Update, yes there are snipers:

  • deweydecibel
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    16 days ago

    Nixon invades Cambodia, campuses across the country erupt in protest, armed troops deployed to deal with the unrest on an Ohio campus, guns pointed at students to intimidate them into dispersing…hmmm, can’t remember what happened next…everything calmed down, I think, right?

    Edit: Autocorrect betrayed me.

    • Karyoplasma
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      11916 days ago

      God blessed the students with omniscient insight, so they reverted their concerns and joined the army to establish democracy all over the world. An eagle, sounding like a red-tailed hawk, was heard screeching in the distance.

      • @supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        16 days ago

        Eagles these days just don’t sound like they used too, back in my day they had this powerful screech that would pierce through even a swelling orchestral track to a movie.

        Then the woke mob came for Eagles and now they sound lame.

        I want to go back to those good times, that I imagine in my head, those times are great because I can remember whatever bullshit fantasy I want as “history” and just throw a tantrum and scream at anyone who challenges me on it.

        Red tailed hawks? What are those? Are they like an Owl or something? Since when did people give a fuck about birds? They are so boring.

        ( /s )

        • @TriPolarBearz@lemmy.world
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          716 days ago

          Since when did people give a fuck about birds?

          Here’s the thing. You said a “jackdaw is a crow.” Is it in the same family? Yes. No one’s arguing that. As someone who is a scientist who studies crows, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls jackdaws crows. If you want to be “specific” like you said, then you shouldn’t either. They’re not the same thing. If you’re saying “crow family” you’re referring to the taxonomic grouping of Corvidae, which includes things from nutcrackers to blue jays to ravens. So your reasoning for calling a jackdaw a crow is because random people “call the black ones crows?” Let’s get grackles and blackbirds in there, then, too. Also, calling someone a human or an ape? It’s not one or the other, that’s not how taxonomy works. They’re both. A jackdaw is a jackdaw and a member of the crow family. But that’s not what you said. You said a jackdaw is a crow, which is not true unless you’re okay with calling all members of the crow family crows, which means you’d call blue jays, ravens, and other birds crows, too. Which you said you don’t. It’s okay to just admit you’re wrong, you know?

          • @supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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            716 days ago

            Here’s the thing. You said a “jackdaw is a crow.” Is it in the same family? Yes. No one’s arguing that. As someone who is a scientist who studies crows, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls jackdaws crows.

            Whatever schmuck, the thesis title of my double-PHD from Beige University (Rhode Island Ivy League) was “Crows And Jackdaws, A MetaAnalysis Of Corvidae Interchangeability Along Intersectional Metrics Of Culture, Science and Archival Preservation”.

    • TheHarpyEagle
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      1216 days ago

      I think they built some cool light fixtures for kids to study by or something.

  • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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    17616 days ago

    We’re so different from those godless immoral Chinese communists, something like Tianenman Square would never happen here.

    Lol.

    Lmao, even.

      • @FeeshyFish@lemmy.world
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        5316 days ago

        Translation: Threats of violence are fine for a government to regularly make as long as no one has died.

        Not authoritarian at all

        • But they have these at football games and other major events including political events and so on too? Why is this any different, especially when considering it’s related to the Middle East and considering what happens w/ suicide bombers?

          These spotters are different from the police shootings in the Kent State incident, no?

          • JJROKCZ
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            1016 days ago

            So because the students are protesting about something happening in the Middle East, you jump straight to worrying about suicide bombers? Not all Arabs are ISIS my dude, your bias is showing

            • This has nothing to do with bias, and everything to do with prior incidents (9/11, namely… but also the '93 bombing, the 2009 fort hood shooting the 2013 Boston marthon bombing, the 2015 san bernardino attack and the 2016 orlando nightclub shooting)

              Further, I’m not super thrilled about you accusing me of being a racist because I’m concerned about a prevalent concern/non-zero likelihood risk or threat. Don’t assume maliciousness where ignorance may suffice. Flies. Vinegar. Honey.

      • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        1816 days ago

        If your basis for ethical governance is splitting hairs about relative body count, stop, go back, you fucked up. But also: give them a minute. It’s the cops we’re talking about here. They might be a little slow, but they’ll get the job done eventually.

        • BlanketsWithSmallpox
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          -316 days ago

          … I’d say the body count for which your government murders you is pretty damn relevant without splitting hairs lmfao.

          • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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            516 days ago

            Emphasis “relative”. The US govt and agents thereof (read: police) murder and brutalize often enough, and even get quite upset when people get upset over their doing it. That’s why I say it’s splitting hairs.

          • @metaldream@sopuli.xyz
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            15 days ago

            Bro we can all tell you’re just looking for excuses to justify government violence when it suits you.

            You can pull the mask off now, we know what you are.

        • @tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1616 days ago

          Many police department don’t report the deaths of people due to their actions or in their custody to any sort of national database as well, so estimates are likely undercounting. Corruption is rampant in departments as well, there have been cases of people dying and being buried by police without informing the family or anyone else.

          So it’s likely much worse than we realize. Many murders are unsolved, there are many missing people cases also unsolved. In 2020, there were dozens of people reported missing that were involved in protests that were never found.

      • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        5116 days ago

        Uh, okay. I see what you’re playing at here, yeah, Tianenman Square happened, but that doesn’t mean that the US is then free and clear. We have a similar spirit of authoritarianism with a strong national myth about how it’s okay for us because we’re the “good guys” (spoiler alert).

        More to the point, we have a militarized police force that aggressively puts down any meaningful protest. Our police regularly kill, maim, and brutalize people for no other reason than to put them in their place. My point isn’t China good, my point is making fun of all the people who hand-wring about China and communism while we already live under a not-so-different dumbfuck authoritarianism ourselves.

        • I definitely agree, I’m all for ACAB. I was just making the express observation (prior to my comment being deleted by the owner) that, this is not one of those cases.

          If we aren’t fair, reasonable, and dead honest on these points in our protests, they won’t be taken seriously. And when protests aren’t take seriously things get dangerous, and I don’t want to see legitimate protest against the police state turn into damnation or terrorism charges, more than they already are.

          Thanks for being civil and having a conversation about this

    • Let’s try this again without the Tiananmen Square Massacre copy pasta, at the explicit request of “seahorse” the Midwest social owner:

      The difference between the two is that there was no weapon here. You can’t even make out what’s in front of the dude in black but most everyone here took a Twitter post as fact.

      The Tiananmen Square massacre, on the other hand, did happen and did kill people. That’s the difference here.

      • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        4016 days ago

        I responded to the comment with the copypasta. Anyway, the point isn’t China good, the point is making fun of all the people in the US that screech about Chinese authoritarianism like we haven’t been captured by our own stupid fucking brand of authoritarianism.

        • @stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          16 days ago

          We can keep that chain here one sec [edited]

          I definitely agree, I’m all for ACAB. I was just making the express observation (prior to my comment being deleted by the owner) that, this is not one of those cases.

          If we aren’t fair, reasonable, and dead honest on these points in our protests, they won’t be taken seriously. And when protests aren’t take seriously things get dangerous, and I don’t want to see legitimate protest against the police state turn into damnation or terrorism charges, more than they already are.

          Thanks for being civil and having a conversation about this

        • @stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          16 days ago

          Source?

          Edit: downvoting someone for asking to provide source for your claim. Guess we’re cool with making stuff up. To those interested: look into how Russia was caught with their Facebook farms setup in Africa to sow disinformation ahead of the 2016 election season.

          I won’t feel bad for asking for legitimate source information.

          • @whotookkarl@lemmy.world
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            1116 days ago

            https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/04/26/snipers-college-protests-gaza/

            Nothing conclusive I can see yet from AP etc, but it is a bit suspicious the universities and police are not responding/stonewalling requests for information from journalists, if they had no snipers how hard would it be to say there were no snipers?

            Also a healthy skepticism isn’t afraid of questioning sources I wouldn’t apologize for it either, but it can also be a rhetorical tactic that sometimes is difficult to tell if it’s genuine or not. Not an excuse just an observation.

