Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

capitolhillautonomous.zone

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

541–550 of 920 posts

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#541

Post by ashtonkem »

cameron_b wrote: post #534
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine its because all their other training, all their range practice, is to shoot at center of mass three times in a burst. Hard to change in the heat of the riot.

I would say this is spot on from what I've heard. When emotions are this high ( look at the cops faces when they are exposed ) there's nothing but muscle memory. I took a class on active shooter scenarios where they focused on that "be careful how you train" aspect with the illustration that a police officer ( no idea where ) once responded to a call where an armed man pointed a pistol right at the cop close range. T…

I think it’s worth asking why the cops are so angry at these protestors. We didn’t see this level of police anger and misconduct during the protests over the lock down, but during these protests the cops appear to be furious in a way I have never seen before.

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#542

Post by dmoy »

latencyloser wrote: post #380
thu2111 wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then there's also this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EaQyClgU4AEJnWf?format=jpg&name=... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EaQyCmMUEAEn_1o?format=jpg&name=... I've not before seen a summer street festival where armed militias wearing bulletproof vests patrol the streets.

That's just a plate carrier, with no plates in it. It won't stop a bullet, definitely not a rifle round. Maybe he has some soft armor jammed in there but doubtful based on the rest of his "I bought this from the local gunstore 3 days ago setup."

You cannot buy a semiautomatic rifle in 3 days in WA. There is a minimum 10 day waiting period.

You could buy the pieces and build it yourself, but you'd need some tooling.

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#543

Post by dragonwriter »

remarkEon wrote: post #335
hellomyguys wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you told me this stat a month ago, I would never believe it. 39% is a shocking amount and I can only imagine it is going to increase. You're right that we would still need to train a new organization to deal with violent events. But you're also ignoring the upside of not having a cop with a gun issuing speeding tickets, or dealing with someone experiencing mental health issues, or other things that could be better…

>give more financial support to address homelessness, mental health, and domestic violence. is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this poll, which should be obvious. I'm not ignoring anything. Cops respond to a variety of calls, all the time ... because there simply are not enough of them to have this "specialized" force you think would solve all of these problems. The grand irony of all of this is that the defunding of…

> Cops respond to a variety of calls, all the time ... because there simply are not enough of them to have this "specialized" force you think would solve all of these problems

Cops respond to a wide variety of calls all the time because over time (particularly between the 1960s to 1990s with concerns driven by crime statistics, though the trend has continued even as the original impetus reversed) resources were pumped into police departments, often diverted from other local services organizations.

When all you have is a paramilitary force trained for the application of force, every local problem looks like a target for the application of paramilitary violence.

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#544

Post by hsod »

drevil-v2 wrote: post #375
pera wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The media coverage of it is WILD I live 7 blocks away from "the zone" and can confirm, I have never in my life seen anything alike in this regard. The scale of the misinformation being spread in social networks and news media reached a level I couldn't believe possible before. Seriously, it's beyond absurd. If anyone is interested, I have been taking some pictures of the ongoing protests (including a few of the zon…

Seattle police chief said on TV [1] that "Rapes, robberies and all sorts of violent acts have been occurring in the area and we're not able to get to [them]." Doesn’t sound very utopian [1] https://twitter.com/mrandyngo/status/1271291958296604675?s=2...

she also said they were extorting businesses and later when asked for clarification said she heard about it on social media

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#545

Post by ogre_codes »

mcv wrote: post #424
drevil-v2 wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle police chief said on TV [1] that "Rapes, robberies and all sorts of violent acts have been occurring in the area and we're not able to get to [them]." Doesn’t sound very utopian [1] https://twitter.com/mrandyngo/status/1271291958296604675?s=2...

Wasn't it the police who abandoned this area in the first place? The impression I'm getting from this and other events from the past weeks is that the police would like us to believe that without them, society turns to chaos, but in practice, US police turns out to be a major source of chaos, and without them things often turn much more peaceful. I'm not saying there should be no police at all, but that police should…

> police would like us to believe that without them, society turns to chaos

The police benefit from chaos during these protests, I'm sure the temptation to foster chaos and destruction is quite high for them right now. It puts the protesters in a bad light and reinforces the idea that police are needed.

There are multiple cases where police have been observed contributing to the chaos or just idling around while it happened nearby. Definitely not universal, but some departments are doing the opposite of their job.

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#546

Post by jaracal »

virgil_disgr4ce wrote: post #443
downerending wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure anyone is "convinced", but yes, there are stories of uncertain believeability suggesting that there are people with guns at the "border" demanding ID to enter. Sounds dubious. Also, that the Antifas are asking for protection money from businesses within the zone. Again, dubious. But, if either of those things are happening, I'm pretty okay with putting an end to them, by whatever means necessary. Threatening…

> the Antifas are asking for protection money from businesses within the zone That's one of the most hilarious and absurd things I've ever heard. All of my antifa friends are the most wonderful, gentle nerds. They're gardeners, organizers, history buffs, parents, writers, table-top gamers. It's so bizarre (and shitty) that the public conception of "antifa" became twisted into this nonsensical cartoon of looters and p…

I don't know if they're shaking people for money, but I have seen plenty of videos of alleged antifas sucker-punching people that they think are fascists. There's videos of them throwing rocks at the police, too. There are stories of them setting fires during protests (before the current ones). There are also stories of violent street fights with neonazi groups. To me, it's just as hilarious and naive to think they are all pacifists.

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#547

Post by delecti »

Taikonerd wrote: post #386
tvanantwerp wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with close ties to an existing third party, they shouldn't put much hope on forming one and seeing it succeed. The American electoral system makes it nearly impossible for third parties to gain traction. And that's before you take into account that the people most likely to join third parties are also the most likely to be fringe personalities with little mainstream appeal and a penchant for causing intern…

> The American electoral system makes it nearly impossible for third parties to gain traction. That's true, under the existing system. And that makes it attractive to reform the system, to make it easier for third parties to grow. For example, approval voting was passed in Fargo recently: https://www.electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/approval... tl;dr -- third parties can't grow as long as "splitting the vote"…

I love approval voting. It's so simple, but for some reason ranked choice always seems to be pushed harder when talking about alternative voting systems.

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#549

Post by undefined1 »

conroy wrote: post #84

A friend lives in Seattle and texted me today about his visit last night: > I was there last night and it's such a cool pseudo utopian place > The media coverage of it is WILD > People on the internet are convinced it's protected by armed guards and people are dying of hunger and instead its...like a music festival campground > There are speakers, musicians, art walls. I took a group pic for a bunch of black guys las…

Portraying it as some mad max wasteland is absurd, but so is referring to it as even pseudo utopian.

It's not sustainable in any way and there wasn't exactly a democratic process by which the residents of Seattle agreed to having a section of their city turned into an autonomous zone. Though it could be an interesting experiment to do this somewhere, I think it'd have to go through a vote.

Re: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

#550

Post by latencyloser »

dmoy wrote: post #542
latencyloser wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just a plate carrier, with no plates in it. It won't stop a bullet, definitely not a rifle round. Maybe he has some soft armor jammed in there but doubtful based on the rest of his "I bought this from the local gunstore 3 days ago setup."

You cannot buy a semiautomatic rifle in 3 days in WA. There is a minimum 10 day waiting period. You could buy the pieces and build it yourself, but you'd need some tooling.

Yes, you're correct and it's a good clarification. Thanks. The rifle in this photo is definitely purchased and would've been subject to the waiting period you mention.

I was being a being a bit sarcastic about his gear being brand new and forgot about the relatively new laws as part of my joke. :)

Post reply on HN