From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Lewis

If you were to ask the question: Why are so many drones the size of cars flying over New Jersey? You would think someone in the government might know.

Alas, this is the “deep state” era and after a history of coverups (from Russian collusion to COVID lab leaks to Hunter Biden’s laptop), the Feds are either lying or incompetent. If it is a high-tech repeat of the Chinese balloon fiasco, you have to wonder what Xi Jinping has on the Biden family.

OK, not really.

Regardless, the drone sightings have spread across the Northeast, near sensitive locations and even temporarily shutting down a local airport — yet federal officials insist there is no security threat. But how would they know unless they are the ones putting them up?

Which, by the way, is one of the so-called conspiracy theories that suggests the Feds might be looking for something nefarious they don’t want the public to know.  The bottom line is no one is being told what is going on, but more and more folks know exactly what they would like to do about it.

Shoot the damn things down.

Predictably, craven New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (who had eagerly reiterated there were “no public safety risks,”) quickly reminded his constituents they don’t have authority to shoot down unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

It is indeed illegal under federal law to shoot at aircraft within the National Airspace System (NAS). And for good reason if you’re talking about protecting lives engaged in military, commercial or personal air traffic.

But as we are witnessing, the centralization of power has its limits. Especially when it comes to preventing state officials from doing their duty. Relying on bureaucrats in Washington to handle local exigencies is still a fool’s errand.

The main obstacle to giving local authorities more leeway has been the largest and most powerful of commercial (and hobby) interests. Amazon and Google haven’t been shy about flexing their lobbying muscle in support of federal preemption of state law that might get in the way of delivery drones constantly buzzing over your house en route to your neighbor’s.

The invasions of privacy could get even worse. Imagine a perverted neighbor with a camera mounted drone hovering outside your bathroom window?

So, who ‘ya supposed to call? Why, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), of course. They’ll get right back to you.

Above and beyond the bureaucratic inertia, homeowners are supposed to count on an FAA that fast-tracked Alphabet’s Wing Aviation drones for consumer-goods deliveries? That was 2019, about a year and a half after I introduced the Drone Innovation Act preventing the Feds from authorizing UAS within the “immediate reaches” above someone’s property without the owner’s permission.

Navigable airspace above 400 feet was left in the hands of Washington, but the legislation allowed for the traditional “police powers” of state and local government to protect common law rights to privacy from an aerial nuisance or trespass.

Not surprisingly, the special interests marshaled their forces to block a bill that would have put reasonable limits on federal preemption of state and local laws, which are especially prevalent in areas “affecting commercial UAS operators.”

Somewhere, Jeff Bezos must still be smiling.

Former Rep. Jason Lewis (R-Minn.) writes at jasonlewis.substack.com and is the author of Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press now out in paperback.

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The irony of the ruling is that Emo’s town hall doesn’t even have a flagpole 

A Canadian town has announced it will seek a “judicial review” regarding a decision that saw it being mandated by a tribunal to pay an LGBT group thousands of dollars because it refused to cave to activists’ demands by declaring June “Pride Month” and flying the related rainbow flag.

In a media statement Thursday, the town of Emo, Ontario, said it has “decided to seek judicial review of the decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. As the matter is proceeding to the Divisional Court, we will not be commenting further at this time.” 

The town noted that it wished “to state that it made a Declaration of Equality in 2022, which remains in effect today.” 

“The Township recognizes the dignity and worth of all people, as well as the barriers of discrimination and disadvantage faced by human rights protected groups, including members of the LGBTQ2+ community,” said the town in its 2022 declaration.  

As reported by LifeSiteNews, last month Mayor Harold McQuaker of Emo, Ontario, was ordered by an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to pay local LGBT activist group Borderland Pride $5,000 for refusing to celebrate the LGBT agenda during the month of June. The town was also ordered to pay $10,000.  

Specifically, the mayor and town had refused to cave to demands to fly the LGBT “Pride flag” and declare the month of June to be “Pride Month.”

After the mayor refused to pay, his bank account appears to have been garnished to pay for damages ordered against him by the tribunal.  

McQuaker had publicly protested the tribunal’s orders, calling them a form of “extortion.” In a vulgar Facebook post, Borderland Pride claimed they were successful in forcing money from the mayor via the garnishing of his bank funds. 

“Sure, sex is great, but have you ever garnished your mayor’s bank account after he publicly refused to comply with a Tribunal’s order to pay damages?” wrote the group on Facebook. 

McQuaker previously had told the Toronto Sun, “I utterly refuse to pay the $5,000 because that’s extortion” and said he would not undergo the Ontario Human Rights Commission re-education course. 

Ontario adjudicator Karen Dawson wrote in her decision against McQuaker that “$15,000 is an appropriate level of compensation for Borderland Pride’s injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.” 

The irony of the ruling is that Emo’s town hall doesn’t even have a flagpole.   

Emo is not the only town in Canada that has recently banned the flying of “Pride” flags from municipal buildings. 

As reported by LifeSiteNews, residents of the Canadian town of Barrhead, Alberta, recently voted in a solid majority to pass a bylaw that will in effect ban pro-LGBT “Pride” themed designs from being displayed on public infrastructure, including such flags on government buildings and rainbow painted crosswalks.  

Residents in the Alberta town of Westlock likewise passed a bylaw that bans all non-governmental flags from municipal buildings and mandates that crosswalks only be painted in the standard white-striped pattern.  

The LGBT indoctrination in Canadian cities and towns via “Pride month,” which often includes flags and painted crosswalks, has been described by LifeSiteNews columnist Jonathon Van Maren as “not a ‘celebration of Pride,’” but as “an assertion of ownership, a declaration of dominance” over “public spaces.”  

Van Maren recently observed celebrated the Emo mayor, writing, “Harold McQuaker isn’t having any of it (LGBT activists demands). And we need more like him.”