SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J. — The case of the mystery drones over New Jersey is still a big unknown.

State and federal officials say they are no closer to finding out who’s behind them, and that has prompted some people to ask for the military to help out.

All of it has prompted Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden to call on Gov. Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency and issue an executive order banning recreational drone use during nighttime hours. 

“The don’t have any information”

If you’re wondering who is behind the drones hovering over homes, reservoirs, and even military bases, you are not alone. New Jersey State Police and the state’s Office of Homeland Security briefed mayors and local elected officials on Wednesday, but had very little to report.

“They don’t have any information,” state Sen. Jon Bramnick said.

Bramnick said state leaders are baffled by the drones, which have been reported all over the Garden State.

Officials say the drones appear to be sophisticated, and the state lacks the resources to track them.

“Apparently, it’s only the Department of Defense that has the sophisticated technology that could find out where these drones are from and where they’re going. And that’s what I said to the state police today — bring in the Department of Defense because they have the technology. Otherwise, we’re spinning wheels,” Bramnick said.

FBI at a loss to explain the drones

The FBI is leading the drone investigation, but appears to be equally as perplexed. Assistant Director of Critical Incident Response Robert Wheeler Jr. testified before Congress on Tuesday.

“We do not attribute that to an individual or a group yet. We’re investigating, but I don’t have an answer for who’s responsible for that,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said he doesn’t think the public is at risk.

“There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know and that’ the concerning part,” Wheeler said.

“They don’t know if there is a threat or not. There was one incident where apparently a state police helicopter had a large drone underneath it while it was flying. And then that drone turned off its lights and took off,” Bramnick said.

Pentagon officials say the drones do not belong to the U.S. Military, and they do not appear to be coming from a foreign adversary. 

It’s not hard to be a Bruce Springsteen fan. Millions of people around the world do it every day effortlessly, relishing the power, the glory, the promise, the majesty, the mystery, and the ministry of rock & roll as only Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen can deliver it. It’s much harder to fake being a Bruce Springsteen fan. And yet that’s somehow the situation Josh Gottheimer, a Democratic politician from — you’ll never believe this — New Jersey, has found himself in.

Gottheimer has represented Jersey’s 5th congressional district in the House since 2017, and he’s currently trying to secure the Democratic nomination for governor ahead of next year’s election. Over the years, Gottheimer, as one would expect from a New Jersey politician, has made plenty of hay about his love of Springsteen. As NJ.com notes, his campaign website describes a youth spent “catching a Springsteen show every chance he could get”; and when Gottheimer announced his gubernatorial bid lat month, he came out to “Glory Days” (a song famously about, uh, locking your longing gaze on the past because you’re unable to stare down your bleak, empty future).

Now, we’re not necessarily here to cast doubt on Gottheimer’s Bruce standom. What we are here to do, however, is mock him for faking his Spotify Wrapped to make it look like his Top 5 most listened to songs this past year were all Springsteen tracks. 

Last week, Gottheimer shared a screengrab of his alleged top songs of 2024, which boasted five great (albeit pretty basic) Springsteen classics: “Thunder Road,” “Because the Night” (not even Patti Smith’s version), “Glory Days,” “Badlands,” and “The Rising.” On X, Gottheimer wrote, “No surprises here… Fun fact: My first ever concert was at Meadowlands to see The Boss!”

As it turns out, there was one surprise. It was spotted by Terrence McDonald, editor of the New Jersey Monitor, who noted in the publication’s newsletter that the fonts and spacing on Gottheimer’s supposed Wrapped screengrab were “all wrong.” A side-by-side comparison between Gottheimer’s Wrapped and a real Spotify Wrapped confirmed the discrepancies, most clearly in the shapes of several numbers, as well as the typeface of the letter “g” in “songs.” 

Furthermore, a quick look at Gottheimer’s Wrapped looks noticeably fuzzier and lo-res than a normal screengrab — as if some poor campaign intern spent 45 minutes hastily concocting it in Photoshop. (We’re, of course, just speculating.)

Gottheimer eventually owned up to the fabrication — though if you thought, there’s no way it could possibly get any lamer than a politician fudging their Spotify Wrapped to look more relatable, Gottheimer managed to outdo himself. In a statement shared with NJ.com, the representative basically said he had to do it because of his meddling kids. 

“This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didn’t share my account with my 12- and 15-year-old kids,” Gottheimer said. “While it’s Springsteen all day for me — don’t get me wrong, I still love listening to Taylor Swift!” 

Oh, brother. Even Taylor Swift is catching strays in this mess.