Montana resident captures footage of possible Chinese spy balloon

One video that was viewed thousands of times claimed to show the moment a plane crashed in China. It was a flight simulation first uploaded in 2019. A screen capture of a flight simulation software.Michael Dunning/Getty Images Video shared on Twitter on Monday claimed to show video from inside the plane that crashed in China. But the video was from a flight simulator and had been uploaded to YouTube years prior. Similar deceptive recordings from video games have been shared about war in Ukraine.  A viral video that has racked up hundreds of thousands of views across social media claims to show the last moments aboard China Eastern Airlines' Flight MU-5735, seconds before the plane crashed on Monday killing all 132 passengers. In reality, the footage is from a video game and shows no such thing.The 10-second video clip shows a plane appearing to turn upside down before it seems to meet the ground with a loud crash, silencing the screaming heard throughout the clip. One version of the video, which was still posted to Twitter on Tuesday and claimed to show "the last moment recorded on the plane," had more than 210,000 views and was retweeted hundreds of times. Another since-deleted tweet featuring the video received nearly 400,000 views.The video that circulated was actually first uploaded to YouTube a little more than three years ago, and its description explicitly states it is a computer simulation of a 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash. Despite only being a speculative amateur simulation, the video has been viewed more than 33 million times since it was posted in March 2019. The clip's migration to Twitter on Monday is the latest example of footage from a video game or computer simulation being used in an effort to rack up likes on social media by claiming it represents footage from a real-world event. As graphics have gotten more realistic in recent years, experts say these types of videos have become a cheap and easy form of spreading misinformation.Similar tactics have also been utilized to spread misinformation and disinformation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. One video that spread on Facebook in late February purported to show a video of an ace Ukrainian fighter pilot known as "the Ghost of Kyiv" shooting down Russian aircraft. The footage was actually from a free online video game called Digital Combat Simulator, PolitiFact reported, and it's likely that the "Ghost of Kyiv" is a viral myth that has propagated during the war."This footage is from DCS, but is nevertheless made out of respect for 'The Ghost of Kiev,'" the YouTube video's description stated.Fact-checkers have been dealing with video game footage for yearsThese types of misinformation videos appeared to gain traction in the early years of the Syrian civil war, Emerson Brooking, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, told Insider. The quality of video games visuals has increased exponentially in a relatively short span, and it's become easier for social-media clout chasers and others with more nefarious intentions to pass them off as real footage.Fake footage cribbed from simulations and videos has had varying degrees of success in deceiving people. The video claiming to be from Monday's plane crash was extremely easy to disprove, Brooking said, because it didn't take much to determine passengers hadn't actually filmed and uploaded any videos leading up to the crash.But in other instances, Brooking said, disproving these videos has been more difficult. It's been an issue that researchers and fact-checkers have been dealing with for almost a decade."I don't know exactly when this started, but it was certainly at least concurrent with the release of ARMA 3," he said of the fake videos, particularly ones depicting scenes from conflict zones. ARMA 3, a military tactical shooter game that was released in 2013, marked one of the first instances where screen-recorded video game captures could look like footage from a "contemporary battlefield," according to Brooking. Other video games that have been used to spread fake videos and photos online include Call of Duty and Digital Combat Simulator World, he added."There are moments of conflict coverage during the Syrian civil war or during the aftermath of the 2014 invasion of Ukraine by Russia where you would have these — often ARMA — screenshots and video circulating," Brooking said.In 2017, the Russian Ministry of Defense posted a photo of what it said showed "irrefutable proof" of the US aiding an ISIS convoy in Syria. In reality, the picture was a screenshot from the mobile game AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron, the BBC reported.A year earlier, the Russian embassy tweeted a low-resolution screenshot from the game Command & Conquer: Generals to illustrate its claim about "extremists" receiving "several truckloads of chemical ammo" in Aleppo, according to the CBC. "In the absence of real photos or videos to back up their claims, they turn to these computer-generated screenshots, and maybe the wider world wasn't fooled, but people who were susceptible to Russian or Syrian regime propaganda in the first place might take that as an article of faith," Brooking said.Once the clips go viral they can quickly become disassociated from their original source and hard to rein in. When the same Twitter account that posted the fake footage of the China Eastern Airlines crash clarified they were unable to "verify the authenticity" of the video, their follow-up tweet was shared just six times compared with the hundreds of thousands who saw the initial clip.These videos can also spread, in part, because modern warfare has become nearly indistinguishable with clips from war video games, Brooking said. The rise in drone footage has also created videos from the real world that mirror aerial footage from video games, he added.As video games have gotten better at resembling actual war, the footage from conflicts has also begun to mimic video games."The spectacle of war video games has in many ways merged with modern war imagery," Brooking said. "The fact is that now we see numerous cases where soldiers are wearing GoPros and shooting from a first-person perspective."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

How Dangerous Is AI, And Will It Really Take Your Job? Authored by John Mac Ghlionn via The Epoch Times, Artificial intelligence (AI), we’re told, will probably destroy humanity. Then again, those in the know tell us that it probably won’t. One thing AI will definitely do, though, is take our jobs, leaving a mass of unemployed, utterly useless individuals in its wake. Right? The truth, though, is far more nuanced than some reports would have us believe. There are currently 6.47 million unemployed people in the United States. Due to fierce competition, credential inflation, and companies becoming more selective, many of these people may find themselves unemployed for the foreseeable future. To compound matters, the jobless must also factor in another huge obstacle: AI-enabled machines and automation. It’s natural to fear new technology. The printing press was met with shock and horror. So, too, were inventions such as the telephone, radio, and TV. But AI is nothing like these rather benign creations. It’s a completely different animal altogether, one that has the power to destroy countless professions, but also create a number of eye-opening opportunities. Some analysts warn that AI will alter the employment landscape permanently. According to researchers at Oxford University, AI poses a direct threat to 47 percent of U.S. jobs. ChatGPT and other AI chatbots have people worried, understandably so. In the UK, over the next two decades, AI will leave at least 7 million people jobless, according to analysts at PwC. Considering the UK has a population of 67 million, 7 million is a huge number. At the same time, however, AI will create 7.2 million new jobs. The same is true in the United States. AI is predicted to create more jobs than it will destroy. This part is so often, either consciously or otherwise, omitted from the “AI will replace us” conversation. Of course, whether or not people have the opportunity, time, or finances to upskill is an important issue that requires further consideration. Nevertheless, on the job front, AI is not as destructive as many might assume. As John Hawksworth, PwC’s chief economist, rightly said, “Major new technologies, from steam engines to computers, displace some existing jobs but also generate large productivity gains,” adding that his team’s findings “suggests the same will be true of AI, robots and related technologies.” Just to note, the professions most at risk are ones that include rather repetitive actions, like data entry roles, telemarketing, and receptionist work. Although AI won’t actually remove humans from the job equation, at least not in the immediate future, it does pose a different, arguably more ominous threat to individuals, especially those residing in the United States. The (Further) Erosion of Privacy and Sanity In 2014, Stephen Hawking grimly predicted that the development of full AI “could spell the end of the human race.” Whether or not Hawking’s ominous prophecy proves to be true in, say, three to four decades from now remains to be seen. But AI will certainly end the idea of privacy, if it even exists anymore. An increasing number of federal agencies are using invasive facial recognition technology (FRT), with more planning to expand their use of FRT this year. The technology, which works by identifying and measuring specific facial features and storing the data as a faceprint, is powered by AI. Law enforcement agencies have, in recent times, turned to the technology in an effort to identify criminals. That’s problematic on many levels. As a recent Axios report demonstrated, FRT is incredibly flawed. The report was published shortly after a black man was jailed in Georgia after FRT wrongly matched his face with a suspect in a New Orleans robbery. The man, who claimed to have never visited Louisiana in his life, was released after almost a week in detention. This isn’t the first time the technology has resulted in the arrest of an innocent individual. As Wired reported last year, at least three prior false arrests occurred after officers used FRT. All three of those arrested were black men. The technology has a history of failing to accurately identify the faces of black people. Not only is FRT invasive, it also appears to be racist. Besides powering FRT, AI also powers small flying devices that are now plaguing Americans. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a drone. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), more commonly known as drones, appear to be everywhere. From the world of agriculture to construction and mining, media and telecommunications to law enforcement, the demand for drones has never been higher. By 2025, the drone services market size is expected to be worth $63.6 billion. In the United States, drones are already delivering pizza. Walmart also uses drones to deliver groceries. But, as the writer Zachary Mack recently highlighted, critics are concerned that these flying travesties are violating their privacy. Their concerns are most definitely warranted; these machines come with mounted cameras, meaning they capture footage of just about anything. Moreover, drones are incredibly noisy. In Glendale, Arizona, residents in close proximity to a Walmart store, noted Mack, are fed up with the incessant noise, with one resident comparing the sound to “a hornet’s nest that’s been kicked up.” People might scoff at the remark, but the link between noise pollution and high blood pressure, as well as heart disease, sleep disturbances, and stress is undeniable. AI might not rob you of your job, but it will play a key role in robbing you of your face and, if you happen to live near a Walmart, maybe even your sanity. Read more here... Tyler Durden Wed, 03/15/2023 - 19:40.....»»

Tucker Carlson Unbound: Setting Fire To The Uniparty Authored by Frank Miele via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), In my last column, I compared Fox News host Tucker Carlson to the CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow, who used his reporting in the 1950s to change the course of history. For that comparison I apologize. It is now apparent that Carlson far exceeds Murrow in his courage, his thoughtfulness, and his stubborn refusal to accede to pressure. Let’s get this straight. Murrow was a brilliant journalist, but his reputation as a dedicated war correspondent during the Battle of Britain also made him a beloved figure to his fellow reporters and to the politicians whom he covered. Thus, when he stood up against the bullying tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Murrow knew he could count on the support of CBS, other journalists, and even senators who had been the target of McCarthy’s blind rage. In a very real sense, it was McCarthy’s own character flaws that brought him down, to the detriment of his anti-Communist crusade, which had accurately identified the very real threat of Soviet sympathizers who had infiltrated the federal government. Murrow was just the catalyst, and he was lauded for his efforts. On the other hand, Tucker Carlson’s decision last week to air previously unseen video of the Jan. 6, 2021, confrontation between protesters and Capitol Police put his own career at risk and has made him the subject of bipartisan scorn. Some even speculate that he was silently punished by his bosses at Fox News, but Carlson doesn’t seem worried about being fired, and the condemnation he has received from both the majority leader and minority leader of the Senate has only emboldened him. It will probably take years to fully understand the importance of Carlson’s challenge of the “official Washington” narrative of Jan. 6 as a “deadly insurrection,” but Carlson wasted no time last Monday in laying out the framework of his complete rejection of the “accepted truth” pushed by the Biden Department of Justice, the House Select Committee on January 6, and the mainstream media. Only a tiny fraction of the thousands of hours of surveillance video released to Carlson by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was shown last week on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” but you only need a small pin to burst a large balloon, and by the time the week was over, all the president’s men couldn’t put the Humpty-Dumpty story of a “Trump-surrection” back together again. “The images you will see were recorded 26 months ago today on January 6, 2021,” Carlson began. “Until now, politicians have kept this tape hidden from the public. There is no legitimate justification for that and there never has been.” The powers that be would have you believe that Carlson had jeopardized national security by playing the tapes – probably 30 minutes out of the 41,000 hours. Now, it is true the tapes provided some interesting counterbalance to the non-stop harassment of Trump supporters that has taken place for the past two years, but if truth be told, the evidence on the tapes was much less significant than the reaction to them. What you really want to know now is, if 30 minutes of video has the Uniparty crowd so scared, what else are they hiding? I think much more than the video, the Censorship-Industrial Complex (as journalist Matt Taibbi has accurately tabbed it) wants to shut down any information or even belief that goes counter to the official narrative, and that’s where Carlson got so deep under their skin that they were willing to rip themselves to shreds in an effort to get at him. Everything Carlson said about Jan. 6 for three days last week was a threat to their power, and he knew it. “The protesters were angry. They believed the election they had just voted in was unfairly conducted. They were right. In retrospect, it is clear the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy.” He didn’t go beyond that in explaining the illegitimacy of the election, but he didn’t have to. The “it is clear” speaks volumes to those who haven’t bought into the official narrative that the 2020 election was “the most secure” in the nation’s history. Yeah, it was secure if you don’t believe the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that election law was violated en masse in those states. It was secure if you don’t have any concern about billionaire Mark Zuckerberg spending hundreds of millions of dollars to gain access to voter rolls and ensure that likely Biden voters were goosed to get their butts out of the chair and their ballots in the drop boxes. It was secure if you don’t care about Twitter and Facebook colluding with the federal government to make sure that Hunter Biden’s incriminating laptop was falsely painted as Russian disinformation in the weeks leading up to the election. Although Democrats and the rest of “official Washington” claim the election was secure, they spent zero hours proving that case. Instead, they seized on the disruptions on Jan. 6 as the real threat to democracy and gave their clients in the lapdog media the spectacle of the select committee’s show trial. What is most hurtful to the Democrats and RINOs who wrote the narrative is that their two years of work propping up the infrastructure of a “deadly insurrection” was undone in less than 60 minutes by Carlson, who didn’t deny that violence had been done on Jan. 6, but committed the unforgivable sin of putting it in perspective. Thus, where the Jan. 6 committee saw the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War, Tucker Carlson showed pictures of protesters walking in the door of the Capitol and milling around, as he said, like sightseers. No matter how many times Carlson said he was not excusing any violence, the proponents of the “deadly insurrection” narrative claimed that showing non-violent protesters was an affront to their efforts to demonize Trump voters as terrorists. And, of course, they were right to worry. But it wasn’t just the images by themselves that overturned the official narrative; it was the muscular words of Carlson as he held to account not just the select committee, but also congressional leaders, Capitol Police, and the Department of Justice. This was a rarely seen J’accuse moment in which the system’s irresponsible scapegoating of the Deplorables was held up to the light. “Committee members lied about what they saw,” Carlson said, “and then hid the evidence from the public as well as from Jan. 6 criminal defendants and their lawyers. That is unforgivable.” The most important video came in four specific batches, each of which puts a dent in the official story. As explained by Carlson, they were as follows: – Shots of Jacob Chansley (the QAnon Shaman) being escorted through the Capitol by a number of police and never being arrested or prevented from moving about freely. As Carlson points out, the video raises questions about whether the Department of Justice violated Chansley’s rights to a fair trial because he was denied potentially exculpatory evidence. The video plainly raises questions about whether Chansley was an intruder or a guest in the Capitol. Carlson questioned whether similar footage could have assisted many others charged with Jan. 6 crimes by showing that the “deadly insurrection” was nothing of the kind. – Shots of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick apparently waving protesters out of the building, raising serious questions about the honesty of the many media and political figures who claimed Sicknick’s death was caused by the protesters. In the footage, Sicknick appears to be unharmed and wearing a helmet some time after he was reportedly murdered by having his head bashed in with a fire extinguisher. Sicknick died the next day as a result of a stroke caused by blood clots at the base of his brain. The medical examiner found no external or internal injuries and ruled that Sicknick died of natural causes. – Shots of Ray Epps, the mysterious figure who urged protesters to “go IN to the Capitol” both the night before and the day of the mob scene. Epps testified before the Jan. 6 committee that he left the riot prior to texting his nephew that he had “orchestrated” the attack, but Carlson found footage of Epps a half hour later still in the middle of the mob, although suspiciously not following his own insistent advice to enter the Capitol. Carlson and others have questioned whether Epps was a federal agent or informant who was provoking the attack as part of a political scheme to create chaos. At the very least, it appears that Epps should be charged with lying to Congress, and if a serious investigation is ever done by anyone other than Tucker Carlson, we should try to find out why the man who said he “orchestrated” the Jan. 6 attack was never charged with any crime. – Shots of Sen. Josh Hawley exiting the Capitol under the direction of the Capitol Police. In some ways, this footage is the most damning example of the purely partisan political nature of the Jan. 6 committee. Video of Hawley, who had been one of the leaders of the movement to challenge the 2020 election due to irregularities in six or more states, was shown to a national audience for comic effect as it appeared that the senator was being entirely selfish as he fled from the protesters. The effect of watching Hawley running across a Capitol hallway like a shooting gallery rabbit was so humorous that it was put on a loop for the national TV audience to get a good chuckle. Hawley was held up for ridicule by late-night comedians and cable TV “news” hosts. But when Carlson pulled the full video, he discovered that the Capitol Police had ushered dozens of senators and staff out of the building at high speed for their own protection. Hawley, as it turned out, was one of the last to leave, and not the coward he was portrayed to be. Nothing better illustrated the Jan. 6 select committee’s “narrative building” exercise than this attempt to humiliate a U.S. senator who made the mistake of “running” as a Republican. As Carlson noted at one point, “By controlling the images you were allowed to view from January 6, they controlled how the public understood that day. They could lie about what happened and you would never know the difference. Those lies had a purpose. They created a pretext for a federal crackdown on opponents of the Uniparty in Washington.” It is that crackdown which has occupied the Biden administration, the FBI, and much of Congress for the last two years. Can the heroic resistance of one TV journalist turn those efforts around and restore a sense of justice to the land of the free? I’ll believe it when I see it, but in the meantime it’s nice to have someone to root for. Frank Miele, the retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His newest book, “What Matters Most: God, Country, Family and Friends,” is available from his Amazon author page. Visit him at HeartlandDiaryUSA.com or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA or on Twitter or Gettr @HeartlandDiary. Tyler Durden Mon, 03/13/2023 - 16:25.....»»

