Washington, DC- -it's a painfully slow process for politicians and FAA bureaucrats to accept the need, legitimacy and relative safety of those little civilian drones.   There was the initial hysteria of passenger jets crashing, mass privacy invasion because of those little drones.     The panic reaction was bolstered with thousands mistaken or deliberately false reports of sightings claiming drone misbehavior.     Thankfully as the number of drones in civilian hands increased by leaps and bounds, the bogus reports quietly subsided considerably.  Very recently progress has been made in allowing the commercial use of drones under a somewhat loosened set of rules and guidelines.    Along with the more realistic drone rules the FAA created the Part 107 licensing exemption with a written test for commercial drone pilots.   They have allowed for considerable expansion of drone use in urban areas for news gathering, filmmakin...

Los Angeles, CA —The father of broadcast Fake News is Josef Goebbels .   As Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Enlightenment   and Propaganda, he was a pure genius.   Goebbels convinced the entire nation of Germany that what they heard on their newly acquired radios was always absolutely true.   Goebbels success was not lost on our own CIA , back then called, OSS .   The OSS learned of the amazing power of the radio and soon Franklin Roosevelt was broadcasting propaganda “Fireside Chats” that mesmerized our entire nation binding us together against Germany, Italy and Japan.   In the last 150 years we had powerful newspapers and soon followed radio and television.  I don’t give a rat’s ass who the news provider may be, they all have their own secret and vested interests that they are selling to the public as news.   Only the very richest Americans could own newspapers and broadcasting organizations.  We the people were never part of th...

Los Angeles, CA —After spending decades inside courtrooms first as a Chicago cop, later as a criminal defense investigator and journalist in Arizona and California, I’ve been redundantly disappointed the cast of characters I’ve met. The judges for the most part are a bunch of pompous tyrants on a power trip. Prosecutors are a bunch of smug bastards that routinely hide evidence and put their thumbs on the scales of justice at every opportunity.  The beleaguered defense lawyers must hold their noses while they simply watch their hapless clients get convicted 80% of the time. Occasionally there are unexpected surprises and dramas but the reality is most of the cases settle without trial in plea agreements.  Accordingly, I have authored a somewhat cynical motto,  “If justice ever happens it’s usually by accident and for all the wrong reasons.” What do I think about most court or police themed entertainment programs?  They all suck in a very big way. ...

New York, NY—NBC put on two projects, the making of this project and then a week later the live play. This was a classic film with Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews .   It was based on a great World War Two inspired story of the von Trapp family.   Okay I much preferred the show about making the show better than the show itself.   The first problem was ridicules miscasting of the talented singer Audra McDonald as Mother Abbess.   It was beyond dopy to cast an African-American woman as the Austrian Catholic Mother Superior.   Was this some sick idea of political correctness?   This was distracting to say the least.    Carrie Underwood was wonderful as was Stephen Moyer .   Underwood is a versatile performer.   The cameras all loved her and she delivered.  This despite her pure American persona rather than being a European like the real deal.  The Children were adorable and I can only imagine how ...