Tootfinder

“‘We had to destroy the village to save it’ is not a new American rationalization, and the imperial boomerang can and will, if we don’t stop it, bring it to bear on the American populace.”
https://stuff.davidaugust.com/local-law-enforceme…

Local Law Enforcement's Challenge: Uphold the Law, Even Against the Feds
in the absence of action, civilians will fill the void I do want to write something not so serious, maybe even funny, here soon. But today, I think the police have to do a very hard and necessary thing: defend Americans against their federal government. If any other group arrived

A recent study conducted by Crosstown LA, examining vehicular collisions in Los Angeles intersections,
found that some are far more perilous than others. 
According to the numbers, the intersection at Figueroa and Slauson is the most dangerous in the city.
The study utilized data collected by the Los Angeles Police Department
Per the data, between 2021 and 2025 alone, that intersection was subject to some 66 traffic accidents. 
The intersection of Sepulveda and R…

The most dangerous intersections in Los Angeles
Over the past decade, the city’s streets have become significantly more lethal…

Tomorrow in my History of Here course - one of my department's intro classes - we'll be discussing letters written in response to early-20th-c speeding tickets. My favorite claims it's unfair since he'd sped with so many cars before and never gotten a ticket ("as this is the fifteenth car that he has been the owner of, and has never been fined for speeding, he feels that he is being imposed upon by the commission").

Excess and evidence: Excuses for speeding in the early days of the car
As the summer wanes many car owners think about enjoying one last road trip and police officers think about managing chaotic long weekends on the highways. As long as cars have been on the road, sp…

The city’s chief, Brian O’Hara, confirmed the man had died following the incident, describing him as a white male and a resident of Minnesota.
The man was also a “lawful gun owner” with a permit to carry the weapon, O’Hara said, adding that the victim’s name was known to police but would yet be released.
ICE shooting latest: ‘American citizen’ shot and killed by federal agents in another Minneapolis shooting | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ice-shooting-minneapolis-latest-updates-b2907013.html

Good Morning #Canada
In 1882, Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney acquired land adjacent to the route of the future CPR line at a site known as Pile-of-Bones. He then announced that this featureless site, distinguished only by collections of bison bones, would be the new capital of the North West Territories in western Canada. Thus, Regina was born out of a national scandal and conflict of interest. It became the provincial capital when Saskatchewan officially joined Canada in 1905. The North West Mounted Police were headquartered in Regina, starting in 1885, and the city remains as a training centre for the RCMP. Regina survived a cyclone in 1916 and a great depression riot in 1935. Recently, they recovered from a marketing faux pas when they canceled their tourism slogan, "Regina: The City That Rhymes With Fun."
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianCapitals
https://youtu.be/L8eHaVi1yfE?si=Oc2NsqG6tnB4Zqnn

Of course it was Bob Donovan attacking Milwaukee's ability to govern Milwaukee
"An effort to limit the Milwaukee Common Council’s ability to shape police and fire department policy passed an Assembly vote Thursday, in the form of an amendment to a completely unrelated bill. If the measure becomes law, the council would need a unanimous vote before suspending or modifying police or fire department policy. "
#Milwaukee #Wisconsin

Sequoia, a16z, and other VC firms invested $1.2B into police and public safety tech startups over the past year, following the success of Palantir and others (Abram Brown/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/a

Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Add to $1.2 Billion Funding Boom for Police Tech Startups
Over the past year, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and many of Silicon Valley’s other top venture capital firms have funneled at least $1.2 billion in funding to startups selling technology to city police departments and local public safety agencies. Those companies illustrate the technology industry’s growing enthusiasm for making software and hardware for the government and law

Moscow explosion kills 2 Russian police officers tied to Ukrainian POW abuse, intelligence source says: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/24/moscow-explosion-kills-russian-police.html

What @… says is what a lot of us have been lamenting since the ICE invasion started. Shouldn’t local police protect citizens from ICE?? Why this hasn’t happened is a really good question. Factors to consider:
- “Obstructing a federal agent” is illegal, and local police / politicians feel constrained by that (even if the agents themselves don’t seem constrained by the actual law at all, only by what they think they can get away with)
- Police can in theory cite federal agents for e.g. traffic violations or illegal plate swapping after the fact, as long as they’re not “obstructing” the agents — but how do you cite a masked person with fake plates who refuses to give ID?
- Some police are visibly supportive of ICE, chumming it up with them and giving literal fist bumps; a nontrivial subset are outright closet Nazis. A lot of people don’t really see any need to go past “ACAB” as a full explanation for all of this — and certainly The ACAB Hypothesis is…um, not really being proved false right now in Minneapolis.
- I think some police quietly resent ICE for stepping on their turf, but that does not seem to have boiled up into actual confrontation in MSP. One police leader here painted it in early Dec as “some people want to instigate a confrontation between Minneapolis Police, and that’s not going to happen.” Police culture says that police should be a neutral party in a dispute between ICE and residents, and actually protecting residents would be taking sides. (Duh, yes, taking sides that way is your literal job, you dumbasses…but I digress.)
- Some police (especially leadership) really want to get on the community’s good side after the murder of George Floyd, and see this as an opportunity, but unfortunately this has materialized entirely as non-interventionist support: “We responded to a 911 call and help a distressed resident after her husband was abducted!” “We transported children left parentless on the streets by ICE safely back to their home!” “Our officers volunteered at the food shelf!” OK, nice, good for you buddy.
So yeah, I’m wondering this too, and am bitter about it. https://tilde.zone/@n1xnx/115928447564126393

