#Northwest Police Department

[svalleynow]

Dade Middle placed on Lockdown Thursday following pursuit of Alabama man

Dade County Middle School in Trenton, Georgia was forced to go on lockdown Thursday morning after an armed suspect running from authorities was captured just yards from the school. Dade County Sheriff Ray Cross says the suspect made their way into the area on Highway 136 from Sand Mountain around 9:15 AM, after pulling a gun on a woman in Alabama and fleeing when police there arrived. The…

[saywhat-politics]

A 10-year-old girl in Florida was struck and killed by a stray bullet while celebrating New Year’s Eve with her family, say police.

At 12:04 a.m. on Wed., Jan. 1, Yaneliz Munguia was with her family near NW 27th Ave. and NW 21st St. in Northwest Miami when she was hit by “celebratory gunfire,” the Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement.

“This heartbreaking incident serves as a devastating reminder that what goes up must come down,” the department said. “Bullets fired into the air can take innocent lives.”

Police say the little girl was with her family, who were lighting fireworks outside of their apartment when she was struck in the head by the bullet, CBS News Miami reports.

When Yaneliz fell to the ground, her parents found the gunshot wound in the back of her head. They then jumped in a car and raced to the hospital while calling for help, according to CBS News Miami.

[offender42085]

Post 1349

...not guilty of felony hate crime charges, but guilty of third-degree malicious mischief -- a crime that is a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 364 days in county jail.

Frank John Bagley, inmate 395764

Cabriel R Smith-Nilsen, inmate 395763

Matthew A Clement, inmate 365991

Lewis County Washington Jail inmates, incarceration intake October 2024, sentenced to 364 days

In October 2024, a Lewis County (Washington) Superior Court judge sentenced the three men convicted by a jury for defacing the “Friendship Fence” in Chehalis earlier in the year to 364 days in county jail: the maximum sentence allotted for their cases.

“This crime cries out for the maximum. It cries out for a statement that this will not be tolerated,” Judge J. Andrew Toynbee said during a sentencing hearing for the three defendants, Frank John B. Bagley II, 40, of Seattle, Matthew A. Clement, 33, of Centralia, and Gabriel R. Smith-Nilsen, 25, of Driggs, Idaho, on Friday, Oct. 4.

Bagley, Clement and Smith-Nilsen were arrested in Centralia early in the morning on Sunday, Feb. 25, after a neighbor saw them defacing the Friendship Fence — a rainbow-colored fence — in Chehalis and followed them as they fled in a dark-colored Subaru station wagon.

The Chehalis Police Department received a call at 12:08 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25, from the neighbor, Norman Lynn, reporting three subjects “wearing all black and ski masks” were spray painting the Friendship Fence in the 600 block of Northwest Pennsylvania Avenue.

They hid behind the house before fleeing on foot, getting into a dark-colored station wagon and fleeing northbound on Interstate 5 into Centralia. Officers with the Centralia Police Department were able to stop the suspects’ vehicle as they were trying to get onto southbound I-5 at 12:38 a.m. on Feb. 25, according to police call logs. 

Officers found a stencil “covered in multicolored paint and had the words ‘Patriotfront’ as the cutout for the sign,” as well as a blue bag containing “several pieces of White Lives Matter and … literature and propaganda stickers” inside the vehicle the suspects were in when Centralia police arrested them on Feb. 25.

A Lewis County jury ruled earlier that Bagley, Clement and Smith-Nilsen were not guilty of felony hate crime charges, but were guilty of third-degree malicious mischief.

The crime is a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 364 days in prison.

“This was undoubtedly a contentious case,” defense attorney Shane O’Rourke, representing Clement, said Monday.

While the jury found that the defendants did not target a specific person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, which would be required for a hate crime conviction, O’Rourke said Friday, “I think the evidence did suggest it was an attack on the social commentary and political messaging of the fence.”

O’Rourke said the fence was “unquestionably a symbol and monument” in the community, but asked the court “would we all be engaged in the same conversation” if “liberals” had vandalized a hypothetical Confederate or Trump monument in the community?

O’Rourke and fellow defense attorneys Joseph Enbody and Jakob McGhie, who represented Bagley and Smith-Nilsen, respectively, argued Friday in favor of a suspended sentence or an electronic home monitoring option for the defendants, saying such a sentence would be consistent with what they’ve seen the court sentence for third-degree malicious mischief cases in which the defendants have little to no prior criminal history.

4v

[dailyanarchistposts]

On May Day 2017, anarchists participated in lively demonstrations all around the United States, from the heartland to the coasts. In the Northwest, Seattle witnessed a successful block party at the site of a juvenile corrections center, while in Olympia anarchists barricaded train tracks to oppose fracking and clashed with police. Support arrestees here. Yet Portland, Oregon may take the cake for the most creative and combative May Day. Demonstrators not only defended themselves from unprovoked attacks from police who declared the march a riot—they also introduced exciting new innovations into the aesthetic of the black bloc street presence. Here, comrades from Portland explain their goals with the giant spiders they created for May Day, and offer a helpful guide for those who wish to make spiders of their own.

In an effort to bridge the gap between art and activism, giant spiders were assembled off-site and pushed up the street to the demonstration, stocked with water bottles, snacks, earplugs, and other party favors. The idea was to narrow the divide between “us” and “them” that often exists at demonstrations, and it was a complete success. We performed community outreach, engaged in cultural development, boosted morale, provided crucial supplies, and created an amazing photo opportunity in the process.

The concept is multi-dimensional: it works on many different levels. The idea began from frustrations around attendance at local demonstrations. In Portland, where the majority of citizens seem to be white, middle-class, and apolitical on account of these privileges, they don’t show up unless a demonstration concerns their interests specifically. However, Portlanders are fascinated by their own love of art and “wacky” stuff as well as the commodification of protest as “funtertainment.” We decided to embrace this love of the “weird” to test whether a hyper-localized approach to engaging people could succeed.

Our tactical art enabled us to fill a supporting role for other participants in the march, helping challenge narratives that the black bloc is an “othered” or “othering” tactic. Whether this separation is intentional or not, the fact remains that the general public is often hesitant to engage with us. Bearing that in mind—as well the tendency of the Portland Police Department to brutally shut down demonstrations—we stocked our Spiders with fliers, water, LAW (liquid, antacid, water, the eyewash with which street medics treat pepper spray), ear plugs, and snacks. We also included a few other party favors, because anarchy needs revelry!

We intentionally engaged with the folks around us. A lot of people walked up to ask what the spiders meant! It was inspiring to see so much dialogue between folks in everyday garb and folks in black bloc. We explained the ideas behind our actions as anarchists and the creations themselves: the three spiders representing Mutual Aid, Solidarity, and Direct Action.

A word about symbolism. The idea of using the spider as an icon of resistance is that spiders are always there watching, waiting, and keeping the environment free of pesky insects and other parasites that consume resources without supporting their fellow beings. While we may look scary, we’re here with you and for you. We are the spiders, and the insects are the societal ills that we fight against.

The symbolism of the black widow spider is rich with history that guides our work. We want to contribute to that rich history, adding our own interpretations. Mutual Aid, Solidarity, Direct Action are our black widow’s cruses. (Crux? Curse? Cures?)

