in addition to being authorised to shoot down drones should also be deputised and granted authority to seize and force drone operators at gunpoint to fight fires on the front lines until they expire

The proposed law, introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) and state Sen. Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado), would give firefighters and other first responders immunity if they damage drones interfering during a fire or other emergency.

Another piece of legislation would make it a misdemeanor to fly a drone over a forest fire. Drone operators could face up to $2,000 in fines.

Laws need to be immediately enacted to force DNA testing of drone operators along with mandatory submission to alcohol and drug tests on demand, in addition to being placed on a watch list similar to that of pedophiles where mandatory registration and reporting is required

U.S. Rep. Paul Cook (R-Apple Valley) has introduced a law that would ban drone operators from flying over a forest fire, making it a federal offense. Anyone convicted of interfering with fire operations could face a fine and up to five years in prison.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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Congressman Asks FAA To Block Drones From Interfering With Firefighters : Illegal Drones Now Risking Firefighter Lives

Illegal drones now costing taxpayers big bucks in addition to their homes; idiot operators of these malevolent machines need to be forced at gunpoint to fight fires on front lines ahead of firefighters and afterward turned over to the mobs who have suffered property damage at their hands  

RT
07/24/2015

A California congressman has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to consider rules to block drones from flying in areas where firefighters are trying to carry out operations, especially when to trying to contain wildfires. 

Illegal drone operators now risking lives in the air

and on the ground in addition to causing delays

in fire retardant drops, burning homes down

In a letter Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) told the agency’s administrator that as the FAA begins to finalize regulations on the operation of commercial and hobbyist drones it should include rules concerning emergency first responders.

Schiff cited several instances when drones prevented firefighters from doing their job. US Forest Service and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection were tackling the Lake fire in the San Bernardino Mountains in June when a drone interfered.

“[A] DC-10 Air Tanker and two smaller planes were forced to divert and drop their fire retardant due a commercial drone flying in the area. Not only did this cost taxpayers between $10,000 to $15,000, it shut down further missions and allowed the wildfire to spread,” wrote Congressman Schiff, the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

“Time is of the essence and even an hour of delay can be the difference between containment or an uncontrollable burn that destroys thousands of acres and threatens lives and property,” he added.

Illegal drone operators must be held responsible for all damage caused by their machines and in addition to property damage be prosecuted for any injuries or deaths incurred by firefighters or aircraft personnel

The congressman said another recent example was the ‘North Fire’ on June 25 when a wildfire jumped the 10 Freeway causing 70-80 motorists to abandon their cares and flee for their lives. Firefighting planes had to be rerouted because of five drones flying in the area. Twenty cars were destroyed and ten more suffered damaged.

“These folks who are handling these drones, I have to assume they have no idea what they're doing,” Chon Bribiescas, a spokesman for the US Forest Service, told the Los Angeles Times in June. “They not only endangered the folks on the ground, but they endanger the pilots. It’s infuriating.”

Firefighters and rescue personnel should have separate teams tasked specifically to shoot down drones in their areas of operation and the authority to seize and force operators to fight fires barehanded on the front lines

Congressman Schiff recommended a measure of “geo-fencing” which would prevent commercial drones from flying in a geographic area where they are likely to interfere with firefighting activities. He also recommended the FAA consider a campaign to educate civilian drone operators about the dangers of operating in restricted airspace or an area with an emergency.

“With California in the middle of a multi-year drought, we can expect to see more wildfires that threaten the lives and homes of many families,” added Schiff.

READ MORE: Cars ablaze as 3,500-acre California brush fire swallows freeway, homes

In the past week, Schiff said there were four reports of such clashes between drones and firefighters jostling over airspace.

Homeowners will be taking a much different view of these scumbag, illegal operators after their homes and property are burned to the ground

“Not only do these drones put first responder pilots’ lives at risk, they also prevent these firefighters from helping to contain wildfires and put the lives of ordinary citizens at risk,” said Schiff, reported the Hill.

California lawmakers are considering legislation that would give firefighters immunity if they damage a drone that’s interfering with emergency response.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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Europe Going Through Changes Right In Front Of Our Eyes

EU and Euro set to crash as a result of IMF, ECB, elitist overreach in the rape and pillage of Greece      

STRATEGIC CULTURE FOUNDATION
By Vladimir Nesterov
08/01/2015

The Greek crisis provided an impetus to the ongoing centrifugal process inside the European Union. 

Boxed in: Cameron has painted himself into
a corner

A strong secessionist sentiment is there. National interests happen to be more important than the values of "United Europe"… Looks like Europe is in for a wave of referendums with unpredictable results. Besides Great Britain, Austria and Finland, Euroscepticism is on the rise in many other EU members as well. 

