Gotta be US military, regardless of what the Pentagon says, or possibly commercial testing of some sort. Maybe Elon's newest company. Could also just be hysteria over regular planes. If it were...
Gotta be US military, regardless of what the Pentagon says, or possibly commercial testing of some sort. Maybe Elon's newest company.
Could also just be hysteria over regular planes.
If it were anything else, there wouldn't be any secrecy or denial. Our leaders and media would literally be shooting from the rooftops if it were a foreign adversary or actual UFOs.
As a pilot, nearly every single image I've been shown that proports to be a drone is emphatically an airplane. Situations described to me about drones are nearly always describing the patterns of...
Could also just be hysteria over regular planes. The few that aren't are so out of focus to be meaningless or are of things like high visibility markers on transmission lines.
As a pilot, nearly every single image I've been shown that proports to be a drone is emphatically an airplane. Situations described to me about drones are nearly always describing the patterns of airplanes landing or taking off.
The responses from people like the FBI are simply to say they're doing something because they know simply denying people's imagined reality will make it worse.
I've heard reports of some aircraft hovering in place and reversing direction, which would indicate quads. But it's quickly snowballing into a panic, so there's no telling if those are accurate or...
I've heard reports of some aircraft hovering in place and reversing direction, which would indicate quads. But it's quickly snowballing into a panic, so there's no telling if those are accurate or not.
I think it's likely to be one of those occasional mass panics the human race is prone to. Somebody mentions seeing an unusual number of drones one day, and then everybody who hears looks up at the sky a little more than they're accustomed and sees all the traffic up there. Rinse, repeat.
The alternatives are (in order of likelihood by my reckoning): a publicity stunt for some drone startup that we'll be hearing about shortly; a hoax perpetrated by some group with a chaos fetish; some PMC or defense contractor doing tests (unlikely); military surveillance by a foreign nation (unlikely, considering the descriptions); US military drones deployed for some unknown reason (extremely unlikely); or aliens (so laughably unlikely that it wouldn't be worth mentioning if we hadn't been primed by decades of sci-fi).
The scariest thing about it is that humans are really piss-poor at correctly assessing the likelihood of risks, and Americans are especially bad at this. I've seen commenters on YouTube news reports insinuating--without directly claiming--that it's all a plot by the Biden administration to perform a coup using weaponized drones. Why they'd deploy a month and a week early and turn on the blinking lights while they'd do so was conspicuously unremarked upon.
Considering the nadir of public faith in institutions and the rule of law, it wouldn't take much for some prepper types with a particular political bent to really get wound up about this. Hell, it might not 'take' anything at all; it might be enough just for authorities to not have a good answer, or find one that doesn't satisfy.
One thing is certain: it's been an absolutely wild couple of months. I'd like things to settle down now, please.
As someone that has gotten outside a lot more the last few years after getting a dog, I've been struck by how many more airplanes there are day and night then I remember seeing as a kid. Which I...
As someone that has gotten outside a lot more the last few years after getting a dog, I've been struck by how many more airplanes there are day and night then I remember seeing as a kid. Which I live in the West far from this hysteria. But while on walks I've had a regular thought that "boy the skies are getting busy." I've really noticed it in winter where an already light polluted sky has lots of bright dots moving across no matter where you look.
That all being said, if people who haven't regularly taken the time to look up and notice how many more planes there are were told "THERE ARE DRONES IN THE SKY," began watching the sky with new awareness. And like a boogyman in the dark are just jumping at shadows so to speak because otherwise just weren't paying attention before.
Of course, I think I was on the same page as you and appreciated your explanations of what could be causing the "weird" movements people have observed. Just adding my two cents as someone who's...
Of course, I think I was on the same page as you and appreciated your explanations of what could be causing the "weird" movements people have observed. Just adding my two cents as someone who's like looking up.
It's the background noise I notice more than seeing them. It's crazy how much background noise they make if you're in a populated area in the middle of the night. Was out in the early morning for...
