Mayor Durkan and Chief Best held a press conference to talk about the objects found in a van at the protest this past weekend. As usual, it's a whole lot of commonplace items, none of which comes close to what SPD used indiscriminately on crowds for hours.

Let's have a look...

Every single one of these toys produces nothing more than smoke. No explosion, no fire, no chemical agents in the smoke. Just smoke. Harmless smoke. You can buy these in grocery stores across the country.

These are sparklers. Children use them at parties. They are whimsical and provide wholesome fun at a reasonable price.

Is it the position of the Seattle Police Department that it is unacceptable to hit people with batons?

Is it the position of the Seattle Police Department that it is unacceptable to throw explosives designed to produce a bright flash of light and a loud bang?

These are gas-masks and filters. Protesters use them because the Seattle Police Department frequently fires an array of chemical weapons at protesters, indiscriminately gassing thousands of people, both in the street and in surrounding homes.

Well, these looks dangerous. Pool noodles with small nails in them? Do you swing them at people? That's horrific.

Wait. They're designed to be put on the ground to slow down vehicles? Vehicles like the several that have attempted to murder protesters across the country?

Oh.

Pepper spray and a stun gun. Highly-recommended personal protection devices, carried daily by millions of people across the country. You can buy them on Amazon. They even come as a bundle for extra savings.

There are no reports of either item being used by protesters that day.

1) Is it the position of the Seattle Police Department that it is unacceptable to spray other humans in the face with an extra-strength pepper-spray that is intended to cause maximum pain?

2) Do we even want to live in a city where it's illegal to protect ourselves from bears?

Sporting equipment. Even if one human wore everything on this table, they'd still be less protected than a Seattle Police Officer in riot gear. Pads are the most defensive thing imaginable. It's obscene to suggest they are anything more than a reaction to police violence.

This is why they held a 30-minute press conference. They spent 30 minutes trotting out this nonsense as evidence that the widespread and indiscriminate violence committed by the Seattle Police Department this past Saturday was somehow appropriate. Why do we pay them to lie to us?