Minneapolis is Burning

[Mole 4320]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Usually you want the president to come out and exhibit a bit of leadership to try and calm things down.  In this case, I wish the president would just STFU.  That would be a win and about the best we could ever hope for.

He fails the potted fern test daily. We’d be better off with a potted fern in his place.

[wildcat09 29226]

Just now, Alvin89 said:

"Some activists say the agreements, which often require extra training in use of force and better tracking of personnel issues, don’t go far enough."

Hence my literally calling them the “tiniest steps,” you stupid fuck.

[Brisketexan 104560]

2 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-baltimore-chicago-police-2016-story.html

 

 

Hey, would this be the place to post the guidance that Sessions issued literally on his way out of the office?  It was guidance for the DOJ with respect to Consent Decrees, which are a regularly used tool to get police departments to straighten up and fly right.  And it effectively instructed the DOJ not to issue any more long-term, strong Consent Decrees.  It was literally a direct undermining of the mechanism used to get police departments to reform.  This admin hasn't just been neglectful of the issue -- it's purposefully worked AGAINST reform.

And of course, the chief executive has directly informed police that he'd like it if they bang suspects heads against their cars when they load them up.

Come the fuck on.  This is the system functioning exactly like this administration WANTS it to function.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

The reporter is literally on camera holding out his credentials, and stating multiple times "hey, we'll go where you want us to go, just tell us where".  He and his crew were surrounded, they had nowhere to go and were clearly happy to leave if just given safe passage.

It was incredible.  The whole situation we are in is because of distrust of police.  Then they go and do the most obvious of lies when everything is obviously being filmed by people that are professional at filming things.  I don't think you could get a starker reminder that we are willing to lie under each and every and all situation. 

[HenryJames 65887]

2 minutes ago, Alvin89 said:

"Some activists say the agreements, which often require extra training in use of force and better tracking of personnel issues, don’t go far enough."

[Hiphopopotamos 20865]

2 minutes ago, Alvin89 said:

"Some activists say the agreements, which often require extra training in use of force and better tracking of personnel issues, don’t go far enough."

What the poster you quoted said:

That President and AG tried to take the tiniest steps to fixing the conditions

 

What you said:

What steps did he take?

 

What I posted:

https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-baltimore-chicago-police-2016-story.html

[Aqua Buddha 14501]

I must say, an all white phalanx of state troopers carrying clubs is not a good look.

[Message Board User 12389]

We desperately need a new President.

[Brisketexan 104560]

3 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

What the poster you quoted said:

 

 

 

What you said:

 

 

What I posted:

https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-baltimore-chicago-police-2016-story.html

Here's the guidance memo from the Sessions DOJ, which clearly dialed back and limited the use of consent decrees to gain compliance with the law:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1109681/download

Again, with respect to reform of police abuse, this admin isn't even pursuing a policy of neglect -- it is working IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.

[HenryJames 65887]

We might be a failed state at this point.

[Hiphopopotamos 20865]

Just now, Brisketexan said:

Here's the guidance memo from the Sessions DOJ, which clearly dialed back and limited the use of consent decrees to gain compliance with the law:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1109681/download

Again, with respect to reform of police abuse, this admin isn't even pursuing a policy of neglect -- it is working IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.

BUT WHAT DID OBAMA DO !?!   

[Brisketexan 104560]

2 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

We might be a failed state at this point.

"Might?"

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Maybe we can still win some olympic gold medals, maybe.

[HenryJames 65887]

Just now, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Maybe we can still win some olympic gold medals, maybe.

Just need Trump to start endorsing steroid use if he hasn’t already.

[Gap03 3278]

Fun fact that hadn't dawned on me until now - each of George Floyd (2020), Philando Castile (2016) and Justine Damond (2017) were killed by MPD officers in area about 10 miles in diameter:

 Map of Recent MPD Killings

Just spitballing here, but they may have a bit of a culture problem at the MPD.  

[Doc Sam Beckett 5782]

13 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

We might be a failed state at this point.

 

[wildcat09 29226]

14 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

We might be a failed state at this point.

Is there anyone with a more than Wikipedia-summary-level knowledge of the breakup of Yugoslavia? The parallels to our current state seem glaringly obvious, but I’d love it if someone could explain to me how we might be able to avoid the same fate.

