Woman Arrested, Dragged Away After Criticizing Flock at City Council

A woman had her microphone turned off and was dragged away mid-sentence while speaking out against Flock cameras at a City Council meeting in Springfield, Missouri.

Dozens of residents attended the Monday meeting regarding a resolution to review the city’s use of automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, cameras—the majority of which are operated by the controversial Flock surveillance company. The city council voted 5–3 to advance the legislation, and the citizens present were asked to leave without having the chance to publicly comment, leading many of them to boo and protest as they were ushered out. One man was arrested.

Springfield resident Mia Heider later attempted to voice her opposition to Flock to Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag at a different point in the council meeting.

“Hello, my name is Mia Heider. I’m a Springfield, Missouri, constituent, and I’m here to oppose the usage of ALPR cameras, most commonly made by Flock Safety,” she said. “These cameras are not just surveillance—”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Schrag said, interrupting Heider. She held up two middle fingers at him and continued while a law enforcement officer approached her.

“They are an invasion of our privacy,” she said. The officer then grabbed her and placed her under arrest. Schrag concluded the council meeting immediately after.

The other Springfield resident arrested at the meeting was freelance photographer Noah Powell.

“Well I said: ‘Jeff Schrag is a cuck.’ I said: ‘Fuck you Jeff.’ I said: ‘Worthless’ and then, also, the final thing I said was: ‘Jeff Schrag has a tiny, stinky, cock,’” Powell told 404 Media. “I just let myself get handcuffed and let them do whatever power trip they wanted to do. Got my ticket and left.”

There are currently 41 cameras being used by the Springfield Police Department to surveil residents. Last year, the city entered a five-year, $45,000-per-year contract with Flock for their ALPR cameras. This instance is one of many in the growing national resistance to Flock cameras, which have become prevalent in nearly every major U.S. city without any real kind of vote or democratic process. The “deflock” movement has seen multiple citizens tear down Flock cameras in their neighborhoods. Last week, hackers revealed that Flock cameras survey far more than just cars, intaking data on people walking, biking, and even zooming in on their bumper stickers, all without them knowing—giving even more cause to these protests.

President Trump is preparing to ban diesel exports from the U.S. for 90 days against the advice of many in his Cabinet.

Politico reports that the plan, which also faces opposition from some oil companies, is aimed at bringing down fuel prices surging as a result of the Iran war and Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. Oil companies are warning that the move will only have short-term benefits and would cause higher fuel prices in the future.

That opinion is echoed by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who said Wednesday that “the blunt tool ​of banning diesel exports definitely doesn’t work.”

“If you can’t ⁠export the diesel that comes out of our refineries, you run out of places to store it, and you have to reduce U.S. refining, which would ​put upward pressure on gasoline prices and jet fuel prices,” Wright said at an event hosted by The Economist in New York. At another event the same day, Wright suggested that a “voluntary” plan was coming instead of a blanket ban.

Wright called energy CEOs Tuesday night warning them that a ban was coming in the next few days. Almost immediately afterward, some of those executives started calling the White House voicing their concerns, an unnamed White House energy adviser told Politico, adding, “there’s a lot of swirl so it might change.”

“It’s a terrible idea,” the adviser told the publication.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also oppose a diesel ban. On Tuesday, Trump said that he supported stopping exports.

“I’ve said, ‘Let’s not send out the diesel.’ We make a lot of diesel,” Trump said while speaking to the press with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “I’ve called for it within my people. I’ve been talking about it.”

As of Wednesday, diesel fuel costs $6.52 per gallon on average, up from $3.69 only one year ago according to the American Automobile Association. If implemented, the ban would be the first such restriction on the U.S. fuel trade since President Obama lifted the country’s 40-year ban on oil exports in 2015. In the short term, the ban would lead to more diesel in the U.S. fuel system, but domestic refiners could react by slowing down production.

Meanwhile, the real roots of the sky-high prices—the wars in Iran and Ukraine—show no signs of abating or ending. Publicly, Trump says he isn’t concerned about the Iran war affecting the midterm elections in November. But moves like a diesel ban, coupled with complaints from Republican candidates, suggest that times are getting desperate.