Spanish police say four self-proclaimed members of Anonymous are in custody after allegedly carrying out several cyberattacks on public authorities in the wake of the 2024 DANA floods.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/23/anonymous_…

Suspected Anonymous members detained in Spain over post-flood DDoS blitz
: Quartet accused of attacking public institutions, claiming the government was responsible for 2024 tragedy

#UvaldeShooting

New DOJ report finds 'cascading failures' during Uvalde shooting
The Justice Department says police officials who responded to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, “demonstrated no urgency” in setting up a command post and failed to treat the killings as an active shooter situation. A Justice Department report released Thursday identifies “cascading failures” in law enforcement’s handling of one of the deadliest massacres at a school in American history. The report, the most comprehensive federal accounting of the haphazard police response …

The police describes the accused as a "white British national", a "black British national" an "Asian British national" – how is the colour of their skin relevant to the crime they are accused of? Or is it pure racism?
http…

Man in UK charged alongside five others with sexual offences against his wife
Philip Young, 49, is accused of 56 sexual offences, including drugging and raping his now ex-wife

Follow the dramatic developments in Minneapolis.
#minnesota

Live: Federal agents shot and killed Minneapolis man, DHS officials say he was armed
A bystander video shows several agents wrestled with man on a city sidewalk moments before the shooting. Police chief Brian O’Hara issued a plea for calm, as protesters gathered at the scene: “Please do not destroy our own city.”

ICE is hostage taking, taking young 4 or 5 year old kids to compel parents to do things.
In russia from late 1918 thru 1922, the Bolshevik secret police waged the Red Terror, modeled on the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, and designed to repress dissent.
Their methods included confiscations, fines, executions, and hostage-taking.
Ice helps themselves to groceries, devices and more from captives, charges fines, kills people in the street and now: takes hostages.…

Must have to be 'former famous' to have the police care...
Former NFL player is found dead at California homeless encampment as police launch hunt for his killer | The Independent
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/philadelphia-eagles-kevin-johnson-dead-b2906502.html

I also think it's worth just doing the math here. There aren't enough ICE agents to remove an occupation of more than a couple of facilities. They would have to rely on local police. A lot of police departments have been ordered not to support ICE activities. This means Trump would have to activate the military. If an occupation was peaceful, especially playful like Portland, deployment may not even be possible. Meanwhile, if ICE agents continue to be as violent as they are Governors may be forced to activate the national guard to protect citizens against ICE.
Forcing conflict when Trump is at his weakest, in a way that is non-violent, puts resistance in the best possible position.
At the same time, we are at a strange time of unity. Trump supporters are leaving over Epstein, some are even mad about the deportations, and he's otherwise systematically alienated basically his whole base (except literal Nazis working for ICE).
The AI bubble is, in a lot of ways, a fun house mirror reflection of the 2008 financial crash. The whole economy is held up by loans secured with "compute." Everyone hates this, and Trump's policies have made everything far worse.
#OccupyICE could actually have a lot of momentum and be difficult to stop, especially if folks went to ICE facilities in frog suits and Luigi bloc with banners demanding the release of the Epstein files.
At least, that's my impression from out here.

Five people were arrested following hundreds of investigative hours following 💥 the shooting of Judge Steven Meyer and his wife, Kimberly, in Lafayette Indiana
on Jan. 18.
Both victims were in a stable condition following the attack,
which happened around 2:17 p.m.
The judge was injured on an arm, his wife on her hip.
Raylen Ferguson, 38, from Lexington, Kentucky;
Thomas Moss, 43, from Lafayette
and Blake Smith, 32, from Lafayette,
were all ar…

5 arrested in connection with shooting of Indiana judge and his wife
Police have arrested five people as part of a multi-state investigation into the shooting of an Indiana judge and his wife while they were at home on Sunday

A couple of months ago, I shocked friends in the US and UK whilst talking about #cigarette prices in #Australia. “How do people afford cigarettes?” they asked, incredulously.
"They don’t," I replied. "There's an enormous black market in

I feel like this Stop Copaganda project from 2024 didn't get enough love. It certainly made me reflect on how I portray law enforcement. Particularly in Domestic Threats. Some police officers/agents are really trying to do the right thing and the system makes it hard. Some of them just do what they're told because they trust the system, without realizing they might be doing more harm than good. Some are more interested in getting status or power than worrying about morality. These st…

