FCC Lets Starlink Provide Service To Cellphones In Area Hit By Hurricane (arstechnica.com) 109
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission gave Starlink and T-Mobile emergency authority to provide satellite-to-phone coverage in areas hit by Hurricane Helene. "SpaceX and T-Mobile have been given emergency special temporary authority by the FCC to enable Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability to provide coverage for cell phones in the affected areas of Hurricane Helene," SpaceX said yesterday. "The satellites have already been enabled and started broadcasting emergency alerts to cell phones on all networks in North Carolina. In addition, we may test basic texting (SMS) capabilities for most cell phones on the T-Mobile network in North Carolina."
SpaceX warned of limits since the service isn't ready for a commercial rollout. "SpaceX's direct-to-cell constellation has not been fully deployed, so all services will be delivered on a best-effort basis," the company said. Starlink is being used to provide wireless emergency alerts to cell phones from all carriers in North Carolina, according to Ben Longmier, senior director of satellite engineering for SpaceX. "We are also closely monitoring Hurricane Milton and standing by ready to take action in Florida," he wrote.
The FCC said (PDF) the approval "enabl[es] SpaceX to operate Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) in the 1910-1915 MHz and 1990-1995 MHz frequency bands leased from T-Mobile in areas affected by the Hurricane Helene." An FCC spokesperson told Ars that the approval is for all areas affected by Hurricane Helene, although it's only active in North Carolina so far. The FCC also said (PDF) that it is granting "special temporary authorities to licensees and issuing rule waivers to help communications providers maintain and restore service, support emergency operations, and assist public safety, including search and rescue efforts." Separately, the FCC last week waived (PDF) certain Lifeline program eligibility rules to help people in disaster areas (PDF) apply for discounted phone and broadband service.
SpaceX warned of limits since the service isn't ready for a commercial rollout. "SpaceX's direct-to-cell constellation has not been fully deployed, so all services will be delivered on a best-effort basis," the company said. Starlink is being used to provide wireless emergency alerts to cell phones from all carriers in North Carolina, according to Ben Longmier, senior director of satellite engineering for SpaceX. "We are also closely monitoring Hurricane Milton and standing by ready to take action in Florida," he wrote.
The FCC said (PDF) the approval "enabl[es] SpaceX to operate Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) in the 1910-1915 MHz and 1990-1995 MHz frequency bands leased from T-Mobile in areas affected by the Hurricane Helene." An FCC spokesperson told Ars that the approval is for all areas affected by Hurricane Helene, although it's only active in North Carolina so far. The FCC also said (PDF) that it is granting "special temporary authorities to licensees and issuing rule waivers to help communications providers maintain and restore service, support emergency operations, and assist public safety, including search and rescue efforts." Separately, the FCC last week waived (PDF) certain Lifeline program eligibility rules to help people in disaster areas (PDF) apply for discounted phone and broadband service.
Mexico (Score:1, Funny)
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I suppose the Jewish Space Lasers are occupied elsewhere.
Re: Mexico (Score:2)
They'll track every 911 usage like this and turn it into a positive PR story. (Nothing wrong with that I guess.)
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Hurricanes taken from asylums, fueled by asylum drugs, allowed into the country by the Harris dictator, all filtering in through the two mile gap in the wall that hadn't been completed!
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Mod parent (FP) As funny and mod censor moderators as non-moderators.
Musk's phone call with Pete Buttigieg (Score:1, Offtopic)
This natural disaster is horrible, but at least we got an episode of the better side of Elon Musk. I really wish he was like that more and stay out of the conspiracy nonsense he currently is addicted to.
Here is one account [msn.com] of it that started out as once of his nasty X sh*t postings based on rightwing BS. He actually ended with a salutatory remark.
Maybe the dude just needs the right kind of attention.
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No, he's got a loud obnoxious boyfriend living there too who pushed him out.
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The actual craziness wasn’t on Elon’s side.
One, the FAA was prohibiting helicopter deliveries of StarLink satellite communication dishes to those in need unless they had officially electronically requested them. But how can those without electronic access make such requests in the first place? This catch-22 could only be resolved by Elon contacting Pete Buttigieg, who untangled the mess.
