SpaceTabs

SpaceTabs t1_j8w1gsu wrote

It's crazy people would float these and not perform the required notifications. Just rando balloons floating around at 8 or 10 miles. I suspect there will be some new laws/fines announced, and communications to local clubs.

https://www.eoss.org/pubs/faqloon.htm

"Unmanned Free Balloons are covered under section 101 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) along with Moored Balloons, Kites and Unmanned Rockets. Call your local control tower and they will mail you a copy of this section. Be prepared to play some telephone tag.

NOTIFYING THE FAA: The FAA wants to know about your flight at least one week in advance. If this is your first flight, call them a month in advance and talk things over with them. You will typically want to call the local "Center". Here in Wisconsin, we call Chicago center. If you can't find their number in the yellow pages, under Department of Transportation, try calling the local airport control tower. Be prepared to play some telephone tag. If other people in your area are flying balloons, ask them who they talk to and get the number from them. (See The Most Important Rule above.)

The FAA center will want to know when you intend to launch, where from (distance and direction from a town on a map), how high you expect to go and what direction you expect it to travel in. This last part can be hard to answer a week in advance, but generally it will follow the prevailing winds in your area. Here in Wisconsin, we always guess that the balloon will travel to the south east. You should also leave your number in case they have questions. If the person you want to speak to isn't in, be sure to leave your name and number so they can get back to you.

24 hours before launch, you have to call your local Flight Service Station (FSS) and file a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) giving the launch site, date and time, expected max altitude, expected rate of climb, expected direction of travel and landing spot. Your local FSS will have an 800 number. These people can also give you the winds aloft if you ask. Most pilots have no use for winds aloft over 30,000 feet, so tell the FSS that you're launching a balloon and ask for wind speed and direction for as high as they have data for. This will typically be about 50-60 thousand feet. Try to get the winds aloft for a reporting station to the west of you because 24 hours later, those winds will have likely moved to your location.

Call FSS the morning of the launch for current winds aloft. You can then get a pretty good idea of where it's going to go so your chase crew can position themselves accordingly.

Call the FSS as soon as you launch and give them your estimated climb speed. They probably won't need to hear anything else from you until the balloon goes above 60,000 feet. Once above 60k, you're in uncontrolled airspace and the FAA doesn't have to worry about you, so tell them when you pass 60k. Call them again when you descend below 60k and when you land."

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SpaceTabs t1_j8qim3h wrote

Local citizens micro managed the vegetation management on utility right of way? Hopefully they learned something. Don't let a few assholes at a council meeting cause a huge outage.

"During the blast, Austin Energy’s Vice President of Field Operations Elton Richards said they have a backlog since changing that policy three years ago."

“Prior to me arriving here, the city council had restricted trimming of trees down to an unsustainable manner,” said Richards, “Since that time we’ve been just pounding on the vegetation. It’s probably going to take another 3 years to get the whole city back on a normal cycle.”

"In 2012, Austin Energy reported that they invested about 9 million annually in its tree trimming program. Council members said that funding has increased in the past two years. Adam Andrzejewski, founder of Open The Books, took a closer look at their recent investments."

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SpaceTabs t1_j630qss wrote

That's the new thing. An attorney can now make a typical case easily span more than one year. Jury selection is super combative and is probably more lawyer work than an actual trial. I know of a single murder from 15 months ago, the defense attorney just filed a motion that discovery isn't finished yet. That's all you need. For something like this they probably held years of depositions, multiple medical experts, paid for a duplicate full background check, etc.

“The government revealed it had been surveilling Mr. Saipov and two of his associates for years, recording his conversations with them to gather information about his personal contacts, professional experiences, finances, and potential exposure to ISIS propaganda, violent jihadism, and Islamic extremism,” Saipov’s attorney Andrew Dalak argued in the heavily redacted filing.

Dalak wrote the government must disclose details of the surveillance and any materials pertaining to his client’s alleged connection to ISIS, so the legal team can mount a defense.

https://www.kbzk.com/cnn-national/2019/03/18/nyc-terror-suspect-sayfullo-saipov-wants-access-to-government-surveillance-of-him/

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SpaceTabs t1_j5nq006 wrote

More recent examples.

January 2022:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/domestic-violent-extremists-plotting-disrupt-us-power-grid-dhs-bulletin-warns/

February 2022:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-men-plead-guilty-conspiring-provide-material-support-plot-attack-power-grids-united

August 2021:

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article253637873.html

Alleged Boise neo-Nazis charged with planning power grid attacks in Idaho, Northwest

A group of men accused of being part of a neo-Nazi movement — including Idaho residents — are facing new federal charges over alleged plans to carry out attacks on energy grid infrastructure in Idaho and the Northwest.

On Friday, members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina filed a superseding indictment against four men: Paul Kryscuk, 35, Liam Collins, 21, Jordan Duncan, 26, and Joseph Maurino, 22. Kryscuk, Collins and Duncan are all former Boise residents already accused of illegally manufacturing and shipping firearms.

The group is accused of organizing on the Iron March forum — a now-defunct neo-Nazi message board — in hopes of creating a “modern-day SS” in the Northwest. The SS was the paramilitary group of the Nazi Party responsible for countless murders in Nazi Germany.

Kryscuk, Collins and Duncan were first arrested in Idaho on Oct. 20 last year, shortly after they were indicted by a North Carolina grand jury. Justin Hermanson, a North Carolina resident, was indicted on Nov. 18, 2020. Maurino, a New Jersey resident and member of the Army National Guard, was indicted in July.