It's the background noise I notice more than seeing them. It's crazy how much background noise they make if you're in a populated area in the middle of the night. Was out in the early morning for several night a couple weeks back with a sick dog needing to go out every hour and a half. Basically no road noise but a constant whiring sound from planes overhead. I think memory has a strong affect on our perceived experience so I think it's interesting you touched on that.
I guess it depends on how far you mean by near. I'm within 50 miles of a big airport, so if that's close then yeah. Still, airports have undergone a lot of expansion the last 20 years and this one...
I guess it depends on how far you mean by near. I'm within 50 miles of a big airport, so if that's close then yeah. Still, airports have undergone a lot of expansion the last 20 years and this one is no exception. So I guess it's a mix of being within relatively close proximity to a big airport and air travel continuing to grow each year.
That’s great It starts with buzzing noise, blinking lights A quadcopter Donald Trump is not afraid Off the coast mothership, enemy’s microchip Big Apple oh me, and above New Jersey Watch it on the...
That’s great
It starts with buzzing noise, blinking lights
A quadcopter
Donald Trump is not afraid
Off the coast mothership, enemy’s microchip
Big Apple oh me, and above New Jersey
Watch it on the Fox, or C. N. N.
The twitter starts to jitter with posts and re-posts
Big like cars! Crying, Spreading ma-ni-a
And the government is quiet, and the Pent-a-gon
[…]
Put another way: Mysterious automobile-sized drones spotted above New York, New Jersey and other states over the past few weeks. State government lawmakers don't know what is going on. The drones might be coming from an Iranian mothership off the coast. The FBI is involved but the Pentagon is mum. Nobody who knows is talking. Mania is spreading. Holy moly, man woman and child, what is happening?
But in all seriousness, ignoring the mainstream and social media foofaraw, what do you think is really happening?
I've yet to see any actual proof these things exist. All I've seen is phone footage/images of lights in the sky. The large majority of what I've seen is clearly identifiable as a plane or...
But in all seriousness, ignoring the mainstream and social media foofaraw, what do you think is really happening?
I've yet to see any actual proof these things exist. All I've seen is phone footage/images of lights in the sky. The large majority of what I've seen is clearly identifiable as a plane or helicopter.
So right now, my take is there might be something going on, but it is now massively overblown by false positives. Until there's any actual proof of what the fuck is going on, it's hard to have much more opinion than that.
IF there is some car sized drone flying around new jersey randomly, I'd say most likely options are military operation (denied either due to security or due to not knowing they're doing it), or some business project that's probably violating FAA rules.
The drones might be coming from an Iranian mothership off the coast.
This is not happening. Hell your link says this is not happening.
Didn't recognize the song meter, but I don't know the verses of the song well either, but I could tell you were doing something? It's why labeling satire and sarcasm are helpful though. One...
Didn't recognize the song meter, but I don't know the verses of the song well either, but I could tell you were doing something?
It's why labeling satire and sarcasm are helpful though. One person's Onion is another ones QAnon.
I'm still of the camp that says you're better off not using satire if you're going to signpost it explicitly. I had a professor who said that one of the defining features of good satire is that it...
I'm still of the camp that says you're better off not using satire if you're going to signpost it explicitly.
I had a professor who said that one of the defining features of good satire is that it divides the audience into two groups: those who get it, and those who don't. I've considered many examples of satire since then, and I have to agree with her.
Of course, she said this right about the time Poe's Law was devised. Perhaps she'd have a different perspective nowadays.
I think that framing of satire is sensible when the context is more controlled. In a literary journal, a piece of satire can be funny when the author goes over the top arguing that English should...
I think that framing of satire is sensible when the context is more controlled. In a literary journal, a piece of satire can be funny when the author goes over the top arguing that English should return to its roots and replace some phoneme with another. Most people will get that it's satire, and thus it'll be funny. But with the internet comes context collapse. Each piece of writing has to stand entirely devoid of outside context, because if it's linked to in a vacuum 99% of the people who read it will have no idea about the author, the venue, none of it.