Two, keep in mind the back-story that helps explain the lack of trust. StarLink won a contract years ago to
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The federal government doesn't want to help, nor do they wany anyone else to help. They want to run these people off their land, just like they did with the Lahaina wildfires. Wealthy powerful interests want the land on the cheap, and this is how they'll get it.
I think the land is already pretty cheap. Hence some of the poorest people among the working class living there.
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Ghu, what a moron.
A lot of those are living 'over th' crick, up the hollar'. And those with who did have electric - I knew someone who lived like that with *zero** electricity - have lost it due to falling trees. But you've never seen trees, since you never come out of the basement.
Or maybe the houses SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BUILT in landslide zones and flood plains?
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That's B.S. They are helping and they want to help. The prohibition for the helicopters is because if all the do-gooders show up it will hinder emergency response and serivces. So keeping the air space free for helicopters is a good thing, keep drones out, keep the damaged roads from being clogged by those bringing in food in the minivans, etc.
But your style of conspiracy nonsense is all the rage these days.
The party got their kickback (Score:1, Troll)
And the FCC contract that was reapportioned to other bidders? It’s connected zero locations so far.
That's irrelevant. What is important here is that the other bidders have already made contributions to Democratic candidates. The party got their kickback.
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And the FCC contract that was reapportioned to other bidders? It’s connected zero locations so far.
That's irrelevant. What is important here is that the other bidders have already made contributions to Democratic candidates. The party got their kickback.
Cite?
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And the FCC contract that was reapportioned to other bidders? It’s connected zero locations so far.
That's irrelevant. What is important here is that the other bidders have already made contributions to Democratic candidates. The party got their kickback.
Cite?
https://www.opensecrets.org/in... [opensecrets.org]
https://www.opensecrets.org/in... [opensecrets.org]
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The FAA publishes its TFRs, which were T, and always in areas that already had too much air traffic, and were coordinated with local authorities.
The fact that someone who didn't know how to navigate the system got confused isn't government incompetence, it's incompetence of the fucking dolt that was trying to navigate a system he didn't understand.
I don't know what kind of outfit Musk runs, but we have an ECR for exactly this purpose (we have b
Re:A little background (Score:5, Informative)
NC would have almost 20K more Starlinks if the FCC hadn't revoked their grant for supplying rural broadband.
The grant for supplying rural broadband was revoked because they did not demonstrate the 100 down/20 Mbps up baud rate required by the contract. They delivered 53 Mbps down/9.7 Mbps up. SpaceX requested that the rules be waived because Starlink was so utterly cool they didn't need to follow the rules, and anyway they promised to do better someday, but the FCC denied their request.
Trump [x.com] coordinated with Musk to get Starlink dishes into the affected areas.
Despite the statement in the tweet, Trump had nothing to do with it.
Re:A little background (Score:4)
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Congrats on having a use case stuck in the past and being happy with internet speeds I had 2 decades ago. If it works for you, great. But you are not a basis for an investment into a future.
One day you may have kids and that kid may hit the "buy" button next to Call of Duty on Steam and your internet is down for the entire rest of the day just because of one purchase, as opposed to the 25min or so it takes me on my actual broadband connection to get what I need.
At no point have we ever trended in the direct
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Why should they have done this? They had some bid requirements and wanted to see who could meet those requirements. Only alter the deal AFTER no one shows up with a solution. If Comcast comes in and says "we can't meet your requirements but we demand to be the winner of the contract!" they'd be laughed at by everyone. Musk thinks that he's a special case and rules should be bent just for him.
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Why should they have done this? They had some bid requirements and wanted to see who could meet those requirements. Only alter the deal AFTER no one shows up with a solution. If Comcast comes in and says "we can't meet your requirements but we demand to be the winner of the contract!" they'd be laughed at by everyone. Musk thinks that he's a special case and rules should be bent just for him.
You're absolutely correct. I suppose I was just looking at it from an end user perspective that something beats nothing. I was ignoring the fact that the people in those areas are still welcome to order starlink on their own without the government being involved.
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Nope. You don't want to set a precedent for companies to receive grant money based on an optimisation of what spec is most cost effective for them to deliver rather than actually meeting the requirements set out. That would make government grant based projects *even worse* than they already are.
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Re: A little background (Score:1)
But the FCC then let the contracts go to major Democrat donors who effectively delivered 0/0. Not a single person was connected by the Biden-Harris admin despite major funds being spent.