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is set to hold the in-or-out referendum on Britain’s future membership of the European Union in June next year and will announce the fast-tracked date as the centrepiece of his party’s annual conference in October, according to the Independent.

The legislation is going through Parliament. Having won the May 2015 election David Cameron promised to review the UK's terms and conditions of EU membership if the European Union does not change its immigration policy. After that the European Commission introduced new quotas on asylum seekers.

George Osborn, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury, tried to delay the referendum but David Cameron decided that 2016 is the most propitious time to hold it. According to him, it will reduce economic risks related to possible withdrawal from the European Union. Britons apparently have no wish to pay for allowing Greece stay in the Union or supporting immigrants.

Cameron, Tories, UK corporate criminal scheme to import illegal immigrants to replace British workers backfires in spectacular fashion; another stark example of how attempting to copy Obama's successes does not work in the real world as Britons, unlike American sheep will fight back

According to the Guardian, a group of Bank of England experts is formed to study possible losses the United Kingdom may suffer in case the country leaves the EU. The group’s work is veiled in secrecy. The very fact of its existence surfaced only after a leak. According to Gallup survey held in late 2014, the majority of UK citizens support the idea of leaving the European Union. 

A Bridge Too Far: Lagarde and Merkel doom

EU by destroying Greece

Austria is also contemplating the possibility of ending its EU membership. 261,159 Austrians have signed a petition calling for the EU exit for the country. They represent 4.12 percent of the electorate. Now the Austrian parliament must discuss a referendum on the issue. The threshold for calling a debate on a potential referendum is 100,000 people. Author of this petition is a 66-year-old pensioner — Inge Roscher, who previously worked as a translator, and since Austria joined the EU, has been protesting against such an alliance. She composed a similar petition in 2000. On that occasion, it was signed by 3.35 percent of the electorate.

Finland is considering possible scenarios of exit from the Eurozone amid the Greek crisis, told the resource Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten Secretary General of the European political Alliance of eurosceptics EUD (Europeans United for Democracy) Richard Bifelt. 

Against the background of the situation in Greece, many Finnish politicians believe that the country is "not in the club." Under the "club" Bifelt implies the Eurozone.

On July 23, Finnish radio yle.fi reported that a citizens' initiative wants to determine whether Finland wants to remain part of the Eurozone. The initiative gathered over 30 thousand signatures in only six days. If the appeal for a referendum gains at least 50,000 signatures, the motion would have to be addressed in Parliament under Finnish law. 

Won't be fooled again: EU citizens now hip to IMF, ECB, World Bank terrorists after witnessing destruction of Greece 

Finnish veteran politician Euro-parlamentarian Paavo Väyrynen from the Centre Party, who has established a citizens' initiative petition, says he is happy so many signatures were gathered in such a short period of time. He wants the information to be disseminated. According to him, the Finland’s membership is intensively debated and an open discussion is welcome so that people with different opinions could share their views.

Europe is in for a wave of referendums with unpredictable results. In many countries euroscepticism is gaining popular support. For instance, Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's nationalist Front National Party, has promised to hold a referendum on the country's possible exit from the European Union (EU) if she is elected president in 2017. 

In blindly following Obama's orders to impose sanctions on Russia - supposed "punishment" for Putin granting asylum to Edward Snowden - EU closed only back door to collapse, and Russia will now have it's pound of NATO Nazi flesh

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch far-right Freedom Party (PVV), believes the withdrawal from the European Union would be a good thing for his country. According to him, this is the only way to create new working places and generate economic growth. Wilders believes that the Netherlands should not be told to implement the pernicious policy of meeting European standards. "We want to decide how we control our borders, our money, our economy, our currency," he says implying that the control over these things has been taken away by the European Union.

Pier Carlo Padoan, Italian Minister of Economy and Finances, has warned Brussels that almost any country can leave the Union. 

For all the relief in Rome that a deal was finally reached to avoid a Greek exit. Mr. Padoan argues it should be seen as a watershed moment for the continent. The crisis exposed the dramatic impact of "dissatisfaction" with Europe both in Greece and across Europe, including Italy, he said. "In the near future there could be governments based on majorities which are dissatisfied with Europe and therefore could be requesting that any specific country may leave the eurozone, not just because it’s in a desperate situation like Greece, but because they think this is a more viable solution to their problems," the Minister told the Financial Times.