In regards to developing our own culture, there are many barriers we face in this process. State repression is the biggest threat, of course. The specter of state repression can complicate organizing, planning, and building trust in our communities. Portland has a history of repression and slander, ruining the lives of activists and anarchists; these horror stories reverberate throughout the underground. We can’t allow ourselves to be publicly disparaged and forced into hiding by our adversaries and their culture war, so we create as a political act. Creating is intuitively human: we plan, we build, we think, we conspire, we imagine. It is also an activity in which everyone can engage to some degree while building new skills. It enables us to get to know each other, build trust, and share time and company.

More globally, seizing the Spectacle is a step towards our goals, because it allows us to dictate our own narratives. With the development of Public Relations and Social Engineering, the visage of capitalism has come to define its delusional reality. To paraphrase Guy Debord, lived experiences are now taken in as a collection of representational images. We can tell our own stories and show the general public what these three principles mean in action. We can create our own mythos, speaking out on our own terms, in our own language, with our own symbols. The state and media dictate too much of what we’re allowed to say and how it’s spun—it’s time to spin our own webs to connect and fortify our relationships.

We are building the bridges we need to move forward. The existing connections between art, activism, and anarchism are fiery and well-storied. The new wave of repression under Trump’s regime is still building steam, but it is already proving dangerous. We need to be more careful than ever. Art allows us to demonstrate and show our fangs, and we can use art to empower those around us.

[beardedmrbean]

Attention residents of the Northwest suburbs: A caracal that had recently been on the loose in a neighborhood has officially been captured, nearly 24 hours after officials warned residents of the exotic cat in the area.

The large cat -- a caracal -- was located Tuesday morning in Hoffman Estates under the deck of a residence, the police department said. Cell phone video moments after the capture showed at least six officers handling a large cage, with the caracal inside quickly jumping from side to side.

Video and photos from the aftermath shows the tan cat laying quietly in the large cage with a blanket draped over it, in the flatbed of a pickup truck.

"He's cute, isn't he?" a voice can be heard saying in the background.

The Hoffman Estates Police Department said officers assisted with the capture of the cat, which was then "taken into custody."

"The cat was hiding under a resident's deck and is unharmed," the update, posted to Facebook said. The update went on to say that employees of The Valley of the Kings Sanctuary and Retreat in Sharon, Wisconsin were headed to the scene to pick up the cat, "where we are sure he will have a healthy and happy life far away from Hoffman Estates."

According to the Village of Hoffman Estates, the caracal had recently been spotted in the area of Della Drive and the Hilldale Golf Course. The police department said it was "unknown" where the large cat came from.

"The village is currently working with local and federal agencies for proper removal," a Monday Facebook post from the police department said, 20 hours before the capture. "We ask that you do not attempt to feed this animal."

Caracals are endangered species, and are native to Africa and Asia. They are not typically seen in the United States, according to the San Diego Zoo, though some individuals keep them as pets.  

Caracals on average weigh between 20-to-40 pounds, according to officials. They generally are nocturnal animals, preying upon small mammals and birds.

"If you come across this animal, please use caution," police continued in the Facebook post, which had garnered hundreds of comments. "If anyone knows the whereabouts or owner of this animal, please call 911."

[yetanothersaint]

The first sign that the Cascadia earthquake has begun will be a compressional wave, radiating outward from the fault line. Compressional waves are fast-moving, high-frequency waves, audible to dogs and certain other animals but experienced by humans only as a sudden jolt. They are not very harmful, but they are potentially very useful, since they travel fast enough to be detected by sensors thirty to ninety seconds ahead of other seismic waves. That is enough time for earthquake early-warning systems, such as those in use throughout Japan, to automatically perform a variety of lifesaving functions: shutting down railways and power plants, opening elevators and firehouse doors, alerting hospitals to halt surgeries, and triggering alarms so that the general public can take cover. The Pacific Northwest has no early-warning system. When the Cascadia earthquake begins, there will be, instead, a cacophony of barking dogs and a long, suspended, what-was-that moment before the surface waves arrive. Surface waves are slower, lower-frequency waves that move the ground both up and down and side to side: the shaking, starting in earnest.

Soon after that shaking begins, the electrical grid will fail, likely everywhere west of the Cascades and possibly well beyond. If it happens at night, the ensuing catastrophe will unfold in darkness. In theory, those who are at home when it hits should be safest; it is easy and relatively inexpensive to seismically safeguard a private dwelling. But, lulled into nonchalance by their seemingly benign environment, most people in the Pacific Northwest have not done so. That nonchalance will shatter instantly. So will everything made of glass. Anything indoors and unsecured will lurch across the floor or come crashing down: bookshelves, lamps, computers, cannisters of flour in the pantry. Refrigerators will walk out of kitchens, unplugging themselves and toppling over. Water heaters will fall and smash interior gas lines. Houses that are not bolted to their foundations will slide off—or, rather, they will stay put, obeying inertia, while the foundations, together with the rest of the Northwest, jolt westward. Unmoored on the undulating ground, the homes will begin to collapse.

Across the region, other, larger structures will also start to fail. Until 1974, the state of Oregon had no seismic code, and few places in the Pacific Northwest had one appropriate to a magnitude-9.0 earthquake until 1994. The vast majority of buildings in the region were constructed before then. Ian Madin, who directs the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI), estimates that seventy-five per cent of all structures in the state are not designed to withstand a major Cascadia quake. FEMA calculates that, across the region, something on the order of a million buildings—more than three thousand of them schools—will collapse or be compromised in the earthquake. So will half of all highway bridges, fifteen of the seventeen bridges spanning Portland’s two rivers, and two-thirds of railways and airports; also, one-third of all fire stations, half of all police stations, and two-thirds of all hospitals.

"The Really Big One" by Kathryn Schulz, 2015.

[wehaveallbeenmarkled]

CHICAGO — One of the two men Chicago police are questioning in connection with the horrific murder on Sunday of 63-year-old George Levin was arrested two weeks ago after a 13-year-old girl accused him of trying to lure her into a car on the Northwest Side.

As of Thursday evening, Chicago police have not announced any charges in connection with the murder of Levin in his basement bedroom in the 7600 block of West Talcott. Levin’s sister found him bound in duct tape and electrical cord around 10:50 p.m. He died from multiple injuries suffered in an assault, officials said.

Wednesday evening, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) revealed that CPD arrest teams were on the streets, looking for two “undocumented migrants, one from Ecuador, one from Venezuela” in connection with Levin’s death. Both men were in custody by Thursday morning.

Officials have not identified the men, but CWBChicago has learned their identities through sources. We found that one of them, a 21-year-old from Venezuela, was charged with assault earlier this month after a witness allegedly saw him and another man trying to lure young girls into a car in the 6200 block of North Sayre.

Officers who responded to the scene arrested the man after a 13-year-old girl reported that he made hand gestures and repeatedly said “Come here” as he tried to get her into a white Chevy Cobalt around 2:15 p.m., according to records reviewed by CWBChicago.

