18 Aug Military weaponization of US police forces—mapped

In case you missed it, the New York Times provided this startling interactive graphic showing the amount of surplus military equipment US Armed Forces have supplied to local police departments, county by county, since 9/11 unleashed runaway militarization of civilian authority in the United States and elsewhere:

Once you click through to the New York Times, you can filter the map for types of weaponry, or hover your cursor over any of the 3,007 counties in the US to see exactly what gear police in that jurisdiction obtained.

Some of this is mindbogglingly inexplicable. I’m unaware of anyone—right, left, libertarian, vegetarian, Quaker, or Muslim—setting land mines in Centerburg or Plainville. So what exactly does a town police force do with a mine-resistant vehicle?

The is the kind of thing people mean when they say we let the terrorists win.