Chris Harris

You are not going to out "tough on crime" fascist Republicans. Because they don't actually care about *crime* - they care about racism and power.

Data-Driven Former Council Member Bill Spelman Dies at 68 The Harvard-trained public policy specialist served multiple terms

Bill Spelman was a fine criminologist and one of Austin's best city council members. Back when ATX liberals thought it was a great idea to roll over for the police union, give them all the $$ in the general fund, and screw over accountability advocates, he was a lone voice of reason. RIP, brother.

The poem: vimeo.com/426276718

Amazon union organizer Chris Smalls was on the Gaza freedom flotilla which was just raided by Israeli forces.

New York City’s Subway Is Actually Safer Than Your Car Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has a point about assaults underground, but his policies aren’t improving anything.

"...the risk of being murdered underground is... orders of magnitude less than the risk of dying from a traffic accident elsewhere in the US. Cars are deadly, and any transportation policy that encourages their use over public transportation is pretty much by definition anti-safety."

text from linked EFF article: "Not to be undone with new bad features, they are also planning on rolling back some of the necessary reforms Ring has made: namely partnering with Axon to build a new tool that would allow police to request Ring footage directly from users, and also allow users to consent to letting police livestream directly from their device."

for the love of god, get rid of your surveillance doorbell. and take the battery out of your parents'. if we're scared about cops using license plate readers / FRT databases to criminalize protesters, migrants, and abortion seekers? don't give them more to work with
www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

An LAPD helicopter claimed to have ID'ed protesters from above and threatened to "come to your house" The practice, an expert warns, could lead to "reprisals and retribution by the police for your politics.”

An LAPD helicopter claimed to have ID'ed protesters from above and threatened to "come to your house."

The threat was greeted with extreme concern by civil liberties and digital privacy groups. It suggests the LAPD could be using facial recognition to identify and retaliate against protesters.

License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows Flock, which has license plate readers (LPRs) all around the country, wants police to be able to “jump from LPR to person,” according to leaked audio obtained by 404 Media.

Another private surveillance vendor accessing data from commercial sources and data breaches and packaging it for law enforcement. In this case, the distributed nature of the license plater reader cameras is especially concerning

www.404media.co/license-plat...

Here is a VERY partial Wall of Shame of large firms that didn't sign the amicus brief:

Akin Gump
Alston & Bird
Baker & Hostetler
Baker Botts
Cadwalader
Cleary
Clifford Chance
Cravath
Davis Polk
Debevoise & Plimpton
Foley
Gibson, Dunn
Hogan Lovells
Holland & Knight
Jones Day
K&L Gates

[cont'd]

“The student movement will continue to carry the mantle of a free Palestine. History will redeem us, while those who were content to wait on the sidelines will be forever remembered for their silence.”

With Trump ramping up efforts to disappear people under the dubious pretext of "gang affiliation," Hannah Dreier’s gutting @propublica.org story from 2018 is a must-read.

It exposes how high schools, police, and ICE funneled students into detention and deportation over nothing more than a doodle.

I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Mahmoud Khalil Is One of the Most Upstanding People I Have Ever Met We cannot allow fascists to use the pretext of Jewish safety to attack our communities.

My workplace has become ground zero for American fascism. If we allow Mahmoud’s abduction to go unchallenged, we allow the end of democracy as we know it. New from me for @zeteo.com:

zeteo.com/p/i-am-jewis...

Tesla’s fall from grace may have no equal, says JPMorgan: ‘We struggle to think of anything analogous’ Amid a historic backlash against Tesla, the bank slashed its Q1 delivery forecast to just 355,000 vehicles and reduced its price target to $120 per share.

Amid a historic backlash against Tesla, the bank slashed its Q1 delivery forecast to just 355,000 vehicles and reduced its price target to $120 per share.

finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-f...

Repost these flyers to encourage more Tesla owners to break free, hurting Elon Musk's brand and wallet.
#TeslaTakeDown
Download files here: tinyurl.com/msn6wmse

Senate Dems Vote to Hand Trump the Keys After Months of Fundraising Off Resistance The DSCC stepped up its fundraising to “stop” Trump and Elon Musk, but Minority Leader Schumer, DSCC Chair Gillibrand, and others voted to help Republicans pass a government funding bill that empowers...

Our latest: Senate Dems leaned on small donors last month with asks to "stop" Trump and Musk, spending up to $788k on ads on Meta alone. Then Schumer and others voted with Republicans on cloture, empowering the Trump admin in funding decisions.