            • I appreciate your candor and civility, it’s much easier for us to talk and correct any miscommunications when we’re at the same level. Thank you.

              I totally agree, the whole thing screams PR/scrambling to quench any flames, rather than to just come forth with the raw, uncensored/stretched truth. We deserve to have that from our government at the very fucking least.

          • Gamma
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            316 days ago

            It does look like the top right of the banner in the OP

            • @stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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              16 days ago

              Agreed, but I still want to know what the source is.

              I’ve also come to learn about marksman which are basically cops setup at major events with lots of people to prevent suicide bombers

              Now that’s a double edged sword, especially because of, well all that the police have been doing since, well the beginning it would seem. I can’t trust a cop to do a routine traffic stop without shooting someone, I certainly would be concerned about one with a sniper at a high-stress/high movement event like this.

              I can definitely see this being real now, but I’m not sure if I agree with it or not - I agree that a terrorist attack at an event like this would be devastating and I wouldn’t want that to happen either, but I don’t trust that the police are being trained appropriately or being audited/actioned on appropriately.

              Ultimately my shitty initial tone and attitude were what bit me in the ass in this thread, despite just trying to get confirmation on the information from an appropriate source, so I’m just going to leave well enough alone now.

    • @Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world
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      -3416 days ago

      To hell with your christofacist state. Worshipping a god of wrath like the abrahamic god is even worse than worshipping your own megalomaniac self

  • But don’t worry guys! The first amendment guarantees a right to assemble. The police wouldn’t ever do anything to infringe on our rights! If they were to do it, I’m sure there’d be a really sick folk song written about it or something

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      9816 days ago

      The day Philadelphia bombed its own people: An oral history of a 1985 police bombing that changed the city forever.

      On the evening of May 13, 1985, longstanding tensions between MOVE, a black liberation group, and the Philadelphia Police Department erupted horrifically. That night, the city of Philadelphia dropped a satchel bomb, a demolition device typically used in combat, laced with Tovex and C-4 explosives on the MOVE organization, who were living in a West Philadelphia rowhome known to be occupied by men, women, and children. It went up in unextinguished flames. Eleven people were killed, including five children and the founder of the organization. Sixty-one homes were destroyed, and more than 250 citizens were left homeless.

      Folks familiar with this incident had a remarkably different take on the Waco siege and subsequent fire that resulted when the FBI surrounded David Koresh’s church compound. Same with the Ruby Ridge US Marshal slaying of a white nationalist’s wife and son, during an investigation into gun sales.

      Then there’s the assassination of Fred Hampton and Malcolm X, the police storming of the Occupy Wall Street camps in New York, the COINTELPRO operations that targeted anti-war movements during the Bush Administration, the incredibly violence by police in Ferguson and Baltimore during the BLM marches, police kidnappings in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, and LA during the George Floyd protests.

      I got to personally witness the mass arrest of protesters in Houston, after they were surrounded and kettled in Discovery Green Park.

      America is a cursed land. Something something maybe don’t build your country on an ancient indian burial ground something something.

        • @Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml
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          16 days ago

          LOL they really did successfully rewrite the history on that one. The troops fought WITH the companies, not against them. The only reason they backed off is because they were losing. Had they continued, the legitimacy of the regime would have been brought into question. Not only because they were literally going to war with its own citizens, but also that those citizens were absolutely kicking their fucking asses.

          We’re talking about an empire that could barely hold their own when fighting against a nonviolent people with primitive technology, and then went on to lose a war against fucking farmers in Vietnam. The odds couldn’t be further in their favor and yet they keep collecting Ls. If people collectively realized just how much of a complete joke these fascist clowns are, they would run away pissing themselves crying. God only knows what would happen if a nation actually engaged them in war on their soil. They’re not even at war and the entire place is already crumbling.

  • @Red_October@lemmy.world
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    10816 days ago

    Should be treated like they are? Okay, so full outrage, comparisons to the Kent State massacre, and the administration facing reprisals and consequences for deploying snipers to intimidate, threaten, and potentially murder students.

