From The Archives -- Big Brother v. Little Brother
I wrote the following article nine years ago. It has never been as relevant as now, however, which is why I felt the need to repost it today.
To be blunt, the one consistent truth in all of the horrific scenes of police brutality we've all witnessed recently (and in the past) is that it was caught on video. If it hadn't been, then it effectively would not have happened. We would only have a police report about a protester "tripping and falling" rather than an image of the cops shoving a peaceful 75-year-old man to the ground. There would be nothing to run on the evening news, outside of the small slice of the protests that the professional camera crews caught on film.
To put it another way, if "Little Brother" video didn't exist, you would not now know the name George Floyd. That is the power the following article was written about.
Of course, being nine years old, the examples given are all pretty dated now. Most of my focus at the time was on the developing events of the Arab Spring (which was so nascent it hadn't even received that name yet) and considering the effect on foreign governments rather than our own. The one example I used of police brutality within the United States was the shooting of a man by BART cops, which has now been immortalized in a documentary movie (Fruitvale Station). But the points I made are still valid, even if my focus was more external back then.
Technology has moved on in the intervening nine years. For instance, there is no mention of police body cameras in the article, because they did not effectively exist in 2011. And, obviously, there was no mention of Donald Trump when discussing the Big Brother metaphor. So if I wrote the article today, I'd doubtlessly use different examples and draw different parallels.
But, as I said, the main point remains just as valid. The past few weeks would have been viewed much differently by the majority of the American public if it hadn't been for all those Little Brothers out there, documenting abuses of power in real time.
Originally published February 23, 2011
Everyone knows who "Big Brother" is, of course, because we all had to read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four at some point in our schooling. Big Brother is the fictional benevolent figurehead in Orwell's "negative Utopia" masterpiece, whose beaming visage is a front for a totalitarian police state which spies relentlessly upon its own citizenry. Television sets, in this future world, are both unavoidable and two-way -- broadcasting images of what you are doing in your own home to the government watchers. To some extent, Orwell's dark fantasy has become everyday life in some places (it's almost impossible to avoid being publicly filmed now in cities like London, for instance). But there's been a balancing revolution in surveillance as well -- which is more and more apparent in the recent news. I'm going to call this effect "Little Brother" -- citizens watching, filming, and reporting on governmental activities to a rapt worldwide audience. And we've already seen how powerful a tool this can be in the Middle East.
In ancient times -- say, twenty-five years ago or so -- the technology which caused this powerful effect either didn't exist or was in its bulky, heavy infancy. Small camcorders were becoming available which took video, but they were still rather expensive. So expensive (and bulky, for the most part) that most people who owned them didn't carry them around on a daily basis. Professional television and video cameras still weighed a ton, and were outrageously expensive, so they were still mostly the province of wealthy newsgathering organizations.
This limited what video was available to both the news organizations themselves, and to the wider public. The established media outlets were still firmly in charge of their "gatekeeping" function. The public only saw what a professional camera crew dispatched to the scene captured (whatever the scene happened to be). Or, at least, what parts of it were edited down for the evening news.
But twenty-five years, in technological terms, is several eons ago. First the internet burst onto the scene. Then blogging. Digital cameras became cheaper and cheaper, and more accessible. Cell phones became tiny, and affordable. Then cell phones merged with both the computer and the digital camera (still and movie), until you can now fit more technological power in the palm of your hand than was even available twenty-five years ago. What's more -- pretty much everyone could afford it. Which meant everyone with such a video-ready cell phone in their pocket became their own sort of "check and balance" on governmental powers -- and governmental abuses.
Consider police brutality, as an easy example. First, there were no cameras (or only very rarely). Then, there were police cameras -- dashboard cameras in police cruisers, and mandatory videotaping of police interviews. Now, everyone has a camera, and they're ready to whip it out and point it at, for instance, a subway policeman shooting a suspect who is lying on the floor. The BART cop incident was horrific, of course, but it was also instructive, in a way. Not only was the entire incident caught on camera by innocent bystanders on a subway train, but it was caught from multiple angles. Lots of people had their cameras rolling, in other words.
In a police state, the citizens live in fear of the police monitoring them all the time. But what do you call it when the police themselves know damn well that at any time or any place while they are performing their duties that the citizens could be monitoring them -- with evidence that would stand up in court?
Sometimes, of course, the police just don't care. The Chicago cops at the 1968 Democratic National Convention certainly knew there were cameras filming them, and the protestors were loudly yelling: "The whole world is watching!" just in case they hadn't figured it out. Heads were still cracked, even with the cameras rolling. I know this is an outdated example, but I cite it merely to show the limits of such thinking. Sometimes there are other concerns than just being filmed.
Now, I'm not suggesting America is a police state, of course, just as I'm not suggesting that 1968 Chicago cops have much of anything to do with today's world. In America, for the most part, cell phone videos are mostly picked up by the mainstream media when they capture spur-of-the-moment events with high action-packed-adventure value -- such as a camera on board an airplane that has a close call, for instance; or video of a weather phenomenon such as a tornado, or lightning striking. Even so, every once in a while one of these videos catches some serious abuse that would have been otherwise ignored.
