Hi there, I just got back from the District Courthouse, where @JuniperLSimonis documented the uncomfortable number of spent toxic crowd control munitions lying around behind the fence
Some background:
The District Courthouse fence, erected during the Fed War in July, is coming down
A chunk of the concrete barricades supporting the fence have been removed
Last night, Dr. Simonis and others (including @AlissaAzar) noticed a rather prodigious number of...this
You may notice that the munitions are corroded
That, Dr Simonis explains, is because the chemicals still within and around the munitions have continued to react. As water flows over the munitions--as it has done all winter--the chlorates react with the metal
"Wait a minute," you might be thinking. "Does that mean that all winter, water has been running over these munitions and washing the chemical reagents and products direct into the storm drains and into the river?"
Yep!
There's a silver lining to the environmental damage caused by chenically-poisoned runoff; when construction crews moved the barricades they probably stirred up a smaller amount of toxic chemicals then they otherwise would have
Good news for the bicyclists who ride past the fence
(also good news for the courthouse employees who smoke in front of the District Courthouse, though I would recommend maybe NOT smoking out here)
Dr. Simonis and others collected 5 or 6 munitions last night, but couldn't get to the ones behind the fence
So they called BES
When BES didn't respond, Dr Simonis tagged them in a tweet
While Dr. Simonis showed me the munitions behind the fence, they found several pieces of "scat"--or "overshot" as the cops call it--on the street side of the fence
These are the cardboard or metal barriers between reagents that keep them separate until the munition detonates
As dire as this all is, it gets worse. A lot of the concrete barricades are still in place
As we walked, we saw munitions visibly beneath them. Looks like the construction crew just plunked 'em down. No effort by the feds to clean up their toxic mess
We also found the top section of a triple chaser CS gas munition wedged beneath a different barricade. They tried to extract it but it's just wedged in there too good
So I guess it'll stay there
With water running over it
Until someone decides to do something about it
We also spotted the top of a triple chaser grenade wedged under a different barrier. Dr Simonis attempted to extract it but we couldn't quite get it out
So I guess it'll just stay there
Washed over by rain
Until someone decides to do something about it
Who knows how much other crap is wedged under these barricades
I can at least partially explain why voters believed Trump: a liar who does nothing but lie
(Please keep in mind that "this is what happened" and "I think it's awesome that this happened" are two very different things. All of this is very bad! I'm not a fan!)
🧵
1) Low-info voters remember that life was better between 2016-2019 than it was from 2020 onward, and Trump made that a big part of his campaign. He promised a return to 2019
("But Trump was President in 2020!" Yep, and the GOP did a great job connecting Biden to COVID anyway)
2) Trump jokes around a lot. It doesn't sound like joking to people left of center but it's how the right hears it
My favorite example: he once said he could beat Riley Gaines in swimming. Everyone in the audience was laughing, but the mics didn't catch it. They never do
@noturtlesoup17 More competitors than onlookers as the teams from various departments and units are preparing to engage on Feats of Strength. Halfhearted cheers from this crowd of...maybe 100 at this point
For the last four hours, and probably for a long time before that, this protest squared off with lines of rioting cops. They were remarkably refrained, mostly absorbing the constant flash bang and "less lethal" rounds without retaliation