    We’re treating them like they’re snipers, Admin, you’re welcome.

    • @CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      16 days ago

      If they should be treated like snipers, that means protesters should respond in kind:

      Make smoke screens. Tires work best. Bicycle tire with gas will make thick black smoke making it hard for the spotter and sniper to see.

      Force projection works both ways: make their advantages into disadvantages. Snipers are long range units, meaning they have to be away from what they are targeting. If you can create enough distractions they won’t be able to see the forest from the trees.

      All in Minecraft, of course.

    • @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      2416 days ago

      Yeah, you’re putting snipers on a university aimed at the students. That’s not the behavior of a government that values personal freedoms like speech and assembly.

      Free speech on college campuses means they have to pay bigots to speak and allow disruption from religious protests by non students, but students get riot cops and snipers for protesting genocide

  • @archchan@lemmy.ml
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    8616 days ago

    Wtf… Cops in riot gear arresting students before 10pm, and fucking SNIPERS intimidating in a peaceful one night protest on a college campus. And a university spokesperson saying “demonstrators exercised their first amendment right for several hours and then were instructed to disperse” like yeah, that’s enough first amendment right for you guys, go be quiet now.

    Nope. Just nope. You are not free. Burn it all to the ground before it’s too late or we’re actually fucked.

    • @Wiz
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      715 days ago

      I was with you until the “burn it all to the ground”.

      If you don’t have something to replace it with, the rich and powerful will simply take advantage of the chaos.

      Tear down the bad, but keep the good, and build more good.

  • @Revonult@lemmy.world
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    6216 days ago

    So not justifying this response, but they have snipers out for EVERY football game. I think it is standard practice for large gatherings. You can make your own opinions on this, but this isn’t a unique thing.

        • @phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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          115 days ago

          For a protest on a university campus? I mean, the US already has a great history with innocent students being murdered for speaking out, so… Yeah, not unusual for the US.

      • @Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Europe has snipers at football stadiums too. One of the first, mainstream, acknowledgements of them was when a protestor parachuted onto the field during the Germany-France Euro match in 2020. When people got mad they said it was common practice to have snipers at most events of this size.

      • @Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world
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        016 days ago

        Yeah, cuz thrice-weekly mass shootings are a US thing. I’m not getting into a chicken-and-egg circkejerk with anyone about which came first, but as long as “we the people” are gonna keep shooting large gatherings of our fellow citizens…especially if we think they disagree with us, then any controversial or highly public event is gonna be crawling with armed police…including snipers.

        • Honestly, I’d have snipers at any large gathering. Mass shootings/stabbings/drivings/bombings have recently taken place in Europe, Russia, and other parts of the world. It’s good to have security when there are tens or hundreds of thousands of people gathered in a place (eg, the Olympics, mega concerts, wtc)

    • @Syrc@lemmy.world
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      615 days ago

      I’m not that well-versed in US policy for this stuff, but if it’s standard practice why would they lie about it?

      • @Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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        515 days ago

        Because the first photo is not of snipers, it’s observers. When the person who took it asked, that’s what they were told.

        The second photo is when they saw the actual sniper.

        • @Syrc@lemmy.world
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          415 days ago

          Apparently the issue is people asked the University if there were snipers, at 8:15 pm they replied there weren’t, and later said they deployed them at 10 pm.

          More reasonable than what it looked like but still kinda crazy, at least from my outside perspective.

    • Ahri Boy
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      616 days ago

      That’s why snipers are being prepared for the Olympic Games in Paris. SAM sites might be used in case protests would involve use of airplanes.

      • @Cowbee@lemmy.ml
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        7516 days ago

        You welcome snipers being used on American students protesting the use of their money to fuel an ongoing genocide? You’re a monster, lol

      • @Alsephina@lemmy.ml
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        3116 days ago

        When’s the last time anyone managed to decolonize or destroy apartheid without organized violent resistance?

