u/WhoIsJolyonWest

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders joined dairy workers on the picket line Wednesday, calling for Dairy Farmers of America to reverse the closure of its St. Albans Creamery plant. A judge on Monday issued an injunction temporarily halting the closure after the Teamsters alleged the company was retaliating for workers striking last fall.

“We want to work. We want to go back to work,” said Ted Westover, who was among a group of DFA employees who stood in solidarity Wednesday in front of the shuttered St. Albans Creamery plant. “I’ve been here nine years. I’m in my late 50s. When I first started here, I viewed this was the last job I was ever gonna need.”

They were joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, just one of the state leaders expressing support for the union members. “My message today to DFA: Do the right thing,” Sanders said.

The Teamsters Local 597 members claim the closure is in direct retaliation for the nearly two-week strike that happened last September. But the company has maintained that the plant simply isn’t profitable enough to justify keeping it running. They plan to ship Vermont milk out of state for processing.

Locals like John Cross, who says his father and grandfather both brought their farm’s milk to the plant for decades, worry that additional transportation costs will further erode farmers’ profits. “I saw how hard it is to get through a day in a week sometimes, crop season, and then have to worry about where’s my milk gonna go?” said Cross.

Gov. Phil Scott also expressed concern for the state’s dairy industry. “We need a distribution facility as well as a facility to deal with milk here in Vermont, on our turf,” he said.

As the legal battle between DFA and the union continues, union president Curtis Clough says they are making their stance clear. “If DFA thinks they can get away with this, they are picking a fight with the wrong workers, the wrong community, the wrong union and the wrong state,” he said.

There’s a hearing set for Thursday in Burlington on the union’s lawsuit.

A federal judge has ordered the release of previously sealed material from Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell. The records had remained under seal for years, but Judge Loretta Preska ruled that remaining government-held materials should become public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, subject to legally required protections for victims. The ruling could bring 'volumes' of previously unseen evidence into the public record.

Court papers reveal that the Department of Homeland Security’s covert surveillance of anti-ICE groups is much darker than it first appeared. Welcome to Donald Trump’s America.

A group of protesters dressed as Gandalf, the character from The Lord of the Rings, held a protest outside Peter Thiel's residence in Buenos Aires after it was revealed that the American businessman had acquired a stake of approximately 1% in Vista Energy, one of the main oil companies operating in Vaca Muerta.
The activists used the phrase "You shall not pass," popularized by the character, as a slogan against the investment.

The protest questioned Thiel's entry into the Argentine unconventional hydrocarbon sector and used references to J.R.R. Tolkien's work to express their rejection. The demonstration took place after the investment by the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir in Vista Energy, a company founded by Miguel Galuccio with a core part of its operations in the Vaca Muerta shale formation in Neuquén province, became public.

Thiel made the transaction through his fund, Thiel Macro LLC, which declared to the U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) its holding of nearly 1.2 million Vista ADSs, valued at approximately USD 76 million as of the end of June. This stake represents about 1% of the oil company's capital and is the fund's second-largest declared position, after Amazon.

The investment gives Thiel direct exposure to Vaca Muerta, a formation located primarily in Neuquén province and considered one of the world's largest unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. Vista currently produces around 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and has invested more than USD 6.5 billion in Argentina.

The transaction also came to light amid Thiel's growing presence in Argentina. The businessman met with President Javier Milei, acquired a property in Buenos Aires, and strengthened his ties with the country in recent months.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Monday he will introduce legislation seeking to prevent the federal government from garnishing Social Security benefits for seniors with unpaid student loan payments. 

The bill, titled the Stop Social Security Garnishment Act of 2026, proposes barring the Education Department from cutting an individual’s Social Security retirement or disability benefits to offset their outstanding student loan debt. 

It also would protect older adults against “unnecessary forced collections” and ensure they have access to their Social Security payments to pay for expenses such as healthcare, medicine and groceries, according to a summary of the legislation. 

Sanders will introduce the bill when the upper chamber returns from recess on Sept. 14, a spokesperson for the senator told The Hill.

Roughly 1 in 5 student loan borrowers are at least 50 years old, with borrowers aged 50-61 having the highest average balance of $48,875, according to the Education Data Initiative. 

In the second quarter of this year, about 7.8 percent of borrowers were delinquent — meaning they missed at least three monthly payments — according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Nine million Americans are in default on their loans, with 1 in 4 borrowers at risk of the federal government seizing their wages to pay them back, according to Sanders’s office. 