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTy4y3VDpS0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Japan Daily on Instagram: "Abandoned suitcases are becoming a growing issue at Narita Airport, where nearly 900 pieces of luggage have already been collected this fiscal year—about nine times more than four years ago. Police say around 10% of the bags are empty, suggesting intentional disposal, with storage and disposal costs ultimately borne by taxpayers. The problem extends beyond airports to train stations and public spaces, often linked to travelers avoiding disposal fees after shopping. In response, Narita Airport is testing solutions such as clothing compression machines to help travelers save space and avoid buying new luggage. Retailers and repair businesses are also encouraging reuse through free take-back and resale programs, aiming to reduce waste and promote more sustainable travel habits."
49 likes, 0 comments - japandaily_jp on January 21, 2026: "Abandoned suitcases are becoming a growing issue at Narita Airport, where nearly 900 pieces of luggage have already been collected this fiscal year—about nine times more than four years ago. Police say around 10% of the bags are empty, suggesting intentional disposal, with storage and disposal costs ultimately borne by taxpayers. The problem extends beyond airports to train stations and public spaces, often linked to travelers avoid…

Former DC Police officer Michael Fanone and MAGA Ivan Raiklin got into a heated argument at the Jack Smith hearing. Fanone can be heard saying, “you threatened to rape my children. You sick b*stard.” (courtesy of Allie Phillips)

If I were voting today in D4 I'd rank Jeremy Greco first because he's the only pro–Sunset Dunes candidate and seems cool generally; he's a longtime co-op worker at Other Avenues and wants to make it easier to start co-ops.
I'd rank Natalie Gee second. It sucks she wants to turn the park back into a highway, but so do all the non-Jeremy candidates, and she's the only one I trust to tax the rich to build affordable housing.

Meet the District 4 Candidates: What is your No. 1 issue?
Some say the Sunset needs to be more affordable. Some say it needs more police. They all want to be District 4’s next supervisor.

Former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales acquitted of all charges over his response to the Robb Elementary School shooting (Steven Rosenbaum/CBS News)
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/uvalde-police-officer-trial-verdict/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260121/p159#a260121p159

Do spend a moment with my assertion that this is the intended effect. If it’s clear who the secret police are targeting, then it’s clear whether you are safe, whether you should be afraid. If the secret police are randomly targeting everyone, then •everyone• has to be afraid.
•That• is what an authoritarian regime wants. The systems that created ICE’s chaotic, violent behavior are not accidental.

A formerly incarcerated man,
who has since been cleared of his 1985 first-degree murder conviction,
was able to save his lawsuit from summary judgment as requested by New Orleans,
whose retired police detective allegedly withheld exculpatory evidence from the court.
The man was jailed for more than 30 years for the alleged murder,
and he has plausibly alleged a negligence claim against the ex-detective and a vicarious liability claim against New Orleans.

15 injured, police officer killed as explosions rock western Ukraine's Lviv in terrorist attack: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/22/injured-police-officer-killed-as.html

The Strong Life Project Podcast
Your essential 10-minute guide to building an unbreakable mindset, delivered by Shaun O'Gorman—a former elite police officer turned high-performance coach, author, and founder of The Strong Life Project...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustr…

🦜 Interpol-backed police make nearly 200 arrests in Amazon region gold mining sweep
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/interpol-backed-police-make-nearly-200-arrests-in-amazon-region-gold-mining-s…

Interpol-backed police make nearly 200 arrests in Amazon region gold mining sweep
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname have arrested nearly 200 people in their first-ever joint cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining in the Amazon region, authorities said Thursday. The operation was backed by Interpol — the international police cooperation agency that helps law enforcement agencies in different countries […]

Korean police arrested two high school students for the 2024 hack of Seoul’s public bicycle service “Ttareungyi”
https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2026/02/23/X4AOVZXXORHNLI5P5BOHMRZQRY/

Teenagers Behind 4.62 Million Ttareungyi Data Breach Identified as Minors
Teenagers Behind 4.62 Million Ttareungyi Data Breach Identified as Minors Teenagers exploited weak authentication to access 4.62 million user records, including IDs, addresses

No one has ever liked Andrew. There was a leak from the Buckingham Palace police protection squad back in the 1990s IIRC, where inter alia the code names they used over radio were given:
The Queen: Purple One
Prince Phillip: the Greek
Prince Charles: Big Ears
Prince Andrew: the C*nt

ICE activity in the Fargo #NorthDakota area.
"confirmation of federal immigration agents in the Fargo-#Moorhead (#Minnesota) metro area came from a local law enforcement agency."

