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Ferguson No-Fly Zone Revealed As Anti-Media Tactic
The AP (here, carried by the San Francisco Chronicle) reports that recorded conversations reveal flight restrictions requested in August by the police force of Ferguson, MO, and agreed to by Federal aviation safety officials, were specifically intended to limit the access of journalists to the area, rather than purely in response to safety concerns. One FAA manager in Kansas City was recorded saying police "did not care if you ran commercial traffic through this TFR (temporary flight restriction) all day long. They didn't want media in there."
"There is really ... no option for a [Temporary Flight Restriction] that says, you know, 'OK, everybody but the media is OK,'" he said. The managers then worked out wording they felt would keep news helicopters out of the controlled zone but not impede other air traffic.
The conversations contradict claims by the St. Louis County Police Department, which responded to demonstrations following the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, that the restriction was solely for safety and had nothing to do with preventing media from witnessing the violence or the police response.
Police said at the time, and again as recently as late Friday to the AP, that they requested the flight restriction in response to shots fired at a police helicopter.
But police officials confirmed there was no damage to their helicopter and were unable to provide an incident report on the shooting. On the tapes, an FAA manager described the helicopter shooting as unconfirmed "rumors."
This is illegal.
And there are probably at least a dozen. They should all do at least 20 years. They are the worst evil garbage imaginable.
Somebody should go to jail over this.
It won't happen, though.
a,e,i,o,u and sometimes w and y (at be if of up cwm by)
This is why we need to give power back to the states!
Oh, wait, that didn't work.
Give it to the feds!
Honestly? They were pretty shit too.
Hail the king!
Ehh, he really made a mess of things last time.
Power to the corporations!
No, wait, that was a complete disaster.
We could try giving it to the people again, but let's face it: they're as selfish and shortsighted as the rest.
Okay, I'm open for suggestions at this point. Horses, maybe?
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
The feds sure seem to be leaking a lot of things in the run up to the elections on Tuesday.
Ferguson.
George Zimmerman going to a fed grand jury, where a witness has suddenly "remembered" something:
Following Zimmerman's acquittal on a murder charge, Taaffe has reversed his position and now says that he believes Zimmerman was motivated by race the night he followed then shot Trayvon in 2012.
Taaffe cites a phone conversation he had with Zimmerman in the days following the shooting but before Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
When originally interviewed by federal investigators in the weeks following the shooting, Taaffe did not tell them about the phone call...
If they knew the police were just trying to impede the media, why did they go along? Heads should roll at multiple levels.
They are scared of trouble catching on in other cities.
It ill still be videoed and "televised" via youtube etc.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
coming soon to your town.
Maybe it was an attempt to suppress the press or maybe it wasn't but the above article doesn't prove it wasn't about safety. Commercial traffic on approach is a completely different animal than single or multiple helicopters loitering over a confined area. Somewhere around 6 or 7 years ago two media helicopters in Phoenix collided as they covered a police chase because they were too busy covering the police chase and not watching the other four helicopters around them, and that was during the day. Last thing the cops needed were helicopters crashing down on top of them in addition to the protests and other safety concerns. And come on, what would have been the value add anyway? Lots of clips for the evening broadcast of the city burning as seen from the air in addition to the ones reporters on the ground were already taking?
You're not even a member, not even a greenhorn, how would you know what this website is about? Answer, of course, you have no idea.
I wonder what the legal requirements for filing these restrictions are, I know most similar documents require those filing them attest to the real reason for the request under penalty of perjury. If that's the case for these documents then someone effectively committed a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Also a quick browse of the relevant advisories in regards to Temporary Flight Restrictions does not suggest there is any allowance for "because we don't want the media to see", National security (specifically mentioning the DOD), High ranking politicians movements, Spacecraft launches, major sporting events, hijacking incidents & wildfires, but nothing about the press so I doubt that was the reason put down on the forms.
http://www.faa.gov/documentLib...
What relevance does this story have with respect to nerd news? The answer: none. Where were your other Ferguson stories??
