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Authored by Matt Agorist via The Free Thought Project,

It has been exactly two years since Stephen Paddock allegedly busted out the windows of his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino Hotel and opened fire on concert goers below. In total, 58 people would be slaughtered and hundreds of others injured. Sadly, in all the time and all the police state tactics and technology at their fingertips, investigators are still unable to even come close as to why Paddock did what he did. With questions unanswered and families and victims still seeking information, the FBI officially closed their investigation earlier this year.

“It wasn’t about MGM, Mandalay Bay or a specific casino or venue,” said Aaron Rouse, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office when the FBI closed the case in January.

“It was all about doing the maximum amount of damage and him obtaining some form of infamy.”

Paddock, according to the FBI’s official story, acted alone and murdered dozens to simply go down in history.

Before the FBI closed their investigation, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo declared the case closed as well and vowed never to speak Paddock’s name in public again. Like the FBI, the LVMPD closed their investigation without ever finding a motive and leaving countless questions unanswered.

The Vegas massacre, which is now referred to as 1 October, has only gotten stranger as things progress. Following the tragedy, law enforcement engaged in a series of narrative changes, deliberate blocking of information, and appeared to be working directly with the casino to make sure Americans never know the entire truth.

For months after the shooting, the LVMPD refused to release any information. Only after they fought the release all the way to the state supreme court, and were handed down a ruling forcing them to release information, did they ever budge.

However, after the court forced them to release information on the October 1 massacre, the Las Vegas police department—in an insultingly futile attempt at transparency—randomly began dumping information related to the shooting. In what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters, much of the video released by the department had no time stamps and was provided without context.

Luckily, outlets like the Las Vegas Review-Journal were persistent in scrubbing the details of this case. However, because the mainstream media no longer reports on this information, it was essentially buried upon its release. The Free Thought Project has compiled a list of five major questions — all of which were swept under the rug by the MSM — that still remain in regards to what actually took place on 1 October.

1. Report suggests Paddock’s girlfriend worked for the FBI

In August 2018, a report surfaced suggesting that Stephan Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley could’ve been an FBI asset. According to a credit application, as reported by True Pundit, Danley listed the FBI as an employer.

According to the publicly available intelligence obtained from a consumer credit reporting bureau, Danley claimed she previously worked at the FBI. While anyone can certainly claim anyone else as an employer, according to True Pundit, they contacted the FBI who said their “bosses are concerned” over this revelation.

When contacted, one FBI source said the Bureau “might have made payments to Danley but it is above my level,” the source said referring to access to the FBI’s confidential informant participant and payment records. The source said “bosses are concerned” with the new revelations about Danley’s financial relationship with the FBI.

In FBI speak, Danley could have been a paid asset. And ‘concerned’ means folks are getting ready to cover their own butts if payments were made to Danley either before or after the massacre.

Perhaps FBI Director Christopher Wray can shed light on the matter.

Or Danley. If you can find her. It took the FBI days to locate her and interview her after the Mandalay Bay massacre.

Danley is an Australian national. She is not a U.S. citizen.

Of course this bombshell Intel is coming from FBI sources in the beltway, not the corrupt Las Vegas FBI field office headed by Aaron Rouse. The same FBI field office that has not been able to pinpoint a motive for the Oct. 1, 2017 massacre that killed 57 people.

Little wonder why the narrative doesn’t fit the crime if the person whose fingerprints are on the ammunition also happens to be on your FBI payroll.

Why did the mainstream media never report this? In a case that has been shrouded in mystery and narrative changes, the idea that the person closest to the suspect in the deadliest mass shooting in modern history, could possibly be an asset to the FBI, is chilling.

2. Officers seen on body camera footage cowering in fear as Paddock murdered people one floor above them

When Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students in a Parkland, Florida high school, it would later be revealed that the school resource officer cowered in fear instead of trying to stop the massacre. When this was discovered, news media across the country reported on it and the officer subsequently became known as the “Coward of Broward.”

However, when similar footage showed Vegas police officers cowering in fear as Paddock mowed down concert goers, this barely registered as blip in the media.

The damning video puts officer Cordell Hendrex on location and only one floor below Paddock during the shooting. Hendrex and his rookie partner are seen on camera walking down the hall of the 31st floor as Paddock murders people on the ground below.