[HenryJames 65887]

18 minutes ago, Gap03 said:

Fun fact that hadn't dawned on me until now - each of George Floyd (2020), Philando Castile (2016) and Justine Damond (2017) were killed by MPD officers in area about 10 miles in diameter:

 Map of Recent MPD Killings

Just spitballing here, but they may have a bit of a culture problem at the MPD.  

After Prince died they went back to being scared of black people.

[jimmyjazz 45546]

Just now, HenryJames said:

After Prince died they went back to being scared of black people.

He wasn't even very black.

[Eastwood 4394]

Is there anyone with a more than Wikipedia-summary-level knowledge of the breakup of Yugoslavia? The parallels to our current state seem glaringly obvious, but I’d love it if someone could explain to me how we might be able to avoid the same fate.

I think Yugoslavia broke apart due to the decline of Soviet power leading to the socialist/communist government getting ousted. Since Yugoslavia was cobbled together by a handful of countries less than a generation before that, the split kind of put things back to where they were before WW2.

A split of the United States will require a mass migration of people, in my opinion. Just look at the Senate race map of each state at the county level and you will see that our situation now is more of an urban/rural split in the light red, light blue, and purple states. You have your states that would definitely be on board one way or the other, but how in the world could a state like Texas make a split one way or another without an exodus of the people who didn't agree?

[BrickHorn 18186]

33 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Just need Trump to start endorsing steroid use if he hasn’t already.

Oh, I know how this will go. Trump will tweet some inane shit about how the rest of the world cheats so the US should back out of international anti-doping regulations. The tweet will include the phrase, in all shouting caps, “LET THE JUICE LOOSE!”

Then someone here will post “There’s a tweet for every occasion,” followed by a 2014 tweet in which Trump demands the MLB never admit Barry Bonds to the HoF because he’s “a Bum and a Juicer.” 

That will be followed by a post of a tweet from a Blue Check in which Trump’s Bonds tweet is compared side-by-side with an even earlier tweet in which he implored the MLB to vote Mark McGwire to the Hall of Fame despite steroid allegations because “he’s a good, hard-working, blonde American who was just taking vitamins.”

Edited May 29, 2020 by BrickHorn

[BrickHorn 18186]

7 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

After Prince died they went back to being scared of black people.

Game, blouses.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

7 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

He wasn't even very black.

parts of him were.

 

 

[Gap03 3278]

6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

He wasn't even very black.

Kinda this, but with a Mooslem curve - i.e., the "Mohamed" officer that killed the white lady, definitely scary and deserved prison.

 

[TheStoicPaisano 9904]

On a lighter note...

 

[shnsajax 3589]

[Michael Knight 12888]

should probably just close down the Minneapolis police

Quote

But on Friday, Mr. Noor, now an ex-officer and convicted murderer, was sentenced to about 12 and a half years in a Minnesota prison for the death of Justine Ruszczyk, an unarmed woman he killed while on patrol in 2017.

Quote

Though it is rare for a police officer to be charged in a fatal on-duty shooting — Mr. Noor was the first Minnesota officer in decades convicted in such a case — the death of Ms. Ruszczyk defied easy explanation.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/us/minneapolis-police-sentencing-mohamed-noor.html

[Grandioso 2592]

25 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Is there anyone with a more than Wikipedia-summary-level knowledge of the breakup of Yugoslavia? The parallels to our current state seem glaringly obvious, but I’d love it if someone could explain to me how we might be able to avoid the same fate.

TLDR: When the USSR fell, there was no nanny state to hold it together. Serbia wanted to keep it together but everyone else was like, later. My grandfather was the son of Croatian immigrants so he followed the shit really closely. I even went over and met distant family there in 2008. There are still bullet holes in houses all throughout the countryside (along with vacant houses that ethnic Serbs abandoned/fled).

 

[TwiceHorn 31264]

6 minutes ago, Grandioso said:

TLDR: When the USSR fell, there was no nanny state to hold it together. Serbia wanted to keep it together but everyone else was like, later. My grandfather was the son of Croatian immigrants so he followed the shit really closely. I even went over and met distant family there in 2008. There are still bullet holes in houses all throughout the countryside (along with vacant houses that ethnic Serbs abandoned/fled).