But the Little Brother effect in the rest of the world can be powerful indeed, as we've all seen these past few weeks. Much has been made about the power of "social networking" (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in the revolutionary happenings over in North Africa and the Middle East of late, and how the power of the computer has brought together people who, in the past, likely would never have gotten the word to go down to the square and protest. I'm not knocking this at all, because it is indeed a powerful tool.
In any warfare -- conventional, psychological, people-power revolt, or Gandhi-like nonviolent movements -- communication is key. Communications are incredibly important in revolutionary movements, which is why taking control of radio and television stations is always a crucial turning point -- because it denies the rulers the megaphone to the people, and instead puts that megaphone in the hands of the insurgents. In less-developed countries, this can be a chokepoint of virtually all information flowing to the people, and flowing to the outside world. But times have changed, and communications are more diverse these days.
But while other commenters have focused only on the power of the revolutionaries to communicate to their followers via social networking and the like, there's a flip side to this coin that we've now almost taken for granted -- the communications about what is happening on the streets. Cell phones (with video) are so prevalent even in less-developed countries, that during uprisings (even in such fanatically-closed societies as Iran and Libya) the rest of the world gets to see video clips of what is going on, almost in real time.
This is a profound advancement, especially in terms of the relative amounts of media coverage these events get, both in America and in the foreign media. Previously, if a news crew couldn't safely get out on the streets to film, then the world could not accurately see what was happening. At best, we'd get video shot out a hotel window, perhaps with gunfire in the distance (or bombing, for that matter). Compare coverage of the first time we invaded Iraq with what is going on in Libya today, for instance (note: I'm not trying to equate the two events in any way, just pointing out the difference, in terms of media tools, that twenty years' time can create). Now, although jerky and not very well filmed (admittedly, it must be hard to keep a camera steady when running for your life from a machine gun), we get video clips of street fighting and actual battles. That, as I said, is a profound advancement in communications technology.
Autocratic governments faced with the prospect of hordes of their own people in the street have been learning to hit the "kill switch" on both the internet and cell phones early on in the uprising. But, these days, even that's not enough. Even while Egypt was "dark" -- and currently, in Libya -- the videos somehow manage to get out. There are now technologies and methods which can even circumvent drastic government censorship of communications, although not all of them are affordable or available to all (a satellite phone, for instance). One way or another, Americans turn on the evening news each night, and on display are hand-held videos shot on the streets of Tripoli or Tehran or wherever else the hotspot happens to be that day.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then video is worth at least a hundred thousand. News organizations likely wouldn't devote all that much time to events that they have no film of, relegating it to an offhanded mention before a commercial break ("There was some unrest reported today on the streets of... we'll be right back after these messages"). But a video of thugs in uniform beating and shooting and massacring unarmed civilians is going to lead that night's broadcast, for shock value alone. Especially if it's a country where we don't approve of the current government. Even in countries with friendly governments, when the foreign media start running brutal clips, the American media eventually scrambles to catch up (sometimes after a few days' interval, though).
I guess all I'm really saying is that we need to update an old maxim. The pen may still be mightier than the sword, but who realistically uses either implement these days? Maybe "the video camera cell phone is mightier than the machine gun," is what it should now read, I don't know. As with the older version of the saying, one guy with a cell phone camera is really no literal match for a carbine bullet. And these things don't always have happy endings (remember the woman martyred on camera during the Iranian uprising last year?), either for the individual concerned or for the wider movement. But the power of thousands upon thousands of tiny cameras watching the watchers is still not to be taken lightly. Because it can work to bring down governments, at times. Or convince a country's military (or military leaders) that they really look bad on the world stage, causing shame enough for them to change tactics.
The regimes which have fallen so far -- as well as a few that are teetering on the brink -- were for the most part classic examples of police states. Fear was used to control the populace, in a naked way. They all qualified, to some extent or another, as countries Orwell would have recognized immediately. The leader-worshipping cult of personality present in these places only differed from Big Brother by the fact that Big Brother actually existed (instead of having faded long ago into a fictional figurehead) in the person of "the leader" -- whose photograph could be seen everywhere in the country. Like I said, Orwell would have recognized these signs right away.
But now even these Big Brother types have seen the power of Little Brother. They've seen the power of people communicating with each other to take to the streets, and they've seen world opinion changed in an eyeblink, all due to just a handful of videos shot at street-level. Videos of massacres of crowds of peaceful, unarmed citizens; videos of police and military savagery; videos of crowded hospital hallways filled with casualties; videos of women and children running for their lives from a hail of bullets; and (worst for them) videos of triumphant throngs in the streets celebrating their deliverance from tyranny. Big Brother still has a lot of power at his disposal, but Little Brother's cell phone video may prove to be a more powerful force, in the end. Because, now, surveillance works both ways.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
[1]
Huh?
I don't get your point, Comrade Don. Please elaborate.
Just rolled across a quote from Frederick Douglass:
The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.