The Education Department in Januarydelayed involuntary collections on federal student loans to allow for the implementation of changes to repayment programs codified by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

Pursuant to that legislation, which President Trump signed into law in July 2025, the department reduced the number of federal student loan repayment plans and introduced two new plans at the start of last month: a tiered standard repayment plan and an income-driven repayment plan.

The department said in January the delay in collections will give defaulted borrowers time to “evaluate” the new repayment options and begin the “rehabilitation process” for their loans.

But Sanders sounded the alarm Monday, saying “an increasing number of seniors are in danger of having their Social Security checks garnished to pay back student loans they took out decades ago,” a situation he called “beyond unacceptable.”

The progressive senator added in a release, “In the richest country in the history of the world, no senior should have their Social Security payments taken away from them to pay back student debt. 
“This is especially true when seniors throughout the country already cannot afford the skyrocketing price of healthcare, prescription drugs, groceries and housing. Congress must pass this legislation.”

The Hill has reached out to the Education Department for an update regarding its collections policy.

Massachusetts Democratic Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren are joining Sanders as co-sponsors of the legislation, according to the Vermont senator’s office. Markey is facing a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), with that election two weeks away.

A website called Have I Been Flocked? allows you to type in your license plate number to see if a Flock camera has captured your car’s information and included it in their database.

Although Cami Clark does not officially work for Anthropic, she operates as an influential shadow adviser for them and is also spotted sitting in the front row when Dario Amodei talks at big events, such as Davos.

Cami Clark, the wife and key adviser of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, attempted to secure investments from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein for what she called a "revolutionary porn company" that catered to women, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal and emails in the Epstein files.

Clark was introduced to Epstein in March 2011 by literary agent John Brockman. Epstein was already convicted in 2008 as a sex offender and of soliciting prostitution.

Brockman suggested that they connect for dinner. The emails in the Epstein files showed Brockman telling Epstein that he "should connect for dinner" with Clark and her business partner Michell Capocefalo.

"A Little NSFW"
"We would love to have dinner with you this evening," Cami then replied to the email that introduced her. The next day, she sent an email with the company's funding requirements and said, "It was FANTASTIC meeting you last night!"

A few days later she sent the script and treatment of the first few films of her company and said that he "might enjoy" the content with "the ladies".

In an email, she wrote “Jeffrey! We thought you and the ladies might enjoy the script/treatment for our first 4 films, American Girl in Paris. A little nsfw... C"

A year later in March, she asked Epstein if he would be interested in investing in her and a colleague's businesses. However, there is no indication that the funding was ever provided. In fact, in another separate email, Epstein had responded, "Can't do TV sex."

In July 2012, she had also invited Epstein to a house-warming party, but emails do not indicate that the two met again in person.

Who is Cami Clark?
Clark has been described as a "sounding board and strategic adviser" for Amodei and his company, and the report raises questions about her influence over both of them.

Although she does not officially work for the company, she operates as an influential shadow adviser for them and is also spotted sitting in the front row when her husband talks at big events, such as Davos. She also chats with investors at important gatherings such as the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley.

Even at his recent visit to India, at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this year, which allowed each executive to bring along an additional person, Amodei brought his wife. Most of the executives brought colleagues with them.

Clark was born in Nevada, United States, in 1979. After dating the former Google chief Eric Schmidt for three years in 2014, she married Amodei in 2022.

When Amodei joined Open AI in 2016, Clark served as his strategic adviser and introduced him to Schmidt. This led to a pivotal meeting in 2018 when she introduced Amodei to Schmidt, who later visited their San Francisco apartment. During the visit, Schmidt was impressed by their ideas on artificial intelligence.

When Dario Amodei, his sister Daniela, and several colleagues left OpenAI to found Anthropic in late 2020, Schmidt became a key early backer. He participated in their massive $124 million Series A funding round announced in May 2021.

Disneyland hotel workers took to the streets of Anaheim over the weekend to protest for fair wages ahead of their upcoming contract negotiations. The demonstration took place during the D23 weekend, which usually draws thousands of Disney's biggest fans to the resort. 

"As Disney fans gather in Anaheim for D23, hundreds of Disneyland hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 11 are calling attention to what they say is a very different reality behind the magic: workers struggling for fair wages," said a release from Unite Here Local 11, the union representing hospitality workers who picketed. 

Saturday's demonstration, which is one of a series of actions dubbed "No Magic In Our Paychecks," was the second walkout of the weekend, following a march on Friday afternoon. 

"Disneyland hotel workers say that while Disney generates billions of dollars from its theme parks, resorts and entertainment businesses, the workers who help create the guest experience deserve wages that allow them and their families to thrive," the union's statement said. "Workers are using D23 weekend to call on Disney to share the magic with the people who make it happen."