 

Well, one of the first things to note about Yugoslavia is that, like a lot of Central-Southern Europe, it was an imperial territorial hockey puck between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and to some extent, the Byzantine Empire.  And then, of course, the Soviet Union came in.

It was known as the powder keg of the Balkans prior to WWI.

By the time it became Yugoslavia, it was a real bastard amalgamation of people/states who may at one time have shared common ethnicity and culture, but due to the above, and particularly the forced incursion of Islam, was pretty "stitched together," not unlike the Middle East.

Its dissolution frankly was kind of a reversion to its more natural state, which hadn't really existed since the middle ages.  The arbitrary shifting of borders and "uniting" under a government that is "unnatural" leads to ethnic strife and nationalism.  So you had primarily a Muslim (Bosnia)/Non-Muslim conflict, and then secondary conflicts between Serbs and Croats and etc.

Hungary is a bit the same way, except that it still retains a core historical territory.  There are portions of it that are more Romanian/Transylvanian, and some parts of other countries (Romania, Bulgaria) that are traditionally Hungarian.  There is a pretty fierce nationalism in Hungary because of all the slicing and dicing of it.

Is it a good analogy for the US?  Maybe.  But the disputes and grievances that led to its breakup were centuries old.

[wildcat09 29226]

Just now, TwiceHorn said:

Well, one of the first things to note about Yugoslavia is that, like a lot of Central-Southern Europe, it was an imperial territorial hockey puck between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and to some extent, the Byzantine Empire.  And then, of course, the Soviet Union came in.

It was known as the powder keg of the Balkans prior to WWI.

By the time it became Yugoslavia, it was a real bastard amalgamation of people/states who may at one time have shared common ethnicity and culture, but due to the above, and particularly the forced incursion of Islam, was pretty "stitched together," not unlike the Middle East.

Its dissolution frankly was kind of a reversion to its more natural state, which hadn't really existed since the middle ages.  The arbitrary shifting of borders and "uniting" under a government that is "unnatural" leads to ethnic strife and nationalism.  So you had primarily a Muslim (Bosnia)/Non-Muslim conflict, and then secondary conflicts between Serbs and Croats and etc.

Hungary is a bit the same way, except that it still retains a core historical territory.  There are portions of it that are more Romanian/Transylvanian, and some parts of other countries (Romania, Bulgaria) that are traditionally Hungarian.  There is a pretty fierce nationalism in Hungary because of all the slicing and dicing of it.

Is it a good analogy for the US?  Maybe.  But the disputes and grievances that led to its breakup were centuries old.

Yeah...I think we've got some of those here too.

[Telegraph_it 3354]

Guys the US isn't breaking up. That would require too much effort to put into place. 

[Brisketexan 104560]

1 minute ago, Telegraph_it said:

Guys the US isn't breaking up. That would require too much effort to put into place. 

You're correct.  We're just going to opt-in to having a low-level ongoing civil war, continually weakening us further and further.

I mean, that's a MUCH better option than [checks notes] doing things like requiring law enforcement to be accountable via fair and objective legal norms.

[HornOnTheBayou 8881]

51 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

After Prince died they went back to being scared of black people.

Sure, but things started going downhill before that with the death of Kirby Puckett.

[wildcat09 29226]

18 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

Guys the US isn't breaking up. That would require too much effort to put into place. 

Keeping it together actually requires a lot of effort too. We're seeing what happens when that effort is abandoned.

[Bartles 769]

 

[Rougarou 594]

2 minutes ago, Bartles said:

 

Hahaha, but through it all, sense of humor will prevail. Humor must be the most powerful positive force in the world, huh?

[mchookem 16195]

i actually do believe that, and that it is the most attractive force in the world 🙂

[clapclapclap 9000]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

This is so key.

Minorities in America want a voice.  

Our response when they protest peacefully and symbolically?  SHUT UP AND PLAY FOOTBALL!

Our response when the poorest and most disenfranchised want to vote?  LET'S MAKE IT HARDER FOR THEM TO VOTE!  

Our response when they fucking give up and get violent?  THUGS!  THIS ISN'T HOW YOU SHOULD ADDRESS YOUR GRIEVANCES!