It's really hard for it to land well when satire divides the audience into 99% of people who don't get it and 1% who do.
I think the impact of satire is dependent on ambiguity, though. Otherwise it's simple irony or sarcasm. I think the best thing is to be artful with your signposting and not be too hung up on the...
I think the impact of satire is dependent on ambiguity, though. Otherwise it's simple irony or sarcasm. I think the best thing is to be artful with your signposting and not be too hung up on the percentage of people who get it. Satire needs to be a scalpel to be effective, not a bludgeon. Reserve it for times when the ambiguity can be effective.
Right, but to target how blatant you need to be to hit the right level of ambiguity you need to know your audience. And online you're never going to really know who's going to run into what you're...
Right, but to target how blatant you need to be to hit the right level of ambiguity you need to know your audience. And online you're never going to really know who's going to run into what you're saying.
The same was true of the pamphlets of Swift's day, and many people didn't get it then, too. All I'm saying is that being taken literally is an inherent risk when utilizing satire, which is why one...
The same was true of the pamphlets of Swift's day, and many people didn't get it then, too.
All I'm saying is that being taken literally is an inherent risk when utilizing satire, which is why one should be cautious when employing it. Rejecting it as a genre altogether is the quintessence of the proverb about the baby and the bathwater.
I agree with @mimicsquid That makes sense for McSweeney's and Jonathan Swift, for a post online, it's less clear. And I was even surprised when McSweeney's had serious interviews because satire is...
Good point, I’ll do that. Did you mean to tag it rather than label? I have seen labels for Malice, Exemplary, etc but I don’t think I’ve seen one for Satire. (And if there isn’t a Satire label, I...
Good point, I’ll do that. Did you mean to tag it rather than label? I have seen labels for Malice, Exemplary, etc but I don’t think I’ve seen one for Satire. (And if there isn’t a Satire label, I may petition for one.)
I meant label in the general sense, not the tildes specific sense. Tags are one way to do that. Giving people's propensity to be annoyed when their satire or sarcasm isn't picked up on instead of...
I meant label in the general sense, not the tildes specific sense. Tags are one way to do that. Giving people's propensity to be annoyed when their satire or sarcasm isn't picked up on instead of just acknowledging tone doesn't always read online, I think it's easier to just label it. Not saying you did just saying in general
The one video on that page is from a senator from NJ, which lends at least a touch of credence to it. While I haven't gone out to spot myself, those videos do not jive with typical...
The one video on that page is from a senator from NJ, which lends at least a touch of credence to it. While I haven't gone out to spot myself, those videos do not jive with typical airplane/helicopter traffic I see. I've lived in the shadow of PHL and now ACY for over a decade, and the number of times I've seen anything flying like this, over the course of several days, moving inward from the coast, is 0.
I don't doubt it's probably something relatively benign, but it'd be nice to have some clarity.
My other question is: Why is this happening now, and not say, anytime in the last 5 years? Planes and helicopters fly around here constantly. What makes it different now?
But also, after digging through the BBC links, I learn Van Drew is the idiot behind Iranian Mother ship. God that guy is the worst. I'm sorry I couldn't dissuade more from voting for him, but people around here are super paranoid about those offshore windfarms.
Have... you seen our politicians lately? ;) Anyway, my take - there's likely drones out there. There were reports about actual drone swarms trying to map out military bases a few weeks ago,...
The one video on that page is from a senator from NJ, which lends at least a touch of credence to it.
Have... you seen our politicians lately? ;)
Anyway, my take - there's likely drones out there. There were reports about actual drone swarms trying to map out military bases a few weeks ago, particularly around Norfolk VA, and that was known to be an actual thing. A Chinese National who was living in the US was arrested after a commercial quadcopter drone he was using crashed and it was found to have video of military facilities recorded. I'm guessing this has caused some hysteria where now people are interpreting EVERY unidentified (to them) light in the sky as a drone. Medical helicopter? Drone. Landing pattern at the airport? Drone swarm. The change is that the actual events brought the idea in to the collective conscious of society, and now it's running wild.