Earlier this year, a Chinese spy balloon was shot down in the US. But it wasn't the first time aerial surveillance was used to spy on other countries. A man is being instructed how to use an aerial camera on a plane during World War II.Culture Club/Getty A Chinese spy balloon in the US is the latest in a long history of governments spying on each other from the sky. Aerial surveillance dates back to the French Revolution to UFO rumors to the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's gone from hot air balloons to CIA gadgets to sophisticated live-streaming drones. Last month, the US government shot down a Chinese spy balloon floating near a South Carolina beach. The Pentagon said it was there gathering intelligence. China said it was doing civilian research. Regardless, it was nothing new. Governments have been spying on each other for hundreds of years. They've used all sorts of techniques, from the German army using pigeon-carrying cameras to the US releasing hundreds of balloons in the hope they would float across the entirety of Russia and get to Japan. Here's how surveillance from the sky has developed over the years.The first record of aerial surveillance happened toward the end of the 18th century. During the Revolutionary War, the French successfully used hot air balloons to monitor combat during the Battle of Fleurus against Britain, Germany, and Holland.A French officer is seen mapping terrain aboard a balloon gondola as he performs aerial reconnaissance before the introduction of aerial cameras in the 1870s.Bettmann/Getty ImagesSources: History.com, Fox5During the Civil War in the US, both sides used balloons to survey battlefields. They got as high as 1,000 feet and were usually tethered so they could be pulled back down and balloonists onboard could convey the intelligence they gathered.A balloon is inflated before being used to watch over a battle known as the Battle of Fair Oaks in 1862.Buyenlarge/Getty ImagesSources: Time, PopSciIn 1903, a German man named Julius Neubronner attached cameras to pigeons so he could figure out where they were flying. His technique would be copied by the German army during World War I.A pigeon with a camera attached to its body in France in 1910.Boyer/Roger Viollet/Getty ImagesInternational Spy Museum historian and curator Dr. Andrew Hammond told Fox5 that despite the novelty of the idea, the "utility of the imagery was limited."Sources: Time, Fox5, Atlas ObscuraAlongside pigeons, hot air balloons continued to play an essential role during World War I. They were used to find enemy locations, direct troops, and aim the artillery.A sergeant of the Royal Flying Corps demonstrates a C type aerial reconnaissance camera fixed to the fuselage of a BE2c aircraft, 1916.Imperial War Museums/Getty ImagesSource: New York TimesScientists worked on improving the spy balloons. One new type used in the war was the "dirigible balloon," designed to get as long as 700 feet long and float up to about 6,000 feet. But what made them so useful was that they were engine-powered and steerable.Passengers aboard a ship below watch a zeppelin crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 1932.Keystone-France/Gamm-Keystone/Getty ImagesSource: GridBoth sides knew how valuable balloons were, so they quickly became targets and were often shot down.Soldiers run away from a burning observation balloon that crashed at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1918.Photoquest/Getty ImagesSource: PopSciOne US army pilot named Frank Luke Jr. became known as the "Arizona Balloon Buster" after he shot down 18 German balloons.American World War I fighter ace, Frank Luke Jr (1897 - 1918), with his SPAD S.XIII biplane, France, 18th September 1918.Getty ImagesSource: PopSci, InsiderBy 1935, the technology had developed further. Cameras were now used on planes. Here, an airman uses a rapid-action, automatic aerial camera while flying. It could be used for vertical or oblique shots.An airman using a Fairchild F 14 rapid-action, automatic military aerial camera, circa 1935.FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesArmies began to set up photographic trailers at different bases, and soldiers even sometimes developed photos in darkrooms onboard planes.Airmen photographers inspect developed reconnaissance film from an aerial camera at a landing ground in Egypt in 1941.Royal Air Force Official Photographer/Imperial War Museums/Getty ImagesSource: History.comIn World War II, the US used untethered blimps called K-ships for surveillance. They were especially useful for finding submarines since they could hover above the sea for long periods, while soldiers watched for any movement in the water below.Two unidentified merchant cargo ships from a convoy as they are escorted by a K-Class patrol blimp in the 1940s.PhotoQuest/Getty ImagesSource: New York TimesAfter World War II, the US focused its aerial surveillance on Russia. Though no one knew it at the time, the first public record of its new mission happened when a balloon crashed into the ground near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.Jesse Marcel, a head intelligence officer, holds some of the debris from the “flying disc” crash in Roswell in 1947.Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesThe US government didn't want it known that they were spying on Russia, so it released a statement calling it a "flying disc." But the public thought this meant aliens.In the resulting panic, the government had to change its tune and call it a "weather balloon." But it was actually a high-altitude balloon that had been monitoring audio levels to see if Russia was detonating nuclear bombs. The strange crash and the government's reluctance to explain the truth was one of the reasons the town became known for aliens. The real story wasn't made public until 1994.Sources: PopSci, Washington Post, IndependentIn 1953, the US began the Moby Dick program. Authorized by President Dwight Eisenhower, it was a plan to use balloons to spy on Russia. The US government rated it as its highest priority. The only other project on the same level was the hydrogen bomb.Dwight Eisenhower.AP PhotoThe US had discovered that, thanks to wind currents, balloons would usually float west to east meaning the balloons could be released in Europe and would theoretically float across Russia to be retrieved in Japan.Sources: Sydney Morning Herald, Atlas ObscuraThree years later, the US sent 516 balloons over China, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Each carried a new type of film that would work in freezing temperatures.A Russian colonel during a press conference discussing the US’s tactic of sending balloons over its country.Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe balloons were not exactly subtle. Russia called it a "gross violation" of its air space.The Russian air force soon started shooting them down. About 90% of the balloons either crashed or were shot down, but the US recovered 44 balloons and obtained 13,813 photos from the campaign. It documented a million square miles of Russia and discovered a new nuclear facility in Siberia.Sources: Grid, Sydney Morning HeraldIronically, when Russia took the first ever photo of the moon's dark side, it was taken with the same film it had gotten from one of the crashed balloons.Photograph of the far side of the moon taken by a crew member on Apollo 16 (not the original photo captured by Russia).WOtP on WikipediaSources: Grid, Sydney Morning HeraldIn 1957, the US launched the U-2 plane to replace balloons. During the Cold War, it played a crucial role keeping surveillance on Russia. It could fly at 70,000 feet — double the altitude of what commercial jets fly today — which was too high for Russia to shoot them down.A U-2 plane is photographed at Edwards Air Force Base in 1960.John Bryson/Getty ImagesYet even from such a height, the photos taken by a Hycon 73B camera could catch details of objects as small as 2 and a half feet wide.Sources: History.com, New York Times, History.comIn 1962, it was a U-2 aircraft that was responsible for confirming there were Russian nuclear weapons in Cuba, just 90 miles from the US. This led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.Photographic evidence of ballistic missile base in Cuba which President John F. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.Keystone/Getty ImagesSource: History.comThe U-2 was flown by a US Air Force major named Rudolf Anderson Jr., who flew over the site 13 days later and was shot and killed by Russian missiles.The debris of an American U-2 airplane shot down by the Cubans during the 1962 missile crisis is scattered over the ground.Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty ImagesHis death escalated the crisis, and within 24 hours, a deal had been offered to Russia which Russia agreed to. Source: History.comFrom the 1950s to the 1970s, the Space Race became a key focus for Russia and the US. The point was to get to space, but it also led to the development of satellite imagery, which changed aerial surveillance forever.One of the first shots of Earth from space taken in 1954, plainly showing the curvature, photographed near the end of the Navy Viking Rocket's trip.Bettmann/Getty ImagesSources: Vice, TimeIn 1958, the US launched a covert operation known as the Corona Project. Officially, it was a space exploration program called the "Discoverer." But in reality, it was once again about spying on Russia.Earth observation from Space Shuttle Discovery showing twin lakes on the Tibetan Plateau north of the country's border with Nepal, Tibet, January 1992.Space Frontiers/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesSources: Vice, TimeSatellites were sent into space with a mile and a half of 70mm film.An artist’s sketch of a Corona satellite.National Reconnaissance OfficeSources: Time, New York TimesWhen the film was finished, it was dropped in a heat shield from about 60,000 feet in the sky. A parachute would be released on its descent, and the film would be caught by planes at around 15,000 feet.A plane catches film released from a satellite.National Reconnaissance OfficeSources: Time, New York TimesFrom the outside, the competition was still about getting to space, but the US also got about 850,000 photos of Russia during the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Corona Project.An image of a runway in Russia taken on the first Corona mission in August 1960.National Reconnaissance Office"If we get nothing else from the space program but the photographic satellite, it is worth ten times over the money we've spent," President Lyndon B. Johnson said at the time.Sources: Time, New York TimesOne of the main problems with the early satellites was that they couldn't last long in orbit, so both the US and Russia had to launch new satellites almost every fortnight.A shot showing the interior mechanisms of one of the Corona satellites.National Reconnaissance OfficeBy the early 1980s, developments in technology and a move to digital photography meant they could stay in space for years, though they had to come down to transfer the images. Source: Deutsche WelleIn the 1970s, the CIA built a drone that weighed less than a gram and looked like a dragonfly. It was called the "Insectothopter" and could fly across two football fields in a minute.A shot of the Insectothopter from the 1970s.Central Intelligence AgencyBut that was as good as it got. It never made it out onto the field because it was too easily blown about. The CIA had originally wanted to design the drone to be a bee, but bees fly too erratically so they settled on the dragonfly. Sources: History.com, Eurasian TimesThe first modern drones began appearing in the 1980s in Israel. The Israeli government used drones to watch citizens of interest.People are seen working on an Israeli army spy drone in the 1990s.Jean-Luc Manaud/Gamma-Rapho/Getty ImagesSource: TimeIn 1991, the US used its own drone called the Pioneer during the Gulf War. While these drones were primarily used to convey enemy locations, it also videoed Iraqi soldiers as they surrendered in a historic first.Crew members aboard the battleship USS Wisconsin prepare a Pioneer remotely piloted vehicle for launch during the Gulf War.Corbis/Getty ImagesSources: Time, Baltimore SunIn 1995, General Atomics, a defense contractor based in San Diego, created the Gnat, a remote-controlled drone that carried a video camera. It was later renamed the Predator and was used to capture Osama Bin Laden in 2000.A Predator drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle, takes off on a US Customs Border Patrol mission from Fort Huachuca, Arizona.Ross D. Franklin/APSource: Smithsonian MagazineIn the 21st century, airborne surveillance became even more sophisticated. New technology made it possible for drones to transmit a live-stream from anywhere in the world.A member of US military watches footage from a Predator drone in Afghanistan in 2006.Veronique de Viguerie/Getty ImagesSource: Smithsonian MagazineDespite all of these advances, China doesn't rely on drones for its aerial surveillance. In a case of history repeating itself, China's been using balloons this year to spy on more than 40 countries on five continents.A US Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the United States on February 3, 2023.Department of Defense/APAccording to Hammond, the reason for this is that it provided "plausible deniability.""If it's a plane with a pilot, and it's got military markings, you can't really say 'that wasn't us," he said. Sources: Fox5, InsiderRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Christopher Carnell's backpack, along with his friend's Pit Viper sunglasses, helped authorities identify them in videos from the Senate floor on January 6, 2021. Protesters storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington D.C.John Minchillo/AP North Carolina resident Chris Carnell was arrested in connection to the January 6 riots.  Accessories helped authorities to identify him, including a pair of Pit Viper sunglasses. Carnell also snapped photos with white nationalists Nick Fuentes and Baked Alaska the day prior. A Capitol rioter from North Carolina was charged by federal authorities who identified him and a friend by the brightly colored — and sometimes painfully obvious — accessories they wore when storming the Capitol. Christopher Carnell, who appeared in a Raleigh court on Thursday, was caught on CCTV cameras with a bright, red backpack with his last name stitched on the back. Other fashion statements that helped to identify him and his friend David Worth Bowman included a pair of Pit Viper sunglasses and a blue facemask.Carnell faces five charges for his participation in the riots, including one count for obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Bowman is not currently facing charges, although it is unclear if any will be brought against him. A spokesperson for the DOJ did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.According to criminal complaint prepared by the FBI filed Wednesday, authorities were first alerted to Carnell and Bowman after they arrested another rioter, Aiden Henry Bilyard, in November 2021. Bilyard, who admitted to pepper-spraying officers during the riots, is currently awaiting sentencing and faces up to five years in prison.After seizing Bilyard's phone, authorities found a group chat with three of Bilyard's friends, including Carnell and Bowman. According to messages sent in the group chat, on November 14, 2020 — following the presidential election — the friends took photos at the "Million MAGA March" with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and Tim Gionet, a streamer better known as Baked Alaska, and shared them in the group chat. Before January 6, 2021, the group texted about plans to attend the "Stop the Steal" rally, messages show. On the day of the rally, Bowman bragged to his friends via text that he gave Baked Alaska his Pit Viper sunglasses, signaling to authorities that he had worn the sunglasses at some point in the day.Two days after the riot, the group also spoke in code about entering certain parts of the US Capitol Building. For example, they referred to the Capitol building as a "Minecraft building" and asked their friends to delete their chat history "for fun."After reviewing video footage, officers found a man on the Senate floor with Pit Viper glasses and a blue mask speaking to a man with a red MAGA hat and a red backpack with the name "CARNELL" stitched in white thread.On December 1, 2022, Bowman, in a voluntary interview with FBI agents, admitted he was the one in the sunglasses and identified his friend Carnell as the one in the MAGA hat."Bowman further stated that he was unaware of what was occurring within the Senate Chamber earlier in the day, but understood that Mike Pence needed to certify something in the House Chamber," the affidavit said."Bowman explained that once he and Carnell actually entered the Senate Floor, they had no clear purpose or agenda. He stated, 'like we are in here … like uh … we're a dog, we caught the car, we don't know what to do.'"The affidavit stated there was "probable cause" that Carnell and Bowman violated multiple crimes.Carnell is set to appear in a Washington, DC, federal court via Zoom on Tuesday at 1 p.m. At least 1,000 people have been charged in the Capitol insurrection so far, according to an Insider database.Recently, former President Donald Trump mythologized the rioters in the form of a song titled "Justice for All," which features the voices of multiple insurrectionists singing the national anthem.Bowman and Carnell did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

This is what happened to 72 police officers after killings that gained national attention and sparked protests over police abuse. iStock; Anadolu Agency/Getty; InsiderWe checked in on the police officers behind some of the highest-profile police killings of the past 20 years. Some end up behind bars. Others get raises.The police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee last month resulted in five officers involved being charged with murder and fired from the Memphis Police Department. Nichols's killing was notable for its apparent cruelty: Officers pepper sprayed, kicked, and punched an unarmed man to death. Footage from a nearby pole camera captured much of the assault, as well as officers standing around Nichols as he lay grievously injured. One detective took a photo and texted it to at least five others. The Nichols case was unusual for the speed at which the officers involved were fired and charged, but the incident itself shared many similarities to other instances of egregious police violence that have risen to national attention in past decades.These killings often draw intense public scrutiny, in some cases prompting departments to shut down elite "street crime" squads like Memphis's Scorpion unit or forcing lawmakers to question police budgets and tactics. The victims in these cases become nationally known and their names — George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amadou Diallo — rallying cries against police abuses.Police officers involved in the deaths have become an intense focus of investigation, protest, and media coverage. Ultimately, though, most of those officers fall out of public consciousness.  Despite being at the heart of some of the most defining incidents in modern policing, most of the officers involved continue to live their lives under the radar.    Insider's review of 72 cops involved in two dozen of the most notorious police killings of the past 30 years shows the many different paths officers have taken. Some dwindled into obscurity after resigning or being fired. Others stayed on the force and even received promotions. A few became pro-police rallying points, while others ended up incarcerated for their crimes — an extreme rarity for police who kill people on the job. Fewer than 2% of police officers who shoot and kill people while on duty are charged with murder or manslaughter, and fewer still are convicted, according to data collected by Philip Stinson, a professor at Bowling Green State University who studies police shootings. Despite nationwide protests demanding greater police accountability, that figure hasn't changed markedly since 2005, the first year Stinson began collecting data."Every time there's a big case, we think, 'maybe this is the case where something changes,'" he said. "But it doesn't." Prosecutors in most states still face steep obstacles to building criminal cases against officers. More departments have adopted body-worn cameras, but officers often fail to use them appropriately. Officers and police unions continue to close ranks around their colleagues who have been accused of using excessive force.There's no nationwide view into what happens to officers involved in egregious incidents of violence. A 2021 bill, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, would have created a nationwide database of police misconduct, but that legislation stalled and withered in a Republican-controlled Senate.Insider attempted to contact the officers named in this article, but did not receive any replies to requests for comment. Multiple officers could also not be reached for comment.The incidents that Insider reviewed, focusing on those that rose to national media and received mention in thousands of news clips, are not representative of officer-involved killings as a whole. Instead, these cases show how officers involved in high-profile killings like the one in Memphis last month can end up anywhere from behind bars to back on the force. The cops who left the forceMany of the officers involved in high profile police killings resigned under public pressure or were fired by their departments following the incidents, but either never faced charges or were acquitted of criminal wrongdoing. These former cops are a grab bag of outcomes. Some fought unsuccessfully to be reinstated, while others drifted into different lines of work — sometimes with their past following them to their new professions.Two of the four officers who fired their weapons in the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo, who was unarmed when police shot him 41 times in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building, joined the New York City Fire Department. Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy were acquitted of all charges in Diallo's death and months later successfully applied to become firefighters, prompting a wave of media coverage and criticism.    Diallo's father, along with representatives from the Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel and the Vulcan Society fraternal order of Black firefighters all condemned the hirings."If a Black man had ever murdered somebody and went to trial for murder, no matter what the circumstances, that man would not be allowed to be a firefighter," Paul Washington, then-president of the Vulcan Society, said at the time. Two Black firefighters transferred to different firehouses after McMellon was assigned to their engine company. (The FDNY denied at the time that the transfers were related to McMellon.)McMellon is still an active member of the FDNY, the department confirmed to Insider, while Murphy is retired.People gather to protest against the police killing of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York on January 28, 2023.Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, several officers in high-profile killings complained in the following years that they became pariahs and found it difficult to restart their lives.  Darren Wilson, the officer who in 2014 shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, claimed a year after the incident that he faced death threats, was forced to move neighborhoods and was denied rejoining the police force after his acquittal. Wilson, who became a right-wing rallying point with supporters raising almost five hundred thousand dollars for him after the incident, told The New Yorker that he had quit a retail job stocking shoes after two weeks when reporters started calling the store.A similar infamy dogged one of the officers who beat and injured Rodney King. Timothy Wind, one of the officers who repeatedly struck King, was acquitted of criminal charges but fired by the LAPD. He drew protests after being hired as an unarmed community service officer in Culver City, California in 1994. Wind eventually moved to small town Indiana to avoid scrutiny, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2012, but maintained he did nothing wrong and attended law school with the intent on pursuing a career in criminal justice. The AP reported in 2021 that he had moved to Kansas. Calls placed to numbers listed under his name didn't go through or weren't answered.Other officers have retired with pensions or quietly found other careers. Michael Oliver, one of the NYPD officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in 2006, was forced to resign but allowed to collect $40,000 in pension benefits, according to the New York Post. He later became a salesman at a New Jersey BMW dealership. In rare cases, cops involved in these killings have tried to publicly rehabilitate their image rather than seek out anonymity. At least two officers in the cases that Insider reviewed wrote books about their experiences, most recently one of the three Louisville Metro Police officers involved in the botched raid that killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.Jonathan Mattingly, who did not face any charges for his role in the raid, retired in 2021 and quickly wrote a tell-all book about the incident. Published through right-wing outlet The Daily Wire's imprint DW Books, Mattingly's book frames himself as a good cop unjustly vilified by "the media and the woke mob." He repeatedly blames Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who shot and wounded Mattingly after police broke down the door while executing a warrant late at night, for provoking officers to kill Taylor. (Attorneys for Walker in his civil suit against the Louisville Department assert the book "perpetuates a lie" that their client knew it was police officers knocking down the door.) Mattingly also devotes part of the book to his past assignments in an "alpha male" street crime unit and suggests celebrities such as LeBron James and Oprah Winfrey spread lies about the raid. In one section, he claims that defense attorneys refused to take him on as a client — something he suggests was discrimination due to his "race and profession." "I guess Oprah was wrong. My whiteness didn't give me that unfair advantage or even a fair playing field. I'm simply a white guy in a WOKE world," Mattingly writes.A Republican gubernatorial candidate canceled his appearance at a fundraiser last month after learning Mattingly would also be a speaker. The cops who stayedPolice officers back their own. Even officers accused of severe misconduct often keep working as cops – including in cases where police departments shell out millions to settle civil lawsuits."There's that thin blue line where officers are not just reluctant to, but don't report on one another. It's such a pervasive problem," said Mari Newman, a civil rights attorney in Colorado who has sued police departments. "Officers don't just stick together, but cover up each other's wrongdoing." Three officers who in 2020 placed a "spit hood" over the head of Daniel Prude, then pushed his face into the ground, suffocating him to death, were working for the Rochester, New York police department as recently as last year, city records show. The city paid $12 million to Prude's family; the officers were not charged. The two officers who shot Stephon Clark seven times in his grandmother's backyard still work for the Sacramento Police Department; that city has paid more than $4 million to Clark's family. The officers were not charged.Involvement in notorious police killings hasn't stopped some officers from receiving promotions and honors.In Seattle, the two officers who killed Charleena Lyles in her apartment in front of her children in 2017 are still on the force, according to city records. Six officers charged and acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015 still work for the police department; one has been promoted to lieutenant. The officers who killed Lyles weren't charged. In New York City, Kenneth Boss, one of the officers who fired shots in the killing of Diallo in 1999, stayed on the force for nearly 20 more years after being acquitted of murder charges. Boss received a promotion in 2015, and one year later a New York police union named him a "Sergeant of the Year" for rescuing a couple stranded on an island in Jamaica Bay.An image of George Floyd is seen at a memorial in San Diego for Black Americans who have lost their lives due to systemic racism and racial injustice.Mario Tama/Getty Images It can also take so long to build a criminal case against police that even officers who do get prosecuted can stay on the force for years before charges are brought. Elijah McClain, 23, died in August 2019 after three police officers in Aurora, Colorado, slammed him into a wall, held him to the ground, and put him in a chokehold. Paramedics arriving on the scene diagnosed the by-then unconscious McClain with "excited delirium" and injected him with ketamine; he suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital. An autopsy report found the cause of death to be "complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint."McClain, who had a blood circulation disorder that caused him to get cold easily, had been wearing a ski mask while walking through the Denver suburb. A resident called 911 to report a "sketchy" person.Initially, the officers were cleared of wrongdoing. The local district attorney, acting on information collected by the police department, declined to prosecute. The department's internal investigation was "cursory and summary at best," independent investigators later found.All three officers went back to work.One of them, Randy Roedema, was involved in another excessive force case the very next year. Another, Jason Rosenblatt, responded "ha ha" when a colleague texted him making fun of McClain's death; he was fired over that incident.Two years after McClain's death a state-appointed special investigator brought charges against the three officers. The new investigation had been spurred by massive racial justice protests in the summer of 2020."Make no mistake, we recognize that this case will be difficult to prosecute," Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser said in a news conference at the time. "These types of cases always are."Prosecutors who want to bring charges against officers who kill face a myriad of challenges. There is a standard requiring them to prove that the officer acted unreasonably, a high legal bar. Other officers in a department may stonewall attempts to gain information, and body camera footage from the incidents can be incomplete or nonexistent. Police unions can also be quick to defend their members against any punitive measures for their actions on the job. Even after the charges, the Aurora police union insisted that the officers "did nothing wrong" and that McClain's death was related to his decision to "violently resist arrest." "The hysterical overreaction to this case has severely damaged the police department," the union said in a statement issued at the time of the charges.Officers sometimes leave the department where the incident occurred, transferring townships or jurisdictions. The NYPD reassigned one of the other officers involved in the Diallo killing to a unit at a sleepy airfield in southern Brooklyn where the department conducts helicopter operations. Two of the three officers charged with murdering George Robinson in 2019 left the Jackson, Mississippi police department after Robinson's death, for the nearby city of Clinton's police department.  "We don't want anything to do with a bad cop and if I thought these guys were bad cops, we wouldn't have hired them," Clinton's police chief Ford Hayman told local news in 2020. Hayman and Clinton Mayor Phil Fisher attended the officers' arraignment for moral support. Fisher has implied the criminal charges may be politically motivated and called on the media to "spend as much time in the exoneration process as they have in the accusing process." One of the officers Clinton hired was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison.Police killings have sparked widespread protest movements demanding increased accountability and an end to discriminatory policing.Jon Cherry/Getty ImagesIn rare instances, officers are too politically toxic to keep on staff. After killing 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann has applied for at least two other policing jobs but withdrew his applications after his hiring sparked community furor. Loehmann was not charged in Rice's death, but was fired from the Cleveland police department in 2017 for lying on his employment application.Last year, Loehmann was briefly hired to be the sole cop in the tiny town of Tioga, Pennsylvania, before protest prompted the city to reverse its decision. Tioga's mayor told local news that Rice's death never came up in the interview process."I found it strange that someone would move here all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, for $18 an hour," mayor Dave Wilcox told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "But I heard that he wanted to get away from it all and come here to hunt and fish." The cops who were convictedIn the past 18 years, 172 police have been charged with murder or manslaughter for an on-duty shooting, according to Stinson, the professor at Bowling Green State University, and 55 of them have been convicted of some crime. That data doesn't include cases that didn't involve a gun, like the killings of George Floyd or Tyre Nichols.Out of the 72 officers that Insider researched, 16 of them were convicted or pleaded guilty.Some convicted officers received long sentences, like Derek Chauvin, who killed Floyd and is set to remain in prison until 2038. Amber Guyger, the Texas officer convicted of murdering her upstairs neighbor Botham Jean after allegedly mistaking his apartment for her own, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, though she will be eligible for parole starting in September 2024.In some cases, officers found support from police unions while awaiting trial. Gescard Insora, an NYPD detective who was the first to open fire on Sean Bell in 2006, was acquitted of criminal charges but fired and reported by the New York Post in 2013 to have gotten a job with the Detectives Endowment Association. Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago cop convicted of killing Laquan McDonald, worked as a janitor for a Chicago police union while his case was pending.Van Dyke, who was released from prison in 2022, now works in construction and still lives with his family in the Chicago area, according to his lawyer Dan Herbert. "He's doing okay," Herbert said. "It took a lot out of him."Jason Van Dyke, was convicted of killing Laquan McDonald. He served less than half of his seven year sentence and was released in 2022.Brian Jackson/Sun-Times via APOthers spend little or no time behind bars. Johannes Mehserle, a transit cop who shot Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, served 11 months in prison after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Peter Liang, a rookie NYPD officer who fired a round into a dark stairwell that ricocheted and killed Akai Gurley, was sentenced to five years of probation.Insider couldn't find current contact information for Mehserle and a voicemail left for his father didn't receive a response. One of Liang's lawyers agreed to pass on a reporter's contact info, but no response was received.In Memphis, some hope that the indictment of the five officers who killed Tyre Nichols proves to be a break with the past. Steve Nelson, the Shelby County district attorney, took office last year after beating prosecutor Amy Weirich, who faced allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and a track record of not charging cops, according to the Huffington Post. But the outcome of any case of officer-involved killings or police abuse always carries a level of uncertainty. Policing is fragmented across nearly 18,000 jurisdictions, said Justin Nix, a criminology professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha who has studied the effect of racial justice protests on police departments. That means 18,000 different approaches to holding officers accountable for violence."For every example of accountability, it's easy to pick an example of an officer who skirted consequences for misconduct," Nix said.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

This is what happened to 72 police officers after killings that gained national attention and sparked protests over police abuse. iStock; Anadolu Agency/Getty; InsiderWe checked in on the police behind some of the most high-profiled police killings of the last 20 years. Some end up behind bars. Others get raises.The police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee last month resulted in five officers involved being charged with murder and fired from the Memphis Police Department. Nichols's killing was notable for its apparent cruelty: Officers pepper sprayed, kicked, and punched an unarmed man to death. Footage from a nearby pole camera captured much of the assault, as well as officers standing around Nichols as he lay grievously injured. One detective took a photo and texted it to at least five others. The Nichols case was unusual for the speed at which the officers involved were fired and charged, but the incident itself shared many similarities to other instances of egregious police violence that have risen to national attention in past decades.These killings often draw intense public scrutiny, in some cases prompting departments to shut down elite "street crime" squads like Memphis's Scorpion unit or forcing lawmakers to question police budgets and tactics. The victims in these cases become nationally known and their names — George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amadou Diallo — rallying cries against police abuses.Police officers involved in the deaths have become an intense focus of investigation, protest, and media coverage. Ultimately, though, most of those officers fall out of public consciousness.  Despite being at the heart of some of the most defining incidents in modern policing, most of the officers involved continue to live their lives under the radar.    Insider's review of 72 cops involved in two dozen of the most notorious police killings of the past 30 years shows the many different paths officers have taken. Some dwindled into obscurity after resigning or being fired. Others stayed on the force and even received promotions. A few became pro-police rallying points, while others ended up incarcerated for their crimes — an extreme rarity for police who kill people on the job. Fewer than 2% of police officers who shoot and kill people while on duty are charged with murder or manslaughter, and fewer still are convicted, according to data collected by Philip Stinson, a professor at Bowling Green State University who studies police shootings. Despite nationwide protests demanding greater police accountability, that figure hasn't changed markedly since 2005, the first year Stinson began collecting data."Every time there's a big case, we think, 'maybe this is the case where something changes,'" he said. "But it doesn't." Prosecutors in most states still face steep obstacles to building criminal cases against officers. More departments have adopted body-worn cameras, but officers often fail to use them appropriately. Officers and police unions continue to close ranks around their colleagues who have been accused of using excessive force.There's no nationwide view into what happens to officers involved in egregious incidents of violence. A 2021 bill, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, would have created a nationwide database of police misconduct, but that legislation stalled and withered in a Republican-controlled Senate.Insider attempted to contact the officers named in this article, but did not receive any replies to requests for comment. Multiple officers could also not be reached for comment.The incidents that Insider reviewed, focusing on those that rose to national media and received mention in thousands of news clips, are not representative of officer-involved killings as a whole. Instead, these cases show how officers involved in high-profile killings like the one in Memphis last month can end up anywhere from behind bars to back on the force. The cops who left the forceMany of the officers involved in high profile police killings resigned under public pressure or were fired by their departments following the incidents, but either never faced charges or were acquitted of criminal wrongdoing. These former cops are a grab bag of outcomes. Some fought unsuccessfully to be reinstated, while others drifted into different lines of work — sometimes with their past following them to their new professions.Two of the four officers who fired their weapons in the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo, who was unarmed when police shot him 41 times in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building, joined the New York City Fire Department. Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy were acquitted of all charges in Diallo's death and months later successfully applied to become firefighters, prompting a wave of media coverage and criticism.    Diallo's father, along with representatives from the Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel and the Vulcan Society fraternal order of Black firefighters all condemned the hirings."If a Black man had ever murdered somebody and went to trial for murder, no matter what the circumstances, that man would not be allowed to be a firefighter," Paul Washington, then-president of the Vulcan Society, said at the time. Two Black firefighters transferred to different firehouses after McMellon was assigned to their engine company. (The FDNY denied at the time that the transfers were related to McMellon.)McMellon is still an active member of the FDNY, the department confirmed to Insider, while Murphy is retired.People gather to protest against the police killing of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York on January 28, 2023.Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, several officers in high-profile killings complained in the following years that they became pariahs and found it difficult to restart their lives.  Darren Wilson, the officer who in 2014 shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, claimed a year after the incident that he faced death threats, was forced to move neighborhoods and was denied rejoining the police force after his acquittal. Wilson, who became a right-wing rallying point with supporters raising almost five hundred thousand dollars for him after the incident, told The New Yorker that he had quit a retail job stocking shoes after two weeks when reporters started calling the store.A similar infamy dogged one of the officers who beat and injured Rodney King. Timothy Wind, one of the officers who repeatedly struck King, was acquitted of criminal charges but fired by the LAPD. He drew protests after being hired as an unarmed community service officer in Culver City, California in 1994. Wind eventually moved to small town Indiana to avoid scrutiny, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2012, but maintained he did nothing wrong and attended law school with the intent on pursuing a career in criminal justice. The AP reported in 2021 that he had moved to Kansas. Calls placed to numbers listed under his name didn't go through or weren't answered.Other officers have retired with pensions or quietly found other careers. Michael Oliver, one of the NYPD officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in 2006, was forced to resign but allowed to collect $40,000 in pension benefits, according to the New York Post. He later became a salesman at a New Jersey BMW dealership. In rare cases, cops involved in these killings have tried to publicly rehabilitate their image rather than seek out anonymity. At least two officers in the cases that Insider reviewed wrote books about their experiences, most recently one of the three Louisville Metro Police officers involved in the botched raid that killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.Jonathan Mattingly, who did not face any charges for his role in the raid, retired in 2021 and quickly wrote a tell-all book about the incident. Published through right-wing outlet The Daily Wire's imprint DW Books, Mattingly's book frames himself as a good cop unjustly vilified by "the media and the woke mob." He repeatedly blames Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who shot and wounded Mattingly after police broke down the door while executing a warrant late at night, for provoking officers to kill Taylor. (Attorneys for Walker in his civil suit against the Louisville Department assert the book "perpetuates a lie" that their client knew it was police officers knocking down the door.) Mattingly also devotes part of the book to his past assignments in an "alpha male" street crime unit and suggests celebrities such as LeBron James and Oprah Winfrey spread lies about the raid. In one section, he claims that defense attorneys refused to take him on as a client — something he suggests was discrimination due to his "race and profession." "I guess Oprah was wrong. My whiteness didn't give me that unfair advantage or even a fair playing field. I'm simply a white guy in a WOKE world," Mattingly writes.A Republican gubernatorial candidate canceled his appearance at a fundraiser last month after learning Mattingly would also be a speaker. The cops who stayedPolice officers back their own. Even officers accused of severe misconduct often keep working as cops – including in cases where police departments shell out millions to settle civil lawsuits."There's that thin blue line where officers are not just reluctant to, but don't report on one another. It's such a pervasive problem," said Mari Newman, a civil rights attorney in Colorado who has sued police departments. "Officers don't just stick together, but cover up each other's wrongdoing." Three officers who in 2020 placed a "spit hood" over the head of Daniel Prude, then pushed his face into the ground, suffocating him to death, were working for the Rochester, New York police department as recently as last year, city records show. The city paid $12 million to Prude's family; the officers were not charged. The two officers who shot Stephon Clark seven times in his grandmother's backyard still work for the Sacramento Police Department; that city has paid more than $4 million to Clark's family. The officers were not charged.Involvement in notorious police killings hasn't stopped some officers from receiving promotions and honors.In Seattle, the two officers who killed Charleena Lyles in her apartment in front of her children in 2017 are still on the force, according to city records. Six officers charged and acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015 still work for the police department; one has been promoted to lieutenant. The officers who killed Lyles weren't charged. In New York City, Kenneth Boss, one of the officers who fired shots in the killing of Diallo in 1999, stayed on the force for nearly 20 more years after being acquitted of murder charges. Boss received a promotion in 2015, and one year later a New York police union named him a "Sergeant of the Year" for rescuing a couple stranded on an island in Jamaica Bay.An image of George Floyd is seen at a memorial in San Diego for Black Americans who have lost their lives due to systemic racism and racial injustice.Mario Tama/Getty Images It can also take so long to build a criminal case against police that even officers who do get prosecuted can stay on the force for years before charges are brought. Elijah McClain, 23, died in August 2019 after three police officers in Aurora, Colorado, slammed him into a wall, held him to the ground, and put him in a chokehold. Paramedics arriving on the scene diagnosed the by-then unconscious McClain with "excited delirium" and injected him with ketamine; he suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital. An autopsy report found the cause of death to be "complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint."McClain, who had a blood circulation disorder that caused him to get cold easily, had been wearing a ski mask while walking through the Denver suburb. A resident called 911 to report a "sketchy" person.Initially, the officers were cleared of wrongdoing. The local district attorney, acting on information collected by the police department, declined to prosecute. The department's internal investigation was "cursory and summary at best," independent investigators later found.All three officers went back to work.One of them, Randy Roedema, was involved in another excessive force case the very next year. Another, Jason Rosenblatt, responded "ha ha" when a colleague texted him making fun of McClain's death; he was fired over that incident.Two years after McClain's death a state-appointed special investigator brought charges against the three officers. The new investigation had been spurred by massive racial justice protests in the summer of 2020."Make no mistake, we recognize that this case will be difficult to prosecute," Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser said in a news conference at the time. "These types of cases always are."Prosecutors who want to bring charges against officers who kill face a myriad of challenges. There is a standard requiring them to prove that the officer acted unreasonably, a high legal bar. Other officers in a department may stonewall attempts to gain information, and body camera footage from the incidents can be incomplete or nonexistent. Police unions can also be quick to defend their members against any punitive measures for their actions on the job. Even after the charges, the Aurora police union insisted that the officers "did nothing wrong" and that McClain's death was related to his decision to "violently resist arrest." "The hysterical overreaction to this case has severely damaged the police department," the union said in a statement issued at the time of the charges.Officers sometimes leave the department where the incident occurred, transferring townships or jurisdictions. The NYPD reassigned one of the other officers involved in the Diallo killing to a unit at a sleepy airfield in southern Brooklyn where the department conducts helicopter operations. Two of the three officers charged with murdering George Robinson in 2019 left the Jackson, Mississippi police department after Robinson's death, for the nearby city of Clinton's police department.  "We don't want anything to do with a bad cop and if I thought these guys were bad cops, we wouldn't have hired them," Clinton's police chief Ford Hayman told local news in 2020. Hayman and Clinton Mayor Phil Fisher attended the officers' arraignment for moral support. Fisher has implied the criminal charges may be politically motivated and called on the media to "spend as much time in the exoneration process as they have in the accusing process." One of the officers Clinton hired was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison.Police killings have sparked widespread protest movements demanding increased accountability and an end to discriminatory policing.Jon Cherry/Getty ImagesIn rare instances, officers are too politically toxic to keep on staff. After killing 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann has applied for at least two other policing jobs but withdrew his applications after his hiring sparked community furor. Loehmann was not charged in Rice's death, but was fired from the Cleveland police department in 2017 for lying on his employment application.Last year, Loehmann was briefly hired to be the sole cop in the tiny town of Tioga, Pennsylvania, before protest prompted the city to reverse its decision. Tioga's mayor told local news that Rice's death never came up in the interview process."I found it strange that someone would move here all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, for $18 an hour," mayor Dave Wilcox told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "But I heard that he wanted to get away from it all and come here to hunt and fish." The cops who were convictedIn the past 18 years, 172 police have been charged with murder or manslaughter for an on-duty shooting, according to Stinson, the professor at Bowling Green State University, and 55 of them have been convicted of some crime. That data doesn't include cases that didn't involve a gun, like the killings of George Floyd or Tyre Nichols.Out of the 72 officers that Insider researched, 16 of them were convicted or pleaded guilty.Some convicted officers received long sentences, like Derek Chauvin, who killed Floyd and is set to remain in prison until 2038. Amber Guyger, the Texas officer convicted of murdering her upstairs neighbor Botham Jean after allegedly mistaking his apartment for her own, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, though she will be eligible for parole starting in September 2024.In some cases, officers found support from police unions while awaiting trial. Gescard Insora, an NYPD detective who was the first to open fire on Sean Bell in 2006, was acquitted of criminal charges but fired and reported by the New York Post in 2013 to have gotten a job with the Detectives Endowment Association. Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago cop convicted of killing Laquan McDonald, worked as a janitor for a Chicago police union while his case was pending.Van Dyke, who was released from prison in 2022, now works in construction and still lives with his family in the Chicago area, according to his lawyer Dan Herbert. "He's doing okay," Herbert said. "It took a lot out of him."Jason Van Dyke, was convicted of killing Laquan McDonald. He served less than half of his seven year sentence and was released in 2022.Brian Jackson/Sun-Times via APOthers spend little or no time behind bars. Johannes Mehserle, a transit cop who shot Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, served 11 months in prison after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Peter Liang, a rookie NYPD officer who fired a round into a dark stairwell that ricocheted and killed Akai Gurley, was sentenced to five years of probation.Insider couldn't find current contact information for Mehserle and a voicemail left for his father didn't receive a response. One of Liang's lawyers agreed to pass on a reporter's contact info, but no response was received.In Memphis, some hope that the indictment of the five officers who killed Tyre Nichols proves to be a break with the past. Steve Nelson, the Shelby County district attorney, took office last year after beating prosecutor Amy Weirich, who faced allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and a track record of not charging cops, according to the Huffington Post. But the outcome of any case of officer-involved killings or police abuse always carries a level of uncertainty. Policing is fragmented across nearly 18,000 jurisdictions, said Justin Nix, a criminology professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha who has studied the effect of racial justice protests on police departments. That means 18,000 different approaches to holding officers accountable for violence."For every example of accountability, it's easy to pick an example of an officer who skirted consequences for misconduct," Nix said.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

