A New Toy For Private Eyes, filmmakers and TV News Producers--The Blade 350 QX

Blade 350 QX  Quad-Copter with a GoPro Camera Mounted 

Los Angeles, CA—As a PI, TV news producer and filmmaker I’m always looking for new, quick and effective ways of quality image and video making. 

Arial shots were always expensive because rotor or fixed wing aircraft was necessarily involved.  You got a one-time look for a lot of cash. 

Satellite imagery was available but not on the Internet.  You had to buy expensive and often incomplete stock images from NASA. 

The first game changer was Google earth that provided great images from most areas of dry land in the world.  The photo resolution was kind of so-so and the images are not regularly updated.

Now there is the latest Gee Wiz video-making device ever!   It’s the Blade 350 QX offered by B&H PHOTO 1-800-221-5743 when combined with the popular GoPro cameras is amazing .  They are those new and rather small, easy to operate Quad-Copters that are battery powered and operated by remote control.

The little drone can be driven to any location and deployed in the air within a minute.  It will fly 1000 feet high or higher than our tallest buildings and as much as a mile in any direction.  The very quiet little GoPro camera can shoot a series of high-resolution still photos or 1080p high definition video.

The GoPro can transmit video on a several second delay to an iPad or iPhone so the operator can see just what he’s captured.  Currently the devices are limited by battery to 10 minutes flying time.  However keeping several extra charged batteries on hand could extend that time.

The video can be imported and edited on all current software programs with ease.  

For tiny budget filmmakers this is a dream come true.  You can get those breathtaking aerial shots without breaking the bank. 

For TV news organizations this is an incredible tool.   The operator can simply drive near any crime, fire or accident scene and from blocks away from the dreaded yellow tape safely capture the action unobtrusively from 25 or 75 meters above. 

For the smaller TV markets with limited budgets helicopters are out of the question.  With the Quad-Copter cameras they can now do what was formerly impossible. 

For private eyes the possibilities are endless.  For search and rescue work difficult to inspect areas are a snap for this equipment.

Then there are roofers, real estate sales people and others that would benefit from the use of a Quad-Copter Camera.   The need for repetitive and dangerous ladder climbs has all but ended.

The legality of this device and its uses are under review by the FAA.  Currently there are no discernible restrictions for use by hobbyists. 

These wonderful machines will be flying off store shelves later this month.  They are being marketed by B&H PHOTO www.bhphotovideo.com  The price to obtain this machine is $469.99.

The GoPro Hero3 Black edition camera runs an additional $400.00 and they are available at www.gopro.com or thousands of retailers like Target.

I sent out a nationwide dragnet to get one of these machines for evaluation and review and can't wait to show my visitors this thing in action. Let's hope I can beat the target delivery date with some videos.  

Below are some videos that show this marvelous machine in action:

Protecting Local TV News Crews From Armed Robbery and Mayhem

Los Angeles, CA—Aside from being a licensed private investigator I’m also a freelance investigative TV news field producer.  I was drafted into TV news because of my investigative skills and advanced knowledge of courts, cops and public records.  

I’m proud to say I never failed to hose the competition on the various news stories I worked on over the years.  That’s all changed now because the shrinking budgets have greatly reduced ability news directors have to hire freelancers.  Todays local TV news is no longer competitive and it has be reduced to sending a two person crew out to cut a mediocre one minute, 30 second package or slap together a quick broadcast live shot. 

By accident I had a second role with my TV clients and that was dealing with security matters.  For example I would be assigned to deal with some of the more aggressive stalkers that pursued some of the more popular anchors and reporters.  I served lots of restraining orders on the offenders and even arrested a couple of them.   Of course this kind of function must be discreetly handled so that neither my clients nor I attract attention for others in the news business.

In the past couple of years there has been a new and dangerous problem.   Armed robberies of news crews primarily targeting expensive cameras, laptops, cellphones along with cash and jewelry are in vogue.   This has been a huge problem in Oakland California and news coverage has been significantly reduced there as a result. 

