Just a bad habit for data entry that stuck from use of the old IBM keyboards. Somehow it felt better to shift my attention to the right-hand side instead of the standard layout and extending my hand to the keyboard's top just below the F-keys. Everything I needed was right there on the right 1/4 of the keyboard...
Why the inquisitive tone? I understand that the AP is aiming to be non-partisan, but FFS it was clearly an LRAD. Video and victim accounts line up with previous available material about the weapons. Add to that the photographs of LRADs deployed to the area at the time of the incident - this isn't some Sherlock Holmes mystery, if there's another entirely different weapon which can spur widespread, instant crowd panic without making a sound then I'm all ears, because I've never heard of it. Re-linking footage of the attack from URL used in other comment. Watch the crowd of hundreds reacting to nothing observable at the 0:07 mark
"When presented with photos of the device mounted on an off-road vehicle and deployed at the rally of hundreds of thousands of protesters, officials admitted possessing a sonic weapon, but insisted it was not used against the protesters."
Exact right, as it's untrasonic, the sound is transmitted directly through the target's body. Noise canceling earphones/plugs will have no protective effect whatsoever.
I watched the original video when it dropped but couldn't discern any sound from the weapon itself. Watch the clip here - the crowd reacts at the 0:07 mark without any discernible loud sound, although it was described by victims as "being like a train whistle" (i.e. excruciatingly loud and panic-inducing).
No, the sound is transmitted through the body rather than just via the auditory system in such a way that simply plugging or covering your ears will provide no protection from the effect. As analogy, imagine the effect of a train whistle or jet engine on someone who's within 1-25 ft., but 100% deaf. It wouldn't need to be heard by their ears per se as it would be so powerful as to be transmitted into the target's body, which would reacts accordingly to a 100+ decibel sound.
There is, you just can't hear the weapon in the footage of the attack on the vigil.
In the same way that human ears can't hear much of the noise happening around them, we wouldn't be able to hear recordings of the weapon in use because it's ultrasonic. Picture a literal dog whistle and our inability to hear it despite it fully capturing a canine's attention, except as a restricted military-grade weapon for injuring and dispersing crowds.
Not American either, but it shouldn't be court martial offenses given that they're not military officers, but civilians filling politically appointed positions. Court martial trials are for servicemembers.
So far as I can gather, it all comes down to vaccine hesitancy. The (dis)information coming down the line has led to some people calling themselves "Pure Bloods" in recognition of their common unvaccinated status, with the belief that there's some kind of high-handed conspiracy to monkey with people's DNA via immunization shots. It's a bit of a headfull, and makes for weird reading, but they've really dug their heels in about the issue, believing that their lives are on the line ironically enough. This is going to be one complicated ball of yarn to untangle...
I don't envy Americans this scenario. Hopefully the system can be restored to an acceptable, if not ideal, state of affairs once the Trump administration ends.
Jesus Christ, they're just so fucking stupid. This is the kind of thing that would see employees of a major corporation fired in an instant, but I just know that these careless chucklefucks are going to be in my news feed for a while yet, possibly another four years so long as they keep currying the favour of Trump. This shit is pathetic, the rest of the world is embarrassed on behalf of American citizens for having to deal with this incompetence.
Just a bad habit for data entry that stuck from use of the old IBM keyboards. Somehow it felt better to shift my attention to the right-hand side instead of the standard layout and extending my hand to the keyboard's top just below the F-keys. Everything I needed was right there on the right 1/4 of the keyboard...