Running gun violence thread

And not one person here would want their wife, daughter, girlfriend, or mother to work at a convenience store like Ferguson Market, where Big Mike robbed the rellos from.

 

Oh good, we've reached the "look how hypocritical the other side is" being brayed back and forth between mediocrities for eternity phase.

 

Ferguson went from 75% white to about 70% black in 20 years. That magnitude of a shift over that (relatively) short a period of time is why the police-populace numbers are so out of whack.

 

Winner, winner. Chicken dinner.

 

This blog, by an anonymous Chicago Cop has a wide following in law enforcement.

It's not PC, and the comments are worse than the newspaper.

That said, this is his takeaway from what happened in Ferguson:

(I have no idea what the Indianapolis reference is about.)

 

Given what we've seen of their heavy-handed methods of enforcement, that dystopia actually does sound like an improvement.

 

The latest media hero, Scott Olsen, Getty Images:

http://huff.to/1tgrzTJ

 

...

 

I would say I'm learning just what lengths people will go to to believe the police are right. When did this happen, that the only way to ensure you don't die is to treat the police as an occupying force intent on destroying you?

Selling untaxed cigarettes? If the police have to use a banned chokehold to get you to stop, hey, it's your fault for taking life in your hands.

Stopped for a traffic violation and your white friend has some weed? Sorry, you're black, thus we must treat this as a life-threatening situation and beat you nearly to death. And even though the city will settle for $795,000, the officers won't face any discipline. (They'll later be fired for another racially charged beating.)

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22964319/review-clears-3-denver-police-officers-2009-beating

You're face-down, with your hands cuffed behind your back, and the cop shoots you dead? He'll get involuntary manslaughter, but only after the police throw about a hundred things up about your own past that somehow mitigate against the cop shooting you in the back when you're face-down and handcuffed.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/07/oscar_grant_verdict_merhserle_guilty_of_involuntary_manslaughter.html

So of everything you've heard that has led you to believe Michael Brown took his life in his hands, remember -- the whole thing started because the cop didn't like that they were walking in the street.

 

Talk about taking a broad brush.

I respect the folks who sign up for a law enforcement job; my job does not involve the possibility of armed confrontation, ever.

However, when those folks signed up, they promised to uphold the laws of our Constitution and the state laws. That's all I'm asking.

That does not mean you do what's happening in Ferguson, Mo., separate from what happened to Mr. Brown:

Arrest journalists;
Fire into crowds;
Use a "shock and awe" show of force against unarmed protesters.

Claiming unfair scrutiny is no excuse for refusing to do your job. You don't want to do it, then resign. Refusing to do the job, which means getting out of your car, simply because of what you perceive to be unfair scrutiny is an excuse for not wanting to be scrutinized.

What is clear is that police do not have the right to violate our civil rights, ever.

 

It beats staying inside and posting to anonymous message boards 10 hours a day.

 

Why is Amy K. Nelson tweeting hundreds of times about this?