Was listening to NIN's Year Zero album last night and it feels like Trent released it 20 years too early.
Also, KMFDM's WWIII was 23 years too early. So much stuff out of the GWB administration era was crystal clear at the time, but Obama/Biden convinced centrists & the media that everything was fixed and we didn't need to actually worry about accountability and then helped to expand the police state. 8 years of "don't worry about it", then the shock of T…

Greek police arrest scammers using fake cell tower hidden in car trunk https://therecord.media/greek-police-arrest-scammers-using-hidden-cell-towers

🇺🇦 Auf radioeins läuft...
The Police:
🎵 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
#NowPlaying #ThePolice
#radioeins gespielten Titel als #Spotify Playliste: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3hdH98B6uyXilhcWxCA6nv

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rules that police can get Google search data without a warrant; an expert warns it may encourage warrantless searches nationwide (Suzanne Smalley/The Record)
https://therecord.media/google-searches-police-access…

Pa. high court rules that police can access Google searches without a warrant
In a decision that only affects Pennsylvanians but could have privacy implications elsewhere, the state's Supreme Court ruled that police did not need a warrant to access a rape suspect's Google searches.

1/n Ours is a Federal system in which there are distinct, but partially overlapping, sovereignties, each supreme in its sphere.
It has long been held that "police powers" are the realm of the state's supreme role. Indeed we see this when the Federal government could not even prosecute murders of protesters during the '60s//70's and had to resort to prosecutions based on Federal power (under 14th amendment) to enforce civil rights.
Here we have a gang of goo…

RE: https://mastodon.art/@FlashMobOfOne/115763613133116767
When I was a kid, I thought things would, inevitably, drift into freer modes, loosen up.
Now here comes 2026
Knock-knock at your front door
It's the suede denim ICE police

Seems like a good idea we could use and adapt. https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-suk-yeol-martial-law-verdict-rebellion-5d5f5c3a82590dc805b41b905f5bbca1

@governorwalz.mn.gov
Pay attention to which direction police are facing
If police are facing, for example, ICE, then they're deployed AGAINST ICE & protecting citizens
Facing the citizens? They're deployed AGAINST citizens & protecting ICE
This is what we see
Choose your citizens to protect

Governor Tim Walz (@governorwalz.mn.gov)
Stay safe and stay peaceful today. Our public safety team has the resources, coordination, and personnel on the ground to maintain public safety and respond if needed. Thanks to local law enforcement for keeping the peace. https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/live-updates/minnesota-protests-ice-shooting-law-enforcement/

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
The Police:
🎵 Walking in Your Footsteps
#ThePolice
https://5thplanetrecords.bandcamp.com/track/the-police-walking-in-your-footsteps-remix
https://open.spotify.com/track/363cVHJDjrYIkN5HcIAGCx

Now do Donald.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2026/feb/19/police-arrest-former-prince-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-sandringham-latest-updates

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested: King Charles says ‘law must take its course’ as ex-prince taken into custody – live
The police raided Andrew’s Norfolk home on Thursday

Another blast in Moscow kills two police officers allegedly involved in torturing Ukrainian POWs: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/24/another-blast-in-moscow-kills.html

30,000 Animals Rescued from Illegal Captivity in the Largest Wildlife Trafficking Raid in History https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/30000-animals-rescued-from-illegal-captivity-in-the-largest-wildlife-trafficking-raid-…

30,000 Animals Rescued from Illegal Captivity in the Largest Wildlife Trafficking Raid in History
Encouraging, in the largest ever police bust of wildlife trafficking, merely 7 rhino horns were found amid over 100,000 seized objects.

The Kash bureau doesn’t seem to be doing so well. This is, what, the 4th or 5th high-profile case where they’ve “caught” the wrong person, or announced that someone was in custody when that wasn’t true…
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/providenc<…

Students led a peaceful protest. The police chief showed up in plain clothes and assaulted two students. (Quakertown, PA - 02/20/26)
Video Source:
https://reddit.com/comments/1rat1fy
Article:
Bucks County DA launches investigation into Quakertown PD protest response

An Indiana judge and his wife were shot at their home on Sunday,
prompting concerns for the safety of the state’s judiciary
after recent increases in threats and violence against public officials nationally.
The police in Lafayette, Ind., said on Monday that they were investigating the shootings of the judge,
Steven P. Meyer of Tippecanoe County Superior Court,
and his wife, Kimberly Meyer.
Both were in stable condition.
Judge Meyer, 66, recently ann…

Indiana Judge and His Wife Are Shot at Their Suburban Home
The police in Lafayette, Ind., said they were investigating the nonfatal shootings of a Tippecanoe County Superior Court judge and his wife on Sunday.

You see, the only trouble with the custody suite at King’s Lynn police station is it's all on one level - no stairs...
#UKpolitics #Andrew

#ios26 ladies and gentlemen, 6 months on, pinnacle of design, elevates the content, delights the user

Is that legal, posing as different police? In Minneapolis right now, what is legal and what is illegal is just a sort of amusing abstract question, about as useful as asking “If you could breed a chicken with an octopus, would its eggs have shells?” — except suffused with a kind of grim, exhausted anger.
The law is something that people argue about on TV and on social media. It has so little relationship to what happens on the ground, it’s just hardly even relevant.