The victim received an “abrasion” during the incident, one report said. CPD’s public data porta classifies the incident as a kidnapping.

A CPD report said that a 12-year-old girl was with the 13-year-old at the time of the alleged luring attempt, but the man is not charged with any wrongdoing against her. Both girls are the daughters of police officers, according to a source.

The report states that a detective was “working on felony charges” in the case, but a misdemeanor was filed after the detective “consulted [a prosecutor] and supervisor for guidance.”

About nine hours after being arrested, the man was released from the Jefferson Park (16th) District police station, charged only with misdemeanor assault. CPD refused to comment on the matter Thursday, saying it was an “ongoing investigation.” The department referred questions to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The Norwest side of Chicago used to be SAFE. Ever since the south of the border crowd started migrating there though formerly safe beautiful neighborhoods are now crime ridden hellholes. It just makes me cry. I saw it already 12 years ago. Illegals going up and down the streets trying to break into cars. I called and reported it myself I was living in Jefferson Park. Norwood Park, especially where they killed this man was a nice safe area.

[blogger360ncislarules]

Leighton Meester, whose varied projects have included the iconic teen drama Gossip Girl and the sweet sitcom Single Parents, is now happily promoting her new cop clan dramedy Good Cop/Bad Cop, premiering on The CW on February 19 at 9/8c).

Meester plays skilled veteran Det. Louise “Lou” Hickman, who works for her father, small town police chief Big Hank (Clancy Brown, The Shawshank Redemption, Dexter: New Blood), along with her polar opposite brother Henry (Australian actor Luke Cook, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), newly returned home from seven years in the Seattle P.D. and promoted to detective by their dad.

TV Insider talked to the actress a short time before she and her husband Adam Brody lost their home in the disastrous Pacific Palisades fire.

So you have not one, but two new roles in the near future, the other being joining the second season of the Apple TV+ Gilded Age costume drama, The Buccaneers, about wealthy young American women trying to snag British aristocrats for husbands.  Can you say a few words about that role?

Leighton Meester: The truth is, being a fan of the first season, I was so happy to come on to play any role! That being said, this is the best possible role that I could have ever asked for, and it’s going to be a secret until it comes out. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

With two promising shows upcoming, and of course, your husband’s huge Netflix romcom hit Nobody Wants This, where he plays a hot rabbi who falls for Kristen Bell‘s non-Jewish sex-centric podcaster, you are both really busy. Congratulations.

Yeah. [Laughs] Thank you.

Vince Valitutti/Future Shack

Let’s get to Good Cop/Bad Cop. How would you describe it?

I would say it’s Gilmore Girls meets Twin Peaks, a quippy, talky, heartwarming mashup of two genres. Centered on the family, it’s got that small town, Northwest murder mystery feel, set in a sheriff’s department. It’s a world that I want to live in with quirky, offbeat characters and story.

Is it true that that idea for this show has been in the head of showrunner John Quaintance (Will & Grace) since 2009, when it originally was planned as one of the USA Network’s cozy — “blue sky” — dramedies? That germination has taken a very long time.

From what I know, this was something that he had in the back of his mind the whole time, and he had different iterations of it through the years. I couldn’t be more excited or grateful to be part of this.

The Hickman family is a somewhat dysfunctional clan of cops in the Pacific Northwest town of Eden Vale. So who is the good cop and who is the bad cop of the title?

Without digging too deep, on its face, Lou is probably the good cop and Henry is probably the bad cop — but that will shift, and what good and bad means is open for interpretation. What’s so enjoyable about Lou is that yes, she’s tough and very invested in her job, but she is woven into her small town and leads with humor and kindness. She’s a little bit too nice for her own good sometimes, so I really relate to that.

In comparison, talk about Lou’s brother Henry, whom Big Hank likes to call Junior, which Henry hates.

Henry is quirky, even peculiar. He’s good at his job, but sometimes too by-the-book for Lou’s taste.   She leans toward the greater good and for better or worse is very interwoven with her father and that dynamic. Lou is, in many ways, the son that Big Hank never had in Henry. Our relationship is definitely a very close, tight knit one. Henry yearns for that approval from his father, but he pushes Hank away more than Lou does.

Back in Seattle, his boss said basically, “You have the worst people skills I’ve ever seen in anyone, other than a serial killer.” Is he more than quirky, perhaps on the autism spectrum?

Luke and John Quaintance could speak better to that. But it’s coded and I think that’s a fair interpretation.

Vince Valitutti/Future Shack Entertainment

Watching the first several episodes seem to indicate that Big Hank is a good guy, unless it comes to fudging crime stats in his county. He wants ‘em low. Why is that important?

He wants to allow the fantasy that his people live in a perfect little town and he’s like the father there who takes care of everyone and people don’t have to be scared. On the one hand, Lou agrees that that’s a really nice way to live, but when there is crime then you’re faced with, do you tell the truth or do you keep it hidden? For the most part, Hank has been absolutely up for keeping it hidden, but sometimes things just can’t stay under wraps.

Especially I assume when there are murders, which there most definitely are.

It is a crime drama, of course, along with the romantic and relationship drama. Each week, there’s a new crime along with one season-long crime mystery involving old newly discovered bones in town.

You mentioned romantic drama. Any loving for Lou this season?

Well, she can’t quite get romance right. [Laughs] Living in a small town and being “married” to your job is definitely a big part of that. Also, she doesn’t let herself go there because she’s been hurt in the past, and she hasn’t healed from her mom leaving the family when she was a kid. But I do feel that along with the comedy, mystery, fun family dynamics, and playing a detective, it was challenging and exciting to take on her finding her heart.

Lou is trying to avoid love. Can Henry cope with a romantic relationship? That certainly means interacting with someone.

 Yeah, I think with the right person. He is direct and doesn’t play games, but I think he can find someone even though he obviously suffers from roadblocks to romance.

Though Eden Vale, as we’ve mentioned, is supposedly in Washington State, you’re filming in Australia! How does that pass nature-wise?

We’re staying on the [sunny] Gold Coast [close to the Pacific], but when you drive into the mountains where the set is, it becomes surprisingly foggy, wet, and like the U.S.’s Northwest. It’s so beautiful there. It’s crazy to be on an Australian beach and it’s hot and then you go basically 45 minutes to an hour up into the mountains, and you are in a completely different ecosystem.

You and Clancy Brown are the only Americans on the show, though Luke has done American TV before. Are you ever tempted to correct the accents of your Aussie castmates?

They are all so good! Everyone grew up watching American TV, so they’ve all got an amazing American accent. Luke is flawless! I found it tempting to do an Australian accent but shied away because I know it wasn’t spot on.

What’s the vibe on the Aussie set?

Just fun and relaxed, which is, actually, one of the best aspects of shooting a comedy. And being here doing this show was one of the best, if not the best, set I’ve ever worked on.

[mariacallous]

On a Wednesday afternoon in August, Daniel Posada and his girlfriend were screaming at each other at a bus stop when someone called 911. From a rooftop a mile away, the Chula Vista Police Department started the rotors of a 13-pound drone.