Timothy, this is not your personal blog. Post this on your own soapbox.
This is outrageous political trolling and you should be ashamed and fired.
Nerds and geeks and general information-types are all about the free exchange of ideas. Censorship is anti-nerd.
No, what they did was disingenuous and immoral but not illegal - they really didn't want the eyes of the world judging them if they had to pull out the beanbag rounds and teargas (i.e. Everything is legal if no-one catches you doing it).
They're behaving like children when caught stealing candy or going out joyriding. They don't understand that what they're doing is wrong and they don't respond with remorse. They basically respond by trying to cover up what they're doing. Point at someone else. Choose a different time next time. Just do anything so as not to get caught. The one thing that was overlooked completely is that "maybe they shouldn't be doing that".
It's basically an upscaled version of what Right To Be Forgotten is doing, or how companies threaten lawsuits if negative reviews and bad press aren't removed from public view. None of this addresses the problem, it just makes it harder to find the truth.
I hope this means they know people are watching now, and there will be media in the air for when the verdict is read.
Since when is a suburb allowed to declare "no-fly" zones.
Not only have we militarized local police, but it looks like we've now given them the power generally reserved for the State Department and Justice Department.
If we had an Attorney General who was worth a damn, there would be a bunch of Ferguson officials and police facing charges and civil rights suits right now. Instead, we've had an AG who was only concerned with making sure that no Wall Street banking criminal got his hair mussed.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I wouldn't call it news for nerds or stuff that matters. Many cities already ban news flights over them and have done so for years. The reasoning seems to be with police flights and reletive dangers of closeness when they respond to incidents.
No they don't. You are wrong. Cities don't have the authority to ban flights, only the FAA does. I'm a commercial pilot, airplane owner and a flight instructor, so I know what I'm talking about.
Who would have ever expected that? So, are we accustomed to it yet? I would say we have been for a very long time, and in fact, approve. And I am pretty certain that approval will be reaffirmed on Tuesday. Sure would love to be proven wrong on that one.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Many cities already ban news flights over them and have done so for years
I call total bullshit on this.
First of all, cities are unable to ban anything, it is the FAA that sets up no-fly zones. Second, if there are no-fly zones, they would be documented as restricted areas on sectional charts. You show me any sectional FAA approved chart that specifically forbids news flights, and I shall eat the dust from underneath your shoes.
Even NYC has most of its airspace as open (class B and C). As long as flights maintain the proper altitude (usually at least 1000ft AGL), everyone holding a private pilot's certificate can fly there.
I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
Of course it was about the media. Photographs without on-the-ground context, for example, could spark further public demonstrations and there could be safety concerns.
That's not a good trade-off between public safety and freedom of the press, but the reasoning wasn't really a secret.
This isn't stuff that matters? Hoo boy. You apparently don't give a shit about your citizenship. Why not give it up and move to North Korea with Cold Fjord?
What on earth would make you say something like that? Everyone who isn't blinded by ideology knows that Ferguson is a mountain made out of a mole hill for political reasons and ratings. Shit like what happened there happens all over the place with at least three incidents i know of happening after it and no one is excited about them. Ferguson just happens to be in the right place to muster the troops so to say.
It has nothing to do with anyone's citizenship and everything to do wiyh motivating the right people to the polls. We've already seen the flyers claiming some are will be turned into ferguson if certain people are elected.
We need to make infringement of a constitutionally protected right both by the government and its agents personally liable in a civil suit. I would say a minimum of $100,000. Then these rights violations will come to a rapid stop.
"GET / HTTP/1.0" 200 51230 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; Setec Astronomy)"
FTA:
"The local authorities, including police, have a responsibility to be transparent and open." -- Barack Obama
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
It has nothing to do with anyone's citizenship and everything to do wiyh motivating the right people to the polls. We've already seen the flyers claiming some are will be turned into ferguson if certain people are elected.
How exactly?
There is no US Senate race in Missouri for 2014 and Obama and co really only care about keeping the Senate.