Union leaders said that hundreds of cast members have been in contract negotiations for months with "no major progress." They further said that Disney is "refusing to provide fair wages to hundreds of room attendants, cooks, dishwashers and other workers across its Disneyland hotel properties."

A Disneyland spokesperson told CBS LA that the current contract between Disneyland Resort and its hospitality workers expired in January and was extended by mutual agreement, and that they had scheduled negotiation dates in August and September. 

"Disneyland Resort is proud to offer competitive pay and benefits and a wide range of resources that support cast members both at work and in their daily lives," a statement from Disneyland Resort said. "We remain committed to working collaboratively throughout the bargaining process and are optimistic that we can reach a fair and equitable agreement that recognizes the contributions of our cast members while positioning Disneyland Resort for continued success in the years ahead."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan in taking a shot at Sen.John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a lawmaker they both once supported who recently criticized the long-serving Vermont senator.

"It's kind of a sad state of affairs, but I will tell you that I know in Pennsylvania, I don't think there's anybody in the Democratic caucus who has a lower rating among Democrats than John does," Sanders said on Hasan's show Wednesday.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, Fetterman holds an overall 48% approval rating with Pennsylvania voters. His support from Democratic voters shows 69% disapproval, while 77% of Republican voters approve of his performance in the Senate.*

Sanders' remarks against Fetterman come as people within his own party question whether or not the senator will officially switch parties. Fifty-two percent of respondents in the Quinnipiac University poll say they would rather see Fetterman leave the Democratic Party. 

The lawmaker has occasionally made appearances on President Donald Trump-friendly media shows like Katie Miller's podcast or Sean Hannity's show to buddy up with the MAGA base, criticize his own party, or trash-talk further left-leaning Democrats following a progressive sweep of victories in elections. 

The senator shut down the speculation about switching parties in an op-ed, stating that he has no plans of leaving and "working across the aisle is the only way forward." He later noted he'd only leave the Democratic Party if they "make it official" in the party platform "and say we will never support aid for Israel."

"John Fetterman is someone who was seen as a progressive at one point," Hasan pointed out on Wednesday's episode of his show. "You endorsed him back in the day when he was running for lieutenant governor. I supported him when he was running in the Senate primary."

Sanders quipped, "So, I wasn't the only one, right?!"

"A lot of us got him wrong, I think it's fair to say," Hasan continued. "He's now not just awful on multiple issues, especially Israel, but he's openly attacking you all the time and suggesting that you're out of touch with the party, that you're getting things wrong, that you endorse the wrong people." 

Fetterman's feud with Sanders intensified in the wake of Graham Platner's campaign for Senate in Maine, which ran into a series of controversies before he suspended it. Sanders, who had initially endorsed Platner but encouraged him to drop out following accusations of ****** assault, was called a "carnival barker for an accused rapist" by Fetterman.

"I just like to remind everybody watching right now, Bernie Sanders will never represent any more than 640,000 people in Vermont," Fetterman said on Fox News last week. "That's all he's ever done, and he ever will do. He's lost his — He's never won an actual competitive election."

"Stop giving me lectures on how to win," he added. "Bernie's not flipping seats. He is helping install volatile and dangerous kinds of candidates and put Democratic seats at risk." 

When Sanders was asked by Hasan if he's worried that Fetterman will officially defect from the Democratic Party, he said, "That is, I guess, a possibility."

"Look, you wanna get on television, you go on Fox TV and you say something bad about Bernie Sanders, get you some coverage. That's the way it is," Sanders said.

Some Americans can now possess short-barreled rifles, shotguns and silencers without registering them with the federal government, after the Trump administration declined to pause a Texas judge's ruling issued earlier this month that deregulated those weapons.

The Aug. 5 ruling by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas gave the Justice Department a one-week deadline to request a stay before his ruling went into effect. 

That deadline expired at midnight on Thursday.

"Today, our government is failing us," said Kris Brown, the president of the gun-control group Brady. "At midnight, uniquely lethal weapons and devices — including silencers, short-barreled rifles, and shotguns — were deregulated for the first time in nearly a century."

The Justice Department still has time to appeal the ruling, however.
"The Department respects Americans' Second Amendment rights and is currently assessing the impact of the court's ruling," a department spokesperson told CBS News in a statement.

The National Firearms Act is the primary law that regulates the purchase and sale of certain specialized firearms and related equipment, including short-barreled rifles and silencers. Enacted in 1934, it imposes taxes on these firearms, and created a regulatory regime that requires people to register them with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

That regulatory structure also helps federal ATF agents trace the chain of firearm ownership when they are investigating gun-related crimes.

