More on Drones
So, where are the drones – on holiday?
A recent story in the Asbury Park Press quoted the Ocean County Sheriff as saying that drone reports have “decreased considerably.”
They had peaked over the weekend of Dec. 7 and 8, he said.
What this means is subject to interpretation, but here’s one observation – whoever was operating the drones must have had Christmas shopping to do.
That, naturally, would exclude drones coming from an “Iranian mothership.”
Yes, Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew said that. And his GOP colleague Chris Smith also pointed to North Korea, China or Russia. Both raised those possibilities without any real evidence, mind you, as the mayhem over drones peaked about two week ago.
An interesting New York Times story on Christmas Day – admittedly not a high readership day – nonetheless attributed the reports to a contractor working at Picatinny Arsenal, Rockaway Township, who by chance saw a drone while sitting in his car near the base in mid-November. Since this was – and is – a military base, he reported his sighting to authorities.
Now we know what happened next.
Drone reports seemed to multiply every day, or rather, night.
Social media, as one would suspect, quickly became a sounding board for reports and, of course, all types of offbeat conspiracy tales.
We were being spied on.
Our enemies were up to no good.
Our government was up to no good.
Watch for the “dirty bomb.”
It wasn’t just social media and it wasn’t merely politicians like Van Drew and Smith.
Just about all elected officials from Phil Murphy on down demanded answers about the drones.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer held more than one press event about the drones and even put a page on his website for people to report what they are seeing. That was on Dec 16.
Now, as we have gotten to Christmas, sightings have dropped.
They can certainly pick up again, but nobody knows.
What we do know is that despite the hoopla, nothing untoward happened.
Which does bring up a rough parallel to the “War of the Worlds” spoof about Martians landing in New Jersey in 1938. Imagine if something similar occurred today in the age of social media. That would be scary.
Drones are not Martians, but as of now, a lot of the reaction seems a bit overblown.
Then again, a lot of this has to do with personal beliefs.
I saw a report about multiple drones – the size of SUVs – spotted over Roxbury Township, Morris County.
Hmm. I live in Roxbury and I have not seen any drones. Then again, I haven’t looked for any.
As stated, it’s all a matter of personal perspective.
Grover’s Mill was not attacked this time.
People probably realized how much air traffic actually flies over NJ. Everything I saw in various media outlets, were aircraft, with Venus thrown in for good measure. Some were clearly airliners, right down to there paint scheme.
Already have, spotted 4 over Highland lakes last night, as well as catching video of a white lit one, going dark the moment a multi colored one pops up about 50 yards behind it.
Just “don’t look up ” and they will not be there. Yes mass hysteria Is always a possibility but then again they were either there or not there.. Not personal perspective in my opinion…
Orson Wells is smiling.
I’m certain I observed one in Warren County NJ.
Then again in the 80s I also observed black helicopters!
I’ve seen them almost every night. Live near Earle
They are prepping us……to reduce shock
No I’ve seen them every night and one night they were hovering over a random person.
Probably less reports because people realize nothing will be done about it anyway until one of those drones drop a bomb. The people are not being taken seriously and trust in our government has depleted.
We have drones above every night since the beginning of November. Two static positions low, but always in the same location. Moving drones have dwindled.
The FAA put a temporary ban on all drone flights. Nuff said.
My family lives near the bay. See them coming in low from the water. Clearly drones, not planes. They may have stopped for whatever reason, but they *were* real. Obviously our government knows what they were and chose not to tell us for whatever reason.
Zero chance there are less drones magically during the holiday season when most of the government officials are operating them are on vacation right?
Guarantee you will see an uptick in drone activity on January 3rd.
They (Our government knows exactly what these drones are or they would of been destroyed before anyone even knew because that’s what are military in the past has done . What they want with NJ especially down here where most drones are, I have no idea. Looking for missing anything in NJ please. Souch land where we live and they are still here we just don’t hear or notice them as much cause they are now flying over late night. The gov. will make us believe we are under alien attack which will never be, but they will scare most Americans into believing this so that they take complete control over mass population and smart ones already know Biden just signed a petition stating that American military has the right to kill American citizens who protest or are unwilling to follow the ,,, wait for it,,,,,,,,,, new world order that the government is going to deliver very soon. Yes, we were busy looking at drones while he signed that petition and Harris Biden cancelled their Christmas plans to have a meeting at the White House. Almost as late as them enjoying a beach day or talking in jails about transgender while North Carolina people were dying and they knew exactly what was happening. Makes me sick and get no one talks about it anymore. No one talks about Hawaii burning —mmmmmmmm I wonder why our government would purposely damage all that is pure in Hawaii?????? Why would they do that???? Distraction cause they are building planning etc. Antarctica is a fortress of weapons yet we are supposed to believe it’s our scientists researching global warming
Dw, please consult someone ( a Republican, if that will make you feel better) who can set you straight: not everything you see on the internet is true.
2 simple words. Mass hysteria. I fly FPV style drones as a hobby and is forever ruined because of this. I love capturing beautiful scenery safely. But now I have to worry about the cops being called every time I fly.