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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the eye-in-the-sky dept.

Border Patrol flies anti-terrorism drone over Minneapolis protestors

Thousands of people took to the streets of Minneapolis on Friday to protest the death of George Floyd, a local black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. All the while, a Customs and Border Patrol drone kept a careful eye on the unfolding unrest.

The drone, using the tracking signal CBP104, took off from Grand Forks Airforce Base at 9:08 am Central Daylight Time and shortly afterward headed directly to Minneapolis, this feed from live flight tracking service FlightAware showed. The drone then circled the city six times from about 10:45 until noon. The aircraft maintained an altitude of about 20,000 feet.

Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Force's 319th Reconnaissance Wing. It is also a site Customs and Border Patrol personnel use for takeoff and landing of the Predator B unmanned aircraft system. CBP uses the drone in anti-terrorism operations by helping to identify and intercept potential terrorists and illegal cross-border activity.

Also at The Drive and Business Insider.


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:52AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:52AM (#1001262)

    In the COVID-19 economy the only businesses allowed to be open are grocery stores and pharmacies. Every other business is closed by Boomer decree as non-essential to Boomers. The grocery store employs armed guards to enforce social distancing to protect the Boomers. I tried to buy food at the grocery store but the grocery store gives preferential treatment to Boomers and there was no food left for me. The only place I am able to buy food is the pharmacy because Boomers use pharmacies strictly as dispensaries and leave the grocery section untouched. The pharmacy has a limited selection of food but I have managed to subsist on ramen and oatmeal which the Boomers do not buy.

    Try living in the world controlled by the whims of selfish pensioned Boomers who deliberately wrecked the entire world economy because their actions do not affect them personally. Try living in a world where Boomers will have you shot for stepping outside without a mask. Try living in a world where Boomers are implicitly exempt from their own mandatory mask orders because masks are just so uncomfortable on a Boomer chin. Try living in a world where you eat ramen and oatmeal while Boomers eat chicken and steak.

    Try living in a world of Boomers.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:16AM (1 child)

      by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:16AM (#1001281) Journal

      On the upside, all of the riots are a reasonably good experiment for whether we can reopen the economy, If hospitals are overrun with CV19 starting 2 to 3 weeks out in these riot cities, we'll know we're screwed. If they don't have a big bump, maybe we can start moving forward again.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @08:15PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @08:15PM (#1001485)

        Guess you haven't seen what has happened in Mississippi and Georgia, the hospitals are being overrun. In some cases, they are literally sending people to hospitals 90 minutes away to find open ICU beds.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:46AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:46AM (#1001291)

      Maximum trolling is maximum trolling [youtube.com].

      Either that, or you're the literal biggest idiot in the universe.

  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:54AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:54AM (#1001264)

    Boomers forced everyone to stay home at gunpoint to give Boomers a safe space.

    Boomers forced every business to close at gunpoint to give Boomers a safe space.

    Boomers forced everyone to wear face masks at gunpoint to give Boomers a safe space.

    Boomers caused the worst economic depression in history to give Boomers a safe space.

    Whiny entitled Boomers are the worst generation ever to live.

    No longer.

    Boomers must be made to pay with their lives for crimes against civilization.

    The Final Solution to COVID-19 is to exterminate every Boomer.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:56AM (4 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday May 31 2020, @02:56AM (#1001265)

    20,000 feet - what was the weather like from 10:45 until noon in the area? If it was clear enough, we can assume the side-looking cameras on the CBP drone got a pretty good facial image of most of the people on the street during their 6 loops around the area. J. Edgar Hoover's corpse just got a woody.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:39AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:39AM (#1001283)

      Seems unnecessary to me, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, BBC et all seem to have it covered pretty well. Even getting the "Proud Boys" tossing fireworks like they were bombs and pretending to be part of the black demonstration.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday May 31 2020, @11:53AM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday May 31 2020, @11:53AM (#1001323)

        Seems unnecessary to me

        When has that ever stopped a vertically integrated domestic intelligence gathering operation?

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @01:08PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @01:08PM (#1001336)

      When you are 20,000 ft up, what is a "side-looking" camera and how does it differ from a regular camera? Do they have upward-looking cameras on the drones too to get a good sneak up the skirts?

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:37PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:37PM (#1001435) Journal
        It's a camera angled to the side rather than straight down. You can catch different details that way. I suppose, for example, that it'd somewhat more likely to catch an image of someone's clothes or face when they're wearing a large hat.
  • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:04AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:04AM (#1001267)

    the death of George Floyd, a local black man

    Was he black or was he planning to vote for someone other than Joe Biden who's staff contribute to a bail fund [reuters.com] for white supremacists? [courthousenews.com]

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:17AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:17AM (#1001268)

      Short is the memory (intentionally if not otherwise) of trumpets

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by captain normal on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:45AM (3 children)

      by captain normal (2205) on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:45AM (#1001286)

      Guessing you didn't actually read the links you posted. Seem to me like the exact opposite of your rant. And like the AC above said, it appears right wing groups were causing the violence (see your second link).