TV journalists no longer have to wait till they’re sent to a war zone to experience raw fear because it’s here now too.  Perhaps it’s the result of the economy, mass early release of prison inmates or both.  It’s only a matter of time until some reporter or photographer is killed while covering local news. 

Often there are plenty of cops around where news happens but just as the lonely shot above shows my friend, TV reporter and anchor Robert Kovacik all alone without a cop in sight. 

Incidentally Kovacik was doing a live shot one morning, covering a murder when he was actually interrupted during his standup by the actual killer!  Kovacik never missed a beat as he grabbed an exclusive interview before the suspect surrendered to the police.

In Oakland they actually hired some uniformed and armed security guards for their news crews.   However, recently a reported robbery netted not only the TV news gathering gear but also the guard’s gun! 

Guard services generally employ slow-witted and poorly trained people for even armed duty because security work is rarely financially rewarding.  A warm body with a gun and a snappy uniform is hardly more than a distraction. 

The best kind of security is invisible and of course there is safety in numbers.  What the newsrooms need are a few hybrid types like me.  Highly trained former cops that can discreetly carry a firearm as a last resort, that also really functions as a news crew member helping with equipment and news gathering.  An extra crew member can help set up and tear down the broadcast equipment reducing the time that valuable news assets are exposed to danger.

Because if my presence with news crews I have defused many sticky situations where people became angry that they were suddenly news worthy.  It is not as easy to push a photographer around or assault him or the reporter if there is a fellow crew member running interference. 

News crews must learn how to evaluate risky locations and have a viable safety plan worked out between them.  Securing cameras and high dollar equipment that is not actually in actual use is necessary. 

At night using normal TV lighting, as a way to blind potential opportunistic criminals is a great deterrent.  Robbers can often become discouraged if they are simply momentarily blinded and can’t even see what they want to steal.

Insurance may cover the cost cameras but that is always a slow process.  The emotional damage to even physically uninjured reporters can create a significant disruption to any news department.  

There are a lot of honorably retired and well-educated and trained cops that can add significant news gathering ability to newsrooms and they are allowed by law to carry firearms.  Firearms do save lives in the right hands.  A field producer/security agent must know how to use his brain more than a gun.  The absolute goal is to keep security invisible while protecting lives and property.

I’d love to get some time these days with a night side news crew covering crime stories if only they could afford me.  I’m also well qualified to audit any news department’s security program.   At the end of the day the news station owners need to provide a safe workplace for their crews with minimum risk of liability.

I’ve not seen my job description on any news department’s recruiting materials.  I think that will be changing soon.

The Incredibly Deceitful Obama Administration Wants Our Trust and Support for Yet Another War?

Washington, DC—It’s déjà vu, all over again!  Let’s see, they lied to us about that that attack on the Benghazi compound, that took the life of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others in Libya.   Absolutely knowing otherwise, they audaciously claimed the slaughter was instigated by an obscure YouTube film trailer that was somehow offensive to Muslims.

The Benghazi lies continue even though they’ve been exposed for nearly a year.  Today they call it a, “phony scandal.”  Impeachment and criminal trials are long overdue however Obama controls the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Then there is the Fast and Furious Gunrunning Scandal designed to fabricate an American Gun Control Crisis.   That fiasco needlessly took the lives of two U.S. Border Patrol Agents along with that of hundreds of Mexicans.

Next there is the targeting of Conservative political groups and individuals for special IRS intimidation, extortion and harassment. 

That was followed up with the Justice Department's undisputed seizure of Associated Press phone records.  The phone and e-mail snooping by the Obama Administration makes Nixon’s Watergate scandal tame by comparison.

The pattern of deception by the Obama Administration against the American people and our military people putting their lives on the line is despicable, deplorable and downright disgusting.  It is also a government run crime wave.

Now these same criminals are demanding we bomb Syria because they bombed their own people.  What are the real reasons our Nobel Peace Prize winning War Criminal is demanding this action? 