And yes, the Trump campaign is coordinating with people on the ground for the collection and deployment of Starlink for people in the affected area while FEMA is slow rolling aid because they laundered their funds to assist illegal immigrants with free housing and now have insufficient funds.
Trump, not Biden, diverted FEMA money to border (Score:4, Informative)
Trump admin pulling millions from FEMA disaster relief to send to southern border [nbcnews.com]
-- https://abcnews.go.com/Politic... [go.com]
--https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-tap-fema-account-step-migrant-deportations-house/story?id=65228929
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But the FCC then let the contracts go to major Democrat donors who effectively delivered 0/0.
Your statement is that the StarLink contract was cancelled in 2023, and the money was used for new contracts that haven't delivered anything yet by 2024? Not terribly surprising, since the required Federal bidding process takes a minimum of nine months.
Your statement that the contracts went to Democrat[ic party] donors lacks a citation.
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Given that rural broadband in my area doesn't demonstrate that, and yet the company gets grants anyway
Without knowing what the specifications were in the contract for the grant that you say your internet provider received, it's impossible to say whether this is relevant. When was this grant issued, for how much, and what were the specifications written in the contract?
does not support your claim.
The statement was that StarLink was unable to deliver the service that met the requirements in the contract, and the contract was rescinded because they service didn't meet specs. Complaints about your own internet service neither support nor
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Hah, Trump is only involved by tweeting how he'd do a better job and would negotiate on day one with the hurricanes to be smaller and remain south of the border. Trump is merely a private citizen, not even especially rich and with lots of money tied up due to legal judgements, and so has not really done anything for the public at all in the last 4 years. Musk at least has some companies that can do something, and the money to throw around if he needs to. Though sometimes Musk comes on too strong (trying to
Re: A little background (Score:2)
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SpaceX is donating dishes and service, they're helping people, that's hardly free. And they also don't need advertising, their satellite network is unrivaled, and they're going to deliver internet service to people who need it around the world. That is, if the government gets out of the way; the FCC chair has raised concerns that StarLink doesn't have any real competition [pcmag.com].
Re: A little background (Score:2)
Wrong solution (Score:2, Insightful)
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They require my organization to have backup power as well for our telecommunications infrastructure.
Towers have, if memory servers, 8 hours minimum battery backup, and a generator.
Of course- if you can't get to the site, you can't keep the generator filled.
We'd love your professional opinion on how to make the system infinitely resilient, though.
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And the FCC contract that was reapportioned to other bidders? It’s connected zero locations so far.
And the new recipients of federal funds are well behaved government contractors. They do all the paperwork and make the proper kickbacks to the democratic party and its candidates.
Re:The sweetest payback? Competent compassion. (Score:4, Informative)
StarLink won a contract 2022
2020, actually.
to deliver thousands of the devices to the hurricane Helene region as part of an FCC program to bring internet to underserved areas, plus many thousands more to regions throughout the country.
A contract that was revoked when it turned out StarLink couldn't deliver the required speed. The company running the contract requested a waiver of the requirements, but the FCC didn't agree.
The FCC also commented that the service required people to buy a $600 satellite dish to receive internet, so despite the government paying for the rural internet, the people being served still had to pay.
Subsequently, in December 2023, three Democrats on the FCC top committee voted to rescind the contract.
Nice trick, since the contract was rescinded in 2022.
Re: The sweetest payback? Competent compassion. (Score:2)
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Probably the confusion here is the initial decision in 22 vs the appeal decision in 23
There seems to be no confusion about the fact that the StarLink system was not able to deliver the specifications promised.
End of story [Re:The sweetest payback? Compete.... (Score:2)
All of your comments are irrelevant to government contracts. They bid on a government project, and the system they bid wasn't able to meet the specifications they agreed to in the contract.
End of story.
If you want a moral at the end of the story, the moral is Elon Musk has a history of promising things that he can't deliver, or delivers years late. This is great for grabbing headlines, but when you agree to a government contract, it's better to put in specifications you can meet now, not hope that later t
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One, that’s obviously just a fig leaf for the unprecedented revocation of a then four year old contract.
Confused about how contracts work, I see.
Two, it was specifically Democrat appointees in the FEC top committee that overrode the contract - not the rank-and-file engineers.
Overrode is incorrect. The contract was void.