FPC,
As you have told Liz so rudely so many times..
"This blog is not yours to police"..
If there WAS a case of someone being able to police this blog, Liz has MUCH MORE authority to so than most anyone else here, sans 2 others...
MC,
[18]
Michale wrote:
A great plague is upon the land, and we must all respond with displays of ritual purification and groveling obedience.
I don't believe I ever wrote that....
Yeah we wouldn't want to interfere with every Americans to do whatever the fuck they want, right?
Your right and the right of scumbag terrorist looters and cop killers ends where someone else's rights begin...
Liz
But, what he said about the flag in the first instance is not at all ad odds with his apology in this sense - you can respect the flag by kneeling in protest against something that the flag of the USA does not stand for, or fly for, as the case may be, no?
No..
I believe you are confusing what Drew Brees said with what Drew Brees' wife said...
MC,
Where I agree with you is that racism is... a weapon. A weapon used against Native Americans, blacks, Hispanics, Chinese laborers etc.
Can you prove that?? With FACTS??? No you cannot??
But I have TONS of facts that PROVE beyond any doubt that the accusation of "racism" has been used as a weapon against conservatives and those that don't toe the terrorist racist black lives matter line..
Educate yourself.
GOOGLE "Journo-list"....
Why the heck do you think our Nation (including lots of non racist white folk) are now rising up against this stain on America's honor? Duh.
You and JM are caught up in the same ridiculous delusion. The vast majority of Americans, PATRIOTIC Americans love the cops and love the anthem and love the flag and don't want to see them tarnished..
It's only a small VERY vocal minority of Trump/America haters who are spewing all the hate and racism and bigotry...
From time to time I agree with you, Michale, and this is partially one of those times.
Thank you...
For the record I fully agree with this statement. Furthermore I am staunchly opposed to youthfully silly calls to abolish ICE and disband local, county, statewide and national law enforcement.
Then ACT like it.. Be like Russ.. Be like me.. DEFEND the cops... If you must denigrate a cop for what he or she did or didn't do confine your scorn to THAT ONE COP.. Don't indict the entire career field..
Without ICE we have no borders, and without law enforcement we have no civilization.
EXACTLY..
So, it is safe to assume that you condemn those looney tune bat-shit crazy types who are calling for defunding/disbanding police???
Michale wrote:
You need to differentiate between what I write and what I post...
Now that's the Michale that I thought you are. So what I don't get is why a quality American public servant such as yourself could fall in love such a amoral Douche-bag such as Trump. His character (and competence) is sooo antithetical to yours!
Simple.. President Trump gets things done.. Lowest unemployment in decades.. Lowest unemployment for black Americans and hispanic Americans ***EVER***
That alone is cause to love President Trump...
I would also point out that, despite Odumbo saying, "Those jobs aren't coming back!!!" President Trump BROUGHT THOSE JOBS BACK...
There is PLENTY to love about President Trump if you love your country..
You only need to look past your hate and bigotry to see it..
Don't be offended by the bigotry claim.. We all have our bigotries.. Our bigotries make us who we are...
I am a Loud and Proud Libtard but there's two things I hate(d) about Liberalism, and that's forced school bussing (look it up, Puppydog) and especially Political Correctness.
On that, we agree 1000%... :D
It's been said many many MANY moons here in Weigantia that if we ever got past politics that us'all would find that we agree on more things than we disagree on.. :D
MC,
As you can tell I'm reading and commenting one comment it a time, Michale, so these words are my reaction as I go along.
Whatever works for ya... :D I am just happy to be having a civil conversation.. :D
When you've got a moment would you please tell me what your reasons are for posting here. I meant every kind word I stated above and this inquiry is entirely sincere! Trust me -- Im in sales!
Hehe....
Way Way WAY back in 2005 (maybe 2006.. Memories are fuzzy the further back you go... But it's funny.. I can remember a specific day in 1968 when I was walking into the side door of my house in Pasadena, CA.. Weird... Anyways......) 2005 or 06 I was perusing Huff Post (back then I actually called it Huff Post. This was before the HuffPoop/FB abomination that we have today.. Shit, I am never gonna get thru this with all these asides..)
Anyways, I was looking thru Huff Post at the height of the SHOULD WE TORTURE TERRORISTS FOR INTEL days... Of course, me being very pro-Torture Terrorists (my background in public safety (LEO, MILITARY, FSO, SECURITY was what made me that way) so I had my choice of debates I can join in...
One particularly caught my eye..
So Is Torturing A Daughter OK?
By Chris Weigant
09/15/2006 05:15 pm ET Updated May 25, 2011
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/so-is-torturing-a-daughte_b_29538
OK, so it was 2006...
Anyway, that commentary caught my eye... Keep in mind, Weigantia as we know it today was simply a gleam in CW's eye... :D
What an epic discussion that was.. It's a shame that HuffPoop didn't retain the comments.. EPIC.. Lasted for almost a week, if I recall correctly...
