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1. Embed this notice
   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Jul-2025 12:30:00 JST Paul Cantrell

   Prosecutors are dropping charges against 8 different LA protestors, because US immigration officers did what cops always do when their egos are bruised and they want to charge someone for nothing:

   They lied.

   They lied about what happened, the evidence doesn’t back up the charges, and prosecutors know they’ll be handed their asses on a plate if it goes to court.

   1/

   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/28/doj-la-protesters-false-claims

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Jul-2025 12:31:05 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     ❝When I see felonies dismissed, that tells me either the federal officers have filed affidavits that are not truthful and that has been uncovered, or US attorneys reviewing the cases realize the evidence does not support the charges. … It seems this is a way to detain people, hold them in custody, instill fear and discourage people from exercising their first amendment rights.❞
     — legal expert Cristine Soto DeBerry

     2/

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Jul-2025 12:33:23 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     This is not an isolated incident. Cops lie about what happened all the time.

     It’s worth reading again (or at all if you never have before, but make sure you’re sitting down) how the Minneapolis police first described the murder of George Floyd, before they knew there was video:

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Jul-2025 12:43:11 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     ❝Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.❞

     You’ve seen the video. Picture that video. Now read those words again. Those words how they described murdering him.

     Learn to work backwards from those words to what we all now know really happened.

     Now apply that technique next time you hear cops describe something that happened.

     4/

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Jul-2025 12:47:50 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     If — heaven willing — we are in for months and years of sustained protests, we are going to be hearing a whole lots from police about how protestors were “assaulting officers” and “resisting arrest.”

     We will unfortunately be hearing about people detained under violent and inhumane conditions “suffering medical distress.”

     Please learn to spot the BS right away, from that very first press release, •before• there’s video. Practice that now. Have that mindset at the ready.

     5/

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Jul-2025 12:51:26 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     When somebody is harmed by police or ICE or whatever thugs this awful wave of fascism unleashes on us, and when you hear that that person deserved it, or that the harm just sort of magically •happened• but nobody •did• it, ask:

     “Says who? How do we know?”

     “•Who• caused the harm? Does the language the police are using hide the actor?”

     “Did that story come from anyone beside a cop?”

     “Could they have made this up? Does it sound like all the other stories we now •know• they just made up?”

     Believe with caution.

     /end

   • Embed this notice
     cratermoon (cratermoon@zirk.us)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 06:19:41 JST cratermoon

     in reply to

     @inthehands https://fair.org/home/6-elements-of-police-spin-an-object-lesson-in-copspeak/