In 2025, Congress included a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that no longer requires a $200 tax to be collected when a regulated firearm is transferred or made.

With that tax eliminated, Hendrix determined that the NFA's regulatory scheme for silencers, shotguns and short-barreled rifles is unconstitutional. 

"By zeroing out the transfer and making taxes on "any firearm" except for "a machinegun or a destructive device," the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the constitutional basis for the NFA's regulation of those firearms," he wrote.

"The Department of Justice's decision is a failure to defend public safety," said Emma Brown, the executive director for the gun-control group Giffords.

"Congress put these safeguards in place nearly 100 years ago. As a result, silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns are rarely used in crimes today. But now, silencers and dangerous, easily concealable weapons can now easily get into the wrong hands and be used to harm innocent people," she added.

The lawsuit in Texas represents a consolidation of two separate cases. 
One was brought by B&T USA, Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of America, Palmetto State Armory, Silencerco Weapons Research, Silencer Shop Foundation, 15 Republican-controlled states and several individuals.

The other was brought by the Texas State Rifle Association (NRA's Texas affiliate), Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, FPC Action Foundation, Hot Shots Custom, and several others.

The injunction by the judge only applies to the parties in the two cases, which could include anyone who is a member of the Gun Owners of America.

The Gun Owners of America and Silencer Shop celebrated the Justice Department's decision not to seek a stay of the ruling on Thursday by announcing that two of its members had "lawfully acquired suppressors without complying with the currently enjoined registration requirements of the National Firearms Act of 1934."

"This marks the first time since the NFA was enacted on June 26, 1934, that Americans can lawfully acquire suppressors without complying with the federal registration scheme. Our victory went into effect at 12:01 A.M. CT and we notified ATF and DOJ that we intended to conduct the first unregistered suppressor transfer in 92 years," the group added.
It is unclear whether the Justice Department will ultimately appeal the court's order.

Attorney General Todd Blanche, in his written responses to questions from senators ahead of his confirmation, addressed several questions about his personal beliefs on firearms regulations.

In one response to the questions, he wrote: "I defer to the measured judgment of Congress on whether the NFA should be repealed or weakened. The Department's duty is to defend the constitutionality of the laws passed by this body." 

DHS sent undercover agents to meetings and infiltrated chats of groups opposing Trump’s immigration crackdown

Newly disclosed records reveal the US government extensively spied on prominent leftwing organizations and on protesters as part of a vast operation into groups opposing the immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.

Internal investigative reports show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York City, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records of mainstream unions and left-leaning non-profit groups.

Nearly 30 internal law enforcement reports were released on Thursday as part of a criminal case the Department of Justice has filed against 15 Minneapolis protesters.** **The defendants are accused of a “conspiracy” to “impede” US immigration officers during the Trump administration’s surge in the region.

The DHS investigative reports were disclosed by the government and submitted to the court by an attorney for one of the defendants. The records show that in January, DHS launched an inquiry called “Operation Puppet Master” to identify a “network of conspirators” organizing against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The operation came as community organizing against ICE was swelling in the region in response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

A DHS report from February said the agency was looking into people who were “providing material support to violent opportunists and agitators”. The records suggest agents launched elaborate spying efforts targeting activists, protesters and mainstream progressive organizations opposing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“I was shocked at the scope and the apparent lack of investigative discipline involved, but not totally surprised,” said Kevin Riach, an attorney for one of the indicted protesters, who filed the tranche of records in federal court.

A DHS spokesperson said that Homeland Security Investigations, its branch that carried out the investigations, “does not comment on the existence or status of specific on-going investigations, nor on investigative methods”. The agency referred questions to the justice department in Minnesota, which declined to comment.

The records indicate that the investigations followed the directive of Trump’s executive order last year that designated “antifa” a “domestic terrorist organization” responsible for “riots” against ICE. The investigations led to the criminal case filed in June against 15 protesters, which focused on Direct Action Minnesota, a loose coalition of organizers that the government says was part of a “conspiracy” opposing ICE’s surge in the region.

The documents show that the government alleged major groups were connected to the criminal conspiracy, including the national labor unions AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union; the local unions Minneapolis Federation of Educators and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees; and several large left-leaning groups, including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).

None of those organizations have been charged with any crimes.

The records have added fuel to the concerns of civil rights groups, who have argued that the federal government was criminalizing lawful protest activity under the guise of targeting leftwing “terrorism”.

