Independent 23-year-old journalist uncovers truth about FBI spy planes running covert surveillance over U.S. cities

(NaturalNews) In recent days, the mainstream media has focused on some rather inane things – events or occurrences that, given rising dangers in the world and the important issues facing our country, have virtually no impact or meaning whatsoever.

Take the Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner "story." For weeks, Americans have had to endure how "brave" and "inspiring" a 65-year-old man was for "following his heart" and electing to undergo sex change therapy. That he/she is a former Olympic champion is the reason given for this wall-to-wall coverage (and yes, the reality show is forthcoming) – that, and Jenner's relationship to another "reality TV family," the Kardashians – even though Jenner hasn't competed in an Olympic event in decades.

Then there is the non-story about Sen. Marco Rubio's and wife Jeanette's 17 traffic citations. For some reason, New York Times editors found it vital to the 2016 presidential election (Sen. Rubio of Florida is a Republican presidential candidate) a) despite the fact that only four of the 17 violations were his; b) despite the fact that, should he become president, he won't be doing his own driving; and c) all the while ignoring that, back in 2007, as then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois began a serious run for the White House, he sent operatives to Harvard University to pay 17 parking tickets he incurred during his time there (1988-1991) (as if those mattered in the great scheme of things, though in this case, leaving behind so many parking tickets goes to Obama's character).

Why the mundane over the truly important? MSM whiffs on another big story

Real important stuff. Meanwhile, a truly important story – the existence of yet another government mass surveillance program – has gone unreported by the same mainstream media. In fact a 23-year-old independent journalist, Sam Richards – acting on a tip and a hunch – uncovered the story and published it on Medium.com, a site for independent journalism.

Richards' story featured screen grabs from FlightRadar24.com in which low-flying planes later traced to the FBI were seen making circular routes over major U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, where Richards lives, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle, New York and Chicago. The flights have also taken place over rural areas.

The young independent said he began investigating when a friend of his noticed a low-flying suspicious flight and showed him the screen grab.

"It showed pictures of the plane doing loops around different parts of Minneapolis so we started looking at the tail number," he said.

The plane in question was registered to a fake company, but Richards managed to trace it back to a fleet that was registered, in reality, to the Department of Justice in Virginia.

After he published his piece, a local aviation enthusiast sent him pictures he took of what he believed was the surveillance plane, complete with what appeared to be an antenna protruding from the plane's undercarriage.

Independent journo takes the mainstream media to school

From Richard's Medium.com piece:

The United States Department of Justice appears to be operating a fleet of at least 62 [EDIT: Now it appears that number is actually 100] small aircraft and helicopters over cities nationwide. The aircraft have been registered to corporations that do not exist, and the purpose of the aerial operations is not known at this time. The flight patterns of the aircraft indicate they are most likely conducting surveillance, much like the controversial aircraft caught flying circles over the city of Baltimore which has seen many protests recently.

After his initial reports, the mainstream media jumped on board, albeit unenthusiastically – as in, just enough to say, "Hey, we covered the story."

But because of his report, the FBI has been forced to admit that it, in fact, conducts these mass surveillance flights, claiming that it had to keep the program a secret because revealing it would have tipped off criminals. It was unclear whether these flights are launched after the bureau secures a search warrant (as required by the Fourth Amendment, following a determination of probable cause) and what, if any, legal restrictions have been placed on the use of information such flights gather on millions of innocent Americans.

The legacy media in America, already little trusted, is continuing to lose what remaining credibility it has left, as alternative and independent media like Natural News continue to grow in reliability, trust and readership.

Sources:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com

http://www.boston.com

http://blogs.mprnews.org

http://blogs.mprnews.org