The machine lifted into the air with its high-resolution camera rolling. Equipped with thermal imaging capabilities and a powerful zoom lens, it transmitted a live feed of everything it captured to a sworn officer monitoring a screen at the precinct, to the department’s Real-Time Operations Center, and to the cell phone of the responding officer racing to the scene.

It flew northwest at 392 feet above the southwestern border town, a suburb of San Diego, passing near a preschool and a church, then near a financial services center used by Chula Vista’s immigrant communities to send money to their families. En route to Posada, the drone—a Matrice 300 RTK—would cross the airspace of 23 blocks, potentially exposing thousands of Chula Vista residents to the gaze of law enforcement over an incident that had nothing to do with them.

Posada was riding his bike down the street when he heard it—the distinct buzz of a police drone’s rotors over his head. Within seconds, a police car pulled up alongside him, and an officer was soon rummaging through his pockets, he would later tell WIRED. For Posada, who’s known as “Focal” in the homeless encampment where he stays, this was neither the first nor the last time he would feel singled out by the cops or their drones.

Police department records show that no one—neither the officer monitoring the drone feed nor the person who called 911—observed any kind of physical altercation between Posada and his girlfriend that day. He says the argument wasn’t serious and that it didn’t warrant such a high-tech police response. (His girlfriend could not be reached for comment.) The money would be better served feeding and clothing unsheltered people like himself, he says, whose lives are upended every time officials break down their encampments, tossing their worldly possessions into a dumpster.

“I could understand sending a drone for something serious,” he says, shaking his head. “I feel like a target.”

As police departments look to expand their use of unmanned aerial aircraft, no agency has embraced the technology quite like the CVPD. A model for police departments around the United States, “some police officers joke that visiting the Chula Vista Police Department is like visiting Mecca,” says Jay Stanley, author of a 2023 American Civil Liberties Union report on police use of drones.

In October 2018, the city became the first in the nation to start a Drone as First Responder (DFR) program, where department teleoperators listening to live 911 calls decide when and where to dispatch the department's growing fleet of drones. Now those devices criss-cross the skies of Chula Vista daily—nearly 20,000 times since 2018—and are often first to appear above the sites of noise complaints, car accidents, overdoses, domestic disputes, and homicides.

The department says that its drones provide officers with critical intelligence about incidents they are responding to ahead of initiating in-person contact—which the CVPD says has reduced unnecessary police contacts, decreased response times, and saved lives. But a WIRED investigation paints a complicated picture of the trade-offs between public safety and privacy.

In Chula Vista, drone flight paths trace a map of the city’s inequality, with poorer residents experiencing far more exposure to the drones’ cameras and rotors than their wealthier counterparts, a WIRED analysis of nearly 10,000 drone flight records from July 2021 to September 2023 found. The drones, often dispatched for serious incidents like reports of armed individuals, are also routinely deployed for minor issues such as shoplifting, vandalism, and loud music. Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the city even used drones to broadcast public service announcements to homeless encampments.

Despite the police promoting the benefits of the DFR program, residents who encounter the technology day-to-day report feeling constantly watched. Some say they are afraid to spend time in their backyards; they fear that the machines are following them down the street, spying on them while they use the public pool or change their clothes. One resident says that he was so worried that the drones were harassing him that he went to the emergency room for severe depression and exhaustion.

The police drones, equipped with cameras and zoom lenses powerful enough to capture faces clearly and constantly recording while in flight, have amassed hundreds of hours of video footage of the city’s residents. Their flight paths routinely take them over backyards and above public pools, high schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, immigration law firms, and even the city’s Planned Parenthood facility. Privacy advocates argue that the extensive footage captured by the drones makes it difficult to distinguish between flights responding to specific incidents and mass surveillance from the sky. Department secrecy around the recordings remains the subject of ongoing litigation.

The CVPD insists that its drones do not conduct random surveillance, do not go out in search of suspicious activity, and that the technology is deployed only in response to 911 calls or lawful searches. An analysis of Chula Vista’s dispatch logs supports this claim: The vast majority of drone flights could be linked to corresponding 911 calls. But not all of them.

At the time of our analysis, approximately one in 10 drone flights listed on the department’s transparency portal lacked a stated purpose and could not be connected to any relevant 911 call; for 498 flights, the department lists the reason as an “unknown problem.” For residents we spoke to, the discrepancy raises serious concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the department's transparency efforts—and experts say the use of the drones is a classic case of self-perpetuating mission creep, with their existence both justifying and necessitating their use.

[tieflingkisser]

Arizona TV photojournalist lit his arm on fire in Washington, D.C. pro-Palestine protest

Samuel Mena Jr. was participating in a pro-Palestine demonstration when, at around 5:45pm, he attempted to light himself on fire, according to a statement from D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith. It was reported that bystanders and members of the Metropolitan police department put the fire out immediately. D.C. fire and EMS arrived on scene at the 800 block of 16th St., Northwest and transported Mena Jr. "to an area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries", said Chief Smith. Prior to the incident, Mena Jr. posted his plan to live stream "from the White House" to his X profile.

[callahanscorner]

WIP intro time!

Are you so certain of the difference, Mr. Lake? Between dark and the light? The Black and the Bright? You’d best learn fast, for those who gaze too long into the Black may soon find themselves unable to stomach the Bright.

GENRE: Eldritch Noir (detective novel with a touch of cosmic horror!)

AUDIENCE: Adults, I guess? Solid R rating, probably, but it won’t get too bad I don’t think

STATUS: Drafting!

COMPARISONS AND INSPIRATIONS: Alan Wake-esque blurring of reality with all the noir drama of things like The 39 Steps, Marlowe, The Maltese Falcon, etc.

THEMES: The nature of humanity and its place in the universe, humanity vs inhumanity, hope and love in the gaze of the abyss

AESTHETIC: Rain pounding a foggy window, mist and fog obscuring a streetlamp, the clack of shoes in an empty alley, a cigarette being lit in the dark, the buzz of the harsh lights of a diner, thick black smoke swallowing the world around it, the clatter of a metro train overhead, an empty flask, coffee-stained papers haphazardly strewn on a desk

PLAYLIST (in progress!): dark, moody, atmospheric, melancholic, a LOT of jazz.

SYNOPSIS:

Three years after the worst day of his life, Adam Lake is doing better. After all, he’s got a paying (if unstable) job as a private investigator for his best friend, Defense Attorney Cole Parker. Hell, he’s even managed to drink away the memory of Elise Conway, the girl that shattered his heart along with his dreams of becoming an archaeologist. Things are calm. Things are… good.

Enter Evelyn Montclaire, ex-actress and model, current movie producer, and dangerously charming client. Something’s off on her new set, and she wants Adam to find a book that’s gone missing from her office. He’s inclined to say no, but it turns out Cole talked to a young assistant on that very production who’s being accused of murder! Can Adam navigate silver screen politics and the wicked world of the fabulously wealthy? If he wants any chance at making rent, he’ll have to.

CHARACTERS:

Adam Lake: The detective. Ex-archaeology student and police department washout (insubordination, of course), Adam was picked up by Cole Parker as a private investigator for his new solo law venture. Hates corruption, hates rich people. Simple as.