Europe is going through changes right in front of our eyes.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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A "Living" Genocidal Death and Stench To The World

Culling of the Native American population continues unabated    

WORLD NEWS
By Dallas Darling
07/31/2015

Ralph Waldo Emerson had predicted if Indian people were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands “the name of the nation removed would be a stench to the world.”(1)

Sitka Tlingit dancers

 After enduring centuries of sickness, near starvation, crippling cold, and loss of their ancestral homelands, the Choctaw again faced the very exact “stench to the world” that Emerson mentioned. Moreover, in 1830 after being forced at gunpoint to march westward from Mississippi to Indian Territory in Oklahoma without preparation, many thousands died as a result of the Removal, also known as the Trail of Tears.

A stench of removal by an anarchaic white frontier still exists today, emanating out of a Mississippi jail cell. It also consists of an ongoing “living” genocide. 

One day after Sandra Bland was killed, Rexdale W. Henry, 53, was arrested by the Neshoba CountySheriff for failure to pay a traffic fine. The Choctaw activist was later found mysteriously dead in his cell. Like Bland, Henry fought against racism while striving for full equality for his people. He had also revived many ancient Choctaw traditions, including being an outspoken advocate and agitator for possible land and resource reparations.

Henry’s death, its missing details and disappearance in the media, is symbolic of a pathological legitimacy which eliminated Indian peoples. But this supposedly vanishing race of people, who planted corn, delivered speeches about their land and disappeared in the midst of a more advanced civilization, is a grotesque lie, a distortion of history. Nor does it reflect how Indian people have never recovered from 500 years of genocide. For many Native Americans, they are living a genocidal legacy, especially in the face of corporate greed, institutionalized racism, and continued colonization of the mind.

Choctaw people of Mississippi and Oklahoma, for example, have many sacred places, but none is as holy as Nanih Waiya in Mississippi. Nanih Waiya is holy because it is the place where the Creator wanted them to settle, and where they buried their ancestors. In other words, Nanih Waiya became sacred and traditional land where not only the souls of the departed dwelled, but where the living like Henry and other Choctaw, and their souls, also belonged. It was in Mississippi, then, that the Choctaw finally settled, and where they buried the bones of their ancestors they had carried.(1) Americanization and Exceptionalism has tragically tried to eliminate this narrative.

For Henry, Choctaw history was also a subject of place and relationships of humans to their community, a community including trees, rivers, mountains, valleys, and other elements of the natural world. Important places included the soil that held the remains of ancestors, along with holy sites where forefathers prayed, danced, gathered, gardened and hunted. Seen and unseen beings and forces also dwelt and worked their powerful influence on the living. To be removed from ancestral land was tantamount to death.(2) Henry, a candidate for the Choctaw Tribal Council, was trying to revive this tradition.

Tribal territories 

Of the thousands of Choctaw herded from their homelands along the “Trail of Tears,” only a few survived. Choctaw historian Donna Akers has pointed out that the removal of her people from Mississippi to Indian Territory placed all Choctaw in jeopardy, because the government forced them to move toward the land of the Dead, which they believed was in the West. 

The spirits of the newly dead traveled close to the Earth in a westerly direction and had power to do humans harm. When the Choctaw faced more starvation, cholera, outlawry, and death, many elders attributed this to their being forced into the path of soul traveling westward.

What did Henry face in his jail cell? Was it the legacy of more starvation, racial sickness, and removal at the hands of greed and white superiority? Or was it more outlawry and vigilantism, even genocide? 

To be certain, he suffered a living genocidal legacy, a systematic policy of decimation, one that is still a stench to both the United States and world. For their part, the family has launched an independent probe and autopsy report. John Steele, a civil rights activist, and Diane Nash, cofounder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, are assisting in the investigation of Henry’s death.(3)

More can be done to prevent these controversial deaths. This was not the first time an activist turned up dead in in the Neshoba County Jail. Along with police and policing reforms, the continual anomie of Indian people and their communities should also be confronted. 

Young Native Americans, for instance, are the racial group most likely to be killed by police.(4) Having lost their ancestral lives, homes, lands and resources, including their sacred places memorialized in stories, songs, and rituals that tied them to these holy sites, is there an attempt to also eliminate their memories?

If it was not too late, Rexdale W. Henry could have been asked this important question. But again, was his death another “living” genocidal legacy and stench to the world?

Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations AboveGod: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John‘s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.

1. McMaster, Gerald and Clifford E. Trafzer. Native Universe: Voices of Indian American. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2014., p. 117. 

2. Ibid., p. 117.

3. www.thefreethoughtproject.com. “Native American Activist Arrested for Traffic Fine, Dies in Jail 1 Day After Sandra Bland,” by Matt Agorist., July 28, 2015.

4. www.thefrethoughtproject.com. “Native American Activist Arrested for Traffic Fine, Dies in Jail 1 Day After Sandra Bland,” by Matt Agorist., July 28, 2015.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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