This is what happened to 72 police officers after killings that gained national attention and sparked protests over police abuse. iStock; Anadolu Agency/Getty; InsiderWe checked in on the police behind some of the most high-profiled police killings of the last 20 years. Some end up behind bars. Others get raises.The police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee last month resulted in five officers involved being charged with murder and fired from the Memphis Police Department. Nichols's killing was notable for its apparent cruelty: Officers pepper sprayed, kicked, and punched an unarmed man to death. Footage from a nearby pole camera captured much of the assault, as well as officers standing around Nichols as he lay grievously injured. One detective took a photo and texted it to at least five others. The Nichols case was unusual for the speed at which the officers involved were fired and charged, but the incident itself shared many similarities to other instances of egregious police violence that have risen to national attention in past decades.These killings often draw intense public scrutiny, in some cases prompting departments to shut down elite "street crime" squads like Memphis's Scorpion unit or forcing lawmakers to question police budgets and tactics. The victims in these cases become nationally known and their names — George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amadou Diallo — rallying cries against police abuses.Police officers involved in the deaths have become an intense focus of investigation, protest, and media coverage. Ultimately, though, most of those officers fall out of public consciousness.  Despite being at the heart of some of the most defining incidents in modern policing, most of the officers involved continue to live their lives under the radar.    Insider's review of 72 cops involved in two dozen of the most notorious police killings of the past 30 years shows the many different paths officers have taken. Some dwindled into obscurity after resigning or being fired. Others stayed on the force and even received promotions. A few became pro-police rallying points, while others ended up incarcerated for their crimes — an extreme rarity for police who kill people on the job. Fewer than 2% of police officers who shoot and kill people while on duty are charged with murder or manslaughter, and fewer still are convicted, according to data collected by Philip Stinson, a professor at Bowling Green State University who studies police shootings. Despite nationwide protests demanding greater police accountability, that figure hasn't changed markedly since 2005, the first year Stinson began collecting data."Every time there's a big case, we think, 'maybe this is the case where something changes,'" he said. "But it doesn't." Prosecutors in most states still face steep obstacles to building criminal cases against officers. More departments have adopted body-worn cameras, but officers often fail to use them appropriately. Officers and police unions continue to close ranks around their colleagues who have been accused of using excessive force.There's no nationwide view into what happens to officers involved in egregious incidents of violence. A 2021 bill, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, would have created a nationwide database of police misconduct, but that legislation stalled and withered in a Republican-controlled Senate.Insider attempted to contact the officers named in this article, but did not receive any replies to requests for comment. Multiple officers could also not be reached for comment.The incidents that Insider reviewed, focusing on those that rose to national media and received mention in thousands of news clips, are not representative of officer-involved killings as a whole. Instead, these cases show how officers involved in high-profile killings like the one in Memphis last month can end up anywhere from behind bars to back on the force. The cops who left the forceMany of the officers involved in high profile police killings resigned under public pressure or were fired by their departments following the incidents, but either never faced charges or were acquitted of criminal wrongdoing. These former cops are a grab bag of outcomes. Some fought unsuccessfully to be reinstated, while others drifted into different lines of work — sometimes with their past following them to their new professions.Two of the four officers who fired their weapons in the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo, who was unarmed when police shot him 41 times in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building, joined the New York City Fire Department. Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy were acquitted of all charges in Diallo's death and months later successfully applied to become firefighters, prompting a wave of media coverage and criticism.    Diallo's father, along with representatives from the Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel and the Vulcan Society fraternal order of Black firefighters all condemned the hirings."If a Black man had ever murdered somebody and went to trial for murder, no matter what the circumstances, that man would not be allowed to be a firefighter," Paul Washington, then-president of the Vulcan Society, said at the time. Two Black firefighters transferred to different firehouses after McMellon was assigned to their engine company. (The FDNY denied at the time that the transfers were related to McMellon.)McMellon is still an active member of the FDNY, the department confirmed to Insider, while Murphy is retired.People gather to protest against the police killing of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York on January 28, 2023.Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, several officers in high-profile killings complained in the following years that they became pariahs and found it difficult to restart their lives.  Darren Wilson, the officer who in 2014 shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, claimed a year after the incident that he faced death threats, was forced to move neighborhoods and was denied rejoining the police force after his acquittal. Wilson, who became a right-wing rallying point with supporters raising almost five hundred thousand dollars for him after the incident, told The New Yorker that he had quit a retail job stocking shoes after two weeks when reporters started calling the store.A similar infamy dogged one of the officers who beat and injured Rodney King. Timothy Wind, one of the officers who repeatedly struck King, was acquitted of criminal charges but fired by the LAPD. He drew protests after being hired as an unarmed community service officer in Culver City, California in 1994. Wind eventually moved to small town Indiana to avoid scrutiny, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2012, but maintained he did nothing wrong and attended law school with the intent on pursuing a career in criminal justice. The AP reported in 2021 that he had moved to Kansas. Calls placed to numbers listed under his name didn't go through or weren't answered.Other officers have retired with pensions or quietly found other careers. Michael Oliver, one of the NYPD officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in 2006, was forced to resign but allowed to collect $40,000 in pension benefits, according to the New York Post. He later became a salesman at a New Jersey BMW dealership. In rare cases, cops involved in these killings have tried to publicly rehabilitate their image rather than seek out anonymity. At least two officers in the cases that Insider reviewed wrote books about their experiences, most recently one of the three Louisville Metro Police officers involved in the botched raid that killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.Jonathan Mattingly, who did not face any charges for his role in the raid, retired in 2021 and quickly wrote a tell-all book about the incident. Published through right-wing outlet The Daily Wire's imprint DW Books, Mattingly's book frames himself as a good cop unjustly vilified by "the media and the woke mob." He repeatedly blames Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who shot and wounded Mattingly after police broke down the door while executing a warrant late at night, for provoking officers to kill Taylor. (Attorneys for Walker in his civil suit against the Louisville Department assert the book "perpetuates a lie" that their client knew it was police officers knocking down the door.) Mattingly also devotes part of the book to his past assignments in an "alpha male" street crime unit and suggests celebrities such as LeBron James and Oprah Winfrey spread lies about the raid. In one section, he claims that defense attorneys refused to take him on as a client — something he suggests was discrimination due to his "race and profession." "I guess Oprah was wrong. My whiteness didn't give me that unfair advantage or even a fair playing field. I'm simply a white guy in a WOKE world," Mattingly writes.A Republican gubernatorial candidate canceled his appearance at a fundraiser last month after learning Mattingly would also be a speaker. The cops who stayedPolice officers back their own. Even officers accused of severe misconduct often keep working as cops – including in cases where police departments shell out millions to settle civil lawsuits."There's that thin blue line where officers are not just reluctant to, but don't report on one another. It's such a pervasive problem," said Mari Newman, a civil rights attorney in Colorado who has sued police departments. "Officers don't just stick together, but cover up each other's wrongdoing." Three officers who in 2020 placed a "spit hood" over the head of Daniel Prude, then pushed his face into the ground, suffocating him to death, were working for the Rochester, New York police department as recently as last year, city records show. The city paid $12 million to Prude's family; the officers were not charged. The two officers who shot Stephon Clark seven times in his grandmother's backyard still work for the Sacramento Police Department; that city has paid more than $4 million to Clark's family. The officers were not charged.Involvement in notorious police killings hasn't stopped some officers from receiving promotions and honors.In Seattle, the two officers who killed Charleena Lyles in her apartment in front of her children in 2017 are still on the force, according to city records. Six officers charged and acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015 still work for the police department; one has been promoted to lieutenant. The officers who killed Lyles weren't charged. In New York City, Kenneth Boss, one of the officers who fired shots in the killing of Diallo in 1999, stayed on the force for nearly 20 more years after being acquitted of murder charges. Boss received a promotion in 2015, and one year later a New York police union named him a "Sergeant of the Year" for rescuing a couple stranded on an island in Jamaica Bay.An image of George Floyd is seen at a memorial in San Diego for Black Americans who have lost their lives due to systemic racism and racial injustice.Mario Tama/Getty Images It can also take so long to build a criminal case against police that even officers who do get prosecuted can stay on the force for years before charges are brought. Elijah McClain, 23, died in August 2019 after three police officers in Aurora, Colorado, slammed him into a wall, held him to the ground, and put him in a chokehold. Paramedics arriving on the scene diagnosed the by-then unconscious McClain with "excited delirium" and injected him with ketamine; he suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital. An autopsy report found the cause of death to be "complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint."McClain, who had a blood circulation disorder that caused him to get cold easily, had been wearing a ski mask while walking through the Denver suburb. A resident called 911 to report a "sketchy" person.Initially, the officers were cleared of wrongdoing. The local district attorney, acting on information collected by the police department, declined to prosecute. The department's internal investigation was "cursory and summary at best," independent investigators later found.All three officers went back to work.One of them, Randy Roedema, was involved in another excessive force case the very next year. Another, Jason Rosenblatt, responded "ha ha" when a colleague texted him making fun of McClain's death; he was fired over that incident.Two years after McClain's death a state-appointed special investigator brought charges against the three officers. The new investigation had been spurred by massive racial justice protests in the summer of 2020."Make no mistake, we recognize that this case will be difficult to prosecute," Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser said in a news conference at the time. "These types of cases always are."Prosecutors who want to bring charges against officers who kill face a myriad of challenges. There is a standard requiring them to prove that the officer acted unreasonably, a high legal bar. Other officers in a department may stonewall attempts to gain information, and body camera footage from the incidents can be incomplete or nonexistent. Police unions can also be quick to defend their members against any punitive measures for their actions on the job. Even after the charges, the Aurora police union insisted that the officers "did nothing wrong" and that McClain's death was related to his decision to "violently resist arrest." "The hysterical overreaction to this case has severely damaged the police department," the union said in a statement issued at the time of the charges.Officers sometimes leave the department where the incident occurred, transferring townships or jurisdictions. The NYPD reassigned one of the other officers involved in the Diallo killing to a unit at a sleepy airfield in southern Brooklyn where the department conducts helicopter operations. Two of the three officers charged with murdering George Robinson in 2019 left the Jackson, Mississippi police department after Robinson's death, for the nearby city of Clinton's police department.  "We don't want anything to do with a bad cop and if I thought these guys were bad cops, we wouldn't have hired them," Clinton's police chief Ford Hayman told local news in 2020. Hayman and Clinton Mayor Phil Fisher attended the officers' arraignment for moral support. Fisher has implied the criminal charges may be politically motivated and called on the media to "spend as much time in the exoneration process as they have in the accusing process." One of the officers Clinton hired was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison.Police killings have sparked widespread protest movements demanding increased accountability and an end to discriminatory policing.Jon Cherry/Getty ImagesIn rare instances, officers are too politically toxic to keep on staff. After killing 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann has applied for at least two other policing jobs but withdrew his applications after his hiring sparked community furor. Loehmann was not charged in Rice's death, but was fired from the Cleveland police department in 2017 for lying on his employment application.Last year, Loehmann was briefly hired to be the sole cop in the tiny town of Tioga, Pennsylvania, before protest prompted the city to reverse its decision. Tioga's mayor told local news that Rice's death never came up in the interview process."I found it strange that someone would move here all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, for $18 an hour," mayor Dave Wilcox told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "But I heard that he wanted to get away from it all and come here to hunt and fish." The cops who were convictedIn the past 18 years, 172 police have been charged with murder or manslaughter for an on-duty shooting, according to Stinson, the professor at Bowling Green State University, and 55 of them have been convicted of some crime. That data doesn't include cases that didn't involve a gun, like the killings of George Floyd or Tyre Nichols.Out of the 72 officers that Insider researched, 16 of them were convicted or pleaded guilty.Some convicted officers received long sentences, like Derek Chauvin, who killed Floyd and is set to remain in prison until 2038. Amber Guyger, the Texas officer convicted of murdering her upstairs neighbor Botham Jean after allegedly mistaking his apartment for her own, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, though she will be eligible for parole starting in September 2024.In some cases, officers found support from police unions while awaiting trial. Gescard Insora, an NYPD detective who was the first to open fire on Sean Bell in 2006, was acquitted of criminal charges but fired and reported by the New York Post in 2013 to have gotten a job with the Detectives Endowment Association. Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago cop convicted of killing Laquan McDonald, worked as a janitor for a Chicago police union while his case was pending.Van Dyke, who was released from prison in 2022, now works in construction and still lives with his family in the Chicago area, according to his lawyer Dan Herbert. "He's doing okay," Herbert said. "It took a lot out of him."Jason Van Dyke, was convicted of killing Laquan McDonald. He served less than half of his seven year sentence and was released in 2022.Brian Jackson/Sun-Times via APOthers spend little or no time behind bars. Johannes Mehserle, a transit cop who shot Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, served 11 months in prison after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Peter Liang, a rookie NYPD officer who fired a round into a dark stairwell that ricocheted and killed Akai Gurley, was sentenced to five years of probation.Insider couldn't find current contact information for Mehserle and a voicemail left for his father didn't receive a response. One of Liang's lawyers agreed to pass on a reporter's contact info, but no response was received.In Memphis, some hope that the indictment of the five officers who killed Tyre Nichols proves to be a break with the past. Steve Nelson, the Shelby County district attorney, took office last year after beating prosecutor Amy Weirich, who faced allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and a track record of not charging cops, according to the Huffington Post. But the outcome of any case of officer-involved killings or police abuse always carries a level of uncertainty. Policing is fragmented across nearly 18,000 jurisdictions, said Justin Nix, a criminology professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha who has studied the effect of racial justice protests on police departments. That means 18,000 different approaches to holding officers accountable for violence."For every example of accountability, it's easy to pick an example of an officer who skirted consequences for misconduct," Nix said.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Futures Drop Ahead Of Data Barrage, More Fed Speakers US stock-index futures dropped, reversing earlier gains before a barrage of economic data including jobless claims, housing starts and permits, and the Philly Fed as well as no less than four fed speakers, fading a two-day rally when investors welcomed buoyant US retail data and dismissed the risk of a hawkish response from the Federal Reserve trying to keep inflation in check. S&P 500 futures traded near session lows, down 0.2% around 7.30am ET, while Nasdaq 100 futs drigted about 0.3% lower erasing an earlier gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 is up 16% this year and approaching a bull market as investors price in a growing likelihood of a soft landing for the economy. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot index retreated, lifting all Group-of-10 currencies. Treasuries advanced, mirroring gains in UK bond markets. Oil fell and gold edged higher, while Bitcoin climbed for a third day to approach $25,000 for the first time since August.  Among premarket movers, Cisco Systems Inc. jumped 4% after the communications equipment company raised its full-year forecast, a bullish sign for spending on tech infrastructure. More than a dozen analysts raised their price targets on the stock, with several noting that the company’s ability to clear the order backlog built during the pandemic is helping it combat a slowdown in tech demand. Cryptocurrency-exposed stocks also rose in premarket trading as Bitcoin inches closer to the $25,000 level, extending gains for a third consecutive session. Riot Platforms +4.5%, Marathon Digital +3.4%. Shopify wasn't so lucky, and its shares tumbled as much as 9.7% in the premarket after the cloud-based commerce platform’s first-quarter revenue forecast was weaker than expected. Analysts said strong 4Q results were largely offset by the company’s “conservative” outlook. Here are the most notable premarket movers Roku shares rise as much as ~11% in premarket trading after the streaming-video platform reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations and gave a revenue forecast that was ahead of consensus. Analysts were positive about the company’s move to check operating expenses and target to have Ebitda profitability in 2024. Seagen Inc. jumps as much as 7.5% in US premarket trading after the cancer-focused biotech posted a top- line beat for 4Q22 and 2023 guidance that fell in-line with estimates, prompting an upgrade at Raymond James and several other brokers to raise their price targets. Analysts note the positive outlook for the commercial expansion of the company’s cancer drugs, adding that while the biotech could start to turn a profit, management’s 2023 focus will be investing into the pipeline. RingCentral falls as much as ~13% in premarket trading on Thursday, after the software company forecast subscription revenue that was weaker than expected. Many analysts said the weak results should be offset by the company’s cost-cutting efforts. Shares in Emergent BioSolutions soar 16% in US premarket trading, after the life sciences company’s Narcan spray, used for treating opioid overdoses, got the nod from an FDA panel, which ruled the drug was safe for use without a doctor’s prescription. Twilio shares surge as much as ~15% in US premarket trading, set for their biggest gain in three months, after a forecast-beating profit outlook prompted analysts to raise their price targets on the software maker. While brokers said the macroeconomic backdrop could still hamper growth, they noted that Twilio’s focus on turning a profit showed it is prioritizing financial prudence. . “A softer landing appears more likely given the strong consumer and the expectation that wages will keep heading up as labor markets remain tight,” said Louise Dudley, portfolio manager at Federated Hermes. “The positive retail sales numbers contribute to expectations that the US market can ride out the monetary tightening.” “In light of the recent good US macro data, the market narrative is switching towards a ‘no-landing’ scenario where a recession could actually be avoided,” said Kevin Thozet, member of the investment committee at Carmignac Gestion in Paris. “US long-term yields rising alongside risk assets suggest a recession isn’t expected in the second half of 2023,” he added. At Swissquote, analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya took a similar view. “The latest economic data clearly suggests that the US economy remains resilient to the interest rate hikes, and that soft landing is possible,” she said, adding that “the ‘Goldilocks’ scenario is reflected in US equity prices right now.” European stocks rose for a fourth day, underpinned by positive corporate updates from Airbus SE, Standard Chartered Plc and Commerzbank AG. The Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 to its highest level in a year with media, telecoms and banks the best-performing sectors. Here are some of the most notable movers: Standard Chartered rises as much as 3.7% in early trading after announcing a buyback and higher returns guidance that offset an increase in impairments in the fourth quarter Pernod Ricard shares jump as much as 5% after the French spirits company’s first-half results comfortably beat the consensus and it announced a large stock buyback Orange shares rise as much as 5.5% after analysts said the telecom operator’s strategic direction and medium-term targets outlined by new CEO Christel Heydemann were reassuring Tenaris gains as much as 9.6%, the most intraday since July, after posting strong fourth-quarter results Centrica rises as much as 6.3% in early trading, with shares reaching their highest since May 2019, after the British Gas parent reported full-year operating profit that beat estimates Kerry shares rally as much as 5.1%, the most since Nov. 10, after the food company’s earnings, with Morgan Stanley highlighting a solid outlook against an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop Nestle shares fell as much as 1% after the food and beverage company reported full-year organic revenue growth that missed estimates Moneysupermarket shares fall as much as 9.6%, the most intraday since October, after the price comparison service’s revenue growth slowed in the fourth quarter and missed expectations Klepierre shares fall as much as 4.3%, the most since Jan. 10. The French mall landlord’s FY22 results are relatively solid yet analysts remain cautious on its outlook Heineken N.V. falls as much as 1.5% after Femsa’s board approved the sale of its stake in the brewer in the next 24 to 36 months after undertaking a strategic review Renault shares fall as much as 2.5% giving back initial gains, even after the French carmaker unveiled guidance for 2023 operating margin and free cash flow ahead of analyst expectations Sinch falls as much as 18%, the most since July, after the Swedish cloud communications firm reported fourth quarter results that missed estimates Earlier in the session, equities advanced across Asia as traders awaited key US employment data, although initial gains in Chinese stocks evaporated on geopolitical worries. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced as much as 1.4%, the most since Feb. 1. Samsung, Tencent and Alibaba were among the main contributors to the surge, also helping a rebound in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index after it had fallen almost 10% from a January peak through Wednesday. Onshore Chinese shares closed lower as a joint communique between China and Iran on expanding cooperation acted as the negative trigger, coming weeks after the US said it would increase pressure on China to stop buying Iranian oil. The MSCI regional gauge is still down more than 3% from a Jan. 27 peak. In terms of the next near-term catalyst, traders expect to see an uptick in jobless claims in the US when the data is announced later Thursday, which could ease the pressure on the Federal Reserve for aggressive policy tightening. The bull-market run in Asian shares slipped this month as investors began to look for catalysts beyond China’s reopening with the jury still out on the pace of US interest rate hikes. Hong Kong benchmarks turned up again Thursday, however, as investors returned following the recent pullback. “I think the rebound is more likely driven by investors waiting on the sidelines looking for a good entry point into China tech,” said Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privee. “Many have missed the sector’s rally from October, and the 10% decline in the past 3 weeks is a good opportunity.” Japanese stocks rose, following US peers higher after strong economic data.  The Topix Index rose 0.7% to 2,001.09 as of market close Tokyo time, while the Nikkei advanced 0.7% to 27,696.44. Toyota Motor Corp. contributed the most to the Topix Index gain, increasing 2.1%. Out of 2,163 stocks in the index, 1,546 rose and 534 fell, while 83 were unchanged. US retail sales in January rose by the most in two years, with cars, furniture and restaurants gaining the most.  “Following the announcement of US retail sales, US stocks increased,” said Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management. “It is favorable that consumer durables, which had been adjusted due to Covid special demands, was firm rather than in energy and food which were temporarily higher.”  