Cole Parker: The lawyer. Cole is a defense attorney whose father was imprisoned and executed for a crime he didn’t commit. Shares and respects Adam’s contempt for the corrupt police force of Strand City. Loves jazz music and poetry.

Elise Conway: The scholar. An ex-classmate and ex-lover of Adam, Elise has been called upon by Evelyn Montclaire to help her study and decipher a strange book that has come into her possession. Jumped at the chance. Loves history, language, and men with their shit together.

Judy Love: The starlet. Found dead in her dressing room at Panessa Studios under incredibly mysterious circumstances. Filming for her new movie, Concrete Midnights, has been halted.

Evelyn Montclaire: The producer. A lot of history in the movies, currently trying to revive Strand City’s dying film industry. Cold, calculating, and deadly charming.

Annie Hartwell: The assistant. Accused of jealous murder, Annie is desperately seeking the help of Cole. She seems like a scared newcomer to the city, but is it just an act?

Cliff Calloway: The co-star. An older man doing his last movie as a favor to Evelyn. Used to be a huge name in the movies, has been aging out of the leading roles that won him his fame.

Ethan Bennett: Adam’s old partner on the force. Cares a lot about Adam, but firmly believes he can change the system from the inside. Still, has been known to slip Adam classified info as a favor, though it takes some convincing.

Disclaimer!!!!!

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering about the setting of this book. Concrete Midnights takes place in a fictionalized city in the American Pacific Northwest during the 1930s. I feel like I should take the opportunity to mention this book takes place in an alternative history, and will do its absolute best to steer away from the topics of racism and sexism! Nobody wants to deal with that stuff, least of all me, a white man! That’s gross!

As always, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you around!

[rabbitholeresearch]

The Diagnosis of Chris Redfield

It all began in the spring of 1998. Raccoon City had a case of cannibalistic murders and mysterious animal attacks, both on hikers and residents that lived near Raccoon Forest. The city’s police department guess a satanic cult of some kind, probably on narcotics of some kind, given the extent of the violent attacks. However, as the investigation continued, they guessed the base of operations for this cult was somewhere deep within Arklay Mountains, about northwest of the city. With public pressure, the RPD gave in to and put a specialized task force on the team known as the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, AKA S.T.A.R.S., led by Captain Albert Wesker.

Shortly after STARS is put on the case, they send Team Bravo into the suspected hideout deep within said mountains in the mid-summer. Radio contact is lost. Alpha Team went in, finding out that Bravo was attacked, and fled into the mansion and split up.

And it’s here. It is here that young Chris Redfield’s life takes a turn for the worst. Without getting too into detail, he straight up is thrown from the world of a young cop who just had fun little shooting competitions with his friends, to a gritty, beefcake, boulder punching man who lost his memory at one point due to a concussion caused by a fake Ada Wong, regains those memories, and eventually finds the origins of Oswald Spencer’s research and destroys the origination of the Mold.

But that’s just it. How does he stay this cool, badass character that just shows up and sprays down zombies like it’s nothing? Well...he doesn’t. I think the leader of the Alpha team has severe PTSD.

Please note that this post will be talking about severe trauma from a psychiatric perspective so please, if you see or think anything might affect you, I beg you to turn away. This post will also have spoilers for the recent Resident Evil 8 game for those that haven’t played.

–

So let’s start by defining PTSD. According to the American Psychiatric Association, PTSD is and I quote: “A psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, or war/combat.”

Okay so at the very least, Chris Redfield is probably already a qualified patient. “Terrorist act”? Check. I would absolutely say that the events of Resident Evil 6 count as that. “War/Combat”? We saw that for the most part in RE5. “Natural Disaster?” Aaaaah. Maybe six or seven? That one’s kinda weird to be honest. But serious accident? Yes. Absolutely! Why? Because, referenced in Resident Evil 5, we see Jill Valentine, who is basically his sidekick/best friend from the very first game, and even survives on her own for a bit in Resident Evil 3, falls out of a window after attacking Albert Wesker who betrayed STARS and was infected with some form of the zombie virus. Chris presumed her death, only to find out she survived the fall through, ya know, video game logic, and was experimented on by Wesker.

Which honestly, I was surprised he didn’t come back too. I mean, in Resident Evil 5, his last hoorah is literally in a freaking volcano! What is up with that?! But his son, Jake Muller (who until RE6 didn’t even know who his dad was), appeared and I really expected Wesker to just pop up like “Hey son. I’m back with those smokes. Also, you’re immune to the C-Virus so congrats. My zombie body helped make you with your mom--” Alright that got too weird. ANYWAY.

We’re here because Chris, in all fairness, has trauma. But let’s try and figure this out. The A.P.A. states that PTSD symptoms, though they can vary in specificity, fall into four categories:

Intrusion

Avoidance

Alterations in cognition and mood

Alteration in arousal and reactivity

Now I will say I actually have PTSD of my own. Avoidance and Intrusion are absolutely symptoms I got through, as well as Cognition and Mood alterations when triggered.

Something I noticed is Chris definitely doesn’t avoid anything so we can go ahead and cross that off. Chris Redfield always dives in headfirst cuz well...he’s the American Boy. He’s the definition of charge in and be the American hero because human lives are at stake so the second one is crossed off.

Now the third one, Cognitions and Mood. This basically means important details of events aren’t remembered, everything’s kinda blurred, which results in detached behavior and Survivor’s Guilt. Now while Survivor’s Guilt is often a result of PTSD, it isn’t a form of PTSD. It’s just another symptom. It’s basically kinda like when you eat way, way too many blue gummy bears and then your poop is blue. It’s blue because of the gummy bears. If you didn’t have the Gummy Bear, you don’t have the blue poop. 

Fun fact, that’s an actual thing that happened to my dad one Easter, but I think it might’ve actually been jelly beans. I can’t really remember.

Survivor’s Guilt could very well be something Chris suffers from, dating all the way back to the Mansion Incident in the first Resident Evil. He was one of few people who survived that entire incident and what happened afterward? Did he take a mental health break? Nope! Chris takes on a mission in Europe, as seen in Resident Evil 2 when Claire is going to Raccoon City to try and find her brother. 

Now let’s think about this. Rather than rest and recover from this event, he proceeds to pursue his investigation of the Umbrella Corporation. Chris is treated at the hospital and, despite trying to report their findings to the police chief, Irons, STARS is ultimately shut down. Chris then reports everything he needs to the FBI and even assaults a fellow officer.

The RPD tells Chris he needs a break and he says he’s going to Europe for a “vacation” but this was just an excuse to get to Europe in order to enact his vengeance on Umbrella for all the Hell it caused his city and possibly even the world.

That’s nuts. I wish I could do that at my work and get away with it. Just fight someone on the shift and then go to Corporate armed with nothing but a fry basket, ready to take them out.

This leads me to that fourth category: Alterations in arousal and reactivity. This is defined as reckless or self-destructive behavior, angry outbursts, hypervigilance, and even trouble sleeping.

This is entirely reckless. I mean, I get it. Going rogue because this company is obviously evil and has a hand in bio-terrorism. Yeah. That’s fair. Let’s take them out. But if only it were that easy, as we can see throughout the franchise. Despite Umbrella BARELY hiding their attempts at world domination, as seen in RE6, no one really flinches. They’re somehow still in the running.