“Holy f**k,” Hendrex says when he hears the sound of shots above him. Hendrex could’ve run to the stairs, gone up a single floor and engaged Paddock and saved countless lives. Instead, he called everyone back and cowered in fear. Where were the calls for Hendrex to be fired? Where were the reports in the mainstream about him standing down?

3. Paddock Reportedly Warned His Brain was ‘Hacked’ and He Was Under Gov’t Control

Last year, shocking information surfaced that went largely ignored by the mainstream media. The report entails testimony from one of Paddock’s high-priced escorts who blew the whistle on how a prostitute who met with the deranged shooter just before the massacre went missing and noted how Paddock thought he was under the control of the government.

The escort was reported missing by her boyfriend just after the shooting and a former escort who once dated Paddock spoke out about the sheer insanity involved in this case.

“She was telling girls after work that she was scared something would happen to her,” claimed former escort Mikaela, whose full name was withheld to protect her identity according to Radar Online. “She was booked the day before or the day of the shooting before she disappeared.”

According to her testimony, Paddock claimed to be a government experiment.

“There’s messages where Stephen is telling her he’s a government experiment and that they are listening to everything he says and does, and they can hack into his brain and take over,” Mikaela said.

This information was simply ignored by the media and still is to this day, why is that?

4. Information suggesting Paddock was an arms dealer completely ignored by MSM

In August 2018, the arms dealer who admitted to selling Paddock his ammunition for the massacre was indicted. Douglas Haig was charged with a single count of “engaging in the business of manufacturing ammunition without a license.”

What makes his arrest so noteworthy is the fact that emails released by the FBI suggest Paddock may have been an arms dealer as well.

As The Free Thought Project reported in 2017, a series of unsealed court documents gave insight into Paddocks communications in the months leading up to the shooting, and revealed that he apparently referred to himself as some kind of arms dealer:

In the first message, Paddock claimed that the recipient would have the opportunity to try out the weapons before they purchased them. He then wrote “We have huge selection,” indicating that he was not working alone, and he said he was located “in the Las Vegas area.”

***

the email exchanges released by the FBI indicate that Paddock was presenting himself as some sort of arms dealer, sending an email that said, “for a thrill try out bumpfire ar’s with a 100 round magazine.”

Again, although the original emails made it into the mainstream briefly, the question remains as to who Paddock was selling arms to, and is that why he had so much ammunition in his hotel room?

5. Vegas police seen on video being instructed to turn off their body cameras

In June of last year, in part of the random dumping of information by the LVMPD, video footage was discovered which showed officers being told to turn off their body cameras.

According to the chatter captured on the video, the strike team was prepping to enter the hotel.

“Officers are waiting. They’re waiting,” says a male voice off screen. “Officers are waiting to get in there.”

As police stand in line waiting to enter the hotel, multiple body cameras show a female officer walking down the rows, instructing the officers to turn off their cameras.

“Cameras are off? Cameras off? Cameras are off?” she says.

An officer repeats “Camera is off,” and each video ends.

The disabling of body cameras is against the LVMPD’s own regulations which is news enough. However, this was done on the night of the deadliest mass shooting in recent history and it was completely ignored. How can that be?

The more information that comes out on the horrific events of that fateful night, the more questions the public has. The uncooperative behavior by the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department was a kick in the teeth to the victims and their families. Sadly, now that all the authorities investigating the tragedy have ended their investigations, we may never know all the details that led to shooting.

China has celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule by holding a massive military parade in Tiananmen Square in front of past and present leaders. Even though the event has been somewhat overshadowed by protests in Hong Kong, it still allowed China to showcase its technological achievements and newfound military prowess. 15,000 soldiers marched in the parade, accompanied by tanks, artillery pieces and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, as well as a military flyover.

China has increased investment in its military in recent years, seeking to replace its outdated Soviet equipment and turn the PLA into a state-of-the-art force by 2049.

As Statista’s Nialll McCarthy notes, the push for modernization occurred at the same time the United States was mired in two bloody conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even though no country comes close to matching U.S. military expenditure which came to $649 billion last year (China was second with $250 billion), Beijing had the highest increase of any country by far between 2009 and 2018, according to Sipri.

You will find more infographics at Statista

During that timeframe, China upped its expenditure by 83 percent and the results of that could be seen on the streets of Beijing during the parade. Even Saudi Arabia, which has been splurging on military equipment for years, “only” increased its military spending by 28 percent during the same period. Russia is also in the midst of a modernization drive and its spending increased 29 percent since 2009.