They can't peacefully protest and be heard.  They can't vote and be heard.  We have TOLD them that the current path -- violence -- is the only path available to them.  

All of this, instead of us just saying "you know what....there's some real fucking problems here, why don't we address them?"  Our denial is strong as hell.

Yes, for 3 years you and several others here have been calling for violent protests and riots to in effect overthrow the government 'because the system is broken'.  Mostly hidden in the Politics section, but sometimes outside when you couldn't control yourself.  You're permanently mad because you lost an election, so every time you and your fellow travelers think you've found a weakness to exploit you use it as a fig leaf to rant and call for violence until your side gets back in power.  This isn't really about George Floyd for you and the Political Forum mob.  Of course that's not everyone on this thread, many have legit outrage, but the usual suspects that politicize everything are foaming at the mouth again.  "This is finally our chance to bring down Trump!"

Not have a voice?  You've got 95% of the media and all of the local governments involved in these Minneapolis police abuse and murder incidents on your side.  The left you constantly campaign for.  Minneapolis has been run for more than 40 years by the left/Democrats.  40 years of left mayors that appointed left police chiefs.  Practically everyone on the Minneapolis police force was hired and trained and worked under this left government.  Why are you not calling for the Minneapolis mayor to be voted out?  Why are you not protesting against him and the city council?  This police force is a reflection of their policies, their hiring, their oversight.  

The Dems have held the MN governor's office for a decade.  Hennepin County elections are allegedly non-partisan, but that county has not voted for the GOP in presidential elections since 1972.  What party does that idiot county prosecutor belong to?  The one who yesterday said there are more facts that support not charging the murderer/manslaughterer?  I'm always open minded on these cases, but right now can't think of a medical condition that could have killed him that wouldn't potentially be impacted by kneeling on a neck for many minutes.  There's already plenty of released video of the important period before the killing, and it doesn't show anything warranting extreme police response.  News reports now say Floyd and the officer both worked security at the same nightclub for a long time.  Hard to believe that the murderer/manslaughterer didn't recognize Floyd, so this may have been a personal beef. 

https://kstp.com/news/george-floyd-fired-officer-overlapped-security-shifts-at-south-minneapolis-club-may-28-2020/5743990/

So why did the Hennepin County prosecutor make such an inflammatory statement yesterday?  There's too many on the left that think violence and disorder will ultimately lead to Trump's electoral downfall, as the media will always find a way to spin anything bad on the GOP.  Why did the mayor let his city be looted and burned, and order a police station abandoned with the near certainty  that it would be burned?  Sure a lot of small businesses get destroyed, but small business owners tend to vote 'the wrong way'.  Some might wonder if certain elected Democrats believe some damage now will help them in November.  Violence, mayhem, locking down the economy, high unemployment, such a small price to pay for winning back control.... 

Of course Trump is an idiot and a hot head, so he allowed himself to be baited into walking into the media/left's political trap.  Too many want more martyrs, want a Kent State that they can use as a rallying cry and shift blame onto the feds/GOP.  "Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet."  Which is why you're doing all you can to incite violence and insurrection.  "We've tried voting, talking, peaceful protesting, it hasn't worked" you keep saying. 

Violence is not the answer.  Period.  But it's just too tempting for the emotional, undisciplined, angry mob perpetually seething for 3.5 years that they didn't get their way and afraid too many Americans will again not vote the way they want.  "So if we can't get our way, burn it all down."  The same thought process used by losers angry that their wife left them or got fired and then shoot up their family or workplace.  The same excuses that blah blah blah...they system's against us...blah blah blah.   Bottom line, it's just excessive lashing out in anger because you didn't get your way.  It's why most of the negging on Surly is either in the Politics section or by the Politics section regulars.  Control freaks.  It's their only easy means of inflicting harm on those that make them mad for having a different opinion, getting in their way of gaining back control.  Or maybe step it up to trying to get people banned, doxxing, trying to get them fired.  Inflicting excessive harm to silence or punish the political opposition.  And now you and the Politics forum mob have been emboldened to repeatedly call for actual violence.  You've found another fig leaf to rationalize that such harming of innocents is ok, because it's a 'Righteous' calling and half those harmed probably voted the wrong way and thus somehow someway are the real ones to blame.  