Chris and I, we developed a grudging respect for each other.. Neither of us changed the other's mind.. But the back and forth, the lunge and parry, the thrust and counter-thrust... As I said.. EPIC.. :D
Anyways, a bit later, I don't recall exactly how long, CW said he was opening up his own blog and invited me to sign up...
I became the token conservative that kept CW and the rest of the liberals on their toes... Liz was there... JL of course.. David (Akajadin)(sp??) was a regular.. Kevin.. Oh boy, Kevin.. :D Every once in a while, I would get some conservative help.. CB... Her and Liz's battles were also quite EPIC.. :D I had heard she had died (or had everything she had destroyed) when Hurricane Sandy came ashore.. Never saw her again...
So, then it was back to being me.. There may have been other conservative types along the way.. None that really stand out..
We were like a family.. Fighting like cats and dogs but always ready at the end to share a beer together..
One year, I almost lost my wife in a car accident.. I turned to my friends here and they helped me thru it..
Another year, I lost my mom to cancer... I remember that vividly.. It was right during the Romney/Obama debates.. By that time, even though I voted for Obama in 2008, I was very anti Obama by the time his re-election came around.. I vaguely remember Obama totally blowing one of the debates and CW wondered why I was not around to gloat..
CW posted a comment that, to this day, really means a lot to me..
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2012/10/04/debating-formats/#comment-27699
So, to answer your question succinctly.. (Too late :)... )
I am here because a friend invited me here... I stay because Weigantia is a hard addiction to shake.. :D
I know it's unlikely that I will ever change anyone's mind..
But sometimes... OFT times... It's not the destination... It's the journey...
"To the journey!"
-Ensign Harry Kim, STAR TREK VOYAGER
MC,
As you can tell I'm reading and commenting one comment it a time, Michale, so these words are my reaction as I go along.
Whatever works for ya... :D I am just happy to be having a civil conversation.. :D
When you've got a moment would you please tell me what your reasons are for posting here. I meant every kind word I stated above and this inquiry is entirely sincere! Trust me -- Im in sales!
Hehe....
Way Way WAY back in 2005 (maybe 2006.. Memories are fuzzy the further back you go... But it's funny.. I can remember a specific day in 1968 when I was walking into the side door of my house in Pasadena, CA.. Weird... Anyways......) 2005 or 06 I was perusing Huff Post (back then I actually called it Huff Post. This was before the HuffPoop/FB abomination that we have today.. Shit, I am never gonna get thru this with all these asides..)
Anyways, I was looking thru Huff Post at the height of the SHOULD WE TORTURE TERRORISTS FOR INTEL days... Of course, me being very pro-Torture Terrorists (my background in public safety (LEO, MILITARY, FSO, SECURITY was what made me that way) so I had my choice of debates I can join in...
One particularly caught my eye..
So Is Torturing A Daughter OK?
By Chris Weigant
09/15/2006 05:15 pm ET Updated May 25, 2011
huffpost.com/entry/so-is-torturing-a-daughte_b_29538
NOTE: You'll have to cut n paste the links.. Had to dumb them down to get past the NNL filters...
OK, so it was 2006...
Anyway, that commentary caught my eye... Keep in mind, Weigantia as we know it today was simply a gleam in CW's eye... :D
What an epic discussion that was.. It's a shame that HuffPoop didn't retain the comments.. EPIC.. Lasted for almost a week, if I recall correctly...
Chris and I, we developed a grudging respect for each other.. Neither of us changed the other's mind.. But the back and forth, the lunge and parry, the thrust and counter-thrust... As I said.. EPIC.. :D
Anyways, a bit later, I don't recall exactly how long, CW said he was opening up his own blog and invited me to sign up...
I became the token conservative that kept CW and the rest of the liberals on their toes... Liz was there... JL of course.. David (Akajadin)(sp??) was a regular.. Kevin.. Oh boy, Kevin.. :D Every once in a while, I would get some conservative help.. CB... Her and Liz's battles were also quite EPIC.. :D I had heard she had died (or had everything she had destroyed) when Hurricane Sandy came ashore.. Never saw her again...
So, then it was back to being me.. There may have been other conservative types along the way.. None that really stand out..
We were like a family.. Fighting like cats and dogs but always ready at the end to share a beer together..
One year, I almost lost my wife in a car accident.. I turned to my friends here and they helped me thru it..
Another year, I lost my mom to cancer... I remember that vividly.. It was right during the Romney/Obama debates.. By that time, even though I voted for Obama in 2008, I was very anti Obama by the time his re-election came around.. I vaguely remember Obama totally blowing one of the debates and CW wondered why I was not around to gloat..
CW posted a comment that, to this day, really means a lot to me..
chrisweigant.com/2012/10/04/debating-formats/#comment-27699
So, to answer your question succinctly.. (Too late :)... )
I am here because a friend invited me here... I stay because Weigantia is a hard addiction to shake.. :D
I know it's unlikely that I will ever change anyone's mind..
But sometimes... OFT times... It's not the destination... It's the journey...
"To the journey!"