Australian stocks gained, with the S&P/ASX 200 index rising 0.8% to close at 7,410.30, after Australian unemployment unexpectedly jumped as the economy shed jobs for a second straight month.  The stock benchmark was boosted by gains in consumer discretionary and real estate stocks. In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.6% to 12,157.75. Indians stocks were mostly higher as investors sought cues from companies’ outlook for future earnings growth as the results season for the December quarter came to a close.  The S&P BSE Sensex was little changed at 61,319.51 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.1%. Sixteen of BSE Ltd.’s 20 sector gauges advanced, led by realty and metal firms.  The Information technology gauge rose 1.3%, its third straight advance to the highest since Dec. 1 as most companies surprised analysts with a wider-than-expected expansion in profit and a robust outlook for clients’ spending on their services.  Tech Mahindra contributed the most to the Sensex’s gain, increasing 5.6%. Out of 30 shares in the Sensex index, 14 rose and 15 fell, while 1 was steady. In FX, the Dollar Index is down 0.1% while the Australian dollar is the strongest among the G-10 currencies. The euro climbed 0.2% to 1.0709 and one- month implied volatility in the currency rose as the tenor now captures the next ECB decision; although the relative premium remains below parity, options may soon turn overpriced. Bunds edged up as traders pared back bets slightly for further interest-rate rises by the ECB. The pound rose 0.2% to $1.2054 after closing 1.2% lower on the day on Wednesday following cooler-than-anticipated inflation data and hotter-than-expected US retail sales. Gilts advanced for the second day, led by the shorter end of the curve, as markets priced in the possibility of less monetary tightening by the BOE. Improved risk sentiment helped the Australian dollar erase an earlier loss after the nation’s jobless rate unexpectedly climbed In rates, Treasuries are mostly higher, led by front-end following late Wednesday pricing of Amgen’s $24b jumbo deal. 10-year TSY yields were around 3.785%, richer by ~2bp vs Wednesday’s close and outperforming bunds and gilts by ~2bp in the sector. US yields are richer by 4bp-5bp across front-end of the curve with long-end slightly cheaper on the day, extending Wednesday’s steepening move; 2s10s, 5s30s spreads wider by 3bp and 5bp. Recent steepener stop-outs have left curve positioning cleaner, setting stage for re-steepening of spreads.Gains accumulated during Asia session and London morning, led by short-maturity gilts. In Europe, front-end bonds outperform and in particular the UK where traders pared back bets on additional rate hikes by the Bank of England.  UK money markets trim BOE tightening premium by as much as 7bps, anticipating slowing inflation. The US has a $9b 30-year TIPS auction at 1pm Crude futures decline with WTI down 0.4% to trade near $78.30. Spot gold is little changed near $1,838 Looking to the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include January’s PPI, housing starts and building permits, the weekly initial jobless claims, the February’s Philadelphia Fed business outlook. Otherwise from central banks, we’ll hear from the ECB’s Panetta, Nagel, Lane and Makhlouf, the Fed’s Mester, Bullard and Cook, BoE chief economist Pill and BoC Governor Macklem.Bitcoin is firmer on the session and at the top-end of parameters, though is yet to convincingly test the USD 25k mark to the upside. Market Snapshot S&P 500 futures little changed at 4,160.00 MXAP up 0.9% to 164.71 MXAPJ up 0.8% to 537.38 Nikkei up 0.7% to 27,696.44 Topix up 0.7% to 2,001.09 Hang Seng Index up 0.8% to 20,987.67 Shanghai Composite down 1.0% to 3,249.03 Sensex up 0.2% to 61,413.83 Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.8% to 7,410.31 Kospi up 2.0% to 2,475.48 STOXX Europe 600 up 0.5% to 466.57 German 10Y yield little changed at 2.46% Euro little changed at $1.0699 Brent Futures little changed at $85.32/bbl Gold spot up 0.1% to $1,837.70 U.S. Dollar Index down 0.19% to 103.72 Top Overnight News from Bloomberg China warned the US that rising tensions may jeopardize talks as both nations seek to repair ties in the aftermath of the balloon saga. Antony Blinken and Wang Yi are heading to a security summit in Germany where they may meet on the sidelines. Adding to the friction, China will impose hefty fines on Lockheed Martin and Raytheon over arms sales to Taiwan. BBG The Chinese Commerce Ministry said it blacklisted Lockheed Martin and an arm of Raytheon Technologies over the companies’ arms sales to Taiwan. Putting the companies on its “unreliable entities list” prohibits them from export and import activities related to China. WSJ Ukraine says the worst is probably over in terms of Russia’s attacks on its energy infrastructure thanks to improved defenses and Moscow’s exhausted military capabilities. BBG The ECB should start raising its interest rates in smaller increments and avoid committing to future moves as inflation in the euro zone falls, ECB board member Fabio Panetta said on Thursday. Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray expects the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to 5.25% to 5.5% and will then hold there an extended period of time, despite emerging signs of slowing inflation. The Federal Reserve is likely to take rates up to that level “for a while,” the president of the world’s biggest alternative asset manager said at an event in Hong Kong. The market is “too optimistic” over the economy weakening, he said. BBG Credit Suisse's Michael Klein, who'll run First Boston, told the unit's staff they'll be shareholders. He said the super boutique will be profitable and that should mean this year's ugly bonus round won't happen again. The bank is exiting distressed debt and special-situations trading. It also revealed it has paid $210 million to date in its long-running legal fight with Georgian tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili. BBG Chip trouble. ASML data stolen by a China-based ex-employee were from internal software used to store technical information about machinery, people familiar said. Further afield, a US official said Russia is still procuring foreign chips and tech through intermediaries including Iran and North Korea. BBG The Pentagon is reviewing its weapons stockpiles and may need to boost military spending after seeing how quickly ammunition has been used during the war in Ukraine, the most senior US military official said. FT KPMG becomes the first of the “Big 4” accounting firms to cut its headcount following a sharp slowdown in its consulting business (KPMG will trim its workforce by ~2%, or 700 people). FT The S&P 500 risk premium is the lowest since 2007. Very low risk premiums can portend poor returns over the next few years... A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk APAC stocks gained as the region took impetus from the US where participants digested a slew of data releases including stronger-than-expected retail sales and better-than-feared NY Fed Manufacturing. ASX 200 was firmer after several key earnings releases although gains were capped by disappointing jobs data which showed a surprise contraction in Employment Change and a higher Unemployment Rate. Nikkei 225 was led by strength in auto manufacturers including Toyota which plans to boost output next month, while data releases were varied as machinery orders disappointed but trade data was mixed. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. conformed to the improved risk tone with tech front running the outperformance in Hong Kong and with the mainland also underpinned by China's support pledges. Top Asian News China's NDRC said shortcomings and difficulties still exist in employment, education, medical care, childcare, elderly care, housing and ecological protection. NDRC added that it will boost the income of urban and rural residents, as well as improve the consumption capacity of low and middle-income residents. Furthermore, it will support improvement in spending on housing, NEVs and elderly care services, among other areas of consumption, according to Reuters. China's Industry Minister said China's industrial and information development is facing a more severe and complex external environment as the US escalates suppression of China's advanced manufacturing industry, according to Reuters. China's Politburo Standing Committee says the current COVID prevention situation in China is good overall, declares victory in COVID control. Japan's Banking Lobby Chief expects the BoJ to steer an exit from massive monetary easing at some point in the future, if it can forsee sustained and stable CPI and wage growth. Policy adj. could increase volatility in capital/financial markets., prior 1.38m European bourses are firmer across the board, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.6%, in a continuation of APAC trade with fresh developments somewhat limited ex-earnings. Sectors are mostly in the green with Media outperforming post-RELX, Telecoms bolstered by Orange & Vodafone, Banking by Commerzbank and Standard Chartered; for reference, heavyweight Nestle is lower as its headline metrics missed slightly. Stateside, futures are little changed overall after ending Wednesday's session firmer after initial data-induced weakness, ES U/C, ahead of numerous Central Bank speakers. Sony (6758 JT) Chip unit head sees limited impact from chip export curbs to China by US, Japan, and the Netherlands, expects global smartphone demand to recover in H2 this year, inventory levels a concern. Top European News ECB's Panetta says the ECB should not unconditionally pre-commit to future policy moves, the extent and duration of monetary policy restriction matters now that rates are in restrictive territory. Headline inflation could fall below 3% towards the end of the year. Core inflation cannot turn on a dime and will eventually follow headline inflation. Wages are an upside risk and accelerating wage growth raises the spectre of a wage-price spiral. EU Top Court Advocate General in the Polish FX Mortgage case says Banks may not demand remuneration for use of capital in contracts rendered invalid; the possibility of demanding remuneration from banks by consumers should be based on Polish law and decision is up to Polish courts. UK PM Sunak and EU's von der Leyen are to speak before the end of the week with the text of the Northern Ireland protocol deal to go before the DUP on Monday, according to The Times; the text will be presented to the DUP on Monday before the cabinet gets to view it on Tuesday. Government sources are confident the deal with satisfy unionist tests for backing a deal. FX DXY has come under some modest pressure throughout the morning in what is more of a consolidation than any sustained bout of pressure, index to the lower-end of 103.52-103.89 session bounds. Amidst this, G10 peers are firmer across the board though again magnitudes are relatively slim with specific newsflow in-line with expectations and relatively incrementally. Though, this does come with the modest exception of GBP among G10s amid reports that the DUP could see the text of the N.Ireland Protocol deal on Monday, Cable at 1.2074 highs vs 1.2015 trough. Outside of G10s, the PLN has garnered interest after the ECJ opinion ruled in-favour of mortgage holders (i.e. against domestic banks), with EUR/PLN up to 4.7775 following the announcement. Elsewhere, peers are little changed/modestly firmer ex-USD, with the EUR and CAD await numerous Central Bank speakers. PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.8519 vs exp. 6.8524 (prev. 6.8183) Commodities Crude benchmarks are softer/flat on the session and towards the lower-end of circa USD 1.50/bbl parameters with fresh developments somewhat limited for the complex. Gas markets diverge with US Henry Hub futures are firmer above USD 2.50/MMBtu whilst Dutch TTF sees losses but remains above EUR 50/MWh. Spot gold is essentially unchanged as participants await fresh catalysts while base metals are mixed overall and relatively rangebound themselves. Fixed Income Gilts and Bunds have run out of recovery momentum and are now essentially unchanged as Bunds failed to breach the 135.12 Fib of Wednesday's action with specific developments limited. In the periphery, a hefty amount of supply from France, Spain and Italian 2053 syndication have been digested with limited impact thus far, though BTPs are a handful of ticks lower than their core peers. Stateside, USTs are in the green though they are currently beneath their overnight peak in 112.11+ to 111.29+ parameters ahead of numerous data points and Fed speakers. Geopolitics Russian embassy to the US said the destruction of Nord Stream pipelines was an act of international terrorism and the US should prove it was not involved, according to Reuters. US Senate passed a resolution condemning China over the spy balloon, according to Bloomberg. It was also reported that US officials said the downed Chinese spy balloon was aimed at US bases in Guam and Hawaii but was blown off course, according to NYT. Turkish Foreign Minister says will discuss bilateral relations, Ukraine war, Swedish and Finnish NATO with US Secretary of State Blinken next week; Turkey could evaluate Finland and Sweden's NATO applications separately. US Event Calendar 08:30: Jan. PPI Final Demand MoM, est. 0.4%, prior -0.5%, revised -0.4% PPI Final Demand YoY, est. 5.4%, prior 6.2% PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.1% PPI Ex Food and Energy YoY, est. 4.9%, prior 5.5% 08:30: Feb. Initial Jobless Claims, est. 200,000, prior 196,000 Continuing Claims, est. 1.7m, prior 1.69m 08:30: Jan. Housing Starts, est. 1.36m, prior 1.38m Housing Starts MoM, est. -1.9%, prior -1.4% Building Permits, est. 1.35m, prior 1.33m, revised 1.34m Building Permits MoM, est. 1.0%, prior -1.6%, revised -1.0% 08:30: Feb. Philadelphia Fed Business Outl, est. -7.5, prior -8.9 08:30: Feb. New York Fed Services Business, est. -17.0, prior -21.4 Central bank speakers 08:45: Fed’s Mester Speaks at Global Interdependence Center Event 13:30: Fed’s Bullard Discusses the Economy and Monetary Policy 16:00: Fed’s Cook Gives Welcoming Remarks at Sadie Collective 18:15: Fed’s Mester Discusses the Economic Outlook DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap So is good news, good news or bad news? Is bad news, bad news or good news? Are rising rates and yields a sign of normality or looming trouble again? Is US inflation hitting a glitch in its disinflationary journey? Is a soft, hard or no landing more likely now after what we've seen so far this year? Also are the seasonals causing havoc with the data? December's US data was particularly weak and January's particular strong. These are the trillion dollar questions at the moment. At face value there is indeed growing evidence about the strength of the US economy, with the latest round of data releases still showing a very robust picture at the start of the year. This has helped to cement the market narrative of the last couple of weeks, which has seen investors reassess how high the Fed will need to raise rates in order to get a grip on inflation. Indeed only yesterday, 10yr Treasury yields rose a further +5.5bps, taking them up to their highest closing level of 2023 so far at 3.8%. In terms of those different releases, first we had US retail sales for January, which posted its fastest monthly growth in nearly two years at +3.0% (vs. +2.0% expected). The components of the release also showed it to be a very broad-based gain, with not one of the major categories seeing a decline over the month either. Second, we had the New York Fed’s latest Empire State manufacturing survey, which surprised to the upside at -5.8 in February (vs. -18.0 expected). And interestingly, both the “prices paid” and “prices received” components rose on the month, so again a sign that inflationary pressures remain strong. Finally, we had the NAHB’s housing market index for February, which rebounded to 42 (vs. 37 expected), which marked the biggest monthly increase since July 2020. That’s coincided with a decline in mortgage rates since their peak in late-October/early November, and suggests that the Fed could need to tighten financial conditions even more if they want to get inflation under control. When it comes to financial conditions, what’s striking is how accommodative they’ve remained over the last couple of weeks, even as estimates of the Fed’s terminal rate have risen to new highs. For instance, yesterday saw Bloomberg’s index of US financial conditions close at the loosest level in a year. In addition, they remain easier now than when the Fed began its hiking cycle in March, despite 450bps worth of hikes in that time. So for now at least, the economy has remained incredibly resilient in the face of the most rapid tightening cycle in a generation. A reminder here of DB's Matt Luzzetti's new 5.6% terminal call from Tuesday night which is probably the most aggressive on the Street as we have been for most of the last year. For markets, the strong data led to a fresh push higher among longer-dated yields, with investors increasingly pondering whether rates will need to remain higher for longer given the recent releases. That meant that 10yr US Treasury yields ended the session up +5.5bps, although it was higher inflation breakevens that drove the move, with an increase of +4.5bps to 2.36%. Over at the front-end, the moves in inflation breakevens over recent weeks have been even more pronounced, which just shows how investors’ confidence has been dented in the hope that we’ll get a smooth inflation decline. In fact, the 2yr breakeven rose to 2.88% yesterday, which is up more than +80bps in less than a month, having closed at 2.04% on January 18. This pattern was echoed in Europe too, with yields on 10yr bunds (+3.8bps), OATs (+4.4bps) and BTPs (+10.9bps) all rising on the day. The main exception to this pattern of sovereign bond losses came from UK gilts, with the 10yr yield down -3.4bps. That followed the latest CPI data for January, which showed inflation falling more than expected to +10.1% (vs. +10.3% expected). Core inflation also surprised on the downside at +5.8% (vs. +6.2% expected), raising the prospect that the BoE wouldn’t need to be as aggressive with rate hikes as some had thought. Equities posted a decent performance on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday as the optimistic narrative prevailed. It was a tougher climb in the US right after the retail sales data, but the S&P 500 (+0.28%) was nevertheless propelled into the green in the last hour of trading after dropping c.-0.70% earlier in the session, with two-thirds of the members up for the day. Positive growth data lifted consumer discretionary (+1.16%) and industrials (+0.63%) sectors that raced ahead of the more defensive staples (+0.19%) and healthcare (-0.51%) stocks. Big tech left its mark too, as communications was the S&P 500’s top performing sector (+1.17%) and the NYSE FANG+ index rose by +0.56%. Such a backdrop naturally favoured the Nasdaq 100 (+0.77%), especially vis-à-vis the Dow Jones (+0.11%) index, but with strong growth data being the key narrative, the small cap Russell 2000 (+1.09%) was the relative outperformer for the day. On the flip side, energy (-1.78%) suffered the most amid another leg down in oil prices (WTI -0.71%), in part due to inventory headlines, and disappointing results from Devon Energy (-10.49%), which made the stock the worst performer in the index for the day. Over in Europe, the relative outperformance of 2023 continued, with the broader STOXX 600 (+0.42%) hitting its highest level in just under a year. The broad-based rally, with roughly 75% of members in the green for the day, was underpinned by strong performance in economy-sensitive industrials (+1.52%) and consumer discretionary (+1.41%). Laggards were clustered in energy (-0.28%) and real estate (-0.80%). Asian equity markets are making strong gains this morning. As I type, the Hang Seng (+2.31%) is leading gains in the region ending a four-day run of declines. This is followed by the KOSPI (+1.78%), the CSI (+0.97%), the Shanghai Composite (+0.77%) and the Nikkei (+0.67%). In overnight trading, US equity futures are printing fresh gains with those on the S&P 500 (+0.16%) and NASDAQ 100 (+0.38%) moving higher. Meanwhile, yields on the 10yr USTs (-2.31 bps) have pulled back overnight, trading at 3.78% as we go to press. In early morning data, Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose from +3.5% to +3.7% in January, its highest level since the RBA started lifting interest rates from record lows. In January, the economy shed 11,500 jobs, lifting the number of unemployed by 21,900 people, indicating that the nation’s labour market might be starting to weaken after the central bank began hiking interest rates nine months ago. Turning to the political sphere, in the UK we saw the surprise resignation of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday. Sturgeon has led the devolved government there since late-2014, shortly after the independence referendum that resulted in a 55-45% vote for Scotland to remain part of the UK. Her plan had been to make the next UK general election a de facto independence referendum, but has now said it will be up to the rest of the SNP to decide how best to win independence. That follows a Supreme Court ruling in November that said the devolved administration in Scotland wasn’t able to unilaterally call a referendum, and would require the consent of the UK government. Looking at yesterday’s other data, US industrial production was unchanged in January (vs. +0.5% expected), and capacity utilisation unexpectedly fell to 78.3% (vs. 79.1% expected). To the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include January’s PPI, housing starts and building permits, the weekly initial jobless claims, the February’s Philadelphia Fed business outlook. Otherwise from central banks, we’ll hear from the ECB’s Panetta, Nagel, Lane and Makhlouf, the Fed’s Mester, Bullard and Cook, BoE chief economist Pill and BoC Governor Macklem. Tyler Durden Thu, 02/16/2023 - 08:10.....»»

James Cameron's "Titanic" was released 25 years ago, and now rare 1986 footage of the actual shipwreck is set to become available on YouTube. The final resting place of the huge ocean liner is over 12,000 feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean.Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/YouTube The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution says it will release 1986 footage of the Titanic on Wednesday. According to the AP, some of the footage has still yet to be seen by the public. Saturday was the 25th anniversary of James Cameron's "Titanic" based on the tragic ocean liner. New footage from a 1986 dive down to explore the wreckage of the Titanic is expected to be released Wednesday evening.The 80-minute uncut and unnarrated video, which will be uploaded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to WHOI's YouTube channel at 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, captures some never-before-seen images of the ocean liner that sank, killing about 1,500 in April 1912, according to AP News.On its maiden voyage, the Titanic left Southampton, England, bound for New York City, but the ship hit an iceberg and sank off the coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly 80 years later, in 1985, a team from WHOI and a French oceanographic exploration organization discovered the ship 12,000 feet below the surface, per AP.Footage from a three-person dive team that explored the ship's wreckage in 1986 is being released Wednesday to the public to mark the 25th anniversary of James Cameron's Academy Award-winning film "Titanic.""More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate," Cameron said in a statement, according to AP.He said he was "transfixed" by the discoveries on the Titanic and that the footage helps "tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe."One Titanic historian hobbyist told Insider, "The Titanic is such a phenomenon that any new information you can get from it is instantly intriguing. It's one of the mysteries to occur in the ocean, which is already a mystery in itself," she said.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Border Patrol Encounters With Chinese Nationals At Southern Border Up 719 Percent Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered 2,999 Chinese nationals at the southern border so far in fiscal year 2023—a 719 percent increase year over year, according to CBP data released on Feb. 10. Police Lt. Marco Santana leaves his vehicle to inspect a section of the southern border wall in San Luis, Ariz., on Jan. 27, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) The total also exceeds the amount recorded for the entirety of fiscal year 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022), during which 2,176 such encounters were reported. According to the Department of Homeland Security, CBP encounter data includes illegal immigrants who have been apprehended under Title 8 immigration law, Title 8 “inadmissibles,” and noncitizens processed for expulsion under Title 42. By this time last year, Border Patrol agents had encountered a total of 366 Chinese nationals at the U.S.–Mexico border. Nationwide, however, the year-over-year increase in encounters is less dramatic, with the current total for this fiscal year sitting at 10,587 compared to last year’s 9,707. Nonetheless, with national totals increasing month over month since October 2022, the trend has begun to alarm some current and former officials. “We literally apprehend immigrants from China,” former CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan noted at a Feb. 9 press conference. “Do you think we are getting what their background is before we release them? Of course we’re not.” News of the trend comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and China after the former discovered and subsequently shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month. This past weekend, additional unidentified flying objects were sighted over Alaska, Canada, and the Great Lakes region and shot down by the U.S. government. “The Chinese government is spying from above,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote in a Feb. 9 tweet. “Fentanyl from China is killing Americans in every community. More Chinese nationals are crossing illegally at our southern border. This is why I created the select committee on China—to confront these problems head-on.” Despite the uptick in Chinese nationals illegally entering the country, CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller noted on Feb. 10 that January marked a 42 percent decrease in encounters with illegal immigrants of all nationalities between ports of entry at the southern border. “The January monthly operational update clearly illustrates that new border enforcement measures are working, with the lowest level of Border Patrol encounters between Ports of Entry since February of 2021,” Miller said in a statement. “Those trends have continued into February, with average encounters of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans plummeting.” Total southern border encounters also decreased last month to 156,274, down nearly 40 percent from December’s record high of 251,978. CBP attributed the decrease to the “success” of the new immigration measures announced by President Joe Biden last month, which included the expansion of a parole program that grants illegal immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua authorization to work and live in the United States with the sponsorship of a U.S. resident after a background check. Others, however, have criticized the program as a means of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. “This unlawful amnesty program, which will invite hundreds of thousands of aliens into the U.S. every year, will only make this immigration crisis drastically worse,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said last month. The Republican, along with 19 other attorneys general, has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging the legality of the program. Tyler Durden Tue, 02/14/2023 - 16:45.....»»