Carrie doesn't live here anymore... Is what Cliff said to the police when they came inquiring about his missing ex-girlfriend... Hmm. #totp

The murder of 15 people at Bondi Beach was a vile antisemitic attack and is rightfully being condemned.
https://www.irishtimes.com/world/australia/2025/12/15/bondi-beach-terror-attack-injured-gunman-expected-to-su…

Bondi Beach shooting: Australia vows stricter gun laws after 15 killed
Gunman wounded during attack on Jewish celebration ‘is likely to survive’ his injuries with second killed at scene

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSbtXuCCe9Y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Japan Daily on Instagram: "Marty Friedman, an American musician based in Japan, visited a junior high school in Chiba at an event organized by local police to promote coexistence with foreigners. Speaking to first-year students, he said that 99.9% of foreigners who come to Japan are not dangerous and are often eager to communicate with Japanese people. He encouraged students to learn foreign languages and approach others without fear. Friedman also shared a personal story about forgetting his wallet in Japan, highlighting the country’s honesty. The event aimed to help young people understand cultural differences as foreign visitors and workers increase. Learning with empathy can reduce tension and improve everyday interactions. Source:TOKYO NP"
2,062 likes, 113 comments - japandaily_jp on December 18, 2025: "Marty Friedman, an American musician based in Japan, visited a junior high school in Chiba at an event organized by local police to promote coexistence with foreigners. Speaking to first-year students, he said that 99.9% of foreigners who come to Japan are not dangerous and are often eager to communicate with Japanese people. He encouraged students to learn foreign languages and approach others without fear. Friedman also shar…

Former Uvalde Officer Adrian Gonzales Found Not Guilty of Endangering Children in Mass Shooting - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/us/former-police-officer-who-failed-to-confront-uvalde-gunman-found-not-guilty.html

I have written why local police, possibly SWAT, must engage, detain and arrest ice. The alternatives are all worse.
https://stuff.davidaugust.com/local-law-enforcements-challenge-uphold-the-law-even-against-the-feds/

Local Law Enforcement's Challenge: Uphold the Law, Even Against the Feds
in the absence of action, civilians will fill the void I do want to write something not so serious, maybe even funny, here soon. But today, I think the police have to do a very hard and necessary thing: defend Americans against their federal government. If any other group arrived

Casinò reale
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2026/feb/19/police-arrest-former-prince-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-sandringham-latest-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor released under investigation after arrest – live
The police raided Andrew’s Norfolk home on Thursday

On Sept. 21, the police came for Larry Bushart.
They handcuffed him and hauled him away in the dead of night.
He spent 37 days in jail while held on a $2 million bond
— an amount the retired police officer could not afford.
It’s the sort of treatment one expects for accused murderers and thieves.
But Larry’s only “crime”?
In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, he posted a meme on Facebook
quoting President Trump’s remarks about a different …

LAWSUIT: Ex-cop sues after spending 37 days in jail for sharing meme following Charlie Kirk murder
Larry Bushart was arrested for a social media post and held on a $2 million bond he could not afford. Now, he's fighting back.

My role as academic program director includes making me the mandatory institutional statements of policy on syllabi police. I could really do without this part of the job.

Is it fair to say that the US treats the ultra-wealthy like royalty?
No. The UK has actual, literal royalty, and even they face more accountability than billionaires do in the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2026/feb/19/police-arrest-former-prince-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-sandringham-latest-updates

Who knew you could shove a brass plaque down the memory hole?
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-jan-6-anniversary-police-plaque-f6fd39b437c339fa9ff477318a7d36e2

Ramón and Luis are part of a group composed of family and friends of the defendants in a controversial federal criminal case alleging that a dozen protesters—who took part in a July 4, 2025, protest outside the Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Alvarado during which one protester allegedly shot a police officer—and seven others are members of an organized “North Texas antifa terror cell,” as described in federal complaints and press releases.
In …

The ‘Antifa Scare’ Goes on Trial in North Texas
As nine of the "Prairieland 19" face their days in court, the broader constitutional rights of left-wing activists may hang in the balance.

So the foreign power (cough, cough, Russia) might have tried to hack two Italian ferries.
Authorities in Naples arrested a second Latvian national on board a vessel in Naples, raising the prospect that two different ships may have been involved
https://maritime-executive.com/arti…

Second Seafarer Arrested in Ferry Malware Case
 Italian police have arrested a second Latvian suspect in connection with an attempted malware attack aboard a Mediterranean ferry, expanding the inte...

