Totally apropos of nothing, Portland City Council decided to ban its bureaus from using facial recognition technology. Funny how all of a sudden they care about protecting people's anonymity.
TBF, this has been an on and off talking point even before the 100+ days of protests. In Detroit, a Black man was arrested for a crime after facial recognition software (FRS) identified him as the suspect. Once it was discovered he
didn't commit the crime and was released, activist groups lobbied Detroit's City Council to ban FRS because of what they claim is a disproportionate rate of false positives for POCs. Meanwhile, some combination of Mayor Duggan, Chief Craig and County Prosecutor Kym Worthy have stated that FRS is not something to be relied on exclusively, but it's still a valuable tool when used in conjunction with other credible evidence. I'm not sure if City Council opted to not extend the contract of the FRS vendor, or if the matter has simply been tabled for now pending more discussion.
Are the NLG only backing certain protest groups? I've received (non-confidential) word that a Portland protest group is looking for lawyers to represent them in state/fed crim and possibly civil matters, which I'd expect the NLG to have covered. Possible sign they've pulled up stakes?
Is it possible the NLG focuses on localities where there's low or no bail and DAs that don't want to pursue any sort of charges against protestors? Feds swooping in to arrest protestors on Federal charges is far more serious, and perhaps the NLG is either out of its element or somehow smart enough to know messing with the Feds is a bad idea -- especially given their background.
Since an absolute tard on Reddit told me the cops were harming so many "innocent" protestors/rioters, can someone give me some recent examples of this actually happening?
When Detroit Can't Breathe received its recent TRO prohibiting the use of nonlethal force (rubber bullets, tear gas, etc.) against peaceful protestors, the judge -- after reviewing video evidence -- reportedly felt three members of the press might have a credible case against the city/DPD after they were struck with rubber bullets. I'm not sure whether these were innocent press folks simply documenting happenings or if it might have been "press" that was actively taking part in the protests. If it was the latter, I expect the city's attorneys to show complete footage as part of their defense.
Have you not seen what a wildfire is capable of? If a wildfire gets truly massive it creates its own windstorm that can push embers up to half a mile ahead of the fire front.
I've heard if it has enough force/energy, it can blow across roadways and start fires on the other side from the embers that jump the road.
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Archives for some of the unarchived links recently posted:
Local Menshevik party secretary Wheeler has announced that the PPB using tear gas is completely banned now per his order.
Portland gonna be spicy af again soon thanks to Menshevik Ted. Just when things were quieting down and now the Bolsheviks have had a huge tactical advantage handed to them. Surely they will not take advantage.
Here is an archive of the PPB's response:
And the state troopers can probably still use it.
And feds, too, most likely. Wheeler has to be careful what he wishes for. If he makes the local police too impotent, the Feds (or deputized state officers) could easily come in under Federal authority and thumb their collective nose at Wheeler's local orders.
Those DDT foggers of days gone by would be a laugh
With the way Antifa and Allies are leeches on society, old-school bug bombs might be just the thing to use.
(Edited for spelling and clarity)
www.seattletimes.com
www.sunrisemovement.org
en.wikipedia.org