The lone broadcaster that remained in the White House press pool has compromised Donald Trump’s safety.

Real America’s Voice, a far-right streaming channel, aired footage of the president’s motorcade as it wound its way through Manhattan Tuesday evening. The clip captured the taillights of Trump’s NYPD entourage, tracking their movements through the city’s streets.

Conservative influencer Nick Sortor thanked the channel for showcasing “RAW footage of how difficult it is to keep President Trump safe.”

Yet the MAGA loyalists had only done the president a disservice by highlighting the route, and revealed their ignorance regarding the pool’s longstanding policy on the matter.

“For decades, the [White House Correspondents Association] has advised poolers not to air video of taillights because it’s a potential risk to the security of the motorcade,” former WHCA president Weijia Jiang wrote on X, responding to Sortor’s post.

Trump announced Friday that he was banning MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House, writing on Truth Social that the prohibition was the result of “FAKE NEWS.”

Other broadcasters considered the ban an assault on the First Amendment and an affront to news institutions across the country. By Monday, every reputable broadcaster in the White House press pool—including NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox News—had joined together to suspend coverage of the president and his actions until he reversed course.

MS NOW, CNN, and Politico also filed a lawsuit against the president and his administration Monday, describing the selective ban as a “a blatant violation” of the First Amendment.

Just one other streaming service currently remains in the pool: Lindell TV, owned and operated by 2020 election denier MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell—though it too has aired sycophantic coverage of the president.

“Access changes are nothing new,” the White House wrote in a press release Monday. “What is new, however, is the sudden claim that it becomes sacred only when the outlets are friendly to the Radical Left. The rule was never ‘every outlet gets in.’”

“It was always ‘our side stays in,’” the statement read.

On Wednesday, 49 media organizations signed an amicus brief in defense of MS NOW, CNN, and Politico, urging the courts to immediately suspend Trump’s ban.

Elon Musk may soon have a stake in two of the largest television news operations in the U.S., thanks to the Paramount merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Semafor reports that Paramount Skydance executives are looking for sources of cash and are considering asking the tech oligarch and world’s richest man to join a team of equity investors in the company. Musk is one of multiple candidates that Paramount CEO David Ellison is considering, and if it happens, the Tesla CEO would own stakes in both CBS and CNN.

Musk already has a close relationship with Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison. In 2022, the elder Ellison invested $1 billion into Musk’s effort to take over Twitter (now X), and he also invested in Tesla in 2018, later serving on its board of directors.

Musk’s involvement in the merger would have alarming implications for the state of the free press, as his far-right views have become increasingly prevalent on his social media platform, X. The Ellisons’ ownership of CBS has led to a conservative turn at the network, with reactionary Bari Weiss being named editor in chief and gutting its signature news shows, CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes.

Similar fears are being raised about the Ellisons taking over CNN. Musk’s involvement will only heighten those fears, as he professes fascist and xenophobic views almost daily. Several states had sued to stop the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger but settled that lawsuit earlier this week, paving the way for it to go ahead. Now it seems there will soon be a new conservative media giant, flush with cash.

The Trump administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin—who is four years into his relentless invasion of Ukraine—to the December G20 summit at President Trump’s golf club in Miami. Putin has yet to accept the invitation.

“We’ve invited President Putin to the G20. We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but also with other world leaders,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “We hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept. There’s an opportunity in December, if that happens.”

The summit—one of the most important global affairs meetings—is being held at National Doral Golf Club, the private golf course of the American president. Trump tried a similar move in 2020, but was met with widespread outrage before the summit was canceled anyway because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It seems like the bar for blatant presidential corruption has gotten much lower since then.

If Putin accepts Trump’s invite, this would be the first time he attends the global summit since he led the invasion of Ukraine. It would not only be unprecedented but also awkward, as many other world leaders are diametrically opposed to Putin’s war on Ukraine. He also has an active warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, as at least 125,000 Ukrainians have been killed in the war thus far, with the most recent attack coming on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Kyiv Post earlier this month that he would attend the G20 summit, as well, and would relish the opportunity to meet with Putin face-to-face. Putin has long rejected this, saying he would only meet with Zelenskiy at the Kremlin in Russia. We’ll have to wait and see.