The impassioned, “We Must Bomb Syria” speech by the well-know American traitor John Kerry is so reminiscent of that Communist’s similar lies during the Viet Nam War.  

The Obama Administration wants to turn our young fighting men and women into war criminals just as the Third Reich did with loyal German troops. 

We must stop the Obama Administration cold along with all of the Communists and Criminals that support these bums in our government.  

Our military has the duty to arrest, try and seek punishment for the most lawless U.S. presidential administration in history.   Americans must begin to demand action while they still can. 

Our Military Leaders Must Remember the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials!

Nuremberg, Germany—When the Third Reich collapsed and surrendered in 1945 those Nazi military leaders that could be found were rounded up, jailed and tried by a special tribunal of those victorious Allied Nations. 

To a one the accused military suspects cited as a defense that they were only following orders and that had they disobeyed those orders they would have been shot or hanged.

The international precedent was established that eliminated that defense and the defendants were held to a standard the precluded Waging Aggressive War and Crimes Against Humanity.  Nearly every defendant was found guilty and most of them were hanged.

Now Barack Obama has put our military leaders at a crossroads similar to the Nazi regime.  Hitler engaged in starting war after war and Obama is doing precisely the same thing.  Our military leaders must not allow themselves to be taken down the war crimes path by our psychotic Commander and Chief.

This is not about pacifism or becoming a Contentious Objector but the duty all solders have to not follow unlawful orders. 

Our members of the military have taken an oath, not to Obama but to the U.S. Constitution.   If there s reasonable doubt that an order is lawful, members of our military have a duty to refuse such orders.

At some point the military may have a solemn and sworn duty to arrest the President and other officials in our government for war crimes and treason.  Our military needs to know that America backs them if they follow their oaths.  

Following a war criminal's orders may lead to disgrace and actual execution as s depicted n the film below:

Worldwide Defense Investigation For Military Members Accused Under UCMJ

Washington, DC—As a military veteran I’m well aware of the failings of criminal investigations conducted by company commanders, Military Police and the CID.  They do the best they can but there are serious issues with investigative training and the military’s poor use of assets to find the truth.

I’ve expanded my services to the United States military members accused of serious crimes worldwide.  Family members of accused servicemen and women need to dispatch me to the alleged crime scenes and to the military defense lawyers as quickly as possible because very often I can make a difference.   

Once there is an allegation of a crime a decision is made as to pre-trial confinement for the accused.  If it’s a serious crime the stockade or the brig is the next stop for the charged member.  An Article 32 Hearing is scheduled and this is a magic window of sorts for me as a criminal defense investigator.  If I can gather enough helpful evidence and witnesses for the defense counsel the entire case can end right there.

If this is after the Article 32 Hearing I have many months to look for evidence and witnesses to either exonerate or mitigate the matter to lesser chargers.  I have four decades of experience behind me.  

The greatest defense lawyer cannot investigate and risk becoming a witness in his own case.  That’s why we have defense investigators.  The problem is there are too often not enough funds to hire a competent defense investigator.

I’m comfortable traveling to wherever these cases are filed by the military.  I know my way around the entire European Theater as well as parts Asia.  I also speak German  I’m ready to go at a moments notice with my extensive yet compact video gear.

If the case is in a post conviction stage I deal with those too.  I enjoy finding out evidence that will right an injustice even years later.  These however are usually difficult cases because all but the most convincing proof will not help. 

Liberals Were Mistaken About Barack Obama, He’s Not One of Them

Washington, DC- George W. Bush was a lot of things but a Conservative was not one of them.  Americans are ignorant and assume what they are told but more importantly what they want to believe.  

Labels such as Republican or Democrat are meaningless anymore.  What happened was that areas of the country that are either heavily controlled by either of these parties spawned pretenders.  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is an example. A Conservative has no chance to win an election so Left Wing politicians know that they can in effect create a second Primary Election by simply opting for a Republican label.  The strongest Left Winger wins in New Jersey and similar states.