The death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police's Scorpion unit has renewed scrutiny on other elite "street crime" squads around the country. People gather to protest against the police killing of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York on January 28, 2023.Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesHow elite police units, like the Memphis Scorpion squad that killed Tyre Nichols, commit the crimes they're created to stopThey went by different names.Red Dog. CRASH. The Gun Trace Task Force. Street Crime Unit. The Special Operations Section. The "Death Squad." The Place-Based Investigations Unit.Scorpion.But the specialized "street crime" squads, created in police departments around the country in response to rising rates of homicide and drug- and gun-related crimes, share a pattern of abuse.The outgrowth of decades of popular policing theories that advocate concentrating attention on high-crime areas, "street crime" squads in practice tend to focus on drugs, guns, or gangs – typically in lower-income neighborhoods with fewer white residents. Their aggressive tactics are so notorious – and so similar – that in many cities they're known as "jump-out boys" for the way officers spill out of their cars to accost people during stops. In Chicago, such units have contributed to residents seeing the police as "an occupying force" that make some neighborhoods feel like "an open-air prison," the Department of Justice found in 2017."They patrol our streets like they are the dog catchers and we are the dogs," one Chicago resident told investigators.The proliferation of these "street crime" squads is under renewed scrutiny after five members of Memphis's Scorpion unit were charged earlier this year with beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to death in what should have been a routine traffic stop."What we've seen this month in Memphis and for many years in many places, is that the behavior of these units can morph into 'wolf pack' misconduct," Ben Crump, an attorney for Nichols' family, which is suing the city, wrote in an open letter to the city of Memphis last month. "The 'why' of Tyre Nichols's death is found in this policing culture itself."Insider's review of nearly two dozen units established to target neighborhoods police viewed as high-crime zones found repeated complaints of abuse, discrimination, criminal violence, and corruption. Oftentimes, these units have been disbanded after egregious incidents, including the use of deadly force, only to be reconstituted months or years later under a different name when  they become politically popular again. Specialized units have been connected to some of the most high-profile and flagrant cases of police brutality of the last 30 years, including the killings of Breonna Taylor, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, and Eric Garner."There are umpteen examples of this turning into a nightmare. These elite units are going off the rails," said Peter Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University who has written extensively about police militarization. "It happens so often that you have to conclude this is a flawed model."A woman leaves a flower during a vigil on the day of the release of a video showing the Memphis police beating of Tyre Nichols.Brian Snyder/ReutersTyre Nichols and the Memphis Scorpion unit On the evening of January 7, members of the Memphis police department stopped Tyre Nichols in the middle of a six-lane road on the outskirts of the city for what they alleged was reckless driving. It was dark. A group of officers, screaming obscenities, yanked him from his car and forced him to lay on the ground. One member of the unit used pepper spray, hitting Nichols and some of the other officers. Nichols broke free and ran down a nearby street."I hope they stomp his ass," one of the pepper-sprayed officers, who stayed behind at the scene of the stop, is heard saying on body-camera footage.About eight minutes later, officers found Nichols a half-mile away. Officers shook him, sprayed him with pepper spray, and kicked him in the head, footage released by the city shows. As Nichols staggered, moaning incoherently, some officers held him upright while others punched him in the head.After several minutes, officers handcuffed Nichols and leaned him against a car. In the roughly 20 minutes before he was loaded into an ambulance, Nichols was mostly silent and motionless.Nichols, who family members described as a free spirit skateboarder and photographer with his mom's name tattooed on his arm, died three days later. State police investigators said he died from injuries sustained during the "use-of-force incident with officers." Memphis police officers Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Dean, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin., and Desmond Mills Jr. are now facing murder charges.Memphis Police DepartmentMemphis launched Scorpion in fall 2021, with four teams of 10 officers each directed to focus on violent crime. Memphis clocked more than 300 murders that year and 290 in 2020, far more than in the years before the pandemic. Only a few months after forming Scorpion, Mayor Jim Strickland was already boasting that the unit was helping turn the tide."Since its inception last October through January 23, 2022, the Scorpion Unit has had a total of 566 arrests — 390 of them felony arrests," he said. "They have seized over $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles, and 253 weapons."Memphis police chief Cerelyn Davis disbanded the unit in the wake of Nichols' homicide.The contours of Nichols's death resonate with New Yorkers who recall the era of stop-and-frisk, with Atlantans who remember the heyday of the Red Dog unit, with Baltimore residents scarred by the abuses of the Gun Trace Task Force – and with residents of dozens of other major cities that have established elite, aggressive units dedicated to targeting specific neighborhoods where police believe crime proliferates.An elite squad's mistakes led to Breonna Taylor's deathLouisville, Kentucky's Place-Based Investigations unit was supposed to help police eliminate some of the most persistent violent crime in the city. Tasked with going after drugs and guns, the unit, founded in 2019, was disbanded fewer than six months later after a botched police raid killed 26-year-old emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor.The unit's very first mission was targeting suspected drug dealing on Elliott Avenue, miles from Taylor's home. But the scope of its investigation rapidly broadened to include Taylor, who police erroneously suspected of holding drugs on behalf of her ex-boyfriend. Plainclothes officers, acting on false information from the Place-Based Investigations Unit, broke into Taylor's home with a battering ram, failing to knock and announce their presence as their warrant required. Inside, Taylor's boyfriend, who later told police he thought an intruder was trying to break in, shot one officer in the thigh. Police opened fire on the couple, killing Taylor.Later, in a plea agreement, one of the members of the Place-Based Investigations unit would admit that she and other officers based the justification for the warrant to search Taylor's home not on evidence, but on a "gut belief." Taylor's death helped spur the swell of nationwide protests against police brutality in the summer of 2020.The story behind the creation of the Place-Based Investigations Unit shows how well-intentioned academic researchers and ties to other police officers can help such squads proliferate around the country, Kraska, the Eastern Kentucky University professor, said.Investigation of the Chicago Police Department. United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois. January 13, 2017United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of IllinoisThe Louisville department had consulted with Tamara Herold, a former Cincinnati police officer turned University of Nevada Las Vegas criminologist, about a study that seemed to show that focusing an increased police presence on geographic areas with high levels of crime could lead to sustained crime reductions. Two years after Taylor's death, nine other cities had adopted the model, the Washington Post reported. Herold, who has said Taylor's death was a "horrific tragedy" but is "not a defining feature of this initiative," is still pitching it to police departments. "Hot-spots policing can be very effective. Cops count. When police are present, we can have a significant deterrent effect," Herold told the Police 1 podcast last month, acknowledging that if done poorly, the model can "strain police-community relationships." Herold did not respond to a request for comment.Memphis's Scorpion unit emerged a few years after a regional anti-crime group consulted with former New York City Police Department commissioner Ray Kelly on a strategy for tackling gang violence. Kelly is the architect of some of New York's most controversial policing strategies, including the creation of anti-crime units, and is a vocal advocate for stop-and-frisk.Reports from the private investigations firm K2 Intelligence, where Kelly then worked, recommended Memphis increase staffing levels in specialized units to fight street crime. By 2019, according to the Marshall Project, the city had done so.The New York Police Department directed officers to aggressively target suspicious activity in neighborhoods they viewed as high-crime areas. Here, officers frisk and arrest men in Harlem in 1995.Jon Naso/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesMemphis police chief Davis also has prior experience with special street crime units. Davis, who took the reins of the Memphis PD in 2021, previously led the force in Durham, North Carolina. Before that, she rose through the ranks in Atlanta, including a stint leading a unit of the so-called Red Dogs, an Atlanta street-crime squad that was disbanded in the face of abuse allegations and lawsuits.Elite police units are magnets for scandal Virtually every big city has had an elite unit that's been broken up after leaders concluded that it went too far. Atlanta public safety commissioner George Napper created the Red Dog unit in 1987, at a time when Atlanta was dealing with a surge in crack cocaine use. Its name comes from a football play, but was later claimed to be an acronym for "Run Every Drug Dealer Out of Georgia." An article in the Atlanta Constitution from its first year describes how the team would descend on reports of drug activity, make arrests, and seize drugs and cash."When the squad sweeps an area, anyone moving, especially young, black males, is told to hit the ground, hands behind his head, face down," the newspaper said. "Police officials admit the squad does little to reduce the flow of drugs into the city or the demand for them, but Mr. Napper said even what little the squad can do is important."Two decades later, though, the concerns about the unit's methods and effectiveness that had been raised from the start came to a head. The unit was abolished in 2011 after a raid on the Eagle, a gay bar, whose patrons and employees filed lawsuits claiming that police illegally detained them and used homophobic slurs while they lay handcuffed on the barroom floor. The city ended up paying more than $1 million in settlements.Investigation of the Chicago Police Department. United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois. January 13, 2017United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of IllinoisDecades before Atlanta ended its elite unit operations, Detroit scrapped its "Stress" anti-robbery squad in the 1970s after its members shot dozens of rounds into an apartment where off-duty Wayne County deputies were playing poker, killing two. Chicago disbanded its Special Operations Section in 2007 amid a wide-ranging corruption scandal. Prosecutors ultimately charged 13 of its members with breaking into homes to rob residents and conducting illegal traffic stops to shake down drivers. Eleven pleaded guilty and two went to prison, including one who admitted to ordering a hit on a fellow officer he believed was collaborating with the federal investigation.   The Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-focused Special Investigations Section was embroiled in so many shootouts that it was branded the "death squad." And its CRASH team was broken up in 2000 after a member — who had been caught stealing cocaine from the evidence locker and replacing it with Bisquick pancake mix — flipped on his colleagues in what became known as the Rampart scandal.More recently, in Baltimore, all eight members of the Gun Trace Task Force were charged in 2017 and convicted of crimes including robbing drug dealers, stealing cash and filing bogus overtime claims. And in 2021, Springfield, Massachusetts responded to a Justice Department report about abuses by its narcotics bureau by shifting the team's focus to firearms.Police chiefs say elite teams are popular and effectiveMany police leaders and criminologists say specialized units do work that other officers can't. Uniformed officers conducting patrols or responding to 911 calls don't have the time or tools to surveil gangs and gather information on the flow of drugs and guns, they say, and it takes dedicated officers to take criminal networks down.Tyre Nichols's death is far from the only instance where what should have been a routine traffic stop turned violent. In May 2020, Atlanta police threatened college student Messiah Young with a handgun before arresting Young and his passenger. The officers were fired. This photo is a still pulled from body camera footage.Associated PressThe units can also be politically popular. "Police departments say these units are created in response to community demand for specialized policing," said Jorge Camacho, a former New York prosecutor now with Yale Law School.The Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-focused Special Investigations Section was embroiled in so many shootouts that it was branded the "death squad." And its CRASH team was broken up in 2000 after a member — who had been caught stealing cocaine from the evidence locker and replacing it with Bisquick pancake mix — flipped on his colleagues in what became known as the Rampart scandal.Meanwhile, police chiefs contend they are essential to fighting crime."It works. They make a lot of good cases, a lot of good arrests. Put a lot of bad people away to help solve the issue," Florida's Orange County Sheriff John W. Mina, who previously led the Orlando Police Department, told CNN last year.Street crime squads are popular among politicians who say only aggressive policing will reduce violent crime. New York Mayor Eric Adams reintroduced the city's controversial street crime units last year. Here, Adams points to a chart of gun violence he said shows his policies are working.Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesThe popularity of these units among some elected officials, criminologists, and law enforcement can sometimes shield them from scrutiny, allowing abusive practices and corruption to fester. Police leaders had been receiving complaints about the Gun Trace Task Force for years before it was disbanded in 2017, The Baltimore Sun reported, including a 2015 tip from a local reporter that the task force's leader, Wayne Jenkins, was robbing people. Until his arrest on racketeering charges in 2017, Jenkins was widely considered "a rising talent," the Sun wrote, "with an uncanny knack for delivering the goods."There's not a clear explanation for why so many elite units go bad. In interviews with Insider, experts suggested that a confluence of mission overreach, militarized training, inadequate supervision, racism, and other factors could be to blame.Investigation of the Baltimore City Police Department. U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. August 10, 2016U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights DivisionA recent report from the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement think tank, castigated U.S. police academies' "paramilitary approach" to training for prompting police officers to view community members "as the enemy." Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, said lowering the ratio of officers to supervisors within elite units could begin to address some of their issues."When you have these young, aggressive, proactive cops all together, with no controls, what do you think is going to happen?" Alpert said. "These units need more supervision, more control."Camacho said that part of the problem is that when all police have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."You have a bunch of officers with a mandate to look at homicide," he said, prompting them to be "hyper-vigilant." "They view anything as an indicator of violent crime," he added, "and respond accordingly.""There is no hunting like the hunting of man"Even after decades of elite units being shut down over abuses, cities have continually found ways to resurrect them. In New York, one notorious police unit has twice been disbanded only to come back from the dead.The cyclical saga of the Street Crime Unit is a prime example of how even after egregious incidents, such squads are often reconstituted under a different name, even as their mission and tactics remain the same.Established in 1971, by the late 1990s, the NYPD's Street Crime Unit was "known as the commandos" of the department, "an elite squad of nearly 400 officers," a New York Times reporter wrote in 1999, "dispatched into menacing neighborhoods each night to chase down rapists, muggers and dangerous fugitives, and above all, to get illegal guns off the streets."They wore t-shirts with a Hemingway quote: "Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter."Former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, shown here leaving a press conference after a federal judge ruled the department's use of stop-and-frisk unconstitutional, later consulted on the formation of Memphis's Scorpion squad.Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesThe unit made up less than 2% of the force but seized 40% of the illegal guns confiscated by the NYPD. In the late 1990s, the Street Crime Unit tripled in size, amid a panic over a rising number of homicides. Then-mayor Rudy Giuliani preached a "broken windows" policing doctrine that advocated zero tolerance toward even minor offenses.In a city grappling with violent crime, authorities touted the Street Crime Unit as a bright spot."I wish I could bottle their enthusiasm and make everyone take a drink of it," then-NYPD commissioner Howard Safir told the New York Daily News in 1998. But on February 4, 1999, four members of the Street Crime Unit fired 41 bullets at 23-year-old Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo while he was standing in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building, after the officers said he reached into his pocket as if to draw a firearm. Diallo was unarmed and reaching for his wallet, multiple investigations into his killing later found. The officers were acquitted of criminal charges and temporarily reassigned to desk duty.The police killing sparked a maelstrom of accusations that the Street Crime Unit's pervasive violence, particularly against poor, Black and brown New Yorkers, had gone ignored for years. Investigation of the Springfield, Massachusetts Police Department's Narcotics Bureau. United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney's Office District of Massachusetts. July 8, 2020United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office District of MassachusettsUproar over Diallo's death — and a class-action lawsuit challenging the department's use of stop-and-frisks, which plaintiffs said was a form of illegal racial profiling — forced the NYPD to disband the Street Crime Unit in 2002.In spirit, though, the Street Crime Unit continued. Many of its officers were absorbed into new plainclothes units, called anti-crime units, that were charged with the same mission of preventing violent crime. And their tactics spread: NYPD officers made more stop-and-frisks in the early 2000s than they had in the 1990s, a second class-action lawsuit, filed in 2008, alleged. The ranks of anti-crime units grew to nearly 600 officers by 2020.  "The problem on a most basic, fundamental level is that the leadership of most departments does not want to deal with the Constitution," New York civil rights attorney Jonathan Moore, who sued the city over stop-and-frisk, told Insider.The purpose of stopping so many New Yorkers for patdowns was explicitly racial, then-state senator Eric Adams testified in federal court in 2013. An analysis by The Intercept found that plainclothes officers, including members of the anti-crime units, were responsible for or involved in 31% of police shootings since 2000, despite composing only 2% of the police force. The anti-crime units were involved in notorious police killings, including the fatal 2018 shooting of Saheed Vassell, a mentally ill man, in Brooklyn; the fatal 2006 shooting of Sean Bell; and, in 2014, the death by suffocation of Eric Garner, whose last words, "I can't breathe," have become an emblem of protests against police brutality.  Amid the racial justice protests in the summer of 2020, another police commissioner decided to shut down the units. The NYPD "can move away from brute force," then-commissioner Dermot Shea said at the time.But less than two years later, now-Mayor Adams brought back the controversial squads, this time rebranded Neighborhood Safety Teams, amid a panic over rising crime rates and a deadly attack in 2022 on two police officers. A member of Chicago's Special Operations Squad making an arrest in 2005, two years before the unit was broken up amid allegations of corruption.Ralf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis via Getty ImagesAdams promised not to repeat the mistakes of the past. But he also said the squads were necessary in order to disrupt "the flow of guns in our cities."Their early record has not been promising. Most of the arrests made by the Neighborhood Safety Teams have nothing to do with guns, City & State reported. The most frequent type of arrest their officers have made is for possession of a fake ID.Elite police squads get rebranded after controversies New York is far from the only place where notorious squads have been disbanded and reformed. The New Haven Police Department dissolved its Street Interdiction Squad in 2007 amid a theft and bribery scandal, then reconstituted it two years later. Miami resurrected its Street Narcotics Unit under a new moniker, but was forced to dissolve it in 2013 under fire from the Department of Justice, which partially blamed it for a spate of police shootings. Experts say cities that stand up street crimes units risk replacing one kind of violence with another. Such units bring "a new level of aggression and threat to the community," said Maurice Hobson, a professor at Georgia State University who has written a book about Atlanta's Red Dog unit. After Atlanta shut the unit down, the city also created a new specialist team to take its place: the APEX unit. (In 2021, the unit was rebranded as the Titan unit.) "From people in the community, the only change when the APEX unit came out was they changed their uniforms," said Tiffany Roberts, the policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights. The death of Tyre Nichols has prompted others to come forward with claims of mistreatment at the hands of the Scorpion unit. Maurice Chalmers-Stokes, 19, told Memphis media that he was thrown into a fence last fall by a group of officers, including one of the cops accused of killing Nichols. He is suing the city, and fighting charges for possessing a stolen gun that police say they found on him in that interaction.NPR reported that four of the five officers charged in Nichols's death, who had two to six years of experience, had been disciplined by the Memphis police. One of the officers, Demetrius Haley, was disciplined in 2021 for not reporting an incident where a colleague — who resigned — yanked a woman from a car and dislocated her shoulder.Haley was also named in a 2016 lawsuit filed by a plaintiff who said that Haley was one of the corrections officers who abused him at a Shelby County jail. The case was dismissed. Moore, who worked on the New York City stop-and-frisk case, said part of the issue with elite units is that some of them are stretched too thin. But he said no matter how many supervisors are on the job, street-crime teams often do what politicians and policymakers want them to do."Leadership does not want these officers to have their hands tied," he said. "They want them to go out and be aggressive."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police's Scorpion unit has renewed scrutiny on other elite "street crime" squads around the country. People gather to protest against the police killing of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York on January 28, 2023.Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesHow elite police units, like the Memphis Scorpion squad that killed Tyre Nichols, commit the crimes they're created to stopThey went by different names.Red Dog. CRASH. The Gun Trace Task Force. Street Crime Unit. The Special Operations Section. The "Death Squad." The Place-Based Investigations Unit.Scorpion.But the specialized "street crime" squads, created in police departments around the country in response to rising rates of homicide and drug- and gun-related crimes, share a pattern of abuse.The outgrowth of decades of popular policing theories that advocate concentrating attention on high-crime areas, "street crime" squads in practice tend to focus on drugs, guns, or gangs – typically in lower-income neighborhoods with fewer white residents. Their aggressive tactics are so notorious – and so similar – that in many cities they're known as "jump-out boys" for the way officers spill out of their cars to accost people during stops. In Chicago, such units have contributed to residents seeing the police as "an occupying force" that make some neighborhoods feel like "an open-air prison," the Department of Justice found in 2017."They patrol our streets like they are the dog catchers and we are the dogs," one Chicago resident told investigators.The proliferation of these "street crime" squads is under renewed scrutiny after five members of Memphis's Scorpion unit were charged earlier this year with beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to death in what should have been a routine traffic stop."What we've seen this month in Memphis and for many years in many places, is that the behavior of these units can morph into 'wolf pack' misconduct," Ben Crump, an attorney for Nichols' family, which is suing the city, wrote in an open letter to the city of Memphis last month. "The 'why' of Tyre Nichols's death is found in this policing culture itself."Insider's review of nearly two dozen units established to target neighborhoods police viewed as high-crime zones found repeated complaints of abuse, discrimination, criminal violence, and corruption. Oftentimes, these units have been disbanded after egregious incidents, including the use of deadly force, only to be reconstituted months or years later under a different name when  they become politically popular again. Specialized units have been connected to some of the most high-profile and flagrant cases of police brutality of the last 30 years, including the killings of Breonna Taylor, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, and Eric Garner."There are umpteen examples of this turning into a nightmare. These elite units are going off the rails," said Peter Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University who has written extensively about police militarization. "It happens so often that you have to conclude this is a flawed model."A woman leaves a flower during a vigil on the day of the release of a video showing the Memphis police beating of Tyre Nichols.Brian Snyder/ReutersTyre Nichols and the Memphis Scorpion unit On the evening of January 7, members of the Memphis police department stopped Tyre Nichols in the middle of a six-lane road on the outskirts of the city for what they alleged was reckless driving. It was dark. A group of officers, screaming obscenities, yanked him from his car and forced him to lay on the ground. One member of the unit used pepper spray, hitting Nichols and some of the other officers. Nichols broke free and ran down a nearby street."I hope they stomp his ass," one of the pepper-sprayed officers, who stayed behind at the scene of the stop, is heard saying on body-camera footage.About eight minutes later, officers found Nichols a half-mile away. Officers shook him, sprayed him with pepper spray, and kicked him in the head, footage released by the city shows. As Nichols staggered, moaning incoherently, some officers held him upright while others punched him in the head.After several minutes, officers handcuffed Nichols and leaned him against a car. In the roughly 20 minutes before he was loaded into an ambulance, Nichols was mostly silent and motionless.Nichols, who family members described as a free spirit skateboarder and photographer with his mom's name tattooed on his arm, died three days later. State police investigators said he died from injuries sustained during the "use-of-force incident with officers." Memphis police officers Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Dean, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin., and Desmond Mills Jr. are now facing murder charges.Memphis Police DepartmentMemphis launched Scorpion in fall 2021, with four teams of 10 officers each directed to focus on violent crime. Memphis clocked more than 300 murders that year and 290 in 2020, far more than in the years before the pandemic. Only a few months after forming Scorpion, Mayor Jim Strickland was already boasting that the unit was helping turn the tide."Since its inception last October through January 23, 2022, the Scorpion Unit has had a total of 566 arrests — 390 of them felony arrests," he said. "They have seized over $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles, and 253 weapons."Memphis police chief Cerelyn Davis disbanded the unit in the wake of Nichols' homicide.The contours of Nichols's death resonate with New Yorkers who recall the era of stop-and-frisk, with Atlantans who remember the heyday of the Red Dog unit, with Baltimore residents scarred by the abuses of the Gun Trace Task Force – and with residents of dozens of other major cities that have established elite, aggressive units dedicated to targeting specific neighborhoods where police believe crime proliferates.An elite squad's mistakes led to Breonna Taylor's deathLouisville, Kentucky's Place-Based Investigations unit was supposed to help police eliminate some of the most persistent violent crime in the city. Tasked with going after drugs and guns, the unit, founded in 2019, was disbanded fewer than six months later after a botched police raid killed 26-year-old emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor.The unit's very first mission was targeting suspected drug dealing on Elliott Avenue, miles from Taylor's home. But the scope of its investigation rapidly broadened to include Taylor, who police erroneously suspected of holding drugs on behalf of her ex-boyfriend. Plainclothes officers, acting on false information from the Place-Based Investigations Unit, broke into Taylor's home with a battering ram, failing to knock and announce their presence as their warrant required. Inside, Taylor's boyfriend, who later told