So you would have to be claiming they are trying to influence elections in other states.
How? Are you trying to link the Missouri local politics to the national Republican party? Because that is a reach I don't think the average voter on the fence will make.
No they don't. You are wrong. Cities don't have the authority to ban flights, only the FAA does. I'm a commercial pilot, airplane owner and a flight instructor, so I know what I'm talking about.
On internet, claims to authority are meaningless. Especially anonymous ones. I'm the inventor of the internet, so I know what I'm talking about.
Bingo, we have a winner. This is a legitimate use of a TFR; to prevent mid-air collisions over things like this. While it's a jesse jackson created disaster (the rioting, not the murder), the purpose of the TFR is to allow the police to fly safely.
I'm half surprised they haven't fitted their helicopter with stingers to just shoot down any pesky media trying to see what's going on. Not like we should expect the pilots to have situational awareness and be good enough not to crash into things.
If the case was pure police safety then a height restriction is adequate, not a full on no fly zone.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
This is something you'd expect of some place like China or worse.
I hope the rogue drone operators get rich from this.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
really??? now we think republicans are telling cops to execute black kids??? wtf is wrong with you?
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
First, people should be pissed off about the other incidents too.
Second, Ferguson is where the "troops are being mustered" because its officials (not just the officer who perpetrated the shooting, but pretty much every other official in the entire metro area) are acting so incredibly, egregiously, blatantly, thuggish and corrupt. Officials elsewhere have been less incompetent at hiding their corruption under a veneer of feigned concern and bureaucratic procedure.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
What on earth would make you say something like that? Everyone who isn't blinded by ideology knows that Ferguson is a mountain made out of a mole hill for political reasons and ratings. Shit like what happened there happens all over the place with at least three incidents i know of happening after it and no one is excited about them. Ferguson just happens to be in the right place to muster the troops so to say.
It has nothing to do with anyone's citizenship and everything to do with motivating the right people to the polls. We've already seen the flyers claiming some are will be turned into ferguson if certain people are elected.
It has to do with the systemic violence directed toward black people, young black men more specifically. Like you said, it happens all the time. It's wrong, and it's past time that the nation dealt with it. Yes, the incident in Ferguson was just one example, but it has become a flash point for the larger issue.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
It seems that when these guys have a choice between transparency and something that would make them look like even bigger autocratic police state thugs, they choose to double down on thuggery. Who ever they've hired for a P.R. firm needs to be fired...
It would appear the only choice this police department is going to have soon enough to be completely dispanded and taken over by the state police. Then an entirely new group of officers with new commanders and a new chief need to be put in place.
If these officers would like to apply for positions in other communities they are more than welcome, but not in Ferguson.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
Who said ferguson was about any senate race? It is being used in them though, someone is distributing flyers in minority neighborhoods claiming if republicans are elected, those neighborhoods would turn into Ferguson.
However, right about the time ferguson happened, Tavis Smiley was blasting about how the black community has suffered under this administration, about how the hopes for improvement were shattered, and how many blacks feel taken advantage of. Along comes ferguson, you have armies of outside protesters move in with the race baiters- mostly from chicago and boom, Eric Holder via Obama and all the sudden the adminstration cares again.
This isn't about police brutality and it never was.
This is all about ethics in games journalism.
Wrong!
Where exactly am I wrong? A presidential TFR is issued by the FAA in a NOTAM, and so are all other TFRs (which is something completely different than a Restricted Area, like the airspace over camp pendleton).
A TFR always follows the President (TFR POTUS designation)
Total bullshit again. They are designated Temporary flight restrictions for VIP Movement.
Have a look at tfr.faa.gov.
I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
It's in the HTML title of the front page, moron.
Which, at least if you're logged in, very quickly gets changed by (I assume) a bit of JavaScript to display the number of new stories, rather than the NFNSTM tagline; if you don't look quickly, or actually check the source manually, you'd never know it was there. /. html source. Take a peek sometime.
Incidentally, there's a lot of interesting stuff in the
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......