The RINO (Republican In Name Only) is a pretender and they are able to win the votes of both Democrats and those Republicans that don’t understand the RINO phenomena. Often the RINO is even further Left than the Democratic candidate.

Among Democrats particularly in Bible-Belt areas of our nation, they have the so-called Blue Dog Democrats that are often really Conservatives. 

As for Barack Obama he was the stranger with the vaguest and nebulous agendas ever.  He offered Hope and Change.  He also said he would fundamentally change America.  Since Obama was Black and viewed as a Liberal they wanted to and still do believe Obama was somehow one of them.   Obama has his own ideas and they are a lot of things but traditionally Liberal is just not one of them.

Liberals traditionally have a platform that:

1.     Zealously protects citizen’s privacy

2.     Rejects Capital Punishment

3.     Protects the working man’s job and standard of living

4.     Full due process and the fair trials for those accused in our in courts

5.     That the disabled’s needs are met

6.     That the poor have real education, job training and a future

7.     Healthcare for everyone

8.     Protected retirement funds for every worker

Obama has simply failed in helping meet any traditional Liberal goals.  Instead he has achieved the following:  

. .     Taxation and over-regulation killed millions of jobs.

2.     NDAA, ending Posse Comitatus, NSA domestic spying have absolutely murdered American’s privacy, due process rights while broadening the Patriot Act and the TSA’s Unlawful searching

3.     Obamacare cannot be realized without nearly full employment so now things are worse than ever

4.     Educated and skilled workers can’t find jobs

5.     Social Security is obviously doomed

6.     We now have a Police State in every respect

7.     Pushing so-called immigration reform gives illegal immigrants job preference over America’s own under-employed and poor while opening our entitlement s to all of Mexico and central America.

The only thing Barack Obama has accomplished is dividing America, killing millions jobs and bringing this nation into a pending Armageddon.

Americans have been fleeing their birthplace and renouncing their citizenship at record levels.  Our Nobel Peace Prize winning President has broadened our wars far beyond that of George W. Bush.  Obama has brought America to its knees without ever missing his constant world-class vacations or golf outings 

As for American’s privacy the only success Obama has had is keeping his own passport, educational, birth, Social Security, Illinois State Bar records and our Whitehouse visitor logs away from prying eyes. 

Today even our staunchest Liberals are beginning to admit Obama’s direction is not what they envisioned.  Many of them have abandoned Obama.  More and more African-Americans are discovering Obama’s constant lies and betrayals.

Is Barack Obama so incompetent or did he purposely set out to destroy America and our way of life?   Obama is a fraud in every respect.  Obama is far worse than Benedict Arnold, Alger Hiss, Aldrich Ames and the Rosenbergs.   Barack Obama must be arrested, tried, convicted and punished for Treason. 

Was a Phoenix Ex Convict, Baby Daddy Really Smoking Weed While His Baby Cooked To Death in the Car?

Phoenix, AZ--Daniel Gray is what you might call a real Marijuana Aficionado.  Between 2003 and the present he’s been arrested and convicted four times for felony marijuana related charges.  He took a bigger fall more recently when he went down for Aggravated DUI in 2010 and served time at the Arizona State Prison.

Along the way Gray garnered several misdemeanor convictions for Driving While License Suspended, Reckless Driving and False Reporting.

After his release from prison in 2012 Gray hooked up with Rebecca Hillary and made a baby three months ago who was named Jamison Gray.   Police say that yesterday apparently Daniel Gray used Hillary’s 2003 Oldsmobile to take a ride with the infant over to BT Sports Pub on North Scottsdale Road in order to smoke some weed with a new employee.  

It was a typically hot summer day and the baby was left in his car seat for over an hour with no air conditioning while dad sat on the car getting stoned. The predictable happened and the baby perished in the heat.

It turns out that Gray and the infant’s mother do not share the same domicile.  So far Rebecca Hillary has not talked to the media.  I suspect that the mother will have a lot to say after she has learned just how her baby died.   