          • @AmosBurton_ThatGuy@lemmy.ca
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            -1416 days ago

            You’re being down voted but you’re very right. The tankies on Lemmy are almost just as annoying as the right wingers on reddit. Quite impressive tbh.

            • @Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              15 days ago

              Most of the trolls are liberals/right-wingers on lemmy.world that came from reddit as far as I can see, like /u/chakan2 up above

              • @Cowbee@lemmy.ml
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                515 days ago

                Yep. Lemmy.world gets the ideological Reddit crowd that can’t stay due to some enshittification-related controversy, but they still want Reddit, so they go to the largest, generalist instance.

                Anyone from Reddit with more niche interests likely already goes to leftist, programming, star trek, blahaj, or other instances that match their niche interest, which lesves Lemmy.world with everyone else.

            • arefx
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              015 days ago

              I’m gonna get downvotes too but you guys are right. It doesnt matter what social media forum you go.on they all end up the same in the end. Definitely plenty of brain dead takes on lemmy, it doesn’t matter where those posters came from because they ARE part of lemmy now even if people want to pretend that doesn’t count (it does).

  • BlanketsWithSmallpox
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    16 days ago

    As someone who’s worked large events and closely with police or other big wig officials, I am consistently surprised at how people are surprised about how high profile event security works.

    The amount of work that goes into keeping people safe regularly is monumental. You’d also be surprised at just how much hard targets don’t get attacked when a limelight is cast on them compared to soft targets. It’s violence prevention 101 and easily the most important.

    If you see something, say something.

    PDF warnings:

    https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/whats-next-soft-target-attacks

    https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS-Soft-Target-Crowded-Place-Security-Plan-Overview-052018-508_0.pdf

    https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/fema_faith-communities_security-soft-targets-crowded-places.pdf

    • Dark Arc
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      5116 days ago

      Agreed, most of the responses here are ridiculous.

      They bring snipers out anytime there’s a big event or a major public figure. Michelle Obama visited the University of Akron when I was going there, they had snipers all over the place.

      They’re not bringing out snipers for some kind of perverted crowd control. It’s almost definitely so if someone shows up with a gun and starts firing into the crowd all the protestors don’t get shot.

      • @gmtom@lemmy.world
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        3316 days ago

        Yep b3causr there’s absolutely no difference in armed defense when the president or first lady is visiting and when students are protesting, none at all.

        He’ll might as well tell the students of tiananmen square that tanks are just a normal part of defence.

        🤡

        • Dark Arc
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          Have you considered what would happen if an active shooter, consider one that’s pro-Israel, showed up in that crowd and they didn’t have a sniper?

          Tell me you wouldn’t be over here screaming “ACAB” when the cops are unable to get to the shooter (and have to risk firing through a crowd or do nothing) because there are hundreds of college students between where the cops are standing and where the active shooter is.

          Having a sniper on the roof is in no way similar to a tank running someone over in the street. There is no practical application for a tank vs a civilian population. There is 100% a valid reason to use a highly skilled marksman to increase the odds that if something bad does happen, it’s stopped quickly, and you can get EMTs to the injured parties.

          Your position is offensively wrong.

          EDIT: Minor edit to remove a swear and switch to textual emphasis.

            • Dark Arc
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              16 days ago

              Yeah and it’s just a nice little coincidence that they could be used on the protestors too right?

              Give me ONE incident of an active duty US sniper (police or military) EVER shooting a SINGLE protestor with even so much as a rubber bullet. Otherwise your argument is complete bull shit.

              Edit: This isn’t some “good guy with a gun” or “untrained beat cop” situation. This is a sniper.

              Edit 2: For anyone who wants to understand what is almost certainly happening here, watch this video https://youtu.be/PnEB5u2wqEY?si=58MTT_sqv1Tf7Lv6. This is standard procedure when you get these large gatherings to protect people. This person is actively encouraging increased risk to the safety of the protestors (and everyone else involved), while making personal attacks, and completely unfounded claims about this being some form of political persecution. It’s IMO ridiculous and indefensible behavior regardless of where you stand on the Israel and Gaza situation.

