Politicians and Pundits Escalate Dangerous Drone Hysteria – Rolling Stone

                        By  <a class="c-link  lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-color-brand-primary-dark:hover lrv-u-text-decoration-underline:hover lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase" href="https://www.rollingstone.com/author/miles-klee/"            >   Miles Klee</a>                      <br>    December is a month of twinkling lights and heavy air traffic, which seem to have collided in the most curious phenomenon of this holiday season: a sudden, unfounded panic that remotely controlled <a  href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/drones/"  >drones</a> are patrolling the night skies up and down the eastern coast of the U.S.<br>    A month ago, law enforcement officials in northern New Jersey revealed that they were <a  href="https://newjersey.news12.com/morris-county-officials-investigate-drones-spotted-flying-around-county"  target="_blank"  rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"  >investigating reports</a> of drones flying overhead at night, stressing in a statement that there was &#8220;no known threat to public safety.&#8221; They also cautioned against believing or spreading rumors about the supposed sightings on the internet. &#8220;We encourage the public to be mindful that what they read online may not be accurate,&rdquo; they wrote.<br>    The public did the opposite &mdash; and so have a number of politicians and pundits. As more videos purporting to show mysterious drone activity circulated on <a  href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/tiktok/"  >TikTok</a>, <a  href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/facebook/"  >Facebook</a>, and X (formerly <a  href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/twitter/"  >Twitter</a>), thanks in part to dubious &#8220;breaking news&#8221; accounts, Rep. Tom Kean of New Jersey <a  rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"  target="_blank"  href="https://x.com/CongressmanKean/status/1866212055532933538"  >posted</a> on X last week to express his &#8220;deep frustration regarding the growing concerns over drones operating in our skies&#8221; and called for federal agencies to investigate the issue. Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey on Friday ventured out with police to observe aerial lights above a reservoir in a rural area of the state, <a  href="https://x.com/AndyKimNJ/status/1867582863715315758"  target="_blank"  rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"  >claiming</a> in a thread of videos on X that some of them were executing &#8220;maneuvers that planes can&#8217;t do.&#8221; The next day, however, he <a  href="https://x.com/AndyKimNJ/status/1868034879931433387"  target="_blank"  rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"  >walked this back</a>, saying further analysis demonstrated that most of the potential drones seen in available footage &#8220;were almost certainly planes.&#8221;     <div class="admz" id="adm-inline-article-ad-1">                     <div class="adma boomerang" data-device="Desktop" data-width="300">                  <div style="min-width:50px;min-height:75px;"   class="pmc-adm-boomerang-pub-div ad-text"   data-priority="10" >    <div id="gpt-dsk-tab-article-inbody-uid0"       class="adw-300 adh-250" data-is-adhesion-ad="">         <script type="application/javascript">

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