Today Daniel Gray is in jail held on $100,000 bail and has a status conference scheduled for September 5^th.   Gray is charged with one Count of Reckless Manslaughter and one count of Reckless Child Abuse

The horror of this story is unimaginable, unforgivable and disgusting.   I think that Daniel Gray will be come the underclass of whatever prison he’s sent to for this incredible crime. 

Guerilla Filmmaking, Film Permits and Extortion In Southern California

California Film Permit Czar

Los Angeles, CA—The great film director Werner Herzog advises young filmmakers to forge film permits!  The permits require hefty fees, expensive liability and workman’s comp insurance that aspiring filmmakers simply cannot afford.   The result is lost art and missed opportunities as government tyranny once again raises its ugly head. 

The minimum permit fee weighs in at $1,000.00 and when you add in additional requirements making films in Southern California is extraordinarily difficult for all but well-financed studios.  Of course the studios are smart enough to film anywhere far away from the L.A. Film Permit Nazis. 

Film permits are required even if you’re shooting inside your own home!  The cops will be sent out to shut down no budget productions and to cite these dangerous criminals.   This is just another sad example of government excess. 

I think every filmmaker understands that if streets must be shut down and dangerous stunts are filmed there are legitimate issues of cost and public safety.   But a tiny production by hobbyists, film students or beginners does not deserve the boot of government on their necks. 

Steven Spielberg made his first films as a child in Arizona.  He never had to fear that cops would shut him down.  Imagine what would have been lost had that legendary filmmaker been deterred by extortionate government thugs?

In Los Angeles the aspiring artists resort to what we call Guerrilla Filmmaking.  They hide their movie making activities and shoot scenes with a sharp eye out for the cops.  We’ve seen the government clamp down on children’s lemonade stands in recent times and this makes about as much sense. 

The cost of film equipment has plummeted, as the quality has been better than ever!  People are learning the magic of making films and the quality that amateurs are accomplishing is astounding.

Whatever happened to the First Amendment?  When did we began to tax expression, art and thought?  

More importantly if you kill filmmaking productivity through tax extortion and over-regulation normal income taxes won’t be realized either.  The result of this insanity is that a huge percentage of film production has run far away from Southern California. 

The politicians don’t seem to understand that the people left behind are the non-productive, imprisoned criminals and those addicted to entitlements.  Does the City of Detroit mean anything to anyone?

Unintended Dangerous Consequences of Immigration Amnesty

Los Angeles, CA—In addition to the felons and mental patients we know about there are some 11,000,000 people that are forbidden to possess guns in America.  Illegal aliens are currently in the class of prohibited possessors.  Most of them are from Mexico or Central America.  

Things being the way they are we cannot determine these alien's criminal histories in their home nations.  Try getting criminal and mental health records from any of our Southern neighboring nations.  Background checks in that regard simply cannot be accomplished.  

If our government grants Green Card status or citizenship to the illegal aliens they will automatically be able to purchase, possess and carry firearms.  We will have no way of knowing if they have criminal records for wife beating, robbery, rape burglary, drug trafficking in their own countries.  How about the dangerous mentally ill among them?  It only makes sense that once criminals are discovered they will want to relocate where their recent past is far behind them. Coming to the USA is an obvious first choice. 

It is the political Left that is demanding amnesty for those that have trespassed into America.  It is the political Left that's been demanding full background checks on gun purchasers.  Here these two philosophies are colliding like speeding freight trains in the night.

Remember the political Left long ago put in lifetime gun bans for people convicted of a huge laundry list of crimes.  Here the illegal aliens are set escape whatever crimes they committed in the past like they never happened.  If you’re a dangerous illegal alien with amnesty you will suddenly have total legal access to firearms.  Of course if you are a natural born American citizen you will never have gun rights if you did something regrettable even as a juvenile and you’ve lived a clean life for decades.

Remember what George Orwell wrote in his book, Animal Farm, (under Socialism), “Some pigs are more equal than others.” 

Can Al Jazeera America Be a Credible Source for News?