Having said that, in Resident Evil 4, three years after RE3, Leon actually says in the introduction that Umbrella was wiped out by the investigation. Without digging into this, I’m presuming this is because Jill managed to escape Raccoon City and was able to report her findings as one of five survivors, six if you count Ada Wong. Which does make me wonder how they’re still hanging around like a more gruesome Team Rocket.

And the last category is Intrusive. Now, this is where this unravels, actually. Intrusive is basically intrusive thoughts. Those little thoughts or images that flash through just enough to unsettle you and if you’re like me and have diagnosed OCD, then you play these thoughts over and over in your head.

It’s like you want to go to the park. Okay, great, the park is outside. Nice. The outside is where people are. People aren’t that great, in my perspective. Bad people exist. Bad people like to hurt people. I’m a people that could be hurt by a bad person. Because of that, I can’t go to the park now. 

It’s like being stuck in a loop that wants you to be sad. Like, thank you brain. I just wanted to get stuck in the baby swing but now I’m going to sit on my phone and scroll through TikTok and be sad.

Intrusive thoughts are what had me curious. The intrusive category is actually where most people are commonly confused about what PTSD is as this is where we find that flashbacks fall into. A great example of a flashback in Resident Evil is actually in the fifth game. This is where Jill Valentine doesn’t really become Chris’ partner. We learn that during the last bout, they had against Wesker is where she’d fallen out the window as I mentioned earlier. This is explained in a flashback.

That’s interesting to me. Yes, from a storytelling perspective, it makes sense, but Chris remembers such vivid details, even Wesker’s eyes glowing.

But what’s interesting is, this event, in particular, seemed to affect Chris the most. Despite that his sister has been kidnapped by people affiliated with both Umbrella and Wesker, Jill’s “death” shook him up the most, which is fair. His best friend and partner throughout the entire thing, someone he shared his trauma with and even started the BSAA with was just gone. No even a body. Three months and nothing was found before she was declared dead. He dove into his work head-on, taking every mission he could!

This is why he takes deaths so personally. This is also shown in Resident Evil 6 when Piers, a young soldier who looked up to Chris and helped find him after he lost his memory after an incident with a fake Ada Wong, is infected with the zombie virus, he holds onto his humanity in order to save Chris, but ultimately does die in the underwater lab facility, supposedly by water pressure before losing his mind to the virus.

The former Alpha Team consisted of the following:

Chris Redfield

Albert Wesker

Barry Burton

Brad Vickers

Jill Valentine

Joseph Frost

All members of the original team that infiltrated the Spencer Mansion in RE1. Let’s go ahead and cross some people off.

Wesker? Dead as of Resident Evil 5. Good. Stay dead. You suck! You’re like the Capcom version of Ganondorf, just stay dead, dude!

Burton?  Alive, but hasn’t appeared in a main RE game since the first.

Vickers? Dead as of the third installment of the game. He was the pilot who sacrificed himself after being bitten during the attempted escape from Nemesis in Raccoon City before the place was blown sky-high. You actually see him later again in the third game attacking the cop you meet in the second Resident Evil, interestingly enough, but what’s sad really is that he still has some semblance of his humanity and ends up groaning out the cop’s name before attacking and infecting that man. Poor guy. Really was just a poor soul.

Moving on. Jill Valentine? Still alive and definitely kicking but she’s become more of an iconic character for the movies. So from a lore perspective, as of the end of 5, she is no longer in the main series that we’ve seen. Mostly just referenced. This might change however later on as I do believe there will be a ninth installment coming soon if not already in the works as of writing this.

Frost? Dead. He was actually the first to die as soon as they touched down at Spencer Mansion, by zombie-dogs, no less. He stood no chance.

That means, of the original team, Chris is the only one still active. This means that he is the most trained to handle situations from a tactical perspective, but not an emotional one.

I mean, we see him really weighing the whole situation in Resident Evil 8. He’s seen smoking a cigarette, clearly stressed out and tired of dealing with everything, despite creating an Anti-Umbrella team called Blue Umbrella. Yeah. Not that creative, my guy. But he’s tired of hearing and seeing people die which...is fair.

I’d say he does have PTSD and it is Survivor’s Guilt.

Yes, he and his team are ready to die, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s losing people he’s had long nights with, sharing beer, shooting pool, busting bad scientists with, and he still loses them.

In the military, a soldier doesn’t fear his own death but the death of his comrades.

Survivor’s Guilt is really just a terrible thing. I’d say actually several characters in the Resident Evil franchise have this, including poor Mia Winters!

Chris might have it but uses it to his advantage. He uses the knowledge he’s gained from staying alive in an attempt to help others stay alive and ultimately bring down the Umbrella Coorporation.

Ultimately, Chris Redfield seems to be wanting to make up for the lives lost to this organization.

Research links:

Coping with survivor’s guilt: https://artherapyinternational.org/blog/traumatic-events-coping-with-survivors-guilt-afterwards/

What is PTSD?  https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd

Chris Redfield Bio https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Chris_Redfield#Biography

Symptoms of Survivor’s Guilty: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325578#symptoms

[dailyanarchistposts]

The Demands and What Lies Ahead

On June 9th, CHAZ representatives released a list of demands that were authored by many of the collective voices in the zone. Most of them are extremely realistic and can be accomplished if Seattle actually had a representative government instead of one that works for Amazon. The list of demands falls under four categories: economics, education, the justice system and health and human services. The authors stated further that the zone was on land taken from the local Native American Duwamish people over a century ago. The Pacific Northwest has a long history with native tribes and the collective voices of the zone realize that. Additionally, they have requested no violence be used in attempts to remove the zoners and that they be allowed to operate in a communal structure in order to “show the country what is possible through collective voices.” CHAZ has been praised by the IWW’s Industrial Worker publication as an effective way to distribute badly needed social services. The irony behind the creation of CHAZ is that austerity measures have been put in many American cities since the CARES bailout back in March. This is expected during crises and it’s not acceptable to those not just in CHAZ but protesting within the BLM movement. Austerity has been a prime focus during these protests because while police departments across the country see their budgets increase every year, every other line item of public services continue to be cut. Anarchists in the zone realize they need to do more planning going forward. They have already began deputizing scouts and are working on expanding their perimeter even more. Smoking areas have been designated and local marijuana growers have flooded the zone to provide free marijuana. The anti-capitalist views of the inhabitants will create an atmosphere of brainstorming that will only serve the commune for the better going forward. As an example of this, many have began talking about black-owned banks, divesting from local corporations and prison reform. Local activists even gave a soapbox speech criticizing the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and how their representatives in conservative state legislatures write laws without “any clue” as to who they represent. The opportunity is there to create a flourishing commune in a short term project that will ultimately likely be destroyed at some point. The main goal is to provide a glimpse for Americans what can be possible though communal action when you operate outside of the system of government that many Americans take for granted. This is not a country that is used to communal action and most citizens probably don’t even know the definition of a co-op. Kshama Sawant is a Seattle City Council member and member of the Trotskyist Socialist Alternative Party (SA). She visited the zone on June 9th and asked the residents to turn it into a community center for restorative justice. She agreed that there needs to be long term goals and that the method of going beyond policing (police abolition) needs to be analyzed and discoursed in the mainstream. Sawant did suggest caution though on pushing the city too far. She, along with the residents want to avoid future violence if the police do eventually move in to tear down the commune. The development of CHAZ is a real time education in community organizing and anarchist alternatives. Amazon and Boeing weren’t going to provide the people of Seattle with basic life necessities. Those in CHAZ hope they can demonstrate that social services can be provided in a vacuum. They have stated they will continue to build the commune and will continue until they are forced out. Long live the commune!