Sources: OpenAI staff raised concerns about a Canadian mass shooting suspect months ago; OpenAI says her activity didn't meet the bar for reporting to police (Georgia Wells/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.…

Pa. high court rules that police can access Google searches without a warrant https://therecord.media/google-searches-police-access-without-warrant-pennsylvania-court-ruling

Rosie McGee,
handcuffed to Bob Weir, front,
with other members of the 710 Ashbury collective being led out of the house after being arrested by police following a drug raid on the famous Grateful Dead house in Haight Ashbury on OCTOBER 2, 1967.
"By the time a paddy wagon arrived to take us down to the Hall of Justice, a crowd had gathered across the street.
Bob Weir and I were handcuffed together and as we came down the stairs, the crowd cheered.
A broad…

Now — still!— in the Twin Cities, there are thousands of people who are living in hiding, terrified (justifiably so) of an authoritarian secret police kidnapping them off the street because of the way they look.
For these people, full-on fascism is already here. Still.
MPR shares their voices:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/19/during-ice-surge-minnesota-immigrants-share-their-stories-from-hiding

On the occasion of ice’s latest killing: Local police MUST engage, detain and arrest ice. There is no better option.
Here’s why in detail: https://stuff.davidaugust.com/local-law-enforcements-challenge-uphold-the-law-even-against-the-feds…

Local Law Enforcement's Challenge: Uphold the Law, Even Against the Feds
in the absence of action, civilians will fill the void I do want to write something not so serious, maybe even funny, here soon. But today, I think the police have to do a very hard and necessary thing: defend Americans against their federal government. If any other group arrived

From the sounds of it, the Chinese national who stole the Coupang data was working on the cybersecurity team, specifically on a key management security system.
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/n

Alleged Coupang data leaker had only worked at company for two years, say police
The former Coupang employee accused of leaking 33.7 million customer data had worked at the company for just two years, according to police on Thursday.

Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing,
delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a shocking post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-…

Trump levels political attack on Rob Reiner after his killing
President Donald Trump is blaming Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a shocking post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy. The statement on Monday, even for Trump, was a shocking comment that came as police were still investigating the deaths of the beloved director and his wife as an apparent homicide. The couple were found dead at their home Sunday in Los Angeles…

UK police say they banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a soccer match in 2025 after Copilot hallucinated a fake West Ham-Maccabi match in an intelligence report (Tom Warren/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/861668/uk-police-microsoft-copilot-error-mistake<…

UK police blame Microsoft Copilot for intelligence mistake
A British police force is blaming Microsoft’s Copilot assistant for an intelligence report mistake. Copilot made up a football match that didn’t exist.

The way he’s threading the needle of talking about the ICE / local police interactions is fascinating: his line is that Mpls Police being called to deal with ICE (e.g. “there’s an abductee’s abandoned car” or 911 call “omg ICE is at my door”) is an unlawful federal commandeering of local police resources.
I say fascinating because that line of argument has legs regardless of whether police helped ICE or pushed back against ICE, whether the police did the right thing or the wrong thing in any given encounter.

Recent polling shows the majority disapprove of how ICE operates.
But to truly stop the damage requires going further
– it means eradicating the security logic that ever made people think that arming a secret police on an ethnic cleansing mission could ever make them safe.
Formed in 2003, during the embarrassing and disastrous national excesses of the post-9/11 era
– when the nation launched two ill-fated forever wars, and demonized Muslim immigrants
– ICE’s ma…

34 arrests in Spain during action against the ‘Black Axe’ criminal organisation
https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/34-arrests-in-spain-during-action-against-black-axe-crimi…

34 arrests in Spain during action against the ‘Black Axe’ criminal organisation – Criminal network engaged in a multitude of criminal activities and present in dozens of countries | Europol
The Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional), in close cooperation with the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (Bayerisches Landeskriminalamt) and with the support of Europol, has conducted an operation against the international criminal organisation ‘Black Axe’. The action resulted in 34 arrests and significant disruptions to the group's activities. Black Axe is a highly structured, hierarchical group with its origins in Nigeria and a global presence in dozens of countries. The core …

A federal judge Wednesday heard arguments in the Trump administration’s lawsuit
challenging California’s new law prohibiting ICE agents and other police officers from wearing masks on duty.
The judge asked how ICE agents operated without masks in years past,
and questioned why California peace officers were exempted from the law.
A ruling in closely-watched case could come as soon as this week.

DOJ asks LA judge to pause new law banning masks on federal officers
California was the first state in the nation to prohibit federal law enforcement from hiding their identities.