This now isn't about George Floyd.  As usual, it's another Paul Wellstone memorial.  Except this is inflicting financial and physical harm on innocent people.  "We've got to stop the violence" by violently impacting and intimidating far more.  Burn the village to save it, eh?

  

Edited May 29, 2020 by clapclapclap

[FondrenRoad 4378]

33 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

Guys the US isn't breaking up. That would require too much effort to put into place. 

 

31 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

You're correct.  We're just going to opt-in to having a low-level ongoing civil war, continually weakening us further and further.

I mean, that's a MUCH better option than [checks notes] doing things like requiring law enforcement to be accountable via fair and objective legal norms.

 

14 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Keeping it together actually requires a lot of effort too. We're seeing what happens when that effort is abandoned.

Yeah, we are too lazy and afraid to break up, but also too lazy to put in the work to make the relationship work.  The USA is that couple that spends 10 years in a loveless relationship when it shouldn't have lasted past 6 months.  Instead, we stay together and continue fighting with each other in the mall.  She is screaming and crying.  He is embarrassed, but doesn't really give a fuck about her feelings.  We'll be back next week to do it again.

Edited May 29, 2020 by FondrenRoad

[cabowabo 4451]

1 hour ago, Message Board User said:

We desperately need a new President.

Joe Biden to the rescue....lol.

[TexArcher 37508]

1 hour ago, HenryJames said:

We might be a failed state at this point.

We may not fail altogether, but we've been declining since 9/11.  Since then, we've pursued a bullshit war for profit in Iraq, alienating all of our allies, then rebuilt those alliances, only to see the biggest mistake we've ever elected shred them again.  Also since 9/11 (and before, but worse since), we've allowed our educational system to deteriorate while every other industrialized nation bolstered theirs.  And we've allowed Fox News and the Religious Right to assemble a cult of about a hundred million idiots, ensuring that they continue to have enough numbers in enough places for Congress to grease the skids for Corporate America and further enrich the top 1-5%.

This is the end game of capitalism: a very small and very wealthy elite, a huge and marginalized working class that grows poorer by the day, and a vanishing middle class in between.  History has shown over and over what comes next.  It might or might not be in our lifetime, but a reckoning is coming.

[Brisketexan 104560]

16 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Yes, for 3 years you and several others here have been calling for violent protests and riots to in effect overthrow the government 'because the system is broken'.  Mostly hidden in the Politics section, but sometimes outside when you couldn't control yourself.  You're permanently mad because you lost an election, so every time you and your fellow travelers think you've found a weakness to exploit you use it as a fig leaf to rant and call for violence until your side gets back in power.  This isn't really about George Floyd for you and the Political Forum mob.  Of course that's not everyone on this thread, many have legit outrage, but the usual suspects that politicize everything are foaming at the mouth again.  "This is finally our chance to bring down Trump!"

Not have a voice?  You've got 95% of the media and all of the local governments involved in these Minneapolis police abuse and murder incidents on your side.  The left you constantly campaign for.  Minneapolis has been run for more than 40 years by the left/Democrats.  40 years of left mayors that appointed left police chiefs.  Practically everyone on the Minneapolis police force was hired and trained and worked under this left government.  Why are you not calling for the Minneapolis mayor to be voted out?  Why are you not protesting against him and the city council?  This police force is a reflection of their policies, their hiring, their oversight.  

The Dems have held the MN governor's office for a decade.  Hennepin County elections are allegedly non-partisan, but that county has not voted for the GOP in presidential elections since 1972.  What party does that idiot county prosecutor belong to?  The one who yesterday said there are more facts that support not charging the murderer/manslaughterer?  I'm always open minded on these cases, but right now can't think of a medical condition that could have killed him that wouldn't potentially be impacted by kneeling on a neck for many minutes.  There's already plenty of released video of the important period before the killing, and it doesn't show anything warranting extreme police response.  News reports now say Floyd and the officer both worked security at the same nightclub for a long time.  Hard to believe that the murderer/manslaughterer didn't recognize Floyd, so this may have been a personal beef. 

https://kstp.com/news/george-floyd-fired-officer-overlapped-security-shifts-at-south-minneapolis-club-may-28-2020/5743990/

So why did the Hennepin County prosecutor make such an inflammatory statement yesterday?  There's too many on the left that think violence and disorder will ultimately lead to Trump's electoral downfall, as the media will always find a way to spin anything bad on the GOP.  Why did the mayor let his city be looted and burned, and order a police station abandoned with the near certainty  that it would be burned?  Sure a lot of small businesses get destroyed, but small business owners tend to vote 'the wrong way'.  Some might wonder if certain elected Democrats believe some damage now will help them in November.  Violence, mayhem, locking down the economy, high unemployment, such a small price to pay for winning back control.... 