Meanwhile, U.S. military spending has fallen 17 percent over the past decade, a downward trend President Trump is keen to halt amid the push for modernization and expansion in both Beijing and Moscow.

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

Precisely one year ago today, the US federal government opened Fiscal Year 2019 with a total debt level of $21.6 trillion:

Specifically, the US federal debt on October 1st last year was $21,606,948,183,180.23

Today is the start of the government’s 2020 Fiscal Year. And the total debt is now $22,622,684,674,364.43

That means they accumulated more than $1 TRILLION in new debt over the course of the 2019 Fiscal Year.

Think about that for a moment:

FY2019 was, literally, the BEST year EVER measured by short-term US financial performance.

The stock market reached an all-time high.

Real estate prices reached an all-time high.

Corporate profits are at record highs.

Personal income is at a record high.

Unemployment is hovering near an all-time low.

And all of these factors drove US government tax revenue to an all-time high; Uncle Sam has never had more income in its entire history.

Plus, there were no major foreign wars or natural disasters.

No banking crises or economic panics.

No massive bailouts.

And if you recall, the US government was shut down for most of the month of January due to a budget conflict, so federal spending was at a minimum for a good chunk of the year.

Yet despite this bonanza of good news, the national debt STILL increased by more than a trillion dollars!

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE??

Here’s an even more startling way of looking at it:

• In Fiscal Year 2012, the government spent $359 billion paying interest on its debt.

• In Fiscal Year 2015 they spent $402 billion.

• In FY2017, $458 billion.

• In the Fiscal Year 2019 that just closed yesterday, they spent more than $540 billion just paying INTEREST on the debt.

Do you see the pattern?

This problem becomes substantially worse every year. And FY2019 was a GOOD year!

What’s going to happen when the economic sun isn’t shining so brightly?

It would be foolish to expect every year to look like Fiscal Year 2019. Honestly, the combination of so much good news and so little bad news in FY19 was pretty rare.

There absolutely WILL be problems in the future. Recessions, panics, downturns, bear markets, natural disasters, trade wars, military conflicts, debt crises, pension crises, etc.

Many of these risks are already on the horizon.

Then you have to think about how quickly the Bolsheviks are storming to power.

These people want to dump trillions of dollars on the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, Universal Basic Income, free university education, and pretty much everything else that Karl Marx wrote about in the Communist Manifesto.

How much additional debt are they going to pile up in the process?

The US government’s mountain of debt already exceeds 100% of GDP, and that number gets worse each year.

How much longer will everyone keep pretending that the world’s biggest debtor is simultaneously the world’s biggest superpower?

How much longer will financial markets and foreign governments continue loaning money to the US government at trivial interest rates?

5 years? 10 years? 13 months until the next election?

No one knows for sure. But you don’t need a PhD in economics to realize that this might not have a happy ending… or that you might want to think about a Plan B.

The city council in Ames, Iowa has chosen to disregard a sharply-worded request from federal officials to remove its rainbow, ‘inclusion-themed’ crosswalks at a downtown intersection, according to the Ames Tribune. 

“My only question is, do we need to do anything?” said council member Chris Nelson in response to the letter from the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. “Can we just accept the letter and say thank you?” 

City Attorney Mark Lambert said that since the request did not ask for a response, written or verbal from the city, council could ignore it.

“As I said in my memo, (FHWA) couldn’t explain to me how they had jurisdiction over city streets, they were unaware of any penalties, and said they were still research that,” Lambert said. “Frankly, I think that according to the manual itself, there’s a good argument we’re not violating the manual, since there’s no prohibition on colors.” –Ames Tribune

The crosswalks on Douglas Avenue feature various colors meant to be inclusive of minority groups; rainbows for LGBT, and brown and black for people of color. 

According to Forbes, the crosswalk to the east of Fifth Street “features gender non-binary pride colors of purple, black, yellow and white, and the crosswalk to the west features transgender pride colors of blue, white and pink.”

The September 5 letter received by the city from FHWA assistant division administrator Mark Johnson informed the council that their new crosswalks posed a danger to pedestrians, suggesting they “take the necessary steps to remove the non-compliant crosswalk art as soon as it is feasible.” 