A lot of this reads like something that's not a big deal and a rumor that's just gotten out of hand. Like this part pretty clearly reads to me as "We spotted something in our airspace, made a few...
A lot of this reads like something that's not a big deal and a rumor that's just gotten out of hand.
Multiple drones have been sighted over Naval Weapons Station Earle, in Colts Neck, New Jersey, as well as other nearby military installations.
"While no direct threats to the installation have been identified, we can confirm multiple instances of unidentified drones entering the airspace above Naval Weapons Station Earle," a spokesperson for the military base confirmed in a statement to CBS, the BBC's US news partner.
"The base remains prepared to respond to any potential risks, leveraging robust security measures and advanced detection capabilities."
Like this part pretty clearly reads to me as "We spotted something in our airspace, made a few calls, figured out what other military entity was flying them and confirmed we did not need to shoot them down." Maybe I've been out of the loop on drone hobby flying for too long, but my understand is that you do not fly a drone near and airport or secure facility because they WILL see you on radar and they will come find you too tell you to knock it off. And you're probably getting a fine. The FAA does not play games and I can't imagine the military does either.
Simon posted a video addressing this topic. His teams conclusion is that the most probable operator of the drone swarms is China, and that they are kind of 'threading the needle' between how far...
Simon posted a video addressing this topic. His teams conclusion is that the most probable operator of the drone swarms is China, and that they are kind of 'threading the needle' between how far they can push and not provoke the actual shooting down of the drones while quickly gathering as much ISR as they can before the US military adapts.
Why wouldn't the military shoot down the drones? Legal authorization / the Posse Comitatus act - basically the US military lacks the authority to use force on US soil outside of specific circumstances or being specifically authorized to do so, the point of this being a protection for the citizens of the USA against a potential tool of oppression.
Since the drones aren't attacking / ramming / bombing these facilities, the clear-cut cases in which the military can act without bureaucratic authorization are not taking place. As such there is a need for authorization to use force on US soil to be issued, or for specialized systems that would not legally 'count' as use of military force to be set up and employed to counter the drone activities (net launching systems, maaayyyyyyyyybe jamming systems although those have their own set of issues and collateral consequences, other options?).
But yeah, most probable (but no, we do not know for certain) explanation is China.
Edit: to clarify on different past examples vs current examples: prior instances of, say single drones / small commercial DJI stuff? Random people being people, idiots being idiots and risking charges for airspace violations. Current examples of coordinated drone swarms / multiple SUV-size mothership drones? Probable nation-state action (with China being the most likely actor with the highest combination of resources / motivation / technology).
/sarcasm Probably some home insurance company piloting a ai driven drone program to get up to date information if a leaf is on a properties roof so they can drop them as a customer. The drone's...
/sarcasm
Probably some home insurance company piloting a ai driven drone program to get up to date information if a leaf is on a properties roof so they can drop them as a customer. The drone's will be 24/7, so you can sign up for a new policy and be dropped the next day because a shadow across your roof resembles the Mona Lisa of mold stains.
We've had a slew of these sightings above US manned military bases in the UK recently as well, strange. I enjoy putting on my Mulder tinfoil hat as much as the next person but I imagine for the...
We've had a slew of these sightings above US manned military bases in the UK recently as well, strange. I enjoy putting on my Mulder tinfoil hat as much as the next person but I imagine for the ones that aren't just a mistaken Sirius, Jupiter, hobbyist drone, or plane of some sort it's maybe some sort of military drone being tested.
Gotta be US military, regardless of what the Pentagon says, or possibly commercial testing of some sort. Maybe Elon's newest company.
Could also just be hysteria over regular planes.
If it were anything else, there wouldn't be any secrecy or denial. Our leaders and media would literally be shooting from the rooftops if it were a foreign adversary or actual UFOs.