      --
      Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:30AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:30AM (#1001272)

    So? The military flies over us all the time. I would as a kid spend a lot of time figuring out which ones it was. Typically F4s or A4s in my area. Sometimes you would see a b52. They use us all the time for training.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @01:24AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @01:24AM (#1001567)

      mods on this site are so frequently terrible, how you're post is offtopic I can't figure

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @01:43AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @01:43AM (#1001570)

        In your defense, you're both retarded.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Barenflimski on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:39AM (8 children)

    by Barenflimski (6836) on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:39AM (#1001274)

    Customs and Border protection? What on earth are those guys doing patrolling a riot in Minneapolis?

    Their tech is fairly in depth. They can follow you for as long as they're in the sky and "rewind" where you came from if need be. Get caught up in the wrong place? They'll rewind the tape until they know what house you came out of.

    This is great when there is truly an enemy that you need to track that is threatening lives. In a free country like this, diverse communities can feed the fear. Humans aren't good at recognizing strangers as just other people. People are very good at bias and imagining "others" are out to get them.

    When the people in charge to start thinking that enemies are simply others they don't know, this tech becomes dangerous.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:50AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:50AM (#1001277)

      Patrolling the Ontario border and got blown off-course?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:14PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:14PM (#1001401)

        Not off course. The US federal government considers everything within 100 miles of the actual border to be "the border". Which means most of the population of the US lives "on the border".

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:38PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:38PM (#1001413)

          Also, the US federal government considered anyone of color to be terrorists. Which means the majority of the population of the US lives as terrorists.

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Pav on Sunday May 31 2020, @09:02AM (2 children)

      by Pav (114) on Sunday May 31 2020, @09:02AM (#1001305)

      Perhaps they can figure out who this guy [youtube.com] is (though I suspect they won't). He appears to be an agent provocateur , and a couple of people say they recognise the guy... a police officer. Granted, this was his ex wife and her friend... so there's that. The precinct he's from also denies it's him, and apparently he has an alibi.

      Still, I wonder if that umbrella might have been a way to make the guy more trackable in realtime from the air.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:36PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:36PM (#1001411)

        More trackable, less identifiable in realtime from the air.

      • (Score: 2) by helel on Monday June 01 2020, @12:44AM

        by helel (2949) on Monday June 01 2020, @12:44AM (#1001560)

        His alibi is that he was on the clock at the time. Seems like a pretty piss poor alibi to me as nobody was accusing him of doing this on his day off.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @12:00PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @12:00PM (#1001324)

      >> Customs and Border protection? What on earth are those guys doing patrolling a riot in Minneapolis?

      It's right there in their title: "Customs" and Border Protection. It's the custom in the USA to repress uppity black folk, so they're just ensuring the custom is upheld.

    • (Score: 2) by http on Sunday May 31 2020, @08:11PM

      by http (1920) on Sunday May 31 2020, @08:11PM (#1001484)

      Breaking the law.

      --
      I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:47AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @03:47AM (#1001275)

    no doubt from preexisting conditions..

    R.I.P. America the Beautiful

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:34PM (#1001410)

      I have a pull request, since it seems we need a 1.2 version:

      We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by Nature with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among People, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that humankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of the Working Class; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present Bourgeois-Democratic System is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the Working Class. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @06:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @06:53PM (#1001461)

      I was going to call it "Death of a Nation", but I checked and found out that some asshole from India already used it for his pro-Trump film.

      India, outside of Kerala, is one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, with criminal classism that the US, under Trump, aspires to be.

      "Not Trump is not enough!"

  • (Score: 2) by NickM on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:01AM (11 children)

    by NickM (2867) on Sunday May 31 2020, @04:01AM (#1001278) Journal

    What a great time to be a Canadian that lives in a medium sized town !

    How can the USA be so socially dysfunctional yet still able to send people in space ?

    --
    I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @07:22AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @07:22AM (#1001296)

      Well, India is sending rockets to moon, so ...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @11:53AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @11:53AM (#1001322)

      >> How can the USA be so socially dysfunctional yet still able to send people in space ?

      They rely on corporations to do it for them. NASA is now focused on COVID-19 research.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @01:11PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @01:11PM (#1001339)

      Oh yeah, you Canucks and your wonderful race relations. Are you also required to keep your head in the sand when you live up your way?

      • (Score: 2, Troll) by NickM on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:16PM (3 children)

        by NickM (2867) on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:16PM (#1001429) Journal

        In Quebec it's different, outside Montreal¹, if you somewhat try to speak French, don't wear visible religious signs² and respect equality between sex³, you are welcome and usually supported by the community⁴. However, the professionals associations will make it hard for your diploma to be recognized unless you come from somewhere where they recognize the validity of your diploma⁵. Also we practice cultural integration⁶ while the rest of Canada (ROC) practice multiculturalism.