Of course Trump is an idiot and a hot head, so he allowed himself to be baited into walking into the media/left's political trap.  Too many want more martyrs, want a Kent State that they can use as a rallying cry and shift blame onto the feds/GOP.  "Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet."  Which is why you're doing all you can to incite violence and insurrection.  "We've tried voting, talking, peaceful protesting, it hasn't worked" you keep saying. 

Violence is not the answer.  Period.  But it's just too tempting for the emotional, undisciplined, angry mob perpetually seething for 3.5 years that they didn't get their way and afraid too many Americans will again not vote the way they want.  "So if we can't get our way, burn it all down."  The same thought process used by losers angry that their wife left them or got fired and then shoot up their family or workplace.  The same excuses that blah blah blah...they system's against us...blah blah blah.   Bottom line, it's just excessive lashing out in anger because you didn't get your way.  It's why most of the negging is either in the Politics section or by the Politics section regulars.  Control freaks.  It's their only easy means of inflicting harm on those that make them mad for having a different opinion, getting in their way of gaining back control.  Or maybe step it up to trying to get people banned, doxxing, trying to get them fired.  Inflicting excessive harm to silence or punish the political opposition.  And now you and the CR mob have been emboldened to repeatedly call for actual violence.  You've found another fig leaf to rationalize that such harming of innocents is ok, because it's a 'Righteous' calling and half those harmed probably voted the wrong way and thus somehow someway are the real ones to blame.  

This now isn't about George Floyd.  As usual, it's another Paul Wellstone memorial.  Except this is inflicting financial and physical harm on innocent people.  "We've got to stop the violence" by violently impacting and intimidating far more.  Burn the village to save it, eh?

  

Oh....you think I would hold only the GOP responsible?  I mean, I certainly do -- they are definitely the voices amplifying all rhetoric contrary to even the concept of expecting better of police.

But I guess you'll be surprised by the fact that I am incredibly critical of existing local leadership for failing -- for decades -- to meaningfully address these issues.  That's why I've repeatedly referred to the SYSTEM AS A WHOLE and "the powers that be" as functioning as designed.  Dem or GOP, "tough on crime" and "I support the cops" has been a winning message for decades.  Which has translated into absolute malleability by police and their cheerleaders.

My criticisms of each American "wing" are for different reasons, but to the same degree:

I criticize the right for purposeful cruelty, incorporation and amplification of racism, and purposefully working AGAINST any meaningful reform, which has only amped up in the past decade.

I criticize the left for an utter lack of political courage or spine, occasionally saying the right thing, but rarely arising above the level of "lackluster" with respect to any meaningful reform - the list of missed opportunities is a mile long.

Which gets us to the heart of the problem -- minorities in this country feel absolutely friendless, with good cause.  That explains their real, absolute frustration.  It's MLK's same old frustration -- caught between the openly racist and oppositional conservatives, and the "well-meaning" but ever-delaying white liberal, getting ever-screwed from all directions.

 

Well, shit - just saw Bob's note.  Feel free to move this over to CR.  Just wanted to respond to the post on the thread where it can be found.

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by Brisketexan

[FondrenRoad 4378]

2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Hey, would this be the place to post the guidance that Sessions issued literally on his way out of the office?  It was guidance for the DOJ with respect to Consent Decrees, which are a regularly used tool to get police departments to straighten up and fly right.  And it effectively instructed the DOJ not to issue any more long-term, strong Consent Decrees.  It was literally a direct undermining of the mechanism used to get police departments to reform.  This admin hasn't just been neglectful of the issue -- it's purposefully worked AGAINST reform.

And of course, the chief executive has directly informed police that he'd like it if they bang suspects heads against their cars when they load them up.

