Odd News: Florida Man Admits to Damaging Walmart Delivery Drone by Shooting It

As retailers seek to offer faster than ever deliveries, drone delivery, where a small or medium sized package can be lifted from a local distribution center and dropped on your front porch, is emerging as a possible delivery method that's potentially more environmentally friendly and possibly faster than traditional courier delivery. However, it seems that some US citizens choose to shoot at any drones that fly by, believing that their privacy is somehow being violated. Recently a man in Florida found out what are the consequences after he shot a Walmart delivery drone that flew by his house. 

DJI Inspire Drone with HD Cam, delivery drone would be even larger
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Dennis W was arrested in Florida after he admitted to shooting at a drone that flew by his house. He claimed he saw it approaching, went to the gun safe, retrieved a 9mm pistol, then at the height of about 75 ft (for the drone), gave it one shot, which apparently hit. As the drone landed back at Walmart a bullet hole was observed in the central area, and law enforcement was summoned, and through the drone flight log the deputies narrowed down the shot origin to Dennis W's residence. Deputies went there to interview Dennis W, where he admitted to the shooting. He claimed he had been harassed by drones before, which were surveilling him. Deputies then told him he shot a Walmart delivery drone. His reaction was "Really?"

Dennis W is facing 3 charges... the most serious of which is a FEDERAL charge... shooting at an aircraft. 

That's right... It is a FEDERAL crime to shoot at an aircraft, including drones. Federal laws and regulations makes NO distinction between a drone vs an airliner. It is a Federal FELONY to shoot at an aircraft, punishable by fine and up to 20 years in prison. It was not a new ruling... It had been around 2016. 

Yet you'll see gun and archery owners joke about "it's open season" if drone delivery is being scaled up in their area. 

And let's just say more than a few police drones were shot by people. 

But the speed and efficiency of drone delivery seems to outweigh the risks... Amazon and Walmart both wanted to expand use of drone delivery, and many fast food places are considering it as well. Some even started up pilot programs, including Wendy's (in collab with DoorDash) and Chick-fil-a's. 

Except no one can evaluate how many... weapon practitioners may choose to risk Federal prosecution just for a chance to claim they bagged a drone, because they "believe" they're being harassed. 

Judging by the hostility toward self-driving cars which are far less ubiquitous and obviously, limited to public roads and streets, I'd be more pessimistic than optimistic. 

Political COVIDiocy: Why the Republican Party is full of Freedumb Anti-Intellectuals

Recently, it's clear that the Republican Party, is full of anti-intellectuals who goes against the public good for "freedom". But how did it all get to this point? 

We may have to go back to some disturbing trends of the Republican party on how they portray what they consider to be American values. 

Let's take a look at a freshman congressman, Madison Cawthron, North Carolina 11th District, Republican, wheelchair user, soon to be divorced. What's notable about him? He was one of those that addressed the January 6th crowed. He blamed democrats for subverting the crowd, and was one of the last to admit there was no voting fraud that elected Biden. He's antimask and antivaccine, claiming that a proposed plan to send people door to door to convince you to vax will lead to g-men to "take your guns" and "take your Bibles". Don't believe me? This is all verified. He just made news announcing to a mostly college age crowd that they should drop out of college unless they want to become doctor or lawyer or engineer. He dropped out of college to work for a politician Mark Meadows, who later told him to run for his own seat, and he won. He considers himself the new face of the Republican Party. 

Cawthron is still an athlete and supposedly trained for wheelchair racing. He still goes to shooting range regularly. This was a relatively recent photo:

Guns are a very sensitive subject around conservative Republicans, because white masculinity is intertwined with gun ownership in the US, even though there is no legal barrier for anyone else to own guns. It is believed that white men use guns as a phallic symbol to reclaim their social status.  

Now, also keep in mind that Cawthorn just declared to a crowd of fellow young conservatives to abandon higher education like he did, at "Americafest" hosted by Turning Point USA. 

No higher education means you're probably stuck at a menial job, and you probably need a gun to make yourself feel like a man. 

But what's really disturbing is the following 14 signs. I won't explain where they come from yet, but I'll just list them, and see how many of them you see in the current Republican party:

1. Tradition
2. Rejection of science and reason
3. Just do it, don't think
4. Disagreement is treason
5. Fear of difference, xenophobia
6. Appeal to social frustration
7. Obsession with a plot
8. Enemy is both weak thus defeatable, yet strong enough to be feared
9. Pacifism is consorting with the enemy
10. Contempt for the weak
11. Everyone can be a hero
12. Machismo and weaponry
13. Selective populism, influencer look as if they represent the everymen
14. Newspeak

How many of these signs did you see? I see a lot of 2 (antivax), 3 (Jan 6th), 4 (polarization), 6 (anti mandate!), 7 (Qanon!), 11 (Lionizing Rittenhouse), and 12 ("Don't tread on me"). I guess Cawthorn himself can be a bit of 13.  

The 14 signs I listed are "14 typical elements of Ur-fascism" by Umberto Eco, originally published in New York Review of Books in an essay. 

Yes, I am stating that IMHO, the US Republican Party is moving toward fascism. And this is VERY disturbing. 

And it's even more disturbing with a new tweet from Rand Paul

How to steal an election: “Seeding an area heavy with potential Democratic votes with as many absentee ballots as possible, targeting and convincing potential voters to complete them in a legally valid way, and then harvesting and counting the results.”https://t.co/LwE3MdeWeG

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 27, 2021

This is quite disturbing, because what Rand Paul has described is absolutely legal, and indeed, is the proper way to get your constituents to get out and vote (or absentee vote). He even called it "legally valid way". So why is it "steal an election"? 

It's clear that the Republican party has gone onto "newspeak"... they will randomly redefine a word to fit their own mindset instead of using the true definition of the word. And that's sign #14 above. They are redefining the word "stealing" to denigrade something they failed to do. 

And it is VERY worrying for the future of the Republican party.