Prosecutors now allege that Kryscuk, Collins, Duncan and Maurino plotted to use assault-style rifles to cause explosions at power substations in Idaho and nearby states. All four allegedly “researched, discussed and reviewed at length a previous attack on the power grid by an unknown group,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Authorities did not say where that attack occurred.

Some in the group had specific duties, according to the indictment. From 2017 to 2020, Kryscuk allegedly manufactured guns while Collins allegedly stole military gear and equipment, including magazines for assault-style rifles. Collins took the military gear and gave it to the others in their group, federal authorities said.

In previous filings, prosecutors said that Collins and Duncan were formerly enlisted members of the U.S. Marine Corps assigned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Hermanson was still enlisted in the Marines at Camp Lejeune at the time of the alleged crimes.

From 2017 to 2020, Duncan was gathering a “library of information” — some public documents and some military-owned information — on guns, explosives and even nerve toxins, before sharing the information with Kryscuk and Collins, according to the newest indictment.

The group also allegedly plotted to destroy power transformers using homemade thermite, a material that burns at over 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Collins allegedly asked others to each buy 50 pounds of Tannerite — a type of binary explosive that can be purchased in the United States — in order to make the thermite.

Hermanson showed an unnamed individual an animated reenactment of the previous power grid attack carried out by the unknown group, according to the indictment. Hermanson reportedly told the person that if the group blew up a power substation, “it would take down the entire regional or coastal power grid and cause chaos for the country,” the indictment says.

Between Oct. 4 and Oct. 9 last year, Collins, Kryscuk and Duncan discussed plans to take out a power grid, according to federal prosecutors, who said that the damage the group was planning could exceed $100,000.

On Oct. 20, 2020 — the day most group members were arrested — authorities found a handwritten document in Kryscuk’s possession that contained a list of roughly a dozen intersections and places in Idaho and other Northwest states with transformers, substations or other power grid components, according to the indictment.

In the months prior, Kryscuk, Duncan, Maurino and an unnamed person met at Kryscuk’s Boise home to conduct live-fire weapons training somewhere outside of the city, according to previous federal court documents. The group also filmed neo-Nazi propaganda video during the weapons training, where they shot assault-style and short barrel rifles, and the video featured the four giving “Heil Hitler” salutes beneath the image of a black sun, a well-known Nazi symbol, federal officials said.

Members of the group were wearing skull masks, which are associated with the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist group in the United States. The video concluded with the display of the phrase, “come home white man.”

Prior indictments outlined how in July 2020, Kryscuk and Duncan discussed the need to watch the social media feeds of Black Lives Matter Boise. Days later, federal authorities reported that Kryscuk was watching a BLM rally at Boise State University. Kryscuk again was seen near a BLM rally on Aug. 18, 2020. In October, before their arrests, Kryscuk and Duncan discussed shooting protesters in Boise and the “end of democracy,” those indictments state.

Instagram messages between Kryscuk and Duncan, which were made public in January court filings, also showed that Kryscuk was trying to get jobs at Idaho prisons, and he was interviewed at least once before his October 2020 arrest. He also said in Instagram messages that he was preparing to take a written exam in the hopes of joining the Boise Fire Department.

As of Friday, Kryscuk and Hermanson have waived their initial appearances in federal court in connection with the new charges. Kryscuk, Collins and Duncan are being held in a North Carolina jail pending trial.

Hermanson was granted pretrial release in February. Maurino was released from custody earlier this week, with a judge setting the conditions of his pretrial release on Wednesday, according to court records.

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SpaceTabs t1_j36oqzt wrote

Definitely the government. The US actually arrested the former defense minister. The DEA had him on multiple intercepts bribing everyone.

The relationship obviously soured after that, probably the reason for Biden's visit.

https://www.propublica.org/article/mexico-drug-cartels-cienfuegos-case-dea

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SpaceTabs t1_j36ddq0 wrote

Mexico goes to the helos and mini guns straight away now. They can strafe the compounds because they are fairly large and open. This was also done just south of Sinaloa in Nayarit a few years ago when the government turned against another drug lord.

This seems to be Mexico's MO now. Take bribes from the cartel until they get too powerful, then raid them with the marines or air force using mini guns. They also pit the cartels against each other because the police aren't very effective.

In the future, these cartels will probably spend less time and money on open compounds because of this and explosive-dropping drones.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/10/mexico-helicopter-gun-drug-cartel-leader-killed

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SpaceTabs t1_j27qtwy wrote

The sheriff said McKay had been convicted of a “third strike" offense last year that should have put him in state prison for 25 years to life but a San Bernardino County judge lowered his bail, allowing his release, and later released him following an arrest for failing to appear at his sentencing.

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SpaceTabs t1_j20iyuy wrote

Looks like there are 10 of these ships from Excelerate. Also Finland is paying almost $500 million for a 10-year contract. That's for 5.5 million people. It's probably less expensive for many countries to do what Germany is doing and setup your own gasport like Argentina. There's other companies in the area developing similar facilities for liquid ammonia storage.

https://excelerateenergy.com/capabilities/fsru/

https://excelerateenergy.com/projects/bahia-blanca-gasport/

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SpaceTabs t1_j1m1lhg wrote

I was convinced it wasn't him when the phone data was impeached. That was seven years ago in 2015. Serial podcast was in 2014. The only people I heard implicating him are the victim's family, and the MD Attorney General Brian Frosh in 2019, but he was obviously wrong.

Fun fact: this month the MD Court of Special Appeals was renamed to the MD Supreme Court.

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