        Saddly there are racists quebecers but it's a small minority, mostly loud mouthed members of the far right group La meute [wikipedia.org] , recognizable by the wolf paw sticker on their pickup trucks.

        1- Montreal has a different demographic and social dynamic. I don't live there, so I am not in a position to adequately comment.

        2- Unlike France the majority is not anti-muslim nor plainly racist but fiercely anti-clerical. This is explained by our past: until the tranquil revolution (1960-1970) Quebec was ruthlessly dominated and exploited by the clergy. The majority have a profound aversion for anything religious, therefore publicly wearing a cross, a hijab, a kippa, a turban, etc is an effective way to invite ostracisation. This difference between anti-clericalism and racism seems to be beyond the comprehension of the ROC medias.

        3- Second wave feminism is really strong in Quebec but intersectional divisive militant third wave feminism is confined to English speaking universities. I hope it's stays that way as in my opinion, the categorization of victimhood and the shaming of society is a way backward if recognition as equals is your goal.

        4- Article like that https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/colombia-born-sherbrooke-family-deported-1.5376275 [www.cbc.ca] , are relatively frequent. There seems to be a mismatch between the refugee we want and those selected by Ottawa. Regular immigration is controlled by Quebec but the refugees are selected by the Federal government.

        6- Medical or engineering diploma from anywhere except most of Europe and the USA will never be recognized in my lifetime. And even if you come from place where they claim to recognized your diploma, they will needless put bureaucratic hurdles before you can exercise your profession.

        5- That's why we have a relatively low immigrant as we want to integrate the peoples we welcome, while in the rest of Canada most immigrants lives in self-selected/self-reinforcing cultural enclaves.

        --
        I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:44PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @05:44PM (#1001436)

          That's all fine and dandy, but explain poutine.

        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @06:18PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @06:18PM (#1001449)

          Oh those evil racists who don't want to sheepishly become Dhimmi! Brainwashed whites need to wake up. Quit taking your own race and it's culture for granted. Quit engaging in cultural relativism. Keep up your suicidal stupidity and you will have no safe home left. You will be bred out and conquered by Muslims and Africans. As your blood disappears, so will your culture and everything about modern life you take for granted. If you think cultures and races are the same, then why don't you get out ahead of it and move to Africa or the Middle East? It's cheaper. You could live like a king!

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @06:45PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @06:45PM (#1001460)

            So now you're down to race war trolling. Sad.

    • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @07:01PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @07:01PM (#1001464)

      Because there's still some white people left, even though the country's dumb, brainwashed whites have been subsidizing their own destruction via welfare, affirmative action, etc. Now, just watch some of the riot videos and see random violent attacks on whites by blacks and mexicans. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until the shooting starts. 100+ million gun owners in this country and many getting fed up.

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday May 31 2020, @09:34PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday May 31 2020, @09:34PM (#1001507) Journal

        You have some weird taste in porn...

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by dw861 on Monday June 01 2020, @03:38AM

      by dw861 (1561) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 01 2020, @03:38AM (#1001589) Journal

      Is this a reference to Richard R Nelson's 1977 book, "The Moon and the Ghetto"?

      In a more recent 2011 follow-up piece, Nelson begins

      "IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN 30 years since the
      publication of my book, The Moon and the Ghet-
      to (Nelson, 1977), where I tried to highlight a
      nagging and puzzling social question. Why was it
      that a country that recently had accomplished the
      truly remarkable feat of sending a man to the moon
      and bringing him back to earth safely, had wiped out
      scourges like infantile paralysis, and more generally
      had achieved an historically unprecedented standard
      of living for the middle class, for some reason
      seemed unable to provide an effective education for
      ghetto kids, halt or significantly slow down the ris-
      ing cost of medical care, keep the air and water
      clean, or cut down on the incidence of drug addic-
      tion and drug-related crime?"

    • (Score: 1) by Goghit on Monday June 01 2020, @04:19AM

      by Goghit (6530) on Monday June 01 2020, @04:19AM (#1001599)

      I assume you're not speaking of Alberta? A sizeable part of the population keeps looking south and going "Yeah, we want a part of that!"

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @08:36PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @08:36PM (#1001492)

    Had a feeling contact tracing was going to quickly switch to law enforcement. Now they are using it against protesters

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @07:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @07:25AM (#1001637)

      I saw very little opposition to contact tracing apps. It was such an obviously bad idea.

  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Username on Monday June 01 2020, @06:20AM (2 children)

    by Username (4557) on Monday June 01 2020, @06:20AM (#1001624)

    Don't send in federal agencies. Dont do anything. Let the leftist leaders ruin their cities. Let the white antifa burn down the black neighborhoods. Lets them demonstrate how racist they are. Let them take as much rope as they want.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @03:41PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @03:41PM (#1001727)

      Antifa are focused on throwing bricks at the cops while the hoodrats half a mile away burn and loot businesses. It's a match made in Hell.

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