As a pilot, nearly every single image I've been shown that proports to be a drone is emphatically an airplane. Situations described to me about drones are nearly always describing the patterns of airplanes landing or taking off.
The responses from people like the FBI are simply to say they're doing something because they know simply denying people's imagined reality will make it worse.
I've heard reports of some aircraft hovering in place and reversing direction, which would indicate quads. But it's quickly snowballing into a panic, so there's no telling if those are accurate or not.
I think it's likely to be one of those occasional mass panics the human race is prone to. Somebody mentions seeing an unusual number of drones one day, and then everybody who hears looks up at the sky a little more than they're accustomed and sees all the traffic up there. Rinse, repeat.
The alternatives are (in order of likelihood by my reckoning): a publicity stunt for some drone startup that we'll be hearing about shortly; a hoax perpetrated by some group with a chaos fetish; some PMC or defense contractor doing tests (unlikely); military surveillance by a foreign nation (unlikely, considering the descriptions); US military drones deployed for some unknown reason (extremely unlikely); or aliens (so laughably unlikely that it wouldn't be worth mentioning if we hadn't been primed by decades of sci-fi).
The scariest thing about it is that humans are really piss-poor at correctly assessing the likelihood of risks, and Americans are especially bad at this. I've seen commenters on YouTube news reports insinuating--without directly claiming--that it's all a plot by the Biden administration to perform a coup using weaponized drones. Why they'd deploy a month and a week early and turn on the blinking lights while they'd do so was conspicuously unremarked upon.
Considering the nadir of public faith in institutions and the rule of law, it wouldn't take much for some prepper types with a particular political bent to really get wound up about this. Hell, it might not 'take' anything at all; it might be enough just for authorities to not have a good answer, or find one that doesn't satisfy.
One thing is certain: it's been an absolutely wild couple of months. I'd like things to settle down now, please.
As someone that has gotten outside a lot more the last few years after getting a dog, I've been struck by how many more airplanes there are day and night then I remember seeing as a kid. Which I live in the West far from this hysteria. But while on walks I've had a regular thought that "boy the skies are getting busy." I've really noticed it in winter where an already light polluted sky has lots of bright dots moving across no matter where you look.
That all being said, if people who haven't regularly taken the time to look up and notice how many more planes there are were told "THERE ARE DRONES IN THE SKY," began watching the sky with new awareness. And like a boogyman in the dark are just jumping at shadows so to speak because otherwise just weren't paying attention before.
Thank you. You described it much better than I was able to.
Of course, I think I was on the same page as you and appreciated your explanations of what could be causing the "weird" movements people have observed. Just adding my two cents as someone who's like looking up.
I feel like there are fewer planes even though I know there are more. I think I just really liked watching them as a kid so those memories stand out.
It's the background noise I notice more than seeing them. It's crazy how much background noise they make if you're in a populated area in the middle of the night. Was out in the early morning for several night a couple weeks back with a sick dog needing to go out every hour and a half. Basically no road noise but a constant whiring sound from planes overhead. I think memory has a strong affect on our perceived experience so I think it's interesting you touched on that.
Sounds like you're just near an airport?
I guess it depends on how far you mean by near. I'm within 50 miles of a big airport, so if that's close then yeah. Still, airports have undergone a lot of expansion the last 20 years and this one is no exception. So I guess it's a mix of being within relatively close proximity to a big airport and air travel continuing to grow each year.
No, I meant within just a handful of miles. 50 miles is really quite far and I wouldn't expect you to actually hear many planes at that distance.
Yeah my mom was showing me drones which she was spotting in the sky and I'm 99% sure most of those are helicopters or airplanes.
Username checks out for sure!
I figure an actual UFO would fall under US military ops.
Given how foolish some people are, regular planes are UFOs.
That’s great
It starts with buzzing noise, blinking lights
A quadcopter
Donald Trump is not afraid
Off the coast mothership, enemy’s microchip
Big Apple oh me, and above New Jersey
Watch it on the Fox, or C. N. N.