The documents show that DHS investigators obtained financial records of unions and non-profits, as part of an inquiry into “domestic terrorist financing”. One investigative record showed the DHS used administrative subpoenas to obtain “wire transfers from various financial institutions to and from” SEIU, one of the largest unions in the US. Investigators also requested that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York provide financial data from the Communications Workers of America, an international union, the records showed.

The DHS further obtained financial records related to the Sunrise Movement, a national non-profit focused on the climate crisis.

The records also provided detailed documentation of spying operations conducted by undercover agents who posed as activists and surveilled community activities.

One DHS report documented “undercover agent activity” on 31 January at a Sunrise Movement “resistance skills training” at the Minneapolis public library. An agent described activists discussing recruitment and “de-escalation” at protests, with speakers suggesting having a “police liaison” and “safety marshal” at events. The report said: “It was clear that the Sunrise Movement organization focused on ‘peaceful’ protests.”

The undercover agent actively engaged participants, according to the report. At one point, the agent told someone in attendance that he “works in construction and could build items that might assist other groups with more ‘direct-action’ protests”. That agent told the individual that “going to jail did not bother him” and gave out his phone number.

The records documented the operations of another undercover agent who joined Signal groups of activists involved in protests.

The records also showed undercover agents surveilling a virtual meeting at Hunter College in New York focused on “ICE brutality” and “responding to state violence”; a meeting at a labor center in Minneapolis during which activists discussed a wide range of political issues; a meeting in a Minneapolis public park about protest tactics; and a Direct Action Minnesota meeting at a church.

The documents indicate that agents made audio recordings of the events.

One undercover agent attended a “training” event at a gymnasium in a church and participated in “boxing/sparring practice”, according to a DHS report. The report noted that the agent was surreptitiously recording audio of the event, but that at one point the recorder “erroneously fell to the floor” and the agent had to return to the gym to retrieve the device.

At one anti-ICE event at a church, agents documented the license plate information of attenders, the records showed. When two agents were approached by a man who “asked if they were ICE”, the agent responded, falsely, that they were not.

Riach, the defense attorney, filed the records as part of a motion urging the court to compel the government to release additional records. In his filing, Riach accused the government of presenting “wild conspiracy allegations … born from the fantasies of political retribution that animate the Trump Administration”.

He also alleged that DHS’s investigations were part of a “mass spying campaign” and said undercover agents “participated in organizing and directing the groups they were surveilling, at times working to entice people into discussing or committing crimes”.

The records relate to activities that extend far beyond the allegations of the 15 defendants facing prosecution. That case alleges a vast conspiracy to organize against ICE, but across a 94-page indictment, there are no allegations of injuries to specific ICE officers caused by any defendants and no charges of serious violence.

Emilia Gonzalez Avalos is the executive director of Unidos MN, a Minneapolis social justice non-profit group, whose activities were mentioned in the files.

“I believe that this is a clear attempt to intimidate us, to punish and politically repress disagreement and difference,” she said. “And that is not the America that we have built through hundreds of years. And it’s definitely not the America that we are organizing for.”

During trainings, organizers asked people not to record the sessions, Gonzalez Avalos said. But organizers would also say if there were any immigration agents or officers in the room, they were welcome to stay because the group had nothing to hide, because their work was “entirely grounded in the United States constitution”.

Mike German, a former FBI agent and civil liberties advocate, said it was striking that the DHS was leading the investigations when typically the FBI would spearhead operations targeting potential “terrorist” activity. He said it was also notable that the DHS was using administrative subpoenas, which don’t require judicial authorization, to obtain records.

The government, German said, also appeared to be relying on theories of “guilt by association” to justify surveillance instead of narrower investigations focused on specific alleged criminal activity. German, who previously served as an undercover agent, further scoffed at the notion of undercover agents spying on what appeared to be accessible, community events.

“You’re talking about meetings that are open to the public, where they are recruiting among the public, saying: ‘Please come to this protest,’” he said. “It’s hardly a challenge to ‘infiltrate’ this kind of meeting, and that should be a clue this isn’t a criminal group. It’s very rare for criminals to [publicize] discussion of their criminal activities.”

The investigations, he added, fit patterns in US history of the government targeting leftwing activist and labor organizing. After 9/11, he said, those powers to spy on communities were greatly expanded.

“Nobody should be surprised that the government would use these authorities to target political opposition rather than target criminals, particularly so under this administration,” he said.

Widespread denial accompanied the public exposure of Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse and trafficking of girls and women.

After the U.S. Justice Department released millions of case documents on Epstein in January 2026, billionaires, politicians, heads of state and academics proclaimed their ignorance of Epstein’s global network of sexual exploitation.

Why would so many intelligent and powerful people repeatedly trumpet their lack of awareness, especially after Epstein’s 2008 plea agreement to underage prostitution charges?