The vote was whether or not to adjust it to fit the failures of the service provider (StarLink)
Three, that measurement was a minimum that doesn’t reflect the huge ongoing deployment of additional satellites.
Confused about how contracts work, I see.
Four, even that minimum is practical for almost all home use - including streaming. It’s basically only a major issue for the rare person that “needs” to quickly download a huge torrent.
Confused about how contracts work, I see.
Dude, you're a fucking moron, and you're way the fuck out of your depth.
Sit the fuck down and let the adults talk.
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Dems, Dems, Dems. Oh no, democratic appointees are on a commision, and ALL democrats have sinister ulterior motives, so this explains everything!
Satire of course. But so many MAGA people believe this, because it's being preached to them. What's sinister is that if they believe this is true, then they honestly want Republicans with ulterior motives in charge of everything, because they cannot imagine anyone working for the government who just wants to do their job fairly and follow the rules.
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StarLink won a contract 2022 to deliver thousands of the devices to the hurricane Helene region as part of an FCC program to bring internet to underserved areas, plus many thousands more to regions throughout the country.
Subsequently, in December 2023, three Democrats on the FCC top committee voted to rescind the contract. Why? They claimed StarLink couldn’t be trusted to sufficiently ramp up production and deliver.
Yet StarLink is right now producing 7000 units a day, hooking up folks worldwide, and has already delivered and enabled many hundreds of much needed units to the hurricane Helene region at no charge.
And the FCC contract that was reapportioned to other bidders? It’s connected zero locations so far.
Congress wants to make sure all their money goes to do-nothings. If someone starts doing something it makes everyone else in the chain look bad, so they pulled from StarLink and handed the possibility someone that would do the "right thing" and accomplish nothing, while sucking up massive piles of tax dollars. Gubmint working as expected.
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No. The State of North Carolina is arresting people. We are carrying out the largest relief operation in the United States since Katrina. In the eastern part of the state people are loading tractor trailers with supplies. Our line workers deployed the day of the storm. Teams from law enforcement and emergency services are returning now, while replacement teams are deploying. Thousands of private citizens go through training every year to prepare for these recovery efforts. Some have already gone west, b
Re: FEMA is also arresting people delivering suppl (Score:3)
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This post is genuinely a great example of the depths of incompetence worship that some people have sank to in the wake of pandemic propaganda. People have learned to not believe their lying eyes. The most important commandment of The Party has been fully integrated into their personalities.
Consider the message being sent in the post above, but contrast it with reality on the ground, where help is tragicomically late, and volunteers are still forced to not go into the area to help. And the message above is t
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So how dare you go where you're not told, even through you're obviously needed. HOW DARE YOU? Only government gets to order some people as those who should be helped and others as those that shouldn't.
Well yes... virtually every disaster recovery effort requires central management. Not doing so is not just inefficient but can be outright dangerous. This isn't just government either, private organisations operate the same way.
Re:FEMA is also arresting people delivering suppli (Score:5, Informative)
Aid is tragicomically late because this was a very serious event and emergency response is difficult.
If somebody has the *ability* to help, it implies they have proper training which means they know not to make themselves a victim. I am not in the affected area and have no first-hand knowledge. But well-meaning people without skills or ability who insist on doing things their own way rather than follow directions of leadership are a liability not an asset. It sounds like there are some people who have special appreciation of their own self-proclaimed abilities but who lack actual skill who are upset that they aren't being treated as heroes.
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Clearly so did the person arrested, and he did just that and more.
For which he was punished by those who didn't take such classes, as they were unprotected and unprepared.
If you acted by the logic expressed, you would be against punishing the competent and objectively successful volunteer and for punishing objectively incompetent and objectively unsuccessful local government.
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Your entire premise is the same assumption of gross incompetence combined with worship of actual incompetence. You assume incompetence on the part of the volunteer, who was clearly properly prepared as he flew in, delivered aid and flew out with no problems. And you also assume competence on the part of proven grossly incompetent government that has massive resources and has failed to provide aid.
As I note above, you have fully integrated the first commandment of The Party into your personality. You know th
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delivered aid and flew out with no problems
I thought he was arrested.
As someone who has had to coordinate with ECRs and disaster relief as a business that provided "essential services", yes, the volunteer is usually incompetent.
Does that mean all are? Of course not- but how are we supposed to know? The math is fucking simple.
