Resistance is mounting across the United States against the increasing use of surveillance tech company Flock Safety’s cameras, with a growing number of cities canceling contracts as the artificial intelligence-powered license plate readers are quietly being installed in thousands of locations nationwide.State and local police departments first used the Atlanta-based company’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems for standard law enforcement purposes, but they are now being employed for a much broader range of uses, including immigration-related searches and other actions supporting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the Trump administration’s deadly anti-immigrant crackdown.“We have cameras that are used for everything from illegal dumping to drug houses to hotels that are just big problems,” Flock Safety engineer Kevin Cox told prospective customers during a demonstration of the company’s Condor Camera, according to a Thursday report in The Washington Times.“There are endless, endless uses for what we can do with these things,” Cox added.Those uses include spying on constitutionally protected protest activity and enforcing abortion bans by tracking pregnant people’s travel across states—even ones in which the medical procedure is legal.The ACLU—which recently launched a “Get the Flock Out” campaign to “fight creepy ALPR cameras”—says there are currently between 80,000 and 100,000 Flock devices installed nationwide that conduct more than 20 billion scans per month. More than 5,000 law enforcement agencies use the cameras, and some of them keep their locations a secret.“Flock’s ALPR cameras aren’t like your normal traffic cameras,” the ACLU explained. “This surveillance technology records and tracks every car that comes into view, and then an AI algorithm catalogs the make, model, color, license plate number, bumper stickers, and even scratches. This personal information is then uploaded into a nationwide database that any law enforcement agency with a Flock contract can search—with few regulations or oversight on how they use what they find.”The backlash against creeping state surveillance has even transcended the partisan divide.“I think our country is in a kind of uniquely anti-surveillance environment right now, which is to say that, in a time where it seems there is nothing that is not partisan, opposition to government surveillance is nonpartisan,” ACLU privacy and surveillance attorney Chad Marlow told The Washington Times on Thursday.There is growing action—both legal and otherwise—to end the use of ALPRs across the country.According to the public information project Ban Flock Cameras, 82 Flock contracts were terminated across 28 states between August 2021 and May 2026, with 39 of those cancellations occurring in the first five months of 2026 alone.Even Amazon-owned Ring announced earlier this year that it would stop doing business with Flock Safety.Susie O’Hara, a member of Santa Cruz, California’s nominally nonpartisan City Council, told WBUR earlier this year that she grew increasingly concerned about local use of eight Flock cameras last year after learning that police were sharing data gleaned from the cameras with the company’s national network without city officials’ knowledge, a violation of state laws banning the practice.O’Hara became increasingly convinced that Santa Cruz should cancel its Flock contract after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a US citizen, in Minneapolis in January.“I have goose bumps on my arms thinking about the absolute chaos that was happening in Minneapolis,” she said. “And just the absolute insanity of what we were seeing... It was totally clear to me that we should in no way consciously be in this system at all—just no way.”Less than a week after Good’s killing, the Santa Cruz City Council voted to terminate the city’s Flock contract, becoming the first municipality in California to do so.“For us, the threat to our civil liberties was greater than any benefit we could get from the flawed product,” Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley told KQED at the time.Chad Kemp, who represents District 32 on the nonpartisan Dane County Board of Supervisors in Wisconsin—which in April voted to stop funding two dozen cameras leased from Flock—told The Washington Times that “there’s a public safety issue here, but there is also a privacy issue.”“There are serious concerns about individuals who can be monitored without their knowledge, or if it is even constitutional or ethical to track people without a warrant,” he added.At the national level, US Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) last year launched an investigation into the use of Flock cameras to track pregnant people across state lines for abortion care and to conduct unauthorized immigration enforcement operations.Krishnamoorthi and Sen.
The country's theocracy hopes to see millions flood the streets of the capital beginning Saturday in scenes reminiscent to the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
Four months after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, Iran is preparing for a massive multi-day funeral. It’s a calculated move by the regime to project strength and unity during a shaky peace deal with the U.S.
Millions of mourners are expected to turn out for the week-long funeral ceremonies recognizing Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei helmed the Islamic Republic for 37 years before being killed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28 at the beginning of the war. Khamenei is to be buried July 9 following days…
President Donald Trump made his maiden voyage on the new Air Force One just days before the slew of Fourth of July weekend festivities celebrating the nation's 250th birthday.The new Air Force One is a Boeing 747-8 luxury plane that was gifted to the United States by the Qatari government last year.'Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our country.'The new Air Force One is named the VC-25B Bridge aircraft by the U.S. Air Force. The new aircraft is the bridge to the "aging" VC-25A fleet until the upcoming and long-term Boeing VC-25B enters service. The first VC-25A aircraft went into service in 1990 during the administration of President George H.W. Bush."The delivery of the Bridge aircraft fulfills an imperative to relieve pressure on the aging VC-25A fleet as heavy maintenance cycles extend, safeguarding the continuity of presidential airlift operations until the long-term Boeing VC-25B enters service," the U.S. Air Force said last month.The Air Force noted that the new aircraft will "provide critical, secure continuity for the commander in chief.""The aircraft is safe, secure, and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission," the Air Force stated. "Those requirements were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous head of state interior layout minimally changed.""No risk was taken in security, safety, or mission communications, but the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years," the Air Force said.According to ABC News, "The Air Force has said that it did little to change the cabin layout of the plane and that it spent less than $400 million on security upgrades."Citing industry executives, the New York Times reported in May 2025 that the Qatari-gifted luxury jet had an estimated worth of approximately $200 million.U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink proclaimed: The safety and security of the commander in chief is our highest priority. From the beginning, we meticulously evaluated every requirement to accelerate delivery while maintaining the high standards expected of the presidential mission. This effort proves that the U.S. Air Force can move fast without sacrificing quality, security, or reliability.On Wednesday, Trump took the new Air Force One to see the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.
"To be honest with you, I'm excited about the first flight. Nobody's ever seen anything like it," Trump told reporters before boarding the new airplane, according to USA Today.The Associated Press reported that Trump said of revealing the new Air Force One plane, "You can do two things: You can low-key it, or you can show it."RELATED: America turns 250 with a broken heart In May, the U.S. Air Force said that the VC-25B Bridge aircraft had "officially completed modification and flight testing."Air & Space Forces Magazine reported that some critics have "expressed concern over the last year that accepting a plane used by Qatar could present a security risk, such as by allowing listening devices or other bugs to be planted on the aircraft."The U.S. Air Force addressed the concerns by stating that "elite specialists from multiple government agencies developed advanced protocols to detect and, if necessary, neutralize potential technical hazards on previously owned aircraft.""Their rigorous approach on the Bridge aircraft has literally 'written the book,' and set the benchmark for integrating used airframes into the secure military inventory," the U.S. Air Force said. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach declared, "We are proud to deliver the VC-25B Bridge aircraft to the president.""Many thought it could not be done, but the United States Air Force was able to execute and provide a secure, reliable airborne command post on an accelerated timeline," Wilsbach added. The official website for the White House says: "Capable of refueling midair, Air Force One has unlimited range and can carry the president wherever he needs to travel. The onboard electronics are hardened to protect against an electromagnetic pulse, and Air Force One is equipped with advanced secure communications equipment, allowing the aircraft to function as a mobile command center in the event of an attack on the United States."In May, CBS News reported that Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Air Force accepted the Boeing 747-8 "in accordance with all federal rules and regulations."President Trump told reporters in May, "If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they're building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture."Trump added, "Now I could be a stupid person and say, 'Oh no, we don't want a free plane.'"The stopgap jumbo jet...