police he thought an intruder was trying to break in, shot one officer in the thigh. Police opened fire on the couple, killing Taylor.Later, in a plea agreement, one of the members of the Place-Based Investigations unit would admit that she and other officers based the justification for the warrant to search Taylor's home not on evidence, but on a "gut belief." Taylor's death helped spur the swell of nationwide protests against police brutality in the summer of 2020.The story behind the creation of the Place-Based Investigations Unit shows how well-intentioned academic researchers and ties to other police officers can help such squads proliferate around the country, Kraska, the Eastern Kentucky University professor, said.Investigation of the Chicago Police Department. United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois. January 13, 2017United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of IllinoisThe Louisville department had consulted with Tamara Herold, a former Cincinnati police officer turned University of Nevada Las Vegas criminologist, about a study that seemed to show that focusing an increased police presence on geographic areas with high levels of crime could lead to sustained crime reductions. Two years after Taylor's death, nine other cities had adopted the model, the Washington Post reported. Herold, who has said Taylor's death was a "horrific tragedy" but is "not a defining feature of this initiative," is still pitching it to police departments. "Hot-spots policing can be very effective. Cops count. When police are present, we can have a significant deterrent effect," Herold told the Police 1 podcast last month, acknowledging that if done poorly, the model can "strain police-community relationships." Herold did not respond to a request for comment.Memphis's Scorpion unit emerged a few years after a regional anti-crime group consulted with former New York City Police Department commissioner Ray Kelly on a strategy for tackling gang violence. Kelly is the architect of some of New York's most controversial policing strategies, including the creation of anti-crime units, and is a vocal advocate for stop-and-frisk.Reports from the private investigations firm K2 Intelligence, where Kelly then worked, recommended Memphis increase staffing levels in specialized units to fight street crime. By 2019, according to the Marshall Project, the city had done so.The New York Police Department directed officers to aggressively target suspicious activity in neighborhoods they viewed as high-crime areas. Here, officers frisk and arrest men in Harlem in 1995.Jon Naso/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesMemphis police chief Davis also has prior experience with special street crime units. Davis, who took the reins of the Memphis PD in 2021, previously led the force in Durham, North Carolina. Before that, she rose through the ranks in Atlanta, including a stint leading a unit of the so-called Red Dogs, an Atlanta street-crime squad that was disbanded in the face of abuse allegations and lawsuits.Elite police units are magnets for scandal Virtually every big city has had an elite unit that's been broken up after leaders concluded that it went too far. Atlanta public safety commissioner George Napper created the Red Dog unit in 1987, at a time when Atlanta was dealing with a surge in crack cocaine use. Its name comes from a football play, but was later claimed to be an acronym for "Run Every Drug Dealer Out of Georgia." An article in the Atlanta Constitution from its first year describes how the team would descend on reports of drug activity, make arrests, and seize drugs and cash."When the squad sweeps an area, anyone moving, especially young, black males, is told to hit the ground, hands behind his head, face down," the newspaper said. "Police officials admit the squad does little to reduce the flow of drugs into the city or the demand for them, but Mr. Napper said even what little the squad can do is important."Two decades later, though, the concerns about the unit's methods and effectiveness that had been raised from the start came to a head. The unit was abolished in 2011 after a raid on the Eagle, a gay bar, whose patrons and employees filed lawsuits claiming that police illegally detained them and used homophobic slurs while they lay handcuffed on the barroom floor. The city ended up paying more than $1 million in settlements.Investigation of the Chicago Police Department. United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois. January 13, 2017United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of IllinoisDecades before Atlanta ended its elite unit operations, Detroit scrapped its "Stress" anti-robbery squad in the 1970s after its members shot dozens of rounds into an apartment where off-duty Wayne County deputies were playing poker, killing two. Chicago disbanded its Special Operations Section in 2007 amid a wide-ranging corruption scandal. Prosecutors ultimately charged 13 of its members with breaking into homes to rob residents and conducting illegal traffic stops to shake down drivers. Eleven pleaded guilty and two went to prison, including one who admitted to ordering a hit on a fellow officer he believed was collaborating with the federal investigation.   The Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-focused Special Investigations Section was embroiled in so many shootouts that it was branded the "death squad." And its CRASH team was broken up in 2000 after a member — who had been caught stealing cocaine from the evidence locker and replacing it with Bisquick pancake mix — flipped on his colleagues in what became known as the Rampart scandal.More recently, in Baltimore, all eight members of the Gun Trace Task Force were charged in 2017 and convicted of crimes including robbing drug dealers, stealing cash and filing bogus overtime claims. And in 2021, Springfield, Massachusetts responded to a Justice Department report about abuses by its narcotics bureau by shifting the team's focus to firearms.Police chiefs say elite teams are popular and effectiveMany police leaders and criminologists say specialized units do work that other officers can't. Uniformed officers conducting patrols or responding to 911 calls don't have the time or tools to surveil gangs and gather information on the flow of drugs and guns, they say, and it takes dedicated officers to take criminal networks down.Tyre Nichols's death is far from the only instance where what should have been a routine traffic stop turned violent. In May 2020, Atlanta police threatened college student Messiah Young with a handgun before arresting Young and his passenger. The officers were fired. This photo is a still pulled from body camera footage.Associated PressThe units can also be politically popular. "Police departments say these units are created in response to community demand for specialized policing," said Jorge Camacho, a former New York prosecutor now with Yale Law School.The Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-focused Special Investigations Section was embroiled in so many shootouts that it was branded the "death squad." And its CRASH team was broken up in 2000 after a member — who had been caught stealing cocaine from the evidence locker and replacing it with Bisquick pancake mix — flipped on his colleagues in what became known as the Rampart scandal.Meanwhile, police chiefs contend they are essential to fighting crime."It works. They make a lot of good cases, a lot of good arrests. Put a lot of bad people away to help solve the issue," Florida's Orange County Sheriff John W. Mina, who previously led the Orlando Police Department, told CNN last year.Street crime squads are popular among politicians who say only aggressive policing will reduce violent crime. New York Mayor Eric Adams reintroduced the city's controversial street crime units last year. Here, Adams points to a chart of gun violence he said shows his policies are working.Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesThe popularity of these units among some elected officials, criminologists, and law enforcement can sometimes shield them from scrutiny, allowing abusive practices and corruption to fester. Police leaders had been receiving complaints about the Gun Trace Task Force for years before it was disbanded in 2017, The Baltimore Sun reported, including a 2015 tip from a local reporter that the task force's leader, Wayne Jenkins, was robbing people. Until his arrest on racketeering charges in 2017, Jenkins was widely considered "a rising talent," the Sun wrote, "with an uncanny knack for delivering the goods."There's not a clear explanation for why so many elite units go bad. In interviews with Insider, experts suggested that a confluence of mission overreach, militarized training, inadequate supervision, racism, and other factors could be to blame.Investigation of the Baltimore City Police Department. U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. August 10, 2016U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights DivisionA recent report from the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement think tank, castigated U.S. police academies' "paramilitary approach" to training for prompting police officers to view community members "as the enemy." Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, said lowering the ratio of officers to supervisors within elite units could begin to address some of their issues."When you have these young, aggressive, proactive cops all together, with no controls, what do you think is going to happen?" Alpert said. "These units need more supervision, more control."Camacho said that part of the problem is that when all police have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."You have a bunch of officers with a mandate to look at homicide," he said, prompting them to be "hyper-vigilant." "They view anything as an indicator of violent crime," he added, "and respond accordingly.""There is no hunting like the hunting of man"Even after decades of elite units being shut down over abuses, cities have continually found ways to resurrect them. In New York, one notorious police unit has twice been disbanded only to come back from the dead.The cyclical saga of the Street Crime Unit is a prime example of how even after egregious incidents, such squads are often reconstituted under a different name, even as their mission and tactics remain the same.Established in 1971, by the late 1990s, the NYPD's Street Crime Unit was "known as the commandos" of the department, "an elite squad of nearly 400 officers," a New York Times reporter wrote in 1999, "dispatched into menacing neighborhoods each night to chase down rapists, muggers and dangerous fugitives, and above all, to get illegal guns off the streets."They wore t-shirts with a Hemingway quote: "Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter."Former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, shown here leaving a press conference after a federal judge ruled the department's use of stop-and-frisk unconstitutional, later consulted on the formation of Memphis's Scorpion squad.Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesThe unit made up less than 2% of the force but seized 40% of the illegal guns confiscated by the NYPD. In the late 1990s, the Street Crime Unit tripled in size, amid a panic over a rising number of homicides. Then-mayor Rudy Giuliani preached a "broken windows" policing doctrine that advocated zero tolerance toward even minor offenses.In a city grappling with violent crime, authorities touted the Street Crime Unit as a bright spot."I wish I could bottle their enthusiasm and make everyone take a drink of it," then-NYPD commissioner Howard Safir told the New York Daily News in 1998. But on February 4, 1999, four members of the Street Crime Unit fired 41 bullets at 23-year-old Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo while he was standing in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building, after the officers said he reached into his pocket as if to draw a firearm. Diallo was unarmed and reaching for his wallet, multiple investigations into his killing later found. The officers were acquitted of criminal charges and temporarily reassigned to desk duty.The police killing sparked a maelstrom of accusations that the Street Crime Unit's pervasive violence, particularly against poor, Black and brown New Yorkers, had gone ignored for years. Investigation of the Springfield, Massachusetts Police Department's Narcotics Bureau. United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney's Office District of Massachusetts. July 8, 2020United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office District of MassachusettsUproar over Diallo's death — and a class-action lawsuit challenging the department's use of stop-and-frisks, which plaintiffs said was a form of illegal racial profiling — forced the NYPD to disband the Street Crime Unit in 2002.In spirit, though, the Street Crime Unit continued. Many of its officers were absorbed into new plainclothes units, called anti-crime units, that were charged with the same mission of preventing violent crime. And their tactics spread: NYPD officers made more stop-and-frisks in the early 2000s than they had in the 1990s, a second class-action lawsuit, filed in 2008, alleged. The ranks of anti-crime units grew to nearly 600 officers by 2020.  "The problem on a most basic, fundamental level is that the leadership of most departments does not want to deal with the Constitution," New York civil rights attorney Jonathan Moore, who sued the city over stop-and-frisk, told Insider.The purpose of stopping so many New Yorkers for patdowns was explicitly racial, then-state senator Eric Adams testified in federal court in 2013. An analysis by The Intercept found that plainclothes officers, including members of the anti-crime units, were responsible for or involved in 31% of police shootings since 2000, despite composing only 2% of the police force. The anti-crime units were involved in notorious police killings, including the fatal 2018 shooting of Saheed Vassell, a mentally ill man, in Brooklyn; the fatal 2006 shooting of Sean Bell; and, in 2014, the death by suffocation of Eric Garner, whose last words, "I can't breathe," have become an emblem of protests against police brutality.  Amid the racial justice protests in the summer of 2020, another police commissioner decided to shut down the units. The NYPD "can move away from brute force," then-commissioner Dermot Shea said at the time.But less than two years later, now-Mayor Adams brought back the controversial squads, this time rebranded Neighborhood Safety Teams, amid a panic over rising crime rates and a deadly attack in 2022 on two police officers. A member of Chicago's Special Operations Squad making an arrest in 2005, two years before the unit was broken up amid allegations of corruption.Ralf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis via Getty ImagesAdams promised not to repeat the mistakes of the past. But he also said the squads were necessary in order to disrupt "the flow of guns in our cities."Their early record has not been promising. Most of the arrests made by the Neighborhood Safety Teams have nothing to do with guns, City & State reported. The most frequent type of arrest their officers have made is for possession of a fake ID.Elite police squads get rebranded after controversies New York is far from the only place where notorious squads have been disbanded and reformed. The New Haven Police Department dissolved its Street Interdiction Squad in 2007 amid a theft and bribery scandal, then reconstituted it two years later. Miami resurrected its Street Narcotics Unit under a new moniker, but was forced to dissolve it in 2013 under fire from the Department of Justice, which partially blamed it for a spate of police shootings. Experts say cities that stand up street crimes units risk replacing one kind of violence with another. Such units bring "a new level of aggression and threat to the community," said Maurice Hobson, a professor at Georgia State University who has written a book about Atlanta's Red Dog unit. After Atlanta shut the unit down, the city also created a new specialist team to take its place: the APEX unit. (In 2021, the unit was rebranded as the Titan unit.) "From people in the community, the only change when the APEX unit came out was they changed their uniforms," said Tiffany Roberts, the policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights. The death of Tyre Nichols has prompted others to come forward with claims of mistreatment at the hands of the Scorpion unit. Maurice Chalmers-Stokes, 19, told Memphis media that he was thrown into a fence last fall by a group of officers, including one of the cops accused of killing Nichols. He is suing the city, and fighting charges for possessing a stolen gun that police say they found on him in that interaction.NPR reported that four of the five officers charged in Nichols's death, who had two to six years of experience, had been disciplined by the Memphis police. One of the officers, Demetrius Haley, was disciplined in 2021 for not reporting an incident where a colleague — who resigned — yanked a woman from a car and dislocated her shoulder.Haley was also named in a 2016 lawsuit filed by a plaintiff who said that Haley was one of the corrections officers who abused him at a Shelby County jail. The case was dismissed. Moore, who worked on the New York City stop-and-frisk case, said part of the issue with elite units is that some of them are stretched too thin. But he said no matter how many supervisors are on the job, street-crime teams often do what politicians and policymakers want them to do."Leadership does not want these officers to have their hands tied," he said. "They want them to go out and be aggressive."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Balloon With 3 Hypersonic Missiles Tested By China In 2018 Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Chinese state-owned television aired footage of a high-altitude balloon dropping hypersonic weapons in 2018. China tested hypersonic glide vehicles dropped from a balloon in 2018, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. (Screenshot via Chinese social media) The stunning footage displays a high-altitude balloon, not dissimilar from the one that traversed over the United States last week, carrying three hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) into high altitude and dropping them for testing. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on the weapons test in September 2018. The footage has since been deleted from Chinese media, but photographs and short clips can still be found online. In one post from 2018, a Twitter user shared footage from Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, which shows the balloon lifting the three HGVs from the ground. Screenshots from this Douyin short video. pic.twitter.com/XvhnzMhhY7 — dafeng cao (@dafengcao) September 21, 2018 The black one i.e. D18-2/S using different material featuring cantilever wing is rare in hypersonic configuration design. pic.twitter.com/m6vRJ6Jyub — dafeng cao (@dafengcao) September 22, 2018 HGVs are generally launched by rockets in a similar manner to traditional missiles. Upon reaching orbit, however, HGVs detach from the rocket and fly through the atmosphere using their own momentum. Such weapons are much faster than other missiles while they are in low orbit, but become much slower upon hitting the dense air of the atmosphere as they have no jets to power them. The three HGVs dropped by the balloon in the footage appear to have been designed to test this phenomenon. The balloon-dropped HGVs were part of an effort to develop precision warheads for hypersonic weapons, which would give the Chinese military an “unstoppable nuclear-capable weapon,” according to the South China Morning Post. Read more here... Tyler Durden Tue, 02/07/2023 - 23:50.....»»

Pentagon officials acknowledged they failed to detect the balloons during the Trump administration due to a "domain awareness gap." In 1963, the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Club of America released this photo taken by a member reportedly showing a flying saucer estimated at seventy feet in diameter.Getty Images A Chinese spy balloon seen floating over the United States was shot down on Saturday. Three spy balloons were seen during the Trump administration and were initially classified as UFOs. The Trump era balloons weren't detected as quickly due to a "domain awareness gap," officials said. Days after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean, Pentagon officials are acknowledging the surveillance devices have been seen floating over the United States before.In former President Donald Trump's administration, at least three surveillance balloons were detected traversing the country, officials acknowledged in a Sunday press conference. Bloomberg reported the devices were initially categorized by intelligence officials as "unidentified aerial phenomena" before being identified as balloons. In December, the Department of Defense established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office to identify "unidentified anomalous phenomena" — in space, in the air, on land, or in the sea — that may threaten national security. The term UAP replaces the traditional "unidentified flying object" or UFO designation, as officials expect to evaluate anomalies "across all domains."During his term as president, Trump promised to "take a good, strong look" at whether UFOs existed and, in 2020, the Pentagon released formerly classified footage of unexplained phenomena Trump called a "hell of a video," CBS News reported.Trump, however, denies the balloons ever existedIn a Sunday interview with Fox News, Trump said the Biden administration lied about Chinese balloons being seen during his term because "they look so bad." "This never happened," he said. "It would have never happened."The Biden administration indicated intelligence regarding the Trump-era balloons came to light after he left office and has extended an offer to brief the former President on the new information available, Politico reported."So those balloons, so every day as a NORAD commander it's my responsibility to detect threats to North America," General Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said at the Monday briefing regarding the Trump-era balloons. "I will tell you that we did not detect those threats. And that's a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out. But I don't want to go into further detail."General VanHerck said the intelligence community was briefed after the balloons were spotted during the Trump administration and trained to assess similar threats, which contributed to the recent balloon being detected more quickly than previous incidents.As the latest known Chinese surveillance device floated over the country last week before being shot down off the South Carolina coast of Myrtle Beach, Trump took aim at the Biden administration, calling for officials to "SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!" It is unclear if the spy balloons seen during the Trump administration were shot down, as limited details about the incidents were only made public this week. The Pentagon declined to answer Insider's questions about the sightings and representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Balloon surveillance has been utilized as far back as the 1800s, according to Al Jazeera, and was popularized during the first World War. The F-22 that took down China's surveillance balloon on Saturday used the call sign 'FRANK01' in homage to a heroic pilot from WWI, known for shooting down over a dozen enemy balloons.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The allegations put a spotlight on the relationship between India's business and political elite. In January, Gautam Adani appeared in a rare televised interview on a Hindi news channel, India TV, to answer a host of questions from a fawning show anchor about how he became Asia’s richest man. When asked about his strong rapport with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and if the government had played a role in helping build his wealth, Adani responded, “I don’t chase numbers. For me, the bigger question is, ‘What can I do for the nation?’” His answer was met with thunderous applause from the crowd, and later, he added, “This balloon will keep flying as long as India is progressing.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Adani’s comments appeared to be a nod to “India Inc”—a term that captures the country’s booming corporate and IT sectors that are major vehicles of its economic growth on the global stage. But a recent report issued by Hindenburg Research is finally bursting that balloon. The New York-based short-selling firm has accused the Adani Group of “pulling the largest con in corporate history,” alleging stock manipulation, accounting fraud, and other malfeasance. Hindenburg said the report followed a two-year investigation and was based on interviews with former executives, site visits, and the review of thousands of documents. The fallout of the allegations is already reverberating through global stock markets. By Wednesday, the news had knocked more than $90 billion off the value of Adani’s companies, as share prices tumbled and Adani lost his status as both Asia and India’s richest man. Read More: Gautam Adani Started Last Week as Asia’s Richest Man. Now, He’s Not Even India’s In response to Hindenburg’s allegations, Adani Group issued a 413-page reply that called the short-seller’s claims “stale, baseless, and discredited allegations.” Notably, the company also called the report a “calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity, and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India.” In a video appearance, Adani’s embattled Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh stood in front of a giant Indian flag, drumming up nationalist support that appeared to signal a message that any foreign scrutiny of Adani was an assault on the success of India itself. Supporters of Adani and the Indian government have repeated similar claims on Twitter. After Adani Group issued its rebuttal last Thursday, hundreds of pro-Adani tweets with the hashtag, “#IndiaINCSupportsAdani,” flooded Twitter’s timeline. The saga has shone a light on the relationship between India’s business and political elite, bringing into question whether India, faced with accusations of crony capitalism, can become a global economic juggernaut like its nearest Asian competitor, China. “Adani’s difficulties only underscore the limited progress India has made in taming the excessive power of its growing band of super-rich ‘Bollygarch’ tycoons and the way in which they use political connections to their advantage,” James Crabtree, who authored The Billionaire Raj, told TIME. What are Adani’s ties with the Indian government? Adani and Modi both hail from the western state of Gujarat, where Modi was Chief Minister before he was elected as the country’s leader in 2014. Under his leadership, Gujarat’s economy experienced its fastest GDP growth, eclipsing other Indian states—a feat that was dubbed the “Gujarat model,” and which many Indian voters hoped Modi would emulate across the country. As Modi climbed through the political ranks, he also openly displayed a close friendship with Adani: he flew in Adani’s private jets during his election campaign, and again when he traveled from Gujarat to New Delhi to take office as Prime Minister. During this period, Adani’s wealth increased by nearly 230% from $1.9 billion in 2014 to more than $26 billion this year. Much of this increase is credited to the Indian government’s mass privatization drive and business-friendly policies, which saw Adani winning several government tenders and infrastructure projects in ports, airports, roads, rail, fossil fuels, and green energy across the country. Modi has called this approach “nation-building.” Narinder Nanu—AFP/Getty ImagesFarmers shout slogans before burning effigies of Narendra Modi, Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, to protest against corporate businesses following the recent passing of agriculture bills in the parliament. In 2018, a controversial decision by the Indian government allowed Adani to bid—and win—tenders for six airports. Although Adani had no prior experience operating airports, the decision turned his group into one of the country’s biggest private airport operators overnight. The move was lucrative for Adani Group but it was also met with outrage. In the southern state of Kerala, where Adani won a 50-year lease to operate the Trivandrum International Airport, the state’s finance minister called the decision an “act of brazen cronyism.” Adani addressed his relationship with the government head-on during the India TV interview, denying that Modi had bestowed any personal favors on him or his businesses. “You can talk to him about policy, discuss the interest of the country, but the policy made is for everyone, not for the Adani Group alone.” Read More: How India’s Record-Breaking Population Will Shape the World It’s a sentiment echoed by other major businesses and investors. “You can ask the government for favorable policies but you can no longer ask for individual favors,” an executive from a major international investment firm in Mumbai told the Financial Times. “You need sensible execution. It isn’t enough to just have political connections.” What does this mean more broadly for India’s economy? India’s recent economic growth has rested on a model that champions nationalist industrialists like Adani, who echoed this sentiment during his interview on India TV when he said, “what I’m seeing now is that this country is charging ahead in progress.” In India, family-run conglomerates like Adani’s have often been built out of the rapid consolidation of state assets, market monopolization, and stifled competition—which in 2021 led to the richest 1% of Indians owning more than 40% of the country’s total wealth, according to a report by Oxfam. (The figure stands at 32% in the United States.) Even if Adani may not rely heavily on the Indian government to boost his empire, many Indians have reason to fear that the wide-scale investments made by the government into his company could hurt the country’s infrastructure. “Can they build the roads they have promised, improve the ports they have been given, maintain the airports they won in a bid? Until now, nobody else has been able to do so,” Mihir Sharma, a Bloomberg columnist, wrote. Hindenburg’s allegations have also crucially raised questions about the regulatory effectiveness and accountability of Indian institutions, which usually attract foreign investment in India over its neighbor, China. Most notably, the report claims that the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, has so far failed to deliver an effective outcome on an investigation into Adani’s offshore accounts “more than a year and a half after concerns were initially raised by the media and members of Parliament.” And with the Hindenburg report’s scrutiny, the bets placed on Adani and other Indian businessmen may be backfiring. Since the start of the year, the net worths of fellow Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani, Radhakishan Damani, and Savitri Jindal have all declined this year – collectively, the four richest Indians have lost about $45 billion so far, thanks to falling share prices. It’s a huge test for Adani’s claim that “no one would be able to stop India’s position in the world today, or in the next 20 to 30 years.”.....»»

