Reporting by The Guardian reveals a cruel new initiative being rolled out to one high-traffic Home Depot location in Los Angeles’ Cypress Park: high-pitched noise machines meant to shoo away day laborers. The Intituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (Idepsca), an advocacy group for migrant workers, is calling for the removal of three sonic devices they say are causing migrant workers to suffer headaches and nausea. Home Depot’s sound devices, advocates say, are punishing these folks at the bottom of the ladder. No direct evidence of Cuba’s supposed sonic weapon has ever surfaced, though the Home Depot ear blasters do have another precedent: riot control weapons. In both cases, sound is deployed as a weapon to repel unwanted people from a space, closing any chance for a dialogue.