The twitter starts to jitter with posts and re-posts
Big like cars! Crying, Spreading ma-ni-a
And the government is quiet, and the Pent-a-gon
[…]
Put another way: Mysterious automobile-sized drones spotted above New York, New Jersey and other states over the past few weeks. State government lawmakers don't know what is going on. The drones might be coming from an Iranian mothership off the coast. The FBI is involved but the Pentagon is mum. Nobody who knows is talking. Mania is spreading. Holy moly, man woman and child, what is happening?
But in all seriousness, ignoring the mainstream and social media foofaraw, what do you think is really happening?
I've yet to see any actual proof these things exist. All I've seen is phone footage/images of lights in the sky. The large majority of what I've seen is clearly identifiable as a plane or helicopter.
So right now, my take is there might be something going on, but it is now massively overblown by false positives. Until there's any actual proof of what the fuck is going on, it's hard to have much more opinion than that.
IF there is some car sized drone flying around new jersey randomly, I'd say most likely options are military operation (denied either due to security or due to not knowing they're doing it), or some business project that's probably violating FAA rules.
This is not happening. Hell your link says this is not happening.
Apparently my attempt at satire is a failure. Shucks.
Sorry just seen a SO much nonsense around this I can’t even tell anymore
The fact that it was all set to the meter of "End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" didn't tip you off? Lol
Gotta use those music note symbols 🎵🎵
I started wondering if I was dating myself by choosing a song so old that nobody knows it anymore.
Didn't recognize the song meter, but I don't know the verses of the song well either, but I could tell you were doing something?
It's why labeling satire and sarcasm are helpful though. One person's Onion is another ones QAnon.
I'm still of the camp that says you're better off not using satire if you're going to signpost it explicitly.
I had a professor who said that one of the defining features of good satire is that it divides the audience into two groups: those who get it, and those who don't. I've considered many examples of satire since then, and I have to agree with her.
Of course, she said this right about the time Poe's Law was devised. Perhaps she'd have a different perspective nowadays.
I think that framing of satire is sensible when the context is more controlled. In a literary journal, a piece of satire can be funny when the author goes over the top arguing that English should return to its roots and replace some phoneme with another. Most people will get that it's satire, and thus it'll be funny. But with the internet comes context collapse. Each piece of writing has to stand entirely devoid of outside context, because if it's linked to in a vacuum 99% of the people who read it will have no idea about the author, the venue, none of it.
It's really hard for it to land well when satire divides the audience into 99% of people who don't get it and 1% who do.
I think the impact of satire is dependent on ambiguity, though. Otherwise it's simple irony or sarcasm. I think the best thing is to be artful with your signposting and not be too hung up on the percentage of people who get it. Satire needs to be a scalpel to be effective, not a bludgeon. Reserve it for times when the ambiguity can be effective.
Right, but to target how blatant you need to be to hit the right level of ambiguity you need to know your audience. And online you're never going to really know who's going to run into what you're saying.
The same was true of the pamphlets of Swift's day, and many people didn't get it then, too.
All I'm saying is that being taken literally is an inherent risk when utilizing satire, which is why one should be cautious when employing it. Rejecting it as a genre altogether is the quintessence of the proverb about the baby and the bathwater.
I agree with @mimicsquid
That makes sense for McSweeney's and Jonathan Swift, for a post online, it's less clear.
And I was even surprised when McSweeney's had serious interviews because satire is their whole context for me.
Good point, I’ll do that. Did you mean to tag it rather than label? I have seen labels for Malice, Exemplary, etc but I don’t think I’ve seen one for Satire. (And if there isn’t a Satire label, I may petition for one.)
I meant label in the general sense, not the tildes specific sense. Tags are one way to do that. Giving people's propensity to be annoyed when their satire or sarcasm isn't picked up on instead of just acknowledging tone doesn't always read online, I think it's easier to just label it. Not saying you did just saying in general
I get the impression we're mostly –ahem– mature types around here.
