- Ramones
In the two-page handout, Agar instructs firearms analysts on how to circumvent judges’ restrictions on unscientific testimony. He even suggests dialogue for prosecutors and analysts to recite if challenged. Most controversially, Agar advises analysts to tell judges that any effort to restrict their testimony to claims backed by scientific research is tantamount to asking them to commit perjury.
#original#lmfao is there ANY ‘pattern matching’ forensics that isn’t bullshit (via @unpretty)
NOPE XD
I’d really encourage everyone to read this article, Balko’s been working this beat for nearly 20 years now and he not only really knows his stuff but is also a concise and punchy writer, but there’s one sentence I think EVERYONE should see, whether they read it or not. To Wit:
One review found FBI analysts had made statements unsupported by science in 95 percent of the cases in which they testified.
95% OF PAST FBI FORENSIC TESTIMONY WAS BASELESS! How many innocent people imprisoned, how many lives wrecked, how many family destroyed, by that gigantic steaming pile of false testimony? If US pols cared about justice they’d be calling for, at least!, every case which FBI testimony played a role in being reviews to make sure it wasn’t unverifiable or simply made up.
“Most of the fields of forensics were developed not by scientists, but by law enforcement to generate leads or to help convict suspects once they had been identified.”
On this day, 3 March 1816, Juana Azurduy, a woman of Quechua descent from what now is Bolivia, led one of her anti-colonial military detachments to victory in battle against Spanish troops near El Villar.
Her troops included a women’s unit known as the Amazonas, 30 Creole riflemen and 200 indigenous fighters armed with slingshots and clubs.
Azurduy led her troops from her command post in El Villar to launch a counter-attack against Spanish general Santos la Hera. During the battle, 15 Spanish soldiers were killed, as well as others who were pursued on horseback as they attempted to escape.
More info about Indigenous resistance in the Americas in this book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/products/500-years-of-indigenous-resistance-gord-hill
Artist unknown https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2222570781261393/?type=3