And what about all of Epstein’s staffers and business associates who kept quiet about the suspicious behavior they observed?

As a human rights researcher who has conducted genocide research on four continents, I think denials of human rights atrocities can help people understand the denial of crimes like child sexual abuse and trafficking.

Avoiding accountability for atrocities requires two types of denial: by the perpetrator and by the community. It’s easy to understand why mass murderers and child rapists deny their horrific actions. More perplexing is why bystanders, law enforcement, colleagues, family and institutions claim ignorance.

Society understands that staying quiet after witnessing impermissible crimes is a form of complicity. Bystanders are likely to deny an atrocity when acknowledging it requires action, both morally and legally.

As sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel has noted: “Like silence, denial involves active avoidance. Rather than simply failing to notice something, it entails a deliberate effort to refrain from noticing it.”

US and international law
A network of international and domestic laws considers certain crimes so horrific that there are no extenuating circumstances for committing them. Other laws stipulate that everyday observers of certain crimes have a legal responsibility to report them and to protect victims if possible.
The 1987 United Nations convention against torture emphasizes: “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war … may be invoked as a justification of torture.” And the 1948 U.N. genocide convention holds all signatory nations responsible for their inaction against genocide.

In the United States, the 1974 Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Actmandates that states have provisions requiring certain people – doctors, teachers, clergy and law enforcement – to report known or suspected cases of child abuse.

About a quarter of states go further and stipulate that “all persons who have cause to suspect that any juvenile is abused, neglected, or dependent or has died as the result of maltreatment shall report” to the authorities.

Perpetrator denial
In the context of government human rights abuses, sociologist Stanley Cohen in 2001 classified denial into three strategies: literal, interpretive and implicatory.

With literal denial, Cohen wrote, the perpetrator simply claims the event never happened. If successful, this form of denial makes the problem disappear.

During the U.S. war on terror after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, human rights groups accused the George W. Bush government of torturing detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

Applying Cohen’s typology illuminates how the Bush administration cycled through strategies of denial, beginning with literal denial. Responding to evidence of U.S. torture of detainees in Iraq in 2006, Bush denied the accusations: “This country doesn’t torture; we’re not going to torture.”

After the failure of literal denial, the Justice Department employed interpretive denial, which admits to something having taken place, just not something that rises to the level of a crime. The DOJ redefined tortureand referred to acts such as waterboarding – legally classified as torture – as “enhanced interrogation methods.”

Following his guilty plea to soliciting prostitution from a 14-year-old, Epstein used interpretive denial by comparing the severity of his crime to shoplifting: “I’m not a sexual predator,” he said. “I’m an ‘offender.’ It’s the difference between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel.”

When interpretive denial fails, perpetrators turn to what Cohen calls implicatory denial. It accepts the facts – torture of detainees, forced expulsions, mass killings – but denies the psychological or moral ramifications that follow.

In his memoirs, Bush did not deny the use of torture; he denied the immorality of the torture. “The choice between security and values was real,” he wrote.

Community denial
Research that I’m currently conducting revises Cohen’s typology to understand why bystanders to crimes like Epstein’s don a veil of ignorance.

Denial of child sexual abuse occurs within a community – a citizenry, a family, a congregation. The community establishes the parameters of morality, the relative power of each member, and which actions constitute crimes.

In cases where accepting the truth has a high communal cost – a reordering of the power structure, more egalitarian institutions, eradication of prejudice or social disgrace – many people calculate that the cost of justice is not worth reordering the structure of privilege from which they benefit.

In the case of institutional abuse, powerful groups, such as the Catholic Church, prioritized the reputation of the institutionover the victims.

Much like perpetrators, a community adheres to its preferred version of reality by denying abuse at the literal, interpretive and implicatory levels.

With literal denial, bystanders negate the experience of one particular child. This is so prevalent among mothers of incest victimsthat the legal community is exploring criminally charging the mothers who fail to protect their children.

Community interpretive denial tells the victim they did not experience what they thought they experienced. This occurred repeatedly for many victims of Larry Nassar, a former physician who sexually assaulted hundreds of gymnasts in the guise of medical treatment.

Gymnast Larissa Boyce described what happened when the then-16-year-old reported Nassar’s abuse to her coach. “She just couldn’t believe that was happening. She said I must be misunderstanding what was going on.”

Community implicatory denial negates the moral implications of the atrocity by blaming the victim for the perpetrator’s actions.

During the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal that erupted in the late 1980s, Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weaklandadmitted that sexual activity had taken place between some of his priests and their young parishioners, but he dismissed the notion that the priests were entirely to blame.