Police in Edmonton, Canada partner with Axon to test body cameras with AI facial recognition, and say the results will be verified by human officers (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/ai-facial-recognition-axon-edmonton-21f319ce806a0…

AI-equipped police body cameras in Canada's Edmonton spark ethical concerns
Police in Edmonton, Canada, have started a pilot project using AI-equipped body cameras to detect faces on a "high risk" watch list. The move by Axon Enterprise, Inc. has raised ethical concerns, especially since the company previously paused facial recognition due to privacy issues. The pilot aims to enhance officer and public safety by identifying individuals flagged for a history of serious offenses. However, critics worry about societal risks and the lack of public debate. Axon CEO Rick Smi…

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it has asked Interpol for cooperation in a manhunt for the Chinese suspect currently residing in China.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20251208…

Police confirm identity of Chinese mastermind behind KT payment breach
Police investigating the KT Corp. payment breach and micropayment scam said Monday they have identified the mastermind behind the crime, known as a...

The Department of Justice’s release of millions of Jeffrey Epstein files has not only prompted questions about his crimes
– but renewed attention on authorities’ failure to stop him after an accuser reported him in 1996.
This new cache of Epstein files has provided more insight into authorities’ familiarity with allegations against him in the years that followed,
including time between his sweetheart plea deal in 2008 and federal arrest nearly six years ago.
While it’…

Gov. Walz has talked about activating the Minnesota National Guard, under his command. I appreciate that: among other things, I suspect it throws a barrier to the Trump regime trying to federalize them.
Would we want the National Guard protecting our schools? I trust them •far• more than the Minneapolis Police, but I’m still uncomfortable with the idea. I don’t like the prospect of our students being greeted at the school by people with camo and assault weapons. That, however, seems preferable being greeted by kidnappings and tear gas.
7/

A person drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with marchers demonstrating in support of the Iranian people,
causing protesters to scramble out of the way.
The U-Haul truck, with a window and side mirrors shattered, was stopped several blocks away and surrounded by police cars.
Helicopter footage from the Los Angeles news outlet KABC showed officers keeping the crowd at bay
as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagp…

Each week, Metacurity is proud to offer our free and premium subscribers a digest of the best long-form (and longish) infosec-related pieces we couldn't properly fit into our daily news crush.
This week's selection covers
--Thai citizens are trafficked to unlock bank accounts with facial ID,
--Texas police deploy AI surveillance with little transparency,
--Bot swarms threaten democracy,
--Digital age checks erode privacy, security, and free speech,
-…

Best infosec-related long reads for the week of 2/7/26
Thai citizens are trafficked to unlock bank accounts with facial ID, Texas police deploy AI surveillance with little transparency, Bot swarms threaten democracy, Digital age checks erode privacy, security, and free speech, Promptware attacks could pose Stuxnet-scale cyber threats.

Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol,
the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy that day is nowhere to be found.
It’s not on display at the Capitol
-- as is required by law.
Its whereabouts aren’t publicly known, though it’s believed to be in storage.

Jan. 6 plaque absent from Capitol around fifth anniversary of attack
Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy is nowhere to be found. It’s not on display at the Capitol, as is required by law. Its whereabouts are not publicly known, though it’s believed to be in storage. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to formally unveil the plaque. And the Trump administration’s Justice Department is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit asking that it be displayed. In…

Local community groups? Busting their asses, but they live and die on volunteer support. Legal system? Too slow, too compromised. City, county, state elected officials? Grasping for something they can do. Local police? Useless or worse than useless, of course.
BUT…all the above are formed by, shaped by, and constrained by popular sentiment. An active, defiant citizenry changes how all these institutions behave. Police know, politicians know, and yes, even judges know: they can only stray so far from what people will tolerate.
This active resistance? Hell yeah, it matters. It’s the short-term •and• the long-term.

Posing as an ideological compatriot, John Williams had penetrated the top ranks of two of the most prominent right-wing militias in the country.
He’d slept in the home of the man who claims to be the new head of the Oath Keepers,
rifling through his files in the middle of the night.
He’d devised elaborate ruses to gather evidence of militias’ ties to high-ranking law enforcement officials.
He’d uncovered secret operations like the surveillance of a young journalist…

The Militia and the Mole
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was a ProPublica reporter.

It’s lost in the noise now, but I felt very clearly on that first day of real violence in 2020 — and still maintain now — that the Minneapolis Police turned the protests violent to send a signal to the city that charging police with a crime was unacceptable.
“You hurt us? We hurt your city.” That was the message, clear as day. That’s why police instigated and fomented violence. That’s why they stopped firefighters from putting out fires.
Yes, I am still angry.

The protest movement in Iran,
now in its second week,
is the most significant unrest the country has experienced in years.
Though triggered initially by a sudden slide in the country’s currency,
protesters soon demanded political reform and called for the downfall of the government.
🔥Iranian authorities have arrested key members of the protest movement that has rocked the country over the last two weeks,
the national police chief has said,
💥as Washi…

On a related note, a reminder of the timeline of 2020:
Things didn’t turn chaotic and violent immediately after the police murdered George Floyd.
Things didn’t turn chaotic and violent when the video became public.
Things didn’t turn chaotic and violent when the protests started.
Things turned chaotic and violent when they brought charges against Chauvin, and the police flipped out and went on a rage-fueled bender of mass tear-gassing the peaceful protests.

