The CEO of the New York Times said print news will be dead within 10years...

That’s a sad but realistic view of our society that tolerates ignorance despite our taxpayer funded public education.  

Our massive immigration invitation to the worlds poor and illiterate combined with acceptance of their refusal to learn how to read and write has become a major crisis.

Too many of our own children, particularly Blacks and Hispanics are allowed to reject the tools needed to escape a lifetime of financial dependency.  

Our illiterates are doomed to only receive communication rather than creating and influencing their world.  The future is in clearly creating watchable video.  Government, businesses, news providers and entertainers must cater to our illiterate society. 

Of course video communication is now superior to any other form.  Being able to create exceptional video will be the ultimate influencing skill.  

We must equip our children with the tools and resources so they are not allowed to fail.

The best camera ever is the one you have at the moment.  For billions of people that is the smart phone.  The very young and even our senior citizens can easily master the iPhone and iMovie editing software. 

The versatility of more sophisticated camera equipment and microphones do have distinct advantages.  But we all must begin somewhere.  

There are many special ways of creating watchable eye candy that traps and holds the viewers enabling you to get your messages to the masses. 

Do you really have a choice about learning this amazing technology?  The good news is really satisfying and fun! It’s truly empowering! 

Feeling Like You’re being watched Lately? Yes, You Are!

Town of Paradise Valley, AZ—If you don’t like cameras pointed at you, you'd better learn to smile.  They are here to stay watching, documenting and exposing all of your public behavior to the world.

With the new consumer camera drone technology the camera shy folks are in paranoia overdrive.  These people seem to have forgotten that cameras are watching them 24/7 everywhere.

From the time you leave your front door until you return cameras are constantly watching you.  Some you can see and there are many others you can’t.

For example if you enter the Town of Paradise Valley, Arizona in a vehicle a camera concealed in a cactus grabs the license plate number. It’s placed in a searchable database that allows the town government to know each vehicle’s exact movements. 

There are live cameras capturing and saving video everywhere.  Some store video for a short time others keep video indefinitely only limited by the size of their hard drives.

From the time you enter retail stores and their parking lots until leave there is a full video record all of your visit.  

Your neighbor’s home security cameras are easily pointed at your driveway documenting your activities.  Those cameras can be both overtly visible or covert and unseen. 

The reality is that if you’re in a place outside your own home that can be seen and photographed from any angle. Your backyard swimming pool is no sacred refuge.  

Satellites, fixed wing airplanes and occasionally helicopters, are constantly photographing the outside of your home from the sky. 

When I investigate crimes I make every effort to look for and ask about surveillance cameras.  You can nearly always find cameras that have captured at least a portion of most serious crimes.  Of course I must get to the camera’s owner before the hard drive begins to record over the earlier video.

Today you can’t watch a local news broadcast on TV without seeing samples of this video.  Remember you only see the crappy video where the characters are not readily identified. 

There is hardly a murder case anymore where clear video does not become evidence that prosecutors can use either to coerce a plea deal or enter at a trial. 

If you've picked your nose in public I promise you that some camera has captured that image.

Right now there are millions of illicit cameras in hotels, motels apartment building’s bath and shower rooms.  Today the infamous character Norman Bates from the film “Psycho” would be watching his undressed guests in high definition on large monitors or on his smartphone screen. 

Speaking of smartphones, we all now have high definition video cameras in our pockets!  At the first sign of something unusual happening the cameras are out of the pockets!  There is no escape from the unblinking camera lenses! 

Sorry folks the Genie is long out of the bottle and like it or not, you’re on candid camera.

As for the little consumer drones that may occasionally fly over your home are really inconsequential when you look at the big picture.  

The Netherlands by a camera Armed Drone---Wow!

'Okay I'm hooked on Drones for newsgathering, filmmaking and just plain fun.  I love Germany and the Netherlands and hope to retire there someday.  Here is some great video from yet another high-end offering into this new technology explosion!

Cloudshots.NL | videoshowreel jan. 2014 from Cloudshots.NL on Vimeo.

Cloudshots.NL | bevrijdingsfestival overijssel 2013 from Cloudshots.NL on Vimeo.

http://www.aerialtronics.com/

News gathering Video Technology and Guerilla Journalism!