Seasoned you might say
In my case, with generous amounts of MSG. Salty but savory.
The one video on that page is from a senator from NJ, which lends at least a touch of credence to it. While I haven't gone out to spot myself, those videos do not jive with typical airplane/helicopter traffic I see. I've lived in the shadow of PHL and now ACY for over a decade, and the number of times I've seen anything flying like this, over the course of several days, moving inward from the coast, is 0.
I don't doubt it's probably something relatively benign, but it'd be nice to have some clarity.
My other question is: Why is this happening now, and not say, anytime in the last 5 years? Planes and helicopters fly around here constantly. What makes it different now?
But also, after digging through the BBC links, I learn Van Drew is the idiot behind Iranian Mother ship. God that guy is the worst. I'm sorry I couldn't dissuade more from voting for him, but people around here are super paranoid about those offshore windfarms.
Have... you seen our politicians lately? ;)
Anyway, my take - there's likely drones out there. There were reports about actual drone swarms trying to map out military bases a few weeks ago, particularly around Norfolk VA, and that was known to be an actual thing. A Chinese National who was living in the US was arrested after a commercial quadcopter drone he was using crashed and it was found to have video of military facilities recorded. I'm guessing this has caused some hysteria where now people are interpreting EVERY unidentified (to them) light in the sky as a drone. Medical helicopter? Drone. Landing pattern at the airport? Drone swarm. The change is that the actual events brought the idea in to the collective conscious of society, and now it's running wild.
A lot of this reads like something that's not a big deal and a rumor that's just gotten out of hand.
Like this part pretty clearly reads to me as "We spotted something in our airspace, made a few calls, figured out what other military entity was flying them and confirmed we did not need to shoot them down." Maybe I've been out of the loop on drone hobby flying for too long, but my understand is that you do not fly a drone near and airport or secure facility because they WILL see you on radar and they will come find you too tell you to knock it off. And you're probably getting a fine. The FAA does not play games and I can't imagine the military does either.
Simon posted a video addressing this topic. His teams conclusion is that the most probable operator of the drone swarms is China, and that they are kind of 'threading the needle' between how far they can push and not provoke the actual shooting down of the drones while quickly gathering as much ISR as they can before the US military adapts.
Why wouldn't the military shoot down the drones? Legal authorization / the Posse Comitatus act - basically the US military lacks the authority to use force on US soil outside of specific circumstances or being specifically authorized to do so, the point of this being a protection for the citizens of the USA against a potential tool of oppression.
Since the drones aren't attacking / ramming / bombing these facilities, the clear-cut cases in which the military can act without bureaucratic authorization are not taking place. As such there is a need for authorization to use force on US soil to be issued, or for specialized systems that would not legally 'count' as use of military force to be set up and employed to counter the drone activities (net launching systems, maaayyyyyyyyybe jamming systems although those have their own set of issues and collateral consequences, other options?).
But yeah, most probable (but no, we do not know for certain) explanation is China.
Edit: to clarify on different past examples vs current examples: prior instances of, say single drones / small commercial DJI stuff? Random people being people, idiots being idiots and risking charges for airspace violations. Current examples of coordinated drone swarms / multiple SUV-size mothership drones? Probable nation-state action (with China being the most likely actor with the highest combination of resources / motivation / technology).
/sarcasm
Probably some home insurance company piloting a ai driven drone program to get up to date information if a leaf is on a properties roof so they can drop them as a customer. The drone's will be 24/7, so you can sign up for a new policy and be dropped the next day because a shadow across your roof resembles the Mona Lisa of mold stains.
We've had a slew of these sightings above US manned military bases in the UK recently as well, strange. I enjoy putting on my Mulder tinfoil hat as much as the next person but I imagine for the ones that aren't just a mistaken Sirius, Jupiter, hobbyist drone, or plane of some sort it's maybe some sort of military drone being tested.