#TeslaTakedown Mass Mobilizing Call We've got big plans, and we want YOU to be part of them. Join #TeslaTakedown and special guests on Wednesday, March 19 at 8:30 p.m. ET for a Mass Mobilizing Call. You'll hear from experts, leaders and...

Join the #TeslaTakedown Mass Call this Wednesday at 8:30PM EST/ 5:30 PST! It's a great way to be part of the movement if you aren't able to get out into the street and a night of solidarity for those who have! With special guests!

Join up at the link 👇

An Inside Look at Taser Use in Texas Prison The sound of electricity sizzling and crackling broke the silence. To me, it looked like the electric chair was officially back in the prisons.

Dispatch from the inside: A prisoner in solitary watches as guards use Tasers on a naked, mentally-ill woman in a shower, and reflects on their increasingly brutal use in the Texas correctional system.

The Feminist Law Professor Who Wants to Stop Arresting People for Domestic Violence For years, Leigh Goodmark was convinced that the way to keep women safe was through arrests and prosecutions. Now she’s pushing for the opposite.

It took me 28 years to go from carceral feminist to abolitionist. @saaarah.bsky.social tells that story here.

Abbott’s Border Disaster Has Created a No-Bid Bonanza for Private Contractors There is now a powerful, well-heeled constituency that has built up around Operation Lone Star.

In TX, "Operation Lone Star has unleashed a windfall for private contractors cashing in on a four-year-long emergency shopping spree," the TX Observer reports: www.texasobserver.org/abbott-opera...

Sold my #Tesla. Sell yours too. Sell your stock. And boycott #Tesla. #TeslaTakeDown

A long line of cops in front of the Tesla dealership on 902 N. Rush Street in Chicago, after they made protesters move across the the street. Eventually there were at least 100 CPD officers protecting the dealership which had maybe 2-4 customers tops, from what I could tell. When I arrived at about 2:00 PM, there were about as many cops as protesters. Then people from the Women's Day march joined us and there were hundreds of protesters.

Today I saw a high level of anger at the massive number of cops that are protecting a Tesla dealership in Chicago. Lots of chants demanding to know why they are protecting Nazis. No one is letting CPD off the hook. This is what cops do - enable and participate in fascism. #Teslatakedown.

BREAKING: HUNDREDS of New Yorkers have swarmed and shut down the Tesla dealer in Manhattan. Six have been arrested after occupying the showroom. Protests are erupting across America to reject Musk's billionaire regime. This is how we beat fascism.

Mass direct action.
#TeslaTakedown

VICTORY! Federal Court (Finally) Rules Backdoor Searches of 702 Data Unconstitutional In a landmark ruling, a federal district court held that backdoor searches of databases full of Americans’ private communications collected under Section 702 ordinarily require a warrant. Congress sho...

A federal court has declared that warrantless searches of US person’s communications collected for national security purposes is unconstitutional. Now it’s our job to make sure Congress knows that when they renew this law in a little over a year.

In Uvalde, Students Followed Active Shooter Protocol. The Cops Did Not. Across the country, states require more training to prepare students and teachers for mass shootings than for those expected to protect them. The differences were clear in Uvalde, where children and o...

The bravery and determination of the students and teachers in this story contrasted with the people who were supposed to protect them is a fucking gutpunch.

US prison deaths soared by 77% during height of Covid-19 crisis, study finds Analysis of in-custody deaths show mortality rates were more than three times the increase in general population in 2020

“A study of US prison deaths at the height of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 has found that mortality rates soared by 77% relative to 2019, or more than three times the increase in the general population.”

Unacceptable.

Tenants of Affordable Complex Face Mold, Pests, and Raising Rent Rainey Management raises rent despite unsafe conditions

Tenants at the affordable Palms on Lamar apartment complex say they have been enduring mold, severe pest infestations, and faulty AC units during this record-hot summer.

Resources by city - Don't Call The Police Database of local and national community-based alternatives to calling the police or 911, broken down by city

dontcallthepolice.com is a resource I am so glad exists. ✊🏾

Predictive Policing Software Terrible At Predicting Crimes – The Markup A software company sold a New Jersey police department an algorithm that was right less than 1% of the time

“In the end, the success rate was less than half a percentage point. Fewer than 100 of the predictions lined up with a crime in the predicted category, that was also later reported to police. #surveillance themarkup.org/prediction-b...