-Ensign Harry Kim, STAR TREK VOYAGER
JL,
i live in the national epicenter of the pandemic and have a 2-week old infant, so my blog time is pretty limited at the moment
ACK!!! How thoughtless of me!!
Stay safe....
Russ,
Except that those social programs were enacted to combat poverty that affects all races... they were not created specifically for blacks. Which is a good thing, seeing how poor whites make up the largest group of recipients.
Not according to the liberals at the time.. Sure they were MADE available for all races... But it never would have even been thought up had it not for the black communities...
The works of Daniel Patrick Moynihan clearly show that the black community was the impetus for creating welfare along with Affirmative Action which is SOLELY race-based and, therefore, the only bastion of institutionalized racism the US has...
It’s a real shame that Trump was lying to the troops he visited two Xmas’ ago when he promised them that he had fought hard and had secured them huge pay increases.
The military GOT huge pay raises under President Trump.. Much more so than under Obama...
They just were not keeping up with the times.. But the pay raises were put in place..
And it is a myth that government assistance has led to large numbers of people refusing to work and just living off their government assistance.
Again, the facts prove otherwise..
Remember...
"Obama is gonna pay my house off!!!"
Obama phones??
The lazy welfare recipient who won't work and would rather just get their monthly checks is not a myth.. It's fact...
One of the few facts that show from the Left AND Right of the political spectrum...
Attorney for fired Atlanta police officers claims body cam footage of incident edited 'multiple times'
The attorney for two Atlanta police officers who are suing the city's mayor and police chief after they were fired for using stun guns on a pair of college students during a protest told "The Ingraham Angle" Tuesday that body camera footage of the incident was "edited multiple times."
"What has been edited out is the probable cause for the arrest," Lance LoRusso said.
When asked by Ingraham whether he thought the firings could have something to do with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' standing as a potential running mate for Democrat Joe Biden, LoRusso answered, "I'm sure it comes into play."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/attorney-fired-atlanta-officers-claims-footage-edited
Cops are in Democrats' cross-hairs all across the country...
George Floyd’s brother set to testify as Capitol Hill lawmakers consider police reform proposals
The death of George Floyd in police custody last month and a series of riots that followed in cities across the nation have set the backdrop for a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday on police reform proposals.
Those scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee include Philonise Floyd, brother of the 46-year-old man who died May 25 while lying in the street in Minneapolis after a city police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Floyd’s death sparked outrage across the nation – and sympathy around the globe – as African-Americans and others argued it continued a long history of police mistreatment against minorities.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/george-floyds-brother-set-to-testify-as-capitol-hill-lawmakers-consider-police-reform-proposals
The question MUST be asked.
What training or expertise does brother Floyd have that would allow him to talk intelligently before Congress??
Just curious....
Imagine a city without cops..
Chicago suffers deadliest day in 60 years with 18 murders in 24 hours
The University of Chicago Crime Lab's numbers do not go back further than 1961, so it's impossible to say how long it's been — if ever — since so many people were murdered in the city one 24-hour stretch.
The Chicago Sun-Times describes some of the victims:
A hardworking father killed just before 1 a.m.
A West Side high school student murdered two hours later.
A man killed amid South Side looting at a cellphone store at 12:30 p.m.
A college freshman who hoped to become a correctional officer, gunned down at 4:25 p.m. after getting into an argument in Englewood.
In the entire weekend stretching from 7 p.m. Friday, May 29, through 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 24 people were killed in Chcago and another 85 were wounded by gunfire.
The next-highest murder total for a single day in Chicago was on Aug. 4, 1991, when 13 people were killed.
https://disrn.com/news/chicago-suffers-deadliest-day-in-60-years-with-18-murders-in-24-hours
It would be THAT^^^^ except a hundred times worse...
Defunding/Disbanding the police is one of the MOST dumbest moronic idea Democrats have come up with..
And that is saying something, considering that the Democrat Party is REPLETE with dumb and moronic ideas...
Be Courageous And Stand Firm, America
We Do Not Kneel...
Americans didn't kneel to British tyranny, Nazi fascism, or Soviet communism.
We won't kneel for a collective guilt movement that's gone off the rails.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/08/be-courageous-stand-firm-america-we-do-not-kneel/
Oooooraaaaa to THAT!!
WE..... DO.... NOT..... KNEEL.....
Oh wow!!! :D
Those who live in the far north in author George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels live by one principle: “We do not kneel.” They call themselves the “Free Folk.”
That used to be a label that was proudly worn by all Americans. But a still-too-unquestioned movement pushing guilt-by-associated-skin-tone has begun to undo one of this nation’s bedrock ideals.
The kneeling phenomenon demanded by the radical left in the wake of George Floyd’s death—and embraced by those guilted into submission—creates a two-tiered social stratification of “kneelers” and “those who refuse to bend the knee” that’s wholly un-American.
Mobs resulting from years of citizens saturated in “critical race theory” and grievance studies have pressured far too many into believing they bear guilt for the past sins of others. Now they kneel in fealty to that false reality or are exiled from society.
Unfortunately, it’s also moved beyond just kneeling.