“The white crosswalk markings allowed are tested and proven to be recognized as a legally marked crossing location for pedestrians,” wrote Johnson. “Crosswalk art diminishes the contrast between the white lines and the pavement, potentially decreasing the effectiveness of the crosswalk markings and the safety of pedestrian traffic.”

City Attorney Mark Lambert, however, told the Des Moines Register that Fifth Street and Douglas Avenue aren’t federal roads – so they can pound sand. 

“In terms of jurisdiction, we don’t believe the highway administration has any,” said Lambert, adding “With the system of federalism in the United States, the federal government does not have jurisdiction over everything.” 

“I note that the FHWA’s letter included a ‘request’ — not a demand — for the city to remove the colored crosswalk markings. This is not a lawful order or demand by a federal agency, it is merely a request.” 

Authored by Elias Marat via TheMindUnleashed.com,

As we humble earthlings begin to learn more about the universe and potentially stand on the cusp of great discoveries about the planet Mars, we may not be prepared for what’s in store of us, warns the chief scientist of U.S. space agency NASA.

Dr. Jim Green believes that as two rovers from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) prepare to embark for Mars next summer, humanity could be overwhelmed by the implications of studies to come.

Speaking to the Telegraph, the director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division compared the potential discoveries to Rennaissance-era astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’ theory that postulated that the Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than vice-versa.

The Copernican model, which is credited with revolutionizing science during the 16th century, earned him the condemnation of the Roman Catholic Church due to the model’s impact on the Church’s doctrines relating to astronomy.

“It will start a whole new line of thinking. I don’t think we’re prepared for the results.

I’ve been worried about that because I think we’re close to finding it and making some announcements.”

The ESA’s ExoMars Rover and NASA’s Mars 2020 are set to drill 6.5 feet into the Red Planet’s core to take samples in hopes of finding evidence of life on. The samples will be processed and examined in a mobile laboratory that will look for any traces of organic matter.

The ESA #ExoMars #RosalindFranklin rover is assembled for testing before heading to #Mars in 2020! The bogies we designed + built are shown in a stowed configuration – meaning the legs & wheels on the bogies of the #rover are folded pretty compactly for launch/transit to Mars! pic.twitter.com/6xOa3P1JJS

— Natalie Panek (@nmpanek) September 28, 2019

Green said that if scientists find biosignatures of life in Mars’ crust, a new era of astrobiology could begin.

“What happens next is a whole new set of scientific questions.

Is that life like us? How are we related?

Can life move from planet-to-planet or do we have a spark and just the right environment and that spark generates life – like us or not like us – based on the chemical environment that it is in?”

NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is set to launch next July before making the 140-million mile trek to Mars and landing on its Jezero Crater in February 2021.

With two high-definition cameras and a detachable helicopter drone, the rover is set to collect an unprecedented batch of visual data and images of the cavernous and cliffy terrain of Mars.

Good question! We’re trying to find out. I found evidence of an ancient stream on Mars that once flowed with water—something needed for life as we know it.

The #Mars2020 rover, launching in July, will take samples & search for more clues: https://t.co/C966SCxQgR #AstronautSnoopy pic.twitter.com/5mGPFUa55a

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) September 30, 2019

However, the primary mission of the rover is to find signs of life. Habitable environments and biosignatures left in rock are being sought so that samples can be studied back on earth.

The latest research has shown that many planets believed to have always been uninhabitable may have once enjoyed conditions suitable for sustaining life. Earlier this year, NASA’s InSight rover found evidence of a potentially vast global reservoir of water on Mars.

Dr. Green notes that research also suggests the existence of civilizations on other planets. He commented:

 “There is no reason to think that there isn’t civilization elsewhere, because we are finding exoplanets [planets lying beyond the solar system] all over the place.”

Japan has increased its national sales tax to 10% from 8% on Tuesday, a significant policy change that could tilt the world’s third-largest economy into recession by depressing consumer sentiment, reported Market Watch.

The last two times policymakers increased the sales tax, 2-point rise to 5% in 1997 and another to 8% in 2014, an economic contraction shortly followed.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe twice delayed the tax hike in recent years.

Abe has indicated the tax is now unavoidable given the demographic challenges in the aging country. He said the tax would help pay down the enormous national debt, and position the country towards more financial responsibility in balancing the budget by 2025. But taxing the consumer as the economy is deteriorating could be a recipe for economic disaster in 2020.

