In Long Lead's latest feature DOUBLE MEANING, sets of multiples describe their close bonds, what it's like having a tight-knit twin community, and how it differs from the relationship the twins have with non-twins.

Learn more at twins.longlead.com

LONG SHADOW listeners can get more insights about Russian interference in the 2016 election by listening to PANIC WORLD'S episode "Russiagate," where Ryan Broderick interviews LONG SHADOW host Garrett Graff.

The episode is now available in LONG SHADOW's feed wherever you listen to podcasts.

For DEPTH PERCEPTION, @markyarm.bsky.social speaks with Broderick about the kinds of stories that resonate with GARBAGE DAY readers, the perils of working in the “content mines” of the 2010s, and why it’s so important to be “voicey” and “human” in the age of AI slop.

Read now.

Learn more about Linda Tirado's story and her experience afterward of suing the Minneapolis police at Part 5 of Long Lead's feature, THE PEOPLE VS. RUBBER BULLETS: rubberbullets.longlead.com/chapter/minn...

When less-lethal weapons are misused, there are virtually no consequences for law-enforcement agencies or individual officers. There are no consequences for anyone at all, other than for the individuals at the wrong end of the launcher.

📷: Raphael Gaillarde / Gamma-Rapho / Getty

U.S. law enforcement has misused kinetic impact projectiles for more than 50 years. Rubber bullets, bean-bag rounds, and pepper balls may sound like toys, but they carry a legacy of traumatic brain injuries, blindings, PTSD, and even death.

For more, read THE PEOPLE VS. RUBBER BULLETS.

When less-lethal weapons are misused, there are virtually no consequences for law-enforcement agencies or individual officers. There are no consequences for anyone at all, other than for the individuals at the wrong end of the launcher.

Learn more at Part 5 of THE PEOPLE VS. RUBBER BULLETS.

On the whole, there is little appetite to take the kind of legislative action — such as regulating or banning the use of KIPs, or even simply mandating standards around the training and use of less-lethal munitions — that would make injuries like Tirado’s less likely to occur.

In January 2021, the Minneapolis City Council explored a resolution to limit the use of KIPs and other less-lethal weapons, but was told by the city’s lawyers that to do so would exceed the reach of the council’s powers.

📷: Chandan Khanna / AFP / Getty

She settled with the city after it promised to reform how it uses less-lethal munitions. But those reforms never came and Tirado (@killermartinis.bsky.social) has spent the years since struggling to hold law enforcement accountable.

Learn more about the history of rubber bullets at Long Lead's Webby-winning feature THE PEOPLE VS. RUBBER BULLETS: rubberbullets.longlead.com/chapter/scot...

Law enforcement agencies’ reliance on KIPs has increased and so have the warnings about them.

As it became increasingly obvious that the use of these weapons sometimes resulted in death, the name switched from nonlethal to less-lethal munitions.

What modern law enforcement calls “pain compliance” — essentially, hurting people to make them obey — was the specific intent behind the first rubber bullets, which were developed by the British Army for use in Northern Ireland during the decades of conflict known as the Troubles.

Listen to episode three — "The Facebook Revolution" — now wherever you get your podcasts:
open.spotify.com/episode/0LiX...

In LONG SHADOW: BREAKING THE INTERNET, David Wolman recounts how "by shutting off the internet, Mubarak pushed everyone out into the street" during Egypt's 2011 protests.
longshadowpodcast.com/podcasts/bre...

Long Lead's feature THE PEOPLE VS. RUBBER BULLETS covers Tirado's story, the Minneapolis police's response to it, and the injustice of suing the police.

More: rubberbullets.longlead.com/chapter/minn...