Anything that can tie it all in with a couple GAME OF THRONE references is awwww right by me!!!
"BEND THE KNEE!!!!"
"FRAK YOU!!!!"
:D
A crowd in Webster, Massachusetts, recently forced Police Chief Michael Shaw to lie face-down on the ground for eight minutes. In Cary, North Carolina, a group of Caucasians washed the feet of black organizers to “ask for forgiveness.” Not to be outdone by the latest woke trends, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a knee at a massive anti-racism protest at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Worse, kneeling—either figuratively or literally—doesn’t even satisfy the mob.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said all the “right” things to the radical leftists holding Guilt Court but was still heckled out of a public square for refusing to defund the police department. The truth is, even mobs tire of the readily subservient and easily obedient.
Give the terrorists and scumbags an inch and they will try and take the entire mile...
So typically Democrat...
They proved it yesterday with that gross pandering stunt with a kente scarf draped around their necks.. I mean, did any of ya'all SEE that!!???
What a choice bit of slobbery pandering that fell flat and cost Democrats a LOT.... :D
I almost feel sorry for Democrats and how they are taking so many punches..
Then I remember how they are laying in a bed of their own making, so then I don't feel so bad.. :D
And a double-pleasure...
Fast-forward more than 2,500 years, and we witness a similar scene. This time, the proving ground isn’t in Babylon, but Germany. Instead of our reality, it’s our world as depicted in “The Avengers.”
“Kneel before me,” orders Loki, the god of mischief. “Is not this simpler?” he asks as the crowd of innocents complies meekly. “You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”
Everyone in the plaza kneels. All but one. “Not to men like you,” comes the defiant response from the solitary holdout. He’s an elderly German, one who has witnessed the tyranny that follows a population that kneels to the pressure of a mob.
“There are no men like me,” responds Loki.
The elder stares at Loki, “There are always men like you.”
It’s one of the most powerful lines uttered in the first 12 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it should have special resonance today.
We don’t applaud the people kneeling in suppression. We feel sorry for them. Loki is the villain, not the hero. The elderly German who resists Loki shows true courage, and he’s saved by the literal personification of America’s values.
A Marvel reference...
Fighting against those who would try and force us to kneel has a noble history and portrayal...
"Bend the knee!!!!"
"FRAK YOU!!!"
Since this nation’s inception nearly 234 years ago, hundreds of thousands of brave Americans have died to ensure we will never have to kneel—not to a movement, not to a cause, not to those who seek power over our minds and souls.
We don’t have nobility in this country, nor do we condone one segment of the population coercing or bullying another segment into silence or emotional servitude.
We did not kneel to British tyranny. We did not kneel to Nazi fascists. We did not kneel to ruthless, Japanese imperialists. And though it took generations to muster the required resolve, we did not kneel to the Soviet Union’s quest for global domination.
If we are to be worthy of our Declaration, our Constitution, our flag, and our highest ideals, we will not bow to a movement that has quickly become intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt.
Americans do not kneel. We stand.
Dear Democrat Party Leadership
Take your ONLY Black Lives Matter and shove it..
**ALL** Lives Matter..
Anything less is the very racism that Democrats have used against Patriotic Americans since they created the KKK...
To date, only MTNCaddy has took a Sherman on defunding/disbanding police..
Knowing them as well as I do, I can guess the opinions of a couple others...
So, for those of ya'all who are on the fence about the wisdom of defunding/disbanding the police, a word of warning...
If You Want To Know What Disbanding The Police Looks Like, Look At Mexico
The rise of vigilante groups in Mexico offers a hint of what happens when institutions fail and civil society collapses. America should be paying attention.
One of the most visible and insistent demands of the Black Lives Matter movement is the abolition or disbandment of the police—or at the very least defunding them, which taken to the extreme would amount to the same thing. “Abolish the police” has become a rallying cry among protesters and a litmus test for elected officials seeking to ally with them.
What comes after the police have been abolished remains unclear. Protesters and politicians alike are hazy on details, preferring instead to talk about “reimagining public safety” and throwing around vague terms like “community policing.”
Of course, in concrete terms what would happen if a city actually disbanded its police department, as the Minneapolis City Council pledged to do over the weekend, is that the county sheriff’s office or the state police—or perhaps even federal law enforcement—would step into the vacuum and the city would have almost no say in how it was policed or what policies county and state law enforcement agencies adopted.
But let’s say these ultra-progressive municipal governments could get their wish and abolish the police in their cities entirely. What would happen? Inevitably, an armed group would emerge and impose a monopoly on the use of force.
If you want an idea of how that works, look to our southern neighbor, Mexico, where over the past decade endemically corrupt police departments in some areas have been supplanted by autodefensas, or local self-defense militias. But before you get too excited about the prospect of paramilitary autodefensas policing American cities, understand that in Mexico these groups are a mixed bag at best—and at worst they’re not much better than the corrupt local police and cartel gunmen they replaced. More importantly, their mere presence in Mexico was and is a disturbing sign of societal decay.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/09/if-you-want-to-know-what-disbanding-the-police-looks-like-look-at-mexico/
That's the Left's goal.. To turn America into a third world shit hole..