Los Angeles, CA-- Al Jazeera America has set up shop on our Cable TV programing.  They threw some serious money around to land some very respected TV journalists for their news offering.  Many people are fearful that Al Jazeera America will be slinging propaganda and disinformation to their viewers.  TV news is a powerful tool that brainwashes human minds rather well.

Need I remind anyone that NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN have been Barack Obama’s personal public relations team?  They never dare ask Obama tough questions and they always speak so glowingly of his Leftist agenda.  They hardly bothered to notice that Obama’s criminal machine unlawfully wiretapped them.  I have long suspected that Obama’s spying apparatus has gathered lots of embarrassing material on top journalists and their families and totally owns most of them today. 

Al Jazeera America is the new kid in town.  I suspect that they want to gain an audience and make money.  Advertisers have been scarce and we will have to see what they bring in the way of ratings.  

I have an open mind here considering what we already have in place is the kind of disinformation machine that would even make The Father of Broadcast Propaganda, Josef Goebbels green with envy. 

We will see in the coming months what Al Jazeera America will be doing.  Can it somehow be worse?  Will they push the Muslim religion or philosophy on viewers?  Many of their 13^th Century customs are absolutely horrifying to most Americans.  Will Al Jazeera America stick to reporting the news or will this just be another propaganda effort?  

Let’s give them a chance to expose some of the scandals that the Obama News Network has hidden from view.   My hope is they will become a credible, reliable and important source for news.  Perhaps we should encourage them to do the task that they’ve undertaken.

If they are serious about doing hard news I'd be looking to do some investigative field producing for them!

Why Are Hollywood Casting Directors Allowed to Commit Criminal Extortion?

Los Angeles, CA—For those that don’t know this I am a member of SAG-AFTRA.   That’s the union that represents actors and other talent for motion pictures, broadcast and web related entertainment.  

My union has worked to fight extortion when it involves sex in order to work but they’ve failed miserably to prevent actors from being forced to pay cash.   Young actors are usually broke and desperate as they try and compete for various roles.

Only a small percentage of actors have agents and those without agents have to get roles before agents will notice them.   In order to get seen and considered actors must audition with casting directors for he less important parts.  If you don’t get the small parts you can never compete for the larger roles.

The problem is the casting directors have set up a criminal enterprise and gotten away with it.  Actors are met with solicitations the moment they enter casting offices for acting classes.  The classes just happen to be run by the casting directors!

For the most part the classes are simply a sham but those paying for the classes get parts and the others don’t.  If actors don’t pay the casting directors they simply don’t get to play! 

There are very serious civil and criminal penalties involved but casting directors have been escaping any and all scrutiny by law enforcement.  The most obvious crimes and torts involved are extortion, restraint of trade and criminal racketeering. 

I ask why is a demand for sex in order to win an acting role and different than a demand for cash?   Actors want to work and making waves by asking the casting directors to end their extortion will in effect blackball the actor out of business forever! 

Acting classes are absolutely necessary.   Actors must run through the repetitive process of learning lines, speaking them understandably and timing the dialog.  There are lots of issues that actors must overcome to avoid becoming caricatures rather than the characters.   However it should never be the casting directors running the acting schools!  That is an obvious conflict of interest.

I ask where has the LAPD, FBI and California Department of Justice been?  I know that is impossible for them to work undercover to dismantle this criminal racket without first joining SAG-AFTRA.   

The victims here are young actors that are often struggling to avoid homelessness.  They are understandably afraid to complain about the people that have the power to banish them from acting altogether. 

Law enforcement has not been effectively been able to deal with this institutionalized decades long crime wave.  Perhaps SAG-AFTRA and the talent agencies need to recognize their responsibilities in this area. 

The Los Angeles City Attorney, Mike Feuer is asking that actors come forward if they have paid for classes or acting workshops run by the casting directors.  If you’re an actor and have the courage to report the casting scoundrels send an email to Feur’s assistant at karla.cortez@lacity.org. 

The only way to stop this crime is not tolerating it in the first place!  Perhaps sending a bunch of these miscreants to Club Fed for a few years might send a strong message!