"This is the blueprint going forward for any time any officers, whether they be Black or white, will be held accountable," attorney Ben Crump said. Demonstrators protest in Memphis on Jan. 28, 2023 following the release of video showing the deadly encounter between Tyre Nichols and police.Shameka Wilson for InsiderBracing for chaosMEMPHIS, Tennessee — Everybody knew the footage would be horrible.In the 20 days between five police officers brutalizing 29-year-old Tyre Nichols less than 100 yards from his family's home and the release of police body video on Friday showing the fatal attack, many in Memphis were bracing for violent protests.The police chief pleaded for peace. Some businesses owners boarded up their storefronts and closed. After-school programs were cancelled and hotels hired armed security guards. Some residents told Insider they hunkered down all of Saturday expecting the worst.In the past, protesters in Memphis and around the nation have taken to the streets after police violence, demanding the bare minimum — that they learn the name of the officer or officers responsible. But this time was different.Within a week, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, Shelby County District Attorney's Office, and the Department of Justice had all launched investigations into the officers' actions. On January 20, all five officers — all of them Black and members of the SCORPION anti-crime unit — were fired. On Thursday— 28 hours before the release of the video — they were charged with second-degree murder.On Saturday, the unit was disbanded.After the first night of peaceful protest in Memphis, more families brought their children out to demand change.Haven Orecchio-Egresitz/"We have never seen swift justice like this," attorney Ben Crump said at a Friday press conference at Memphis' Mount Olive CME Church. "We want to proclaim that this is the blueprint going forward for any time any officers, whether they be Black or white, will be held accountable. No longer can you tell us we got to wait six months to a year."Sitting in a booth at Sugar Grits, a cafe a short walk from the church where Nichols' parents would speak to the community on Friday, Pastor Earle Fisher, a leader in the Memphis social justice sphere, spoke to Insider as the city braced for chaos. The response to Nichols' death was "the baseline of justice," he said. "Historically the intensity of protests matches the level of dismissal or denial or delay in terms of justice," Fisher told Insider — noting that he expected demonstrations to stay largely peaceful this time around. And they did.In the end, the preparations for unrest were largely unnecessary. Apart from the marches over the weekend, which were nonviolent and organized, downtown streets stayed quiet. Friday's demonstration in Memphis — which was largely centered around the "Old Bridge" blocking traffic into the city from Arkansas — was powerful, demanding, and nonviolent.Protests in other cities also remained overwhelmingly peaceful. In New York and Los Angeles — where police stood guard in riot gear — there were some clashes.In New York, an NYPD cruiser windshield was smashed. The NYPD told Insider that police arrested three people at a protest near Union Square. In Los Angeles, protesters tore down a police barricade. A man reportedly tossed a lit firework at a police car.But the scenes were nothing like those after the murder of George Floyd in police custody, which set off protests that at times escalated into looting and arson. The Memphis Police Department said Sunday its cops hadn't arrested a single demonstrator. It's unclear if police strategy for addressing the protests played a role in the lack of clashes. At the protest in Memphis Friday night, a reporter could not spot a single uniformed officer in the area of the rally.The next afternoon, as a crowd moved toward the Walter Bailey Jr. Criminal Justice Center, a protester approached a single police cruiser parked with its lights on and held a middle finger up at the officer inside.The officer quickly retreated, driving away from the area, and the group moved on.The Memphis Police Department would not comment on its protest strategy. A man holds up a sign during a demonstration in Memphis on Jan. 29, 2023 following the release of video showing the deadly encounter between police and Tyre NicholsShameka Wilson for InsiderPleading for peaceOn Friday morning, Nichols' step-father Rodney Wells stood beside his wife and the nation's most prominent living civil rights leaders at the pulpit of Mt. Olive CME Church. Wells told the community that in the days after his son was killed he wanted nothing less than first-degree murder charges for every officer on the scene. After speaking to prosecutors, though, the family said it accepted second-degree murder as appropriate, and Wells said he was "satisfied." He told the crowd at the church — a few dozen activists nestled between reporters from Memphis and around the globe — that he understood the need for protest, but was shocked to learn that people were getting alerts to their phones urging them to avoid the crowds and stay home for their own safety.He pleaded — just as Nichols' mom RowVaughn Wells had done at a city skate park the night before — for peace in the city."We shouldn't have that. We need to do this peacefully," Rodney Wells said in church. "We want peaceful protest."At the "Call to Action" at Martyrs Park on Friday, activist leaders told the crowd they had been in touch with the Nichols family and were acting with their support. —Haven Orecchio (@InsiderHaven) January 28, 2023  People protest in Memphis following the release of video showing the deadly encounter between police and Tyre NicholsShameka Wilson for InsiderProtesters' demandsFor more than two hours Friday night, a group remained on the bridge. Organizers announced they had called Mayor Jim Strickland with a list of demands and would not leave until he called back. The demands included the passing a Data Transparency Ordinance at the city and county levels, tracking law enforcement data, ending the use of unmarked cars and plainclothes officers, and dissolving the SCORPION unit and other task forces.The group was blocks away from the downtown business district that had been bracing for chaos, but the disruption was largely limited to truck drivers being unable to enter the city for several hours.Some told Insider they understood why people were outraged.Speaking from the driver's seat of an 18-wheeler trying to merge onto the the highway, a truck driver named Mark told insider he was running out of fuel.As a Black man, he said he didn't fault the protesters and would "possibly" be out with them if he was from here. He then went on his way back to Oklahoma, with 1,400 miles left to go."It could have been me," he told Insider, asking only to be identified by his first name in fear of his job. "It's not the first and it won't be the last."Demonstrators protest in Memphis on Jan. 28, 2023 following the release of video showing the deadly encounter between Tyre Nichols and police.Shameka Wilson for InsiderThe body-cam footageWhen the videos were released on Friday, the public was met with what they were promised: utter brutality. Nichols' mother said Friday she couldn't bring herself to watch the video of her son's beating. She urged those with children not to let them watch it. Many protesters, too, were not focused on the graphic videos. "We don't need a video to know it was murder," Amber Sherman yelled into a bullhorn during the first rally on Friday. Moments later, when the video was released by the city at 6 p.m., the group began its march toward Interstate 55 instead of stopping to view the footage being simultaneously released by police.Dozens of protesters blocked a long line of 18-wheelers on the "Old Bridge," which has long been a gathering place for protests in the city. They chanted "You take our lives, we'll take your money" and "no justice, no peace" while holding signs in Nichols' honor. They shared tales of police violence in the city. Holding a sign that read "Tyre Nichols" Sherri, a Memphis native, told Insider her 28-year-old Black son moved to Germany, and she's glad he made it out of the city.Meanwhile, much of America was seeing footage of Nichols' beating for the first time.People protest in Memphis following the release of video showing the deadly encounter between police and Tyre NicholsShameka Wilson for InsiderA proud cityBy 9:30 p.m. on Friday, protesters had made their way back to the park. Boxes of pizza were passed out to the crowd.Some later made their way to famous Blues district Beale Street, where they ate out. Live music could be heard from the streets as the International Blues Challenge carried on nearby without a hitch. —Haven Orecchio (@InsiderHaven) January 28, 2023 By Saturday morning, coffee shops and businesses downtown buzzed with conversations about the city's response Nichols' death. Rocky Goodwin, a downtown resident since 1988, told Insider he woke up Saturday full of pride for how the protesters stood up to demand change — with "poise."On Friday night, he and his husband had hunkered down at their apartment building. As the crowd made its way by their building, they waved from their window while watching news of clashes in other cities.Demonstrators protest in Memphis on Jan. 28, 2023 following the release of video showing the deadly encounter between Tyre Nichols and police.Shameka Wilson for InsiderGoodwin said he is proud that in the very city where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, peace prevailed."Our city leaders, the police chief, the religious leaders got ahead of it very quickly. The were arrested and charged and that made for a better night last night," he said, his eyes welling up. "I'm very proud of my city. I could cry," he added. "It was just incredible. We were just so proud. Memphis strong." —Haven Orecchio (@InsiderHaven) January 28, 2023 By 3 p.m.  Saturday, though, another protest was gaining steam. After seeing the video and not hearing back from the mayor or police chief about addressing their list of demands, demonstrators were more distraught.Activist Amber Sherman kicked off the rally with harsh words for the city officials who didn't return their calls the night before.She didn't watch the video, but was angry to learn there were people on scene who have not been charged. JB Smiley, a city councilman, also called for any EMTs and sheriff deputies who were on scene the night of the killing to be disciplined."We demand that each and every officer, every sheriff's officer, every EMT (in the video) be immediately fired," he said outside the fire station. Demonstrators protest in Memphis on Jan. 28, 2023 following the release of video showing the deadly encounter between Tyre Nichols and police.Shameka Wilson for InsiderMoments later, news broke that the city had disbanded the SCORPION unit, an organized crime task force that the five charged officers served on, after listening to concerns from the Nichols' family.—Haven Orecchio (@InsiderHaven) January 28, 2023 The group cheered first, acknowledging the win."The unit that murdered Tyre has been permanently disbanded" someone called into a bullhorn "I'm sure his mother is proud of that."Still, protesters said the work is not done, and demanding the shutdown of every task force under the police department's Organized Crime Unit."The SCORPION unit, that's cool. That means we're doing something right," another organizer, Casio Montez, said. "We want the whole OCU."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Police were called to the restaurant more than 900 times in 2017, including to deal with violent incidents and drug use, Ottawa's police chief said. Police were called to the restaurant more than 900 times in 2017, Ottawa's police chief said.Joe Raedle/Getty Images A McDonald's restaurant in Ottawa, known for its high levels of crime, is shutting down. Police were called to the restaurant more than 900 times in 2017, Ottawa's police chief said. In 2014, the location gained notoriety after footage of a mass brawl involving a raccoon went viral. A McDonald's restaurant in Ottawa, Canada which became a crime hotspot is shutting down, an employee confirmed to Insider.The owner of the building on Rideau Street told CBC that the franchisee had decided not to renew their lease when it expires this summer. The exact date when the restaurant will close is not clear.Police and local residents alike have expressed concerns about the restaurant over the years."Officers attend this location on a daily basis to address issues including vagrancy, liquor license violations, illicit drug use, and incidents of violence," then Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau wrote to the CEO of McDonald's Canada in March 2019, per CTV.A councillor at the time, Mathieu Fleury, added that there had been problems with gangs at the restaurant and that it was one of the places in Ottawa that generated the most calls to emergency services, per CBC.Police had been called to the restaurant more than 900 times in 2017, Bordeleau said, per CBC. On two consecutive days in April 2019, officers visited the restaurant seven times each day, Bordeleau later told CTV.In April 2019, the restaurant ditched its 24-hour status and switched to a 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. schedule over safety concerns. The then-franchisee said they would also add security. The restaurant has since pushed back its opening time by two hours to 8:00 a.m.McDonald's corporate communications department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but an employee at the restaurant confirmed to Insider that it is closing.The restaurant, which first opened in 1985, attracted a media buzz after a 2014 video of a mass brawl appearing to show a man pulling a baby raccoon from inside his jacket went viral."When you come here, you're afraid," one local resident told CTV in 2019.Local residents voiced similar concerns to CBC last week after news of the restaurant's closure was announced.One recent visitor said he saw a needle on the floor in the restaurant. Another told the news station that over the past few years, it had turned into "complete trash."Peter Crosthwaite, the building's property manager, suggested to CTV that the end of the restaurant's 24-hour operations could have caused sales to fall. He also suggested that COVID may have taken a toll on the business.Despite the complaints from local police and residents, Crosthwaite told CBC that McDonald's had been a "great tenant.""People don't appreciate how good of a community member McDonald's has been," he said.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

At Least 68 Dead In Nepal Plane Crash After Aircraft Plummets Into Gorge At least 68 passengers have been killed after a Nepal airliner crashed Sunday in the county's worst aviation disaster in more than 30 years. The Yeti Airlines ATR 72 plane, which is a twin-engine turboprop meant for short-haul regional flights, went down near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal, carrying a total of 72 people including four crew members. Via EHA News Nepal’s civil aviation authority has indicated that 37 were men, 25 were women, as well as three children and three were infants. Hundreds of rescue workers descended on a large hillside where the airliner went down. Subsequent circulating footage showed huge flames engulfing the area in the immediate aftermath of the crash. The plane appears to be at the bottom of a river gorge. One local resident identified as Bishnu Tiwari, who assisted in rescue efforts, described of the massive flames:  "The flames were so hot that we couldn’t go near the wreckage. I heard a man crying for help, but because of the flames and smoke we couldn’t help him." The plane had reportedly been preparing to land when the crash happened. The New York Times details of the difficult rescue efforts: The Nepal Army said it had retrieved 66 bodies from the site as of Sunday evening. Rescuers had taken 29 bodies to a hospital for identification and at least 33 were still at the site, according to Brig. Gen. Krishna Prasad Bhandari, a spokesman for the Nepal Army. Tek Bahadur KC, the chief administrator of the district of Kaski, where the crash took place said rescuers had to struggle to reach the site, at first because of all the smoke, and because the plane had gone down into a gorge. Widely circulating but unconfirmed footage showed the plane roll hard just before going down. A video showing moments before a deadly plane crash in Nepal that saw 72 people killed earlier today. The Yeti Airlines jet crashed near Pokhara International Airport in Nepal and was carrying a total of 68 passengers and four crew members. pic.twitter.com/4DbGY7nUi7 — Ali Hashem علي هاشم (@alihashem_tv) January 15, 2023 The report further indicates there were a number of international passengers on the flight: "Out of the 68 passengers on board Sunday’s flight, 53 were from Nepal, five from India, four from Russia, two from South Korea, and one each from Australia, Argentina, France and Ireland, according to Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority." In total there were 15 international passengers on board, and all four crewmembers were Nepalese. The country of Nepal relies heavily on tourism, and these types of turbo engine planes are often used to fly passengers to remote cities and towns across the country, and are typically brief flights. #Nepal 72 passengers were on board. Plane crash at Pokhra International Airport. pic.twitter.com/igBoObcCDm — Aishwarya Paliwal (@AishPaliwal) January 15, 2023 Aviation monitors are now saying Sunday's incident marks the third-deadliest crash in Himalayan nation’s history, with two 1992 crashes, one involving Thai Airways in July of that year which left 113 dead, and another involving Pakistan International airlines later in September which killed 167 people - among the deadliest. Tyler Durden Sun, 01/15/2023 - 10:20.....»»

Another atmospheric river is approaching California, bringing a storm that could be even stronger than the one that just flooded San Francisco. A business struggles with floodwaters in San Carlos, California, on December 31, 2022.Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An atmospheric river dumped record rainfall across Nothern California on New Year's Eve. Photos show flooding, landslides, boat, and helicopter rescues, breached levees, and a sinkhole. Another atmospheric river is approaching, possibly bringing worse flooding Wednesday and Thursday. Northern California was inundated with floodwaters when an atmospheric river dumped record rain across the area on New Year's Eve.Californians have just a few days of respite before another atmospheric river — a channel of water vapor that can carry as much water as a river — is expected to inundate the area on Wednesday and Thursday. It will be "similar in strength or stronger than the New Years Eve storm," according to the National Weather Service.Since soil is already saturated from the recent storm, it may not be able to absorb as much water when the new atmospheric river rains down. That could mean even worse flooding.A car is partially submerged on a flooded road after heavy rains in San Francisco, California, December 31, 2022, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.Dav Yaginuma/ReutersThe recent storm left people stranded, vehicles submerged and abandoned, highways closed, and triggered mudslides and landslides. At least two people have died in the floods. Rescue efforts are ongoing, and the floodwaters are still surging in some areas.A landslide blocks Highway 92 West in San Mateo County, California, on December 31, 2022.Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesOakland saw its wettest day on record on Saturday, and San Francisco was just shy of its record. Footage from John Shrable, a meteorologist with local news station KRON4, shows significant flooding in the city: —John Shrable (@JohnShrable) January 1, 2023The Oakland Zoo closed on Sunday, after a culvert overwhelmed with rainfall collapsed underground and opened a sinkhole.—Oakland Zoo (@oakzoo) January 1, 2023Floodwaters continued to cause trouble after the rain stopped, stranding people and incapacitating businesses.Atmospheric rivers can dump more and more rain as global temperatures rise because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. That increases the risk of severe flooding events like this (or worse) in the future, scientists have warned.Levee breaches, boat, and helicopter rescues, and two deaths in Sacramento CountyAn aerial view of the damage after rainstorms caused a levee to break, flooding Sacramento County roads near Wilton, California, January 1, 2023.Fred Greaves/ReutersFloodwaters breached levees in the Sacramento Valley on Sunday, leading to evacuation orders — followed by shelter-in-place orders — and flooding Highway 99, the main thoroughfare cutting through the Central Valley.Rescue efforts throughout the region are ongoing. One person was found dead in a submerged vehicle on Sunday morning, FOX40 News reported. Another person died after being pulled from the waters, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.In Elk Grove, the fire department used a boat to rescue people from a temporary island created by the flooding, sharing the photo below on Saturday.—Cosumnes Fire Dept. (@CosumnesFire) December 31, 2022 Elsewhere, a person was rescued by helicopter after floodwaters trapped them against a tree.—Metro Fire of Sacramento (@metrofirepio) January 1, 2023 San Francisco is flooded and Tahoe is snowed inThe Instagram page for Rintaro, a San Francisco restaurant, shared video of its facilities overwhelmed with standing water. A post shared by Sylvan Mishima Brackett (@mr_rintaro)  One San Francisco resident shared footage of a forceful mudslide on Twitter, saying it was running through the Bernal Heights neighborhood on Saturday.—Zach Klein (@zachklein) December 31, 2022Further footage shows muddy floodwaters rushing downhill on a residential street.—Zach Klein (@zachklein) December 31, 2022 In Tahoe, the atmospheric river dumped snow onto roadways that left some drivers stranded and prompted authorities to close major roadways.Nearby, huge boulders rolled onto Highway 50 during the storm. The California Department of Transportation said it would need to explode them.—Caltrans District 3 (@CaltransDist3) January 1, 2023 Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»