[beardedmrbean]

The Haitian government has deployed specialist anti-gang police units, it said Friday, after an apparent massacre northwest of Port-au-Prince that the United Nations said left at least 70 dead.

Carried out early Thursday in the town of Pont Sonde, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital, the attack saw scores of houses and vehicles torched after gang members opened fire.

The killings come as an international policing mission, led by Kenyan forces, attempts to restore government control in Haiti, where armed gangs have seized swaths of the capital and countryside and earlier this year helped push out the country's leader.

"Members of the Gran Grif gang used automatic rifles to shoot at the population, killing at least 70 people, among them about 10 women and three infants," UN Human Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement Friday.

The Haitian Prime Minister's office said in a statement that "this latest act of violence, targeting innocent civilians, is unacceptable and demands an urgent, rigorous and coordinated response from the state."

The embattled Haitian National Police would be "stepping up its efforts," the statement said, adding "agents from the Temporary Anti-Gang Unit (UTAG) have been deployed as reinforcements to back up teams already on the ground."

A spokeswoman for a local civil society group told Haitian media that the attack came after Gran Grif leader Luckson Elan had issued threats against people refusing to pay the group tolls to use a nearby highway.

"They executed dozens of residents," Bertide Horace told radio station Magik 9. "Almost all of the victims were shot in the head."

"Police officers stationed nearby, apparently understaffed, offered no resistance to the criminals, preferring to take cover," she said.

At least 16 people were seriously injured, the UN said, including two gang members shot by police.

The gang reportedly set fire to at least 45 houses and 34 vehicles, it added, forcing many residents to flee.

- Kenyan-led policing mission -

Additional security forces, supported by the Kenyan-led international policing mission deployed to the country, were sent to Pont Sonde overnight Thursday into Friday, the prime minister's office added.

The attack occurred at 3:00 am Thursday, it said.

Prime Minister Garry Conille added that the "heinous crime, perpetrated against defenseless women, men and children, is not only an attack on these victims, but on the entire Haitian nation."

Last week, the UN human rights office said more than 3,600 people had been killed already this year in "senseless" gang violence in the country.

Haiti has for years been beset by compounding political, humanitarian and gang crises, with armed groups rising up to push out then-prime minister Ariel Henry earlier this year in an effort that saw attacks on the international airport and police stations.

Many politicians are intertwined with armed groups: last week, the US Treasury announced sanctions against a member of parliament from the Artibonite Department, where Pont Sonde is located, for allegedly helping form the Gran Grif gang to aid in his 2016 election.

Unelected and unpopular -- and unable to restore order -- Henry resigned, and a transitional government with Conille as prime minister was put in place, backed by the international community.

That government is mandated to restore security and lead the country to its first polls since 2016.

[thepedanticbohemian]

Just a tiny FYI. I began #amquerying THE OUDERKIRK HOUSE. RUTH O'NEILL is many things. A loner, feminist, B&B chef, crippled by anxiety, sarcasm personified. She's also a forensic psychic medium—a special consultant to law enforcement. She helps find missing, and murdered children for the FBI, and Pacific Northwest police. She discovers 26 graves searching a forest outside Shelton, WA. All bodies are under 6-years-old, mutilated, and murdered. Ruth's led law enforcement to the isolated body dump site of legendary KNIFE AND HATCHET MAN. Active since 1990, and thus far, there are no leads. Knife and Hatchet's first victim was 6-year-old NAOMI O'NEILL, Ruth's twin sister. Naomi appears to Ruth in nightmarish visions. Overwhelmed, Ruth's anxiety disorder is defying her medications. When she feels at her breaking point, the Sheriff's department asks Ruth to do one of her readings on a supposedly haunted church rectory, the Ouderkirk house. Ouderkirk, in Dutch, means, beside the old church; the first church built by Dutch Calvinists on Whidbey Island in the 1870s. Ruth must partner with a psychic-hating Sheriff's Deputy, Sergeant GENE HARLOWE. The two are assigned a 1968 cold case of murders, rape, and kidnapping. Sparks fly between Ruth and Gene, too bad it's all the wrong kind. Ruth's instincts tell her there's a connection between the vastly different crimes—the Ouderkirk house, and Knife and Hatchet. Drawn together in a slow burn, Ruth and Gene must solve both cases before a child murderer kills again.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Thousands evacuate from Nova Scotia wildfires (AP) Wildfires in Canada’s Atlantic coast province of Nova Scotia have caused thousands to evacuate. The Halifax Regional Municipality said late Monday that preliminary estimates indicate approximately 200 homes or structures have been damaged, based on initial visual inspections by first responders. Halifax deputy fire Chief David Meldrum said an estimated 14,000 people were told to flee their homes, most of which are about a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax.

Police agencies are desperate to hire. But they say few want the job. (Washington Post) The San Francisco Police Department is down more than 600 officers, almost 30 percent of its allotment. Phoenix needs about 500 more officers to be fully staffed. The D.C. police force is smaller than it has been in 50 years, despite troubling gun violence and carjackings, as officers leave faster than they can be replaced. Police departments across the country are struggling to fill their ranks, creating what many current and former officials say is a staffing emergency that threatens public safety. They cite an exodus of veteran officers amid new police accountability measures that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd, increased hostility from the communities they police, and criminal justice laws that seek to reduce the number of people in jail. Advocates for police reform see the moment as an opportunity to hire a new generation of officers and reimagine policing. But as agencies seek fresh recruits, they are getting fewer qualified applicants than in past years—leading some to make the risky move of lowering the bar for hiring to fill their ranks.

Gun violence rages with at least 20 mass shootings recorded over Memorial Day Weekend (USA Today) Gun violence erupted across the U.S. over Memorial Day weekend: At least 20 mass shootings left 16 people dead and over 80 injured. The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings, logged 20 incidents in which at least four people were injured or killed, not including shooters, from Friday afternoon through Monday night. The bloodshed started with a spree in Arizona, where a 20-year-old man was accused of killing four people and injuring one in five different shootings in the Phoenix area. Over the next three days, people were killed and injured in Virginia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Illinois and more. And Monday evening, as Memorial Day revelers in Hollywood Beach, Florida, celebrated the holiday, nine people were injured by gunfire along a boardwalk.