Los Angeles, CA—Wherever you go in the City of Angeles doing news the paranoid public relations people and their security agents demand absolute control over anyone shooting video.   The equipment to shoot quality video was cumbersome and difficult to move around without attracting loads attention.  That’s changing faster than the speed of light.  They can’t seem to repress the journalist with the notepad but ejecting cameras from most real estate has proven all too easy.

Today you can shoot very watchable video with quality iPhone cameras and a host of small camera choices.  The somewhat new GoPro cameras are nothing short of incredible.   I have two of them now; the Hero 3 and a Hero 3+ are in my video gathering arsenal.

Any day now and I will take delivery of a Blade 350 Quadcopter that will zip right past security guards, police and fire lines.  It will instantly defeat even the tallest walls and fences to obtain exceptional HD GoPro camera video.

On the ground I’m looking for ways to conceal the little GoPro cameras so I can do interviews and get B-Roll without attracting any unwanted attention.  I am learning to do low profile scene stand-ups guerrilla style.  My goal is to get in and out of the scene before anyone knows I’ve gathered my needed video. 

Quality audio is important so as you see I will rely on a Zoom H4N recorder with lavalier or shotgun microphones.  As you can see below the onboard microphone does not cut the mustard!  As a freelancer there are really no equipment limits as long as I can bag the story.

The tiny GoPro needs some stabilization when handheld and there are solutions in the way of small Steadcam type devices that can be obtained and employed.  

Most mainstream news directors and editors are presently fumbling around with the lawyers, journalism ethics professors hoping to learn if they can embrace the technology for their own reporters and photographers.  In the meantime I will go out and get the story! 

The Blade 350 can be purchased from B&H Photo 1-800-221-5743

Victim’s Rights, Show Trials and American Courts

Former Congresswoman Gabby Gifforrds leaving the Tucson federal courthouse.

Tucson, AZ—Our American founding fathers never considered the need for what we call Victim’s Rights.  Anyone accused of a crime has real rights that must be protected.  This is obviously to prevent wrongful convictions.  It’s also to prevent government officials from targeting people for persecution for any number of nefarious reasons.

When we become victimized by a criminal act it is expected that we have a desire to exact revenge and show hatred against the offender.   The more serious the offense the more hate and anger is expressed by the victim and of course their family and friends.

We hold the accused to account in our criminal trials.  In a criminal trial a victim was never intended to be anything more than a witness.  Witnesses really don’t need any special rights of any kind.  Their job is to simply testify truthfully.

The victim is never allowed to apply any punishment.  I think is only natural that many victims want to experience throwing the switch on the electric chair and such.   There has never been justice for victims or any person.

Victims can only attempt to gain the power to punish the offender in a civil court.  If the offender has any assets they can be awarded to the victimized.  The problem here is most criminals have nothing and a victory in a civil court rings hollow.

Prosecutors seem to universally hate fair trials and the protections that guarantee them, because some of those accused are acquitted.   They want total control over the evidence and the punishment.  Prosecutors already have the ability to manipulate witness testimony through giving witnesses who are criminals, immunity from prosecution.  That lets them escape any responsibility for their own crimes. 

Prosecutors are now free to use the fragile emotional state of the victims as tools in court sentencing proceedings.  They have done this by obtaining court rule changes such as allowing for victim impact statements. 

Prosecutors love to mislead anyone and everyone that a successful prosecution and application of punishment bring closure to victims.  There is no closure but for the healing effects of time. 

Still prosecutors want to parade frightened, crying victims before the court to exact maximum penalties against the accused.  This charade has no real effect except to provide a garish public spectacle.  Judges are not supposed to be swayed by these actions.

Prosecutors are politicians and love this garbage to use in their future political campaigns.  Justice is perverted and twisted to aid political propaganda.

Yesterday in a Tucson Federal courthouse, prosecutors put on such a show.  A deranged mass killer was due to receive a maximum prison sentence that insured he’d never be released.  There was no trial because the accused pled guilty to his crimes.   That plea saved taxpayers untold millions in legal fees and court costs had this remained a death penalty case.