Amazing how life follows art..
If you have, read the novel THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC.. It gives a possible future of America that sounds like today's headlines..
Eerily so...
The brief history recounted above should serve as a reminder to Americans flirting with the idea of abolishing the police, which for BLM activists isn’t just a slogan. Aside from Minneapolis—where on Saturday the mayor, Jacob Frey, was booed and heckled out of a rally after saying he didn’t support “the full abolition” of the police—cities like Los Angeles, Portland, and Toronto are taking steps to reduce funding for law enforcement, in some cases redirecting tens of millions of dollars to various community programs while slashing police budgets.
Make no mistake, “defund the police” doesn’t mean “reform the police.” It means take the money away, which means fewer police on the street—and in the case of Minneapolis, apparently no municipal police on the street.
That local elected officials would even consider such policies is deeply troubling. America might not be a failing state overrun with drug cartels and corrupt politicians, but it is sliding in the direction of Mexico. We have declining levels of confidence in our institutions and declining levels of trust across society in general. The fabric of our civic life is fraying badly, and calls to abolish the police are a sign of that.
Despite the insistence of the protesters, getting rid of law enforcement won’t usher in a more just or equitable order. But it will invite new arrangements for security, as it did in Mexico. These arrangements, however well-intentioned, will fall prey to the same corruption and unaccountability as the forces they replace, especially if the underlying causes of societal decay are left to fester.
Taking money from training cops and hiring new cops..
Yea. What could POSSIBLY go wrong!?? :eyeroll:
It Must Be Horrible Thinking Everyone Is Racist
I was turned down for a lease on a new apartment Sunday, and it was no secret why.
I’m not a smoker, I don’t have any pets, my credit is in good shape and I have no criminal history, at least in the eyes of the law. Through the lens of progressive wokesters under our new world order however, my crime was committed in 2016 when I cast a ballot for Donald Trump.
Never mind why. The landlord wasn’t sincerely interested after asking within the first 60 seconds of our FaceTime chat who I supported four years ago, turning me away explicitly because of who I voted for in the last election while calling me a racist who posed a significant danger to the largely minority neighborhood in the process.
Other than my electoral history, she never learned anything about me, like the fact that most of my friends happen to be non-white gay people. Of course just saying that is likely to trigger accusations of racism from self-proclaimed social justice warriors since nothing, literally nothing a white person can say without bowing down to the radical demands of Black Lives Matter can exonerate the inherent racism, which is racist in and of itself.
I’m not sharing this story to claim abject victimhood. Quite the opposite actually. I genuinely felt sorry for the woman on the phone who began to lob charges of white supremacy at me based on a single vote cast along with nearly 63 million other people.
In fact, I repeatedly apologized, not for my vote, but for her own corrupted intolerance that led her to so hastily vilify me as unworthy of being a rent-paying tenant.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/09/it-must-be-horrible-thinking-everyone-is-racist/
Barring the emotional roller coaster I have been on the last couple months. Ex: Monday on my way home, I heard a news report follow-up on the cops that were ambushed in North California killing one.. I heard that again and I just lost it. Had to pull over and pull myself together..
But, as I said, normally I am usually a very happy VERY CupIsHalfFull kinda guy.. Always see the good and silver lining in anything that comes my way....
Therefore, it is unfathomable to me how anyone could live a life of constant hate and strife and thinking that everyone you talk to who doesn't toe your ideological is a racist... I simply can't fathom why anyone would just want to toss that word around til it loses ALL meaning...
I just can't fathom how someone.. ANYONE could be THAT.... sad... and go thru life that fearful of everything..
It's mind boggling...
"My goodness, people, the arrogance of what you're asking us to help you do is mind-boggling!"
-General Hank Landry, STARGATE SG-1, Continuum
It must be exhausting for those who believe that anyone who disagrees with them in the slightest is evil and racist. What a horrible way to live.
A-frakin'-men to THAT!!!
Racism is evil, and should be condemned at every turn. Nearly everyone, save for a few extremists, agrees. Deeming one as racist therefore, characterizes them as worthy of condemnation in the highest degree.
The left’s radical expansion of what it means to be racist however, has trapped individuals in the bondage of their own ideology, severing connections before they can even be created and deepening dark divisions down an bottomless fissure. In turn, the newly constructed psychic reality for those convinced of the leftist dogma identifying racism are living in a terrifying pandemic of discrimination where nearly everyone is racist and the only possible vaccine is complete repentance for past generations’ sins.
That must be as exhausting as it is sad.
As I have said for quite a while now, since The Journo-List debacle....
The word racism has been so weaponized and tossed around so much without the slightest bit of thought or FACTS to support the claim....
The word is all but meaningless now...
The True Plight of Black Americans
While it might not be popular to say in the wake of the recent social disorder, the true plight of black people has little or nothing to do with the police or what has been called "systemic racism." Instead, we need to look at the responsibilities of those running our big cities.