The manpower it takes to get 1 dumbfuck out can cost multiple other people their lives. It's simply not worth the risk.
Dumbfucks who get in the way end up being another person that has to be pulled out in the vast majority
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“I originally left my son, copilot, on the side of the mountain. [The helicopter] was kind of unstable, so I didn’t want to put more weight on the helicopter to lift it back off. So, I left my son with the other victim. And I was just going to take one person down at the time."
A few hours later the qualified people came and made a rescue. He achieved nothi
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The story as a whole makes perfect sense once you mirror it to what happened on Maui. And there's a reason why these guys are marked for "any violations we can find" by authorities.
https://nypost.com/2024/10/07/... [nypost.com]
Bureaucracy acts to serve and maximize bureaucracy. The story as long as Ming Dynasty at least.
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There were no flight restrictions when that pilot made the first rescue. The restrictions only appeared after the confrontation on the ground. The pilot did nothing wrong. In fact, the pilot rescued one individual which the government had been unable to rescue.
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This is the solid 80 IQ response. You are unable to grasp the concepts of average complexity such as "those competent, able and willing should be allowed to act so long as they don't interfere with others" and "government in this region has objectively demonstrated gross incompetence (compare to Florida's response for a competent government response and contrast the two)". My point is that in these cases, government should at least be competent enough to do minimal harm by staying out of the way of more com
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I assume the truth-in-advertising laws mandate that you preface all your posts with that, Leroy.
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It's a filter to keep people who's emotional response lowers their intelligence so much that they are unable to read more than one line before knee jerking from spoiling conversation further.
And it worked in this case.
Re: FEMA is also arresting people delivering suppl (Score:1)
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) âoedoes not have the fundsâ to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season â" after the agency spent more than $1.4 billion since the fall of 2022 to address the migrant crisis.
âoeWe are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,â
âoeWe are expecting another hurricane hitting,â he added. âoeWe do not have the funds. FEMA d
Re: FEMA is also arresting people delivering supp (Score:1)
Both quotes are correct. The funding has been approved and thus doesnâ(TM)t need re-approved, the Biden-Harris admin needs more money because they already spent it all on preventable non-emergencies.
Basically this is the same as an alcoholic going back to the welfare office because he doesnâ(TM)t have money for food. The problem is that giving him even more money still wonâ(TM)t give him any food.
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Republicans in the House voted for $2B additional this year to bail FEMA out. What are you talking about?
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FEMA can only spend as Congress allocates.
Period. To do otherwise is literally an impeachable offense.
Congress allocated money for the migrant crisis, and they allocate money for disaster relief.
All Federal agencies work in this way.
They could spend every penny of their disaster relief money, and not a single penny of their migrant crisis relief money, and if they decided to take even a single penny from the latter for the purpose of the former, it's quite literally a
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You don't have to file a flight plan if you're flying VFR. Flying VFR doesn't put other flights at risk. If that were true, we'd have midair collisions happening all the time.
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The FAA has evolving flight restrictions over the affected area. They have staff operating out of the NC Emergency Operations Center, managing access to the area. Drones and private aircraft can deliver aid, but they need to coordinate with authorities on the ground.
https://www.faa.gov/airtraffic... [faa.gov]
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This is completely normal and happens all over the place all year.
If a pilot doesn't know how to look up local TFRs, it's time for them to lose their license.
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I don't know if anyone has been arrested. I do know that a state of emergency was declared, which gives law enforcement the authority to control where people go and where they can gather. Local officials have clearly stated that anyone who is not from their respective jurisdictions will not be allowed to enter without authorization.
The Federal Government doesn't grant FEMA officials any law enforcement powers. Some may have those powers as part of their primary job roles. For example, an FBI agent could
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Yup, keep the airspace clear. I've seen a few stories before this hurricane of emergencies helicopters being unable to land because of drones showing up to the accidents and taking pictures.
If people want to help then just call up the Red Cross and ask where you can deliver the food and supplies.
A lot of what is driving this is Trump preaching over and over that the feds have not responded or are not being effective, which is not the case.
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And that is precisely why he was arrested!
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That's a lie. And given all the MILITARY helicopters and aircraft in use, he endangered others.
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What helicopters and aircraft
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Federal LEO is not on site in the fucking mountains.
His beef is with the State of North Carolina, if it isn't outright bullshit.