                • Dark Arc
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                  1016 days ago

                  Those are not snipers, they were untrained national guardsman that shouldn’t have ever been there. No Kent does not count.

                • @Hootz@lemmy.ca
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                  16 days ago

                  Yea but those were hippy beatniks so it’s fine.

                  /S

                  In that case it was a bunch of National guardsmen, not snipers so he’s not wrong if he’s talking just snipers.

                • Dark Arc
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                  As I already told the other person: Those were not snipers, they were national guardsman that were untrained for that kind of work and they shouldn’t have ever been there.

              • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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                115 days ago

                The 40ish arrests kinda lean towards this being intimidation. Also I think shooting into a crowd (where these teams where pointing) has never been a good idea and as far as I can tell no evidence exists of even a single time a sniper team has been successfully used in any crowded area. (If you find some please share)

                • Dark Arc
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                  -114 days ago

                  It’s not intimidation because it’s normal for any large crowd. The snipers are not there to arrest anybody. The snipers are not going to assassinate some random college student.

                  You’re also not going to find “the snipers really saved the day” articles because they’re just going to say “the police” in pretty much any article praising a police response. They also don’t normally shoot their guns and are more to assist the folks on the ground with figuring out where trouble is and how to get to it.

                  You could do a lot of the same job with a pair of binoculars. I’m sure they don’t because it’s just another expense and then you need to switch from binoculars to a rifle and find the target again if something does go sideways.

              • @gmtom@lemmy.world
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                -416 days ago

                Give me ONE incident of an active duty US sniper (police or military) EVER shooting a SINGLE protestor with even so much as a rubber bullet. Otherwise your argument is complete bull shit.

                So because that very specific combination of a sniper shooting a protestor in America hasn’t happened yet that makes it okay? Snipers have shot other civilians, the police have shot protestors and police snipers have shot protestors before in other countries. So you would have to be really dishonest to pretend that means it’s fine.

                Edit: This isn’t some “good guy with a gun” or “untrained beat cop” situation. This is a sniper.

                “Police violence is okay as lk g as they are trained”

                https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-03-25/a-missouri-police-sniper-killed-a-2-year-old-girl-why-did-he-take-the-shot

                So was this shooting justified then because the sniper wasn’t as untrained as a random beat cop?

                Like I get you’ve committed to the position and there’s no way you’re mature enough to deviate from that now, but my god this is such a bad hill yo die on.

                • Dark Arc
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                  516 days ago

                  Did you even read the article you linked? A dude shot his girlfriend in the head with a shotgun. Then was taking shots in the dark (literally) shooting from a building while he had a baby in his arms. That could not be more different of a situation from stopping an active shooter in a public gathering. It also has absolutely nothing to do with using snipers as some means of intimidating protestors or suppressing political speech. This was a very tricky domestic situation that went wrong.

                  This article also says:

                  A former federal law enforcement sniper, whose name KCUR is withholding because he now works in the private sector, said “99.9 percent of the time” snipers are relaying information to commanders, not firing their weapons.

                  The most important rule for a sniper is they “must be absolutely sure of the identity” of any target. That directive is on page one of the FBI’s Advance Rifle Training manual.

                  Don’t you dare start talking about maturity. You’ve been more than happy to make numerous personal attacks and inflammatory remarks.

                  I’m done with this conversation. You can believe what you want but you are very very wrong about the facts and risks of this situation and the personal attacks do nothing to help your argument.

            • @ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              15 days ago

              This is some absolute bullshit “good guy with a gun” mentality.

              Has any shooting to your knowledge been stopped by anything other than a self defender, a cop, or the guy shooting himself to avoid said cops? The common denominator in any of those is “a gun held by someone intending to stop the shooter.” (In the case of the shooter shooting himself, it is generally still to avoid a group of guys with guns intending to stop the shooter, the cops.)