“Sometimes not all adolescent victims are so ‘innocent,’” he told The Catholic Herald in 1988. “Some can be sexually very active and aggressive and often quite streetwise.”

Communities blinded by the perpetrator’s stethoscope, billion dollars, clerical collar or Ivy League degree often refuse to acknowledge the stereotypes that protect privileged predators.

And that willful ignorance of child sexual abuse equals complicity. Through denial, members thus absolve themselves for inaction in the face of atrocity.

Want to know where the Flock cameras are? There's a map for that.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals.
ICE plans to spend between $10 million and $20 million to purchase "conductive distraction and de-escalation devices" for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.

The devices are known as the G.L.O.V.E., which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.

The notice said the solicitation for a no-bid contract could be published as early as Friday.

CBS News has reached out to DHS and Compliant Technologies for comment.

DHS told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it was working on a response to an inquiry and offered no immediate comment. Jeff Niklaus, the founder and CEO of Compliant Technologies, told the AP: "Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject."

Civil rights advocates — including from the American Civil Liberties Union — expressed alarm at the plan, saying ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force during President Trump's immigration crackdown.

Compliant Technologies says the devices function as a normal pair of patrol gloves until officers press a switch to activate their electrical mode. The gloves must be applied directly to someone's skin to deliver a pain stimulus that typically helps an officer gain compliance within seconds, according to the company.

"It's immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting," John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, who is studying how the device has been used, told The AP. "If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool."

Peters said he believed ICE's planned purchase would likely be the largest from the company to date. He said he could envision ICE officers using the gloves to help remove uncooperative subjects from cars and houses and in and out of detention facilities.

"For smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers, I think it has a great advantage" because it can produce faster takedowns and shorten confrontations, he said.

The manufacturer warns the device should not be used as punishment, against people merely exhibiting "verbal defiance or belligerence" or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women or elderly or disabled people.

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the ACLU, told The AP the public should have no confidence that ICE officers will use the devices appropriately. She questioned why the devices would be necessary for civil immigration enforcement and noted those getting shocked might have no advance warning.

"ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do," she said. "Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public."

Supporters say the devices are generally used in specific jail and transport situations, rather than broadly to patrol on the streets. They have been used to subdue violent suspects who are refusing to get into squad cars and inmates who are harming themselves and threatening officers, according to Compliant Technologies.

Peters said he expected the devices to be misused by a small number of employees, as with other policing technologies, but he said they are unlikely to cause injuries. He said it would be important for ICE to have robust policies and training in place.

To use the device, officers must complete a course and be recertified every two years, the manufacturer says.

The planned purchases come as ICE expands its crackdown on people accused of being in the U.S. illegally, amid pressure from the White House to arrest 2,000 people per day.

ICE has drawn scrutiny for its tactics during its arrest surge — including attempted vehicle stops in Maine and Texas last month that ended with ICE agents fatally shooting two immigrants. 

In both of last month's shootings, agents were not wearing body cameras. DHS has pledged to widely deploy body-worn cameras, and said last month that all ICE arrest teams will have at least one officer equipped with a camera going forward.

No matter where in the country you live, you’ve likely seen one—and more than one have absolutely seen you. 

The use of automated license plate reader technology has become ubiquitous, led by companies such as Flock Safety. Flock’s cameras identify vehicle details—including make, model, color, and other visible characteristics—and then upload that data into a nationwide mass surveillance system that law enforcement can access. 

Flock now says it operates in more than 6,000 communities across 49 states, running upward of 20 billion vehicle scans a month. But privacy concerns, and misuse by local police, are causing a backlash: Dozens of city councils across the United States have recently canceled, rejected, or deactivated Flock’s ALPRs within their jurisdiction. 

Flock has long sought to involve homeowners associations and other private property managers within their system. That could be a concern for homeowners and renters.

A camera installed by your HOA board is not subject to the same level of scrutiny and accountability as one installed by local police—and once it's plugged into Flock's network, it can end up feeding the same nationwide, searchable database that law enforcement uses, whether or not any resident ever voted on it.

How a neighborhood ends up under surveillance

The pitch to HOA boards and landlords is straightforward: solar-powered, LTE-connected cameras that need no wiring or utility hookup, marketed as a way to deter theft, identify suspicious vehicles, and catch illegal dumping, all without hiring security staff.

Flock's own marketing to HOAs promises boards full control of the system, with law enforcement access framed as an optional add-on.

But once a private HOA system is integrated with police, it feeds into the same database officers search when investigating anything from a stolen car to an immigration case, according to privacy advocates tracking the rollout. And the decision to build this infrastructure, in most communities, isn't put to a resident vote at all.