Japan’s GDP expanded at an annual pace of 1.8% over the summer. The economy is quickly slowing into fall, thanks to the trade war between the US and China. Global trade volumes are plummeting through 2H19, has taken a toll on Japan’s exports. The tax will likely sideline the consumer in 2020, force them into a savings pattern that could tilt the economy into a recession next year, similar to the tax increase in 2014.

“The economy is already in a bad state,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, executive chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

“To put it in terms of the human body,” Nagahama added, “exercising when you’re not in good health is probably unwise.”

The tax goes into effect Tuesday, includes clothes, electronics, transportation, and medical services, but policymakers are allowing tax breaks for real estate and automobile purchases. Low-income households will see insignificant tax hikes, along with no tax hikes for groceries.

Policymakers set aside $18.49 billion in tax breaks for consumers. Another $2.77 billion will be for real estate and automobile purchases, but it’s likely that any tax breaks will have little effect in boosting animal spirits.

“The reduced tax rate and reward points system may limit the pain to shoppers,” said Koya Miyamae, a senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities. “Still, consumer sentiment tends to deteriorate before and after a tax hike, which will, in turn, dampen economic activity.”

Abe’s timing of the consumer tax hike poses a deflationary risk at a time when the global economy is stumbling.

“Considering the current economic conditions, the timing is bad,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

Worsening economic conditions in Japan underlines the darkening outlook for the Japanese economy even before the tax hike was implemented. Though service-sector activity remains steady, the tax hike will likely slow domestic consumption in the quarters ahead, eventually tipping the economy into recession.

During the last two consumer hikes (1997, 2014), the country’s leading economic index topped out and slid. This time around, the tax was pushed out when the index has been declining for at least 1.5-years, a policy error by the government that could prolong the next downturn.

 

Authored by Brandon Cornett via InvestmentWatchBlog.com,

Want to know which California cities are experiencing home-price declines in 2019? Here’s the easiest method.

Look at a map of the Golden State. Draw a big, imaginary circle just to the south of San Francisco. Make sure it includes most of the South Bay and East Bay regions, along with all of Santa Clara County. That’s where prices are dropping.

As of fall 2019, home values were falling in places like Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale.

All of these real estate markets have something in common. They’ve all experienced rapid (and unsustainable) home-price gains over the past few years. In most of these markets, severe inventory shortages have created a kind of frenzy among buyers that causes them to make offers above the asking price. This in turn has caused home values to skyrocket.

But those days seem to be in the past, for the most part. Now the trend has reversed. Instead of skyrocketing, home prices are now plummeting in some of these California cities.

The biggest price drops seem to be occurring in the South Bay / Santa Clara Valley region of the state. In some of those cities – like Cupertino and Milpitas – median home values have dropped by more than 10% over the past year (source: Zillow).

In September 2019, Kathleen Pender from the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Four Bay Area counties posted year-over-year price drops in August, the largest being Santa Clara’s 8% decline.”

23 Housing Markets Where Prices Have Fallen

So, which California cities are experiencing a drop in home prices? We’ve mentioned a few of them above. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The list below is based on data provided by Zillow in late September 2019. The percentage beside each city shows how the median home value changed over the previous 12 months. That’s according to the company’s proprietary “Home Value Index.” Bolding indicates cities where home prices have dropped by double digits in the past year.

Year-over-year price drops in California housing markets:

1. Berkeley: -3.0%

2. Concord: -1.9%

3. Cupertino: -11.5%

4. Fremont: -3.4%

5. Gilroy: -7.9%

6. Hayward: -2.4%

7. Healdsburg: -6.6%

8. Irvine: -1.9%

9. Los Altos: -11.6%

10. Martinez: -1.7%

11. Mendocino: -8.4%

12. Milpitas: -10.7%

13. Mountain View: -8.9%

14. Palo Alto: -12.3%

15. Pleasanton: -4.9%

16. Redwood City: -5.3%

17. San Jose: -9.3%

18. Santa Barbara: -3.1%

19. Santa Clara: -13.2%

20. Santa Rosa: -1.4%

21. Saratoga: -11.9%

22. Sunnyvale: -14.5%

23. Walnut Creek: -1.0%

Statewide, Values Are Still Climbing

To be clear: These are not the only California cities where home prices are dropping in fall 2019. There are others as well. But it does give you a sense of what is happening across the state.