Come the fuck on.  This is the system functioning exactly like this administration WANTS it to function.

When Trump finally gets arrested, I hope he "resists".

[Brisketexan 104560]

15 minutes ago, FondrenRoad said:

 

 

Yeah, we are too lazy and afraid to break up, but also too lazy to put in the work to make the relationship work.  The USA is that couple that spends 10 years in a loveless relationship when it shouldn't have lasted past 6 months.  Instead, we stay together and continue fighting with each other in the mall.  She is screaming and crying.  He is embarrassed, but doesn't really give a fuck about her feelings.  We'll be back next week to do it again.

Couldn't we at least find some solace in a side piece?  I hear Colombia is pretty hot.....

6 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

We may not fail altogether, but we've been declining since 9/11.  Since then, we've pursued a bullshit war for profit in Iraq, alienating all of our allies, then rebuilt those alliances, only to see the biggest mistake we've ever elected shred them again.  Also since 9/11 (and before, but worse since), we've allowed our educational system to deteriorate while every other industrialized nation bolstered theirs.  And we've allowed Fox News and the Religious Right to assemble a cult of about a hundred million idiots, ensuring that they continue to have enough numbers in enough places for Congress to grease the skids for Corporate America and further enrich the top 1-5%.

This is the end game of capitalism: a very small and very wealthy elite, a huge and marginalized working class that grows poorer by the day, and a vanishing middle class in between.  History has shown over and over what comes next.  It might or might not be in our lifetime, but a reckoning is coming.

The fact that the alarm bells have been ringing for years now -- rung by both voices from the left (e.g., Elizabeth Warren) AND the "right" (many wealthy types) -- is so frustrating.  Anybody with open eyes has seen this coming from a mile away.   It's so damned predictable.  We know EXACTLY how this ends, but we continue to barrel down the road in full Thelma and Louise style.

[Enchubben 5509]

Maybe this is the wrong thread, but have the cop(s)that killed Floyd been arrested yet?  If not, what and who is the hold up?

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13546]

1 hour ago, shnsajax said:

 

Yup, you had a problem with that. Things you didn't have a problem with-

Trump taking out a full-page ad calling for the execution of innocent Americans and refusing to retract his sentiments years later when the issue was raised with him.

Encouraging law enforcement to rough up those they arrest.

Inciting violence against peaceful protesters at his rallies and...

...in case you want to roll out the he's-just-joking blank check, offering legal aid to those who follow through.

Claiming he'd lose no supporters if he shot someone on 5th Ave.

Just yesterday, retweeting a "the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat" tweet.

Etc, etc, etc...

[otisdog 365]

1 minute ago, Enchubben said:

Maybe this is the wrong thread, but have the cop(s)that killed Floyd been arrested yet?  If not, what and who is the hold up?

No.

White / Black

Edited May 29, 2020 by otisdog

[hayden_horn 11360]

4 minutes ago, Enchubben said:

Maybe this is the wrong thread, but have the cop(s)that killed Floyd been arrested yet?  If not, what and who is the hold up?

they have not yet been arrested. yesterday, the prosecutor held a press conference stating: 

Quote

Mike Freeman: “That video is graphic and horrific and terrible, and no person should do that. But my job, in the end, is to prove that he violated a criminal statute, and there is other evidence that does not support a criminal charge.”

so, i mean, i think you know the answer to your question has to do with the badge the cop wore and his skin color while murdering an unarmed nonviolent black person on the ground already in handcuffs.

Edited May 29, 2020 by hayden_horn

[Guest Lobo]

3 minutes ago, Enchubben said:

Maybe this is the wrong thread, but have the cop(s)that killed Floyd been arrested yet?  If not, what and who is the hold up?

central booking is all clogged up with CNN reporters and the guy who shot a looter.

[TwiceHorn 31264]

3 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

they have not yet been arrested. yesterday, the prosecutor held a press conference stating: 

so, i mean, i think you know the answer to your question has to do with the badge the cop wore and his skin color while murdering an unarmed nonviolent black person on the ground already in handcuffs.

The hypocrisy there extends beyond black/white or rich/poor.

A grand jury is rarely to never "fed" the exculpatory evidence, just the inculpatory evidence.  The rest can be sorted out at trial.