              You’re one of those “harvard says the good guy with a gun is a myth” guys, aren’t you? I can smell it in your comment. Seems you missed an important note from that study however: While defensive gun use is “more accurately estimated at 100,000 DGU/yr,” instead of the CDC’s reported estimates by Kleck and Lott, all gun deaths including suicide and accidents are still around 60,000 a year, adjusting for intentional homicide only gets 12,000/yr, and just for fun those scary black rifles that are “the problem” are only used in ~500 deaths/yr. Furthermore their study discounted entirely what is likely the most common form of defensive gun use, defensive display, in which the sight of the firearm is enough to scare off the attacker. This means that Harvards 100,000 estimate would be low if we included them. Still though, even with them pretending defensive display is all lies, 100,000>60,000>12,000>500, meaning guns are used far more for defense than murder or suicide.

              What can we take away from this? Well, if 100,000 is SO infrequent that we can categorize it as a “myth,” what then is 60,000 or 12,000 or 500? If 100,000 dgu is a myth, so to must be our 60,000 gun deaths at 40,000 less.

        • @FluorideMind@lemmy.world
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          116 days ago

          Bro this is literally standard practice. Most planned large events get all kinds of police presence. Including snipers and plainclothes.

          • @gmtom@lemmy.world
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            316 days ago

            So that makes it okay to have riot police intimidate these protestors and have snipers point weapons at peaceful protedtors?

            • @Emmie@lemm.ee
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              16 days ago

              Listen, we know what’s happening there but the snipers aren’t the problem…

              I am angry a little because everyone consumes these sort of news without question.

              Then someone does a post, most upvoted comment is seen as most true and correct and it all poisons our reality. Spoofing. Matrix.

        • @ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          14 days ago

          Lol this is lemmy, Tienanmen Square “never happened” here. According to .ml, hexbear, and grad, anyway…

          Edit: lmao, point proven tankies!

      • @lud@lemm.ee
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        716 days ago

        Yeah, I’m not even from the USA and even I know that you guys do that a lot.

      • @daltotron@lemmy.world
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        315 days ago

        I’m really not sure a sniper would be super useful in that situation. Obviously, different environment than the 2017 las vegas shooting, but I don’t really think that those snipers on rooftops would really be effective at all in taking out a committed shooter, which could just shack up in one of the many buildings with windows facing the crowd and fire down or into the crowd. Maybe in that case, a sniper might be able to peep out where the shooter is, or might be able to get a shooter on the way in or out, but with the level of people there and the level of surrounding buildings, I’m really not sure they’d be able to do very much. Obviously if someone just walks in off the street and opens up on everyone, then a sniper might be more effective, but I dunno.

    • @Specal@lemmy.world
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      815 days ago

      It seems insane to me because I’ve only met armed police once in my life, and that was at download festival in the UK after a spree of terrorist attacks across the UK and the rest of Europe.

      That was quite entertaining however as the armed police kept having to run away from drunk people who wanted pictures taken with the guns.

      • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        -516 days ago

        Hey keep me out of your circus. Just please don’t drag the rest of the world down with you.

        • @antidote101@lemmy.world
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          16 days ago

          Lots of places in the US have snipers due to the possibility of terrorist threats, mass shooters, and attackers (eg. Major events like the super bowl), the thing about these snipers is that they’re there to make sure the protestors don’t get too out of hand.

          It’s the difference between shooting an intruder trying to bang down your door, and shooting your own kid for being too noisy.

          • @lud@lemm.ee
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            416 days ago

            the thing about these snipers is that they’re there to make sure the protestors don’t get too out of hand.

            We have absolutely no idea if that’s the case or not. Considering that snipers are often used when a lot of people are together to protect against terrorism and idiots with guns, it’s safe to assume the same here as well. Unless there is some evidence to the contrary of course.

          • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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            16 days ago

            I don’t think shooting into a crowd has ever worked to calm a situation. I seem to remember it not working to well in Boston when the British still ran the place.

    • @Alsephina@lemmy.ml
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      313 days ago

      Look up at the sky, at the dark shapes of Coalition airships hanging there. Ask yourself: is there something sinister in moralism? And then answer: no. God is in his heaven. Everything is normal on Earth.