The plea and penalty was negotiated and the case closed for all practical purposes.  Still prosecutors summoned every victim to come into court to stare down the killer and to address him with their angry statements.   Then they watched him get sentenced  and taken away to Club Fed.

Victim impact statements are rarely delivered by accomplished public speakers.  Instead the victims nervously read writings from scraps of paper that were prepared in advance.  There are no happy endings in any criminal court for anyone, even an acquitted defendant. 

Victims will never get justice in any court.  The criminal acts that brought on the prosecution cannot be undone.  The victims can’t be made whole by any court ruling.  It that’s ever going to happen it will be in the hereafter if there is one.

We have turned most of our courts into entertainment arenas complete with live television and now streaming Internet video.  Our trial are show trials appealing to the lowest common denominator of humanity.    Our trials are not about justice anymore but rather showmanship and prosecutor’s political campaigns.

Adolph Hitler and his PR genius, Josef Goebbels was among the first to put their show trials before motion picture cameras.  The Nazis then brought their idea of justice to the masses that watched those trial highlights at their local movie theaters.  I ask, have we progressed beyond that? 

Trials should be public but cameras just don’t belong in our courtrooms.  If you want to see a trial all you need to do is visit your local courthouse.  

Things I Learned From the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival

Geneva, Switzerland—-It was indeed a thrill to be invited to attend this event where a documentary film I worked on was being premiered. It was my second visit here in little more than a year.

Geneva is a Swiss city that does the impossible job of sounding the alarm when governments violate basic human rights. The film festival delivered 45 films that show the darkest side of criminal political regimes in the world.

Reporters, producers and photographers risk their lives in order to expose kidnapping, robbery, rape and murders committed by governments and their agents. One undeniable fact emerges from this event, governments are prolific serial killers.

There is no shortage of criminals with big smiles, firm handshakes and convincing oratory that prey upon every nation’s citizenry. They lust after the unlimited wealth, power and rock star status as a government ruler. For the most part these people are pretenders, wolves in sheep’s clothing. Once in power they will torture and kill to maintain that power.

The film makers too often are a naive lot. They want to expose a ruthless despot's violation of human rights as they urgently support rebel groups trying to overthrow these regimes.

The best example of this was the Cuban Revolution more than 50 years ago. Fulgencio Batista was a dictator in this mafia infested playground for wealthy Americans. Batista was a typical ruler found in the Banana Republics of Latin America. He lived lavishly in a poor country where anyone who dared criticize or challenge his authority was jailed or even murdered.

Fidel Castro and his pal Che Guevara set their sights on his power, wealth and status billing themselves as, “freedom fighters.” The world’s media organizations portrayed these fellows as romantic and dedicated heroes that would bring freedom and human rights to this troubled paradise.

Castro was able to overthrow Batista, replacing him and his government with something far worse. The deadly purges that followed became just another Socialist nightmare gone wrong. Castro has ruled this bankrupt nation with an iron fist as he stole whatever he wanted in the nation’s treasury. Socialist dictators like Castro always somehow manage because of their talent to fill the tax coffers through extortionate methods that go back further than Nero’s.

The film makers that specialize in human rights documentaries are always scrambling for funds to facilitate their work. Often these funds come from sources as evil as the people they seek to expose. Human rights film makers must fight the efforts of revolutionaries seeking to turn them into propaganda machines. It’s not easy.

The film makers I met in Geneva have exposed one despot after another. They will never run out of work because there is no shortage of fresh mass graves that can be dug up and investigated around the world.

I suspect without the watchful eye of Geneva we’d be in a more dangerous world.

The proliferation of cheap cameras and computers to edit video has become a powerful tool to expose criminal conduct by government everywhere. That, as more laws are being made to restrict their use accordingly. Governments seek a sort of one way street where they can photograph us as they forbid us the ability to photograph them. That’s no coincidence.

Every law-abiding American needs a gun and the training to use it. Likewise every law-abiding American needs a video camera and the training to use it. Document government abuse whenever or wherever you can.

What was Geneva’s Human Rights Film Festival’s strongest message? Never trust government.