Drought-struck Barcelona quenches thirst with costly desalination (AP) Where once the population of Barcelona drank mostly from its rivers and wells, Spain’s second city now relies upon a labyrinth-like mesh of green, blue and purple pipes inside an industrial plant to keep it from going thirsty amid a prolonged drought. Water is pumped from two kilometers (1.2 miles) into the Mediterranean Sea to where the Llobregat desalination plant sits on an isolated stretch of beach. After journeying through several cleaning and filtering systems it reaches its final stop: the twisting and turning multi-colored channels that squeeze every drop of water free of its salt. Barely used after being built in 2009, Europe’s largest desalination plant for drinking water is running at full throttle to help the greater Barcelona area and some five million people adapt to the impact of climate change, which has contributed to the drying up of southern Europe’s fresh water reserves through heat waves and drought. In April 2021, before the drought, rivers provided 63% of Barcelona’s drinking water, wells provided 34% and desalination just 3%. Two years later desalination makes up 33% of Barcelona’s drinking water, while wells provide 23% and its shrinking rivers just 19%, according to Barcelona’s municipal water company.

Paranoid atmosphere (Washington Post) Parishioners have denounced Russian priests who advocated peace instead of victory in the war on Ukraine. Teachers lost their jobs after children tattled that they opposed the war. Neighbors who bore some trivial grudge for years have snitched on longtime foes. Workers rat on one another to their bosses or directly to the police or the FSB, the Federal Security Service. This is the hostile, paranoid atmosphere of Russians at war with Ukraine and with one another. As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime cracks down on critics of the war and other political dissenters, citizens are policing one another in an echo of the darkest years of Joseph Stalin’s repression, triggering investigations, criminal charges, prosecutions and dismissals from work. In March last year, Putin called on the nation to purge itself by spitting out traitors “like gnats.” Since the invasion began, at least 19,718 people have been arrested for their opposition to the war, according to legal rights group OVD-Info, with criminal cases launched against 584 people, and administrative cases mounted against 6,839. Many others faced intimidation or harassment from the authorities, lost jobs, or had relatives targeted, the organization said.

Russia says drones damage Moscow buildings in pre-dawn attack (AP) Russian air defenses stopped eight drones converging on Moscow, officials said Tuesday, in an attack that authorities blamed on Ukraine. The attack caused “insignificant damage” to several buildings, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Two people received medical attention for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalization, he said. The attacks have raised questions about the effectiveness of Russia’s air defense systems. A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, told Russian business news site RBC that “we have a very big country and there will always be a loophole where the drone can fly around the areas where air defense systems are located.”

30 international peacekeepers injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo (AP) The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, on Tuesday raised the number of its troops injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs to 30. The Serbs had tried to take over the offices of one of the municipalities in northern Kosovo where ethnic Albanian mayors took up their posts last week. A statement said that 11 Italian soldiers and 19 Hungarian ones “sustained multiple injuries, including fractures and burns from improvized explosive incendiary devices.” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spent the night with his troops on the border with Kosovo. They were placed on the highest state of alert on his orders last week. Vucic said 52 Serbs were injured in the clashes, three seriously. Kosovo and Serbia have been foes for decades, with Belgrade refusing to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 sovereignty.

Erdogan continues divisive rhetoric following victory (Washington Post) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sang and smiled, reveling in the applause of the supporters he addressed Sunday after the toughest election of his long career. In victory, though, instead of soothing the nation, he lashed out at a familiar set of villains, in remarks that may set the tone for his next term. He was dismissive of his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. “Bye, bye to Mr. Kemal,” he said. And he ruled out any release for an imprisoned Kurdish political leader, calling him a “terrorist.” As the country moved on from the election, Erdogan would not easily abandon the bitter rhetoric, analysts said, setting Turkey on a divisive and turbulent course for the foreseeable future, even as Erdogan juggled a need to stabilize the economy as well as Turkey’s often stormy relations with allies in the West. In fact, “I think he is going to harden” his rhetoric, said Berk Esen, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University. “We are going to see him adopt a very polarizing discourse using ethno-religious themes” to maintain his “winning coalition” of voters. The value of the Turkish lira sunk to a record low on Tuesday, just days after Erdogan entrenched his authority into a third decade.

Chinese police clash with protesters over plans to demolish mosque (Washington Post) Residents of a majority-Muslim town in southwestern China clashed with police over the weekend as they tried to stop the demolition of a domed roof from a centuries-old mosque, part of the Chinese Communist Party’s expanding effort to control religion. The incident appeared to be related to a court judgment from 2020 that ruled some of the mosque’s most recent renovations were illegal, and ordered demolition. With a history that may stretch as far back as the 13th century, the Najiaying Mosque was expanded many times over the years to add buildings, as well as four minarets and a domed roof. In 2019, part of the structure was listed as a protected cultural relic. In recent years, however, Communist Party restrictions on the pious have escalated sharply. The country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has demanded absolute political loyalty of faith communities and the “Sinicization” of religion. Surveillance of religious leaders has also intensified. A nationwide database of officially approved Islamic, Protestant and Catholic religious teachers was launched this month. The campaign has focused on Islam and Christianity because of the party’s deep-seated fear of faith being a vector for foreign influence.

North Korea says it will launch its first military spy satellite in June (AP) North Korea said Tuesday it would launch its first military spy satellite in June and described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for monitoring the United States’ “reckless” military exercises with South Korea. The statement came a day after North Korea notified Japan’s coast guard that the launch, sometime between May 31 and June 11, might affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines’ Luzon Island. Japan’s defense minister warned its forces to shoot down the satellite or debris, if any entered Japanese territory, and its coast guard issued a safety warning for ships that would be in the affected seas during the expected launch, citing a risk of falling debris. While North Korea’s rivals have condemned the country’s planned launch as a banned test of ballistic missile technology, it’s less clear whether the satellite itself is advanced enough to support the North’s stated goals of tracking and monitoring U.S. and South Korean military activities in real time.

Celebrations in Jordan ahead of kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years (AP) Several thousand cheering and flag-waving Jordanians packed a sports stadium for a free concert in the capital of Amman as part of celebrations leading up the kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years. Crown Prince Hussein, 28, is to marry Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, 29, on Thursday at Zahran Palace in downtown Amman, the same wedding venue previously chosen by the prince’s father, King Abdullah II, and his grandfather, the late King Hussein. The nuptials come after a rough patch for the royals, including a public rift between the king and his half-brother, and are seen as a way of shoring up public support at a time of persistent economic difficulties.

Racers chase cheese wheel down a hill in chaotic UK race (AP) The big cheese of extreme U.K. sports events is back. Hundreds of spectators gathered Monday to watch dozens of reckless racers chase a 7-pound (3 kilogram) wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in southwest England. The first racer to finish behind the fast-rolling cheese gets to keep it. The cheese-rolling race has been held at Cooper’s Hill, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, since at least 1826, and the sport of cheese-rolling is believed to be much older. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet all the way down the 200-yard (180 meter) hill, and this year several had to be helped, limping, from the course. Matt Crolla, 28, from Manchester in northwestern England, won the first of several men’s races. Asked how he had prepared, he told reporters: “I don’t think you can train for it, can you? It’s just being an idiot.” Delaney Irving managed to cross the finish line first to win the women’s competition, even after having been knocked unconscious. Irving, 19, said the race was “good … now that I remember it.”