“This precedent could result in people facing terrorism charges for doing very simple mainstream activism.”
There is no doubt a police officer was shot at the Texas protest.
Prosecutors have brought charges against people they say helped the alleged shooter escape.
But the case has drawn considerable alarm because of the way that prosecutors have sought to create a criminal enterprise
– a “North Texas antifa cell”
– among a group of demonstrators who were uninv…

Say what you will about state violence, but •orderly• state violence — an officer with a face and a badge, Miranda rights, an orderly booking, the constitutional phone call, the jail roster, the habeas corpus petition, a trial, a system, a process, maybe once in a blue moon consequences for officers’ most egregious abuses — is infinitely preferable to what ICE is now: a secret police with blanket immunity.

This •is• precedented:
DHS murdered Pretti and Good the exact same way police have been murdering Black people for generations. The ICE CBP abduction patrols sure look a heck of a lot like the bounty hunters who operated in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The terror tactics of CBP and ICE bear an uncanny resemblance to the tactics of the KKK.
None of that is a coincidence. It’s the same historical thread. It’s basically the same people.
Precedented.
11/

RE: https://c.im/@cdarwin/115923688571752430
If police can come to your door in the middle of the night and put you behind bars
based on nothing more than an entirely false and contrived interpretation of a Facebook post,
no one’s First Amendment rights a…

It may be unchartered, but we can see the terrain:
the territory ahead includes masked secret police taking people to concentration camps -- but not new vaccines.
That's our reward for a system in which fewer than 20 people,
all of them deranged and malicious,
control over $3 trillion.
https://

Gabriel Zucman (@gabrielzucman.bsky.social)
The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory

The Department of Justice estimates that American police officers shoot 10,000 pet dogs in the line of duty each year.
It is impossible to ascertain a reliable number, however, because most law enforcement agencies do not maintain accurate records of animal killings.
The tally may be substantially higher, and some suggest it could reach six figures.

A Maryland lawmaker proposed ✅ banning agents recruited and hired to carry out Trump's mass deportations
from ever working in state public safety jobs.

“It says something about the morals of the person
— the character of the person
— if they see what’s happening on TV,
they see what happening in the streets
and say, ‘You know what? I want to join that,’ ”
said Del. Adrian Boafo
(D-Prince George’s),
the bill’s sponsor.

“Something…

Maryland bill seeks to ban Trump’s ICE agents from joining state police
The legislation is part of a host of bills across the country seeking to counteract aggressive immigration enforcement efforts that lawmakers say has terrorized communities and incited violence.

The LAPD has been sending officers to train with Israeli security forces since the 1980s,
and ramped up the trips after the 9/11 attacks,
based on what officials have said is a shared goal of fighting extremism.
Since 2014, the inspector general's report found, 18 LAPD officials took trips to Israel that cost a combined $87,000.
The department sent an unnamed deputy chief and seven other employees to Israel for an event called "Command and Control Counter-Te…

The LAPD sent officers to train in Israel. Officials can't explain what they learned
The Police Commission's Office of the Inspector General found that the LAPD lacks a system for tracking employees who train with foreign law enforcement agen...

Feds have reportedly shot another person.
Preliminary info is shaky for now, hearing two people injured.
BORTAC just rolled up in an armored vehicle.
A crowd is gathering outside the police tape—
Minneapolis Police Department presence as well.
The Feds realized they weren't going to have an easy time getting through.
They're reversing out.
And they've launched gas.

The Hawaiian Supreme Court
ruled that Hawaii’s constitution requires police to record interrogations.
And they vowed to protect due process for Hawaii residents
—unlike, they said, the U.S. Supreme Court.
https://boltsmag.org/hawaii-supreme-court-police-inter…

Hawaii Supreme Court Expands Rights of Defendants, and Once Again Rebukes SCOTUS - Bolts
The justices ruled that Hawaii’s constitution requires police to record interrogations. And they vowed to protect due process for Hawaii residents—unlike, they said, the Roberts Court.

The Las Vegas police department rolled out a new fleet of tactical vehicles to city streets last month:
all Tesla Cybertrucks.
The steel cars, wrapped in black-and-white vinyl, come decked out with warning lights and flashing sirens on the roof.
They seem to be heftier, more angular versions of a traditional police car.
Las Vegas is the first city in the US to grant its officers access to a battalion of the futuristic trucks, which have become synonymous with the Te…

In this account, participants in the rapid response networks in the Twin Cities describe their experiences,
explore the threat represented by the development of Immigration and Customs Enforcement into a political police,
and propose a strategy for how the rapid response networks could rise to the challenge and contribute to revolutionary social change.
To learn more about the rapid response chat structure, start here.

Rapid Response Networks in the Twin Cities
The rapid response networks people organize to defend their communities have undergone a whirlwind evolution to keep up with ever-shifting ICE tactics.