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Hello, I am standing at 3rd and Main while the esteemed @JuniperLSimonis extracts an unexploded chemical munition from a downtown storm drain
Juniper wanted to extract this immediately because heavy rains are coming and would almost certainly wash this chemical round into the river. It'll probably wash others they have not found, but this is one less in the river and one more in Juniper's lab
Dr. Simonis has done thks a few times before. They called PBOT and the City of Portland to let them know they were going to extract the munition. Unusually, someone from the PBOT picked up the call. "They may be joining us shortly," Juniper said
With bureaucracy out of the way, Juniper and some volunteers got to work moving the storm drain grate and carefully extracting the sediment trap. They emptied the water into a bucket, then sifted the sediment into a garbage bag. The city gets a free drain cleaning out of all this
Juniper sifted through the god-knows-what until they found the unexploded munition. One of the volunteers used Juniper's fancy camera to capture the round while I used my camera phone to capture the image at the start of this thread
As we were doing our photo op, a police cruiser pulled up. Apparently when PBOT heard "unexploded munition" they thought "crime" instead of "a regular day in Portland" like the rest of us do
(Video will take a sec to load but don't worry things were ok in the end)
(Video will take a sec to load but don't worry things were ok in the end)
Juniper explains the situation. "We got a call about some type of ammunition?"
"Yeah!"
A pause
"I don't know what that is"
"Yep! That's right, you don't know what it is, and I do know what it is. I am a researcher..."
She leaves without further comment
"Yeah!"
A pause
"I don't know what that is"
"Yep! That's right, you don't know what it is, and I do know what it is. I am a researcher..."
She leaves without further comment
As Juniper and the other volunteers finished cleaning the storm drain and prepared to put everything back together, a PBOT employee showed up. He recommended that if we find any more UXO we should call 911
Juniper attempted to explain the many ways that this was ridiculous
Juniper attempted to explain the many ways that this was ridiculous
They also told the employee about a problem with the storm drain across the street: a massive gap where large canisters could get through and into the river. He promised to put in a work order
The employee helped us put the drain back together and left
Once everything was collected and reassembled, Dr. Simonis was kind enough to tell us what they know about the munitions used in Downtown Portland on New Years' Eve:
Once everything was collected and reassembled, Dr. Simonis was kind enough to tell us what they know about the munitions used in Downtown Portland on New Years' Eve:
You probably already know that the feds and PPB have denied all use of CS, which they can't legally use but sometimes use anywah. We know they used 40mm OC and FM303 rounds
We also know they used Sabre-brand spray bottles filled with some mystery chemical weapon
We also know they used Sabre-brand spray bottles filled with some mystery chemical weapon
What chemical? We don't know yet, but Juniper is working on it. Sabre sells a variety of spray bottle fillers, including OC, CS, and mixtures of both
What worries Juniper is reports from experienced protesters and street medics that the weapons felt different. Worse than usual
What worries Juniper is reports from experienced protesters and street medics that the weapons felt different. Worse than usual
This reminds Juniper of when the feds started using HC smoke and said they didn't but definitely did, and then none of us could eat for a while and we got weird rashes and just generally felt and still feel like shit
It hit different, that's how we first knew something was wrong
It hit different, that's how we first knew something was wrong
Juniper is on it. They have swabs of the chemical weapon from the medics going in for analysis and they're working on getting Sabre to give up their ingredients list for their chemical weapons because of course Sabre doesn't publish what they're poisoning people with online
It might not be a new chemical. It could be a silica compound that makes the irritants harder to remove. Or if could be glycols that emulsify the chemicals into an oil-based mist
(I don't know what any of this means by the way, I'm just telling you what the scientist told me)
(I don't know what any of this means by the way, I'm just telling you what the scientist told me)
"This is chemical terrorism," @JuniperLSimonis said. "The goal is to keep people from showing up again...It's beyond insidious. It's straight up evil. And it's state sanctioned"
We're all real lucky to have Dr Simonis around, that's my professional opinion and I'm right
Juniper isn't accepting donations right now, but they encourage you to donate to Black-led groups like Don't Shoot PDX: https://www.dontshootpdx.org/support-our-work/
Juniper isn't accepting donations right now, but they encourage you to donate to Black-led groups like Don't Shoot PDX: https://www.dontshootpdx.org/support-our-work/
(They've also got some very cool projects in the works that WILL need donations so stay tuned and we can hold our asshole government accountable together)