It’s also important to point out that prices are still climbing in most cities across the state. The housing markets above are an exception to that overall trend.

The Santa Clara Valley is currently taking the biggest hit, in terms of home-value declines. In many cities in that region, prices have dropped by double digits over the past year. We expect this downward trend to continue through 2019 and into 2020, though it will likely become less severe over the coming months.

San Francisco appears to be “insulated” from these price drops, to some degree. Due to the city’s unique geography, construction opportunities are limited. Housing demand, meanwhile, remains strong. So it’s possible that San Francisco could weather the storm and hold its home values better than the surrounding cities.

Chico and Eureka Are Outpacing the National Average

The statewide median home price in California continues to climb. That’s because most cities across the state are still seeing a rise in house values. The crash scenarios listed above are mostly limited to the South Bay region, with a few scattered cases in Wine Country, the East Bay and elsewhere.

Looking forward to the north, we can find some examples of California housing markets that are still appreciating at a steady pace. Cities like Chico, Eureka and Redding are experiencing significant home-price gains right now.

In Chico, a Northern California city of around 93,000 residents, home prices have risen sharply over the past year. This month, the team at Zillow wrote: “Chico home values have gone up 13.2% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 7.3% within the next year.”

That particular forecast was made in September 2019, so it extends into the fall of 2020. For comparison, prices nationwide rose by around 5% over the past year. So clearly the Chico real estate market is outperforming most other cities in the country, in terms of price growth.

Eureka, California also experienced a big increase in home values over the past year. The median price in that Northern California city rose by around 8% in the last 12 months (as of September 2019).

UPS announced Tuesday that it had received the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) first full Part 135 Standard certification to operate a drone airline across the U.S.

UPS is currently expanding drone networks on academic and hospital campuses across the country, and will shortly expand to other businesses. During the build-out, UPS Flight Forward plans to go beyond the line of sight, which means the drones could one day fly from city to city, or even across the country.

The FAA awarded UPS Flight Forward a Part 135 Standard certification last Friday, and with-in 12 hours, the UPS subsidiary launched deliveries at WakeMed’s hospital campus in Raleigh, N.C.

UPS teamed up with Matternet, to produce the M2 quadcopter, was flown under an FAA exemption allowing for a “beyond visual line of sight.” The drone can fly upwards of 6 miles, weather permitted of course, and carry a payload of about 5 pounds.

@somedroneguy =first_name, we have big news! UPS Flight Forward has just become the @FAANews‘s first filly approved drone airline. Read more about this game-changing news below: #UPSdrones https://t.co/YOJd25lU1j pic.twitter.com/MtmD6Jr0Zw

— UPS (@UPS) October 1, 2019

UPS’ drone delivery service on the WakeMed campus is the first-ever revenue-generating service for drone delivery of medical products and specimens. The Part 135 certification will allow UPS to build a more extensive network that could extend outside the campus, could eventually connect other universities or businesses.

“This is history in the making, and we aren’t done yet,” said David Abney, UPS chief executive officer. “Our technology is opening doors for UPS and solving problems in unique ways for our customers. We will soon announce other steps to build out our infrastructure, expand services for healthcare customers and put drones to new uses in the future.”

Part 135 also allows UPS drones to carry more than 55 pounds of cargo and fly at night. This will enable UPS drones to fly from city to city, and or even from state to state, and in some cases, across the country. UPS is building small networks at campuses, will eventually connect them as nodes — this will be part of a large logistical drone network that could extend across the country by 2025.

“UPS Flight Forward is benefitting from our knowledge as one of the world’s leading airlines. The Flight Forward organization is building a full-scale drone operation based on the rigorous reliability, safety, and control requirements of the FAA,” Abney said.

“This is a big step forward in safely integrating unmanned aircraft systems into our airspace, expanding access to healthcare in North Carolina and building on the success of the national UAS Integration Pilot Program to maintain American leadership in unmanned aviation,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao.

UPS is in the beginning innings of building out a nationwide drone network by creating local nodes in academia and hospital campuses first. Then will eventually link the nodes into an interconnected national system, that will have various types of drones making localized deliveries, and or ones that will make long-distance ones. This logistical network in the sky, using drones and artificial intelligence, could displace tens of thousands of UPS workers by 2030.