"Most HOA declarations and bylaws give the elected board authority to enter ordinary service contracts without a community vote, and boards treat a camera contract as ordinary," according to a homeowner-rights guide published by DeFlockILM, a North Carolina advocacy group tracking installations. "So in many communities you do not have a veto."

That pattern has played out from North Carolina—where the Chadwick Shores HOA in Sneads Ferry and a dozen Charlotte-area neighborhoods have installed the cameras—to California, where private developers, homeowners associations, and apartment complexes are using cameras that were once supposed to aid the Los Angeles Police Department and have now gone private. 

This dynamic puts residents in a bind: No one wants to live in an unsafe community, but at what cost?

"Landlords and HOAs can't arbitrarily install cameras wherever they want, collect data about your comings and goings, and do whatever they want with it," says Jamie E. Wright, a trial attorney and founder of The Wright Law Firm. "Residents shouldn't feel like they have to choose between safety and privacy, but that doesn't give your HOA carte blanche to monitor your every move."

Flock keeps pushing deeper into communities

License plate cameras were only the start. Over the past year, Flock has quietly tested how far it can push into audio, into other people's cars, and into other people's data.

Flock cameras also have gunshot-detection sensors. On paper, these are a useful tool: When triggered, they capture a five-second audio clip, run it through a machine-learning model, and upload whatever gets flagged. Flock's comparison of choice: an Amazon Alexa that wakes up only for a "public safety event."

But USA Today has reported confirmed cases where triggered clips picked up real conversation, not just gunfire. Then, in October, Flock disclosed it wanted the same microphones listening for "human distress."

By mid-July, Flock killed the distress-detection pilot, chalking it up to "community consultation." But those microphones didn't go anywhere: Thousands remain active, still listening for gunfire, still capable of picking up whatever else happens to be 5 seconds long and nearby. According to reporting, they’re mostly picking up fireworks. 
Some of these devices were installed on private property, without the owners’ consent, and left in place despite removal requests. Some were placed mere feet from people’s homes.

Flock has also floated ways to grow the network beyond its own hardware. A leaked presentation, prepared for the Georgia Attorney General's Office, showed Flock had proposed turning roughly 350,000 Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers into a mobile surveillance network—using dashcams those drivers already had installed to scan plates along their routes. 

It’s one thing if you are aware that cameras have been installed in a certain community or on a certain street. But if the cameras are mobile and covering every part of a community that a car can reach, it becomes virtually impossible to avoid becoming part of the database.

Flock told 404 Media the deal never happened. But the same presentation lists "hundreds of Commercial Business and HOA" accounts in Georgia as part of the network it wanted to extend. 

Know your rights in and around your home

Homeowners and renters have more leverage here than most people realize, but only if they use it before signing anything, not after.

"Before speaking with an HOA, property manager, or landlord about surveillance on private property, residents should know their rights," says Wright. Homeowners should review HOA declarations, bylaws, and rules and regulations. Renters should request a copy of their lease, any addendum, and community policies. 

"Look for the terms 'surveillance,' 'monitoring,' and 'third party,'" says David Weisselberger, an expungement attorney and founding partner at Erase the Case. HOA bylaws tend to bury camera policy inside a general "rules and regulations" clause rather than a dedicated privacy section.

A bylaw that lets the board install cameras "as deemed necessary" hands it total control over placement and retention, with no requirement to get resident consent for each new camera.

"Lease agreements seldom specify whether or not a landlord's camera system captures audio alongside video, and this matters a lot," Weisselberger says.
A system recording sound near a private entrance or porch is different from one just watching a parking lot, he explains. His advice: Ask directly where the footage goes and how long it's kept, and don't sign until you have an answer.

Reading the fine print is only half the job. The other half is coming armed with specific questions a board or landlord may not otherwise volunteer answers to.

"Who is authorized to run searches against the system? How long will data be stored? Can police request access to the information? Is data shared with third parties outside of the rental community? Is there an audit trail showing which employees looked up a specific vehicle?"
Those, Wright says, are the questions residents should be asking before they agree to anything.

Are Flock cameras in your neighborhood?

The short answer is yes, but to know where does take a bit of sleuthing.
To help you do your own research, open-source websites like DeFlock and Eyes On Flock have popped up online to allow users to track where Flock, and other automated license plate readers, are installed throughout the country.

Keep in mind that these cameras are already up in thousands of neighborhoods, and most of them aren't coming down. What's left to decide is how many more go up, and whether residents get a say before the next one does—because the pattern so far says they won't unless they ask.