Some of the most dangerous big cities are: St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore, Oakland, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, Birmingham, Newark, Buffalo and Philadelphia. The most common characteristic of these cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by liberal Democrats. Some cities -- such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark and Philadelphia -- haven't elected a Republican mayor for more than a half-century. On top of this, in many of these cities, blacks are mayors, often they dominate city councils, and they are chiefs of police and superintendents of schools.
In 1965, there were no blacks in the U.S. Senate, nor were there any black governors. And only six members of the House of Representatives were black. As of 2019, there is far greater representation in some areas -- 52 House members are black. Nine black Americans have served in the Senate, including Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama of Illinois, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Kamala Harris of California. In recent times, there have been three black state governors. The bottom line is that today's black Americans have significant political power at all levels of government. Yet, what has that meant for a large segment of the black population?
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/06/10/the-true-plight-of-black-americans-n2570249
The progress that has been made for the black community in the last 50 years has been nothing short of ASTOUNDING...
And when you look at the FACTS behind all the progress made, one FACT stands out..
It's been Republicans who have been at the forefront of helping black Americans..
And it's been Democrats who have fought that progress tooth and nail...
It was Democrats who fought Civil Rights legislation..
It was Democrats who pushed black Americans to become government dependent...
And it was a Republican POTUS, President Donald Trump, who gave black Americans the dignity of succeeding with a hand up, not a hand out...
Which is why the #WalkAway movement is so popular today and growing..
Black Americans are coming to realize who is really trying to help them (Republicans) and who is fighting to keep black Americans enslaved (Democrats)....
As I have said.. Democrats are still trying to be the slave-owners... The plantation simply has changed...
Democratic-controlled cities have the poorest-quality public education despite their large, and growing, school budgets. Consider Baltimore, Maryland. In 2016, in 13 of Baltimore's 39 high schools, not a single student scored proficient on the state's math exam. In six other high schools, only 1% tested proficient in math. Only 15% of Baltimore students passed the state's English test. That same year in Philadelphia only 19% of eighth-graders scored proficient in math, and 16% were proficient in reading. In Detroit, only 4% of its eighth-graders scored proficient in math, and 7% were proficient in reading. It's the same story of academic disaster in other cities run by Democrats.
Violent crime and poor education is not the only problem for Democratic-controlled cities. Because of high crime, poor schools and a less pleasant environment, cities are losing their economic base and their most productive people in droves. When World War II ended, the population of Washington, D.C., was about 800,000; today, it's about 700,000. In 1950, Baltimore's population was almost 950,000; today, it's around 590,000. Detroit's 1950 population was close to 1.85 million; today, it's down to 673,000. The population of Camden, New Jersey, in 1950 was nearly 125,000; today it has fallen to 74,000. St. Louis' 1950 population was more than 856,000; today, it's less than 294,000. A similar story of population decline can be found in most of our formerly large and prosperous cities. In some cities, the population decline since 1950 is well over 50%, and that includes Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Once again, the FACTS regarding Democrat governance...
Can't make it any plainer and simpler than that.. But, let me try.. :D
When you look at the facts, it's clear why Democrat controlled cities and states are losing citizens by the hundreds of thousands.. Such a mass exodus does't occur in a vacuum.. There are reasons for people wanting to get the hell outta Dodge...
Life is simply unlivable.. Take San Francisco for example..
I mean, honestly... People shitting on the sidewalk!!! Democrat leaders have to create Poop Patrols to clean up human feces on the streets!!!!
How can ANYONE reasonably claim that Democrat governance works...
It's not possible.. There are so many FACTS that simply prove the opposite...
And this is the environment that we are heading into an election..
I am 1000% NOT worried about the polls in the here and now..
It's been well-established that President Trump supporters do not do polls..
So, every poll that is posted is nothing but a polling of Democrats and Trump/America haters.. Even with that fact, President Trump is STILL competitive...
Imagine what the numbers would look like if President Trump supporters actually responded to polls as their Democrat counterparts do..
President Trump's numbers would be through the roof!!!
So yea.. Quote all the polls ya'all want to do... I will simply point out the folly of that by comparing them to the polls in the run up to 2016...
You simply cannot use polls to measure President Trump's success.. It's simply NOT POSSIBLE..
The *ONLY* poll that is relevant is the "poll" that will take place on 3 Nov 2020...
That's what the FACTS tell us...
Academic liberals, civil rights advocates and others blamed the exodus on racism -- "white flight" to the suburbs to avoid blacks. But blacks have been fleeing some cities at higher rates than whites. The five cities whose suburbs have the fastest-growing black populations are Miami, Dallas, Washington, Houston and Atlanta. It turns out that blacks, like whites, want better and safer schools for their kids and don't like to be mugged or have their property vandalized. And like white people, if they have the means, black people cannot wait to leave troubled cities.
White liberals and black politicians focus most of their attention on what the police do, but how relevant is that to the overall tragedy? According to Statista, this year, 172 whites and 88 blacks have died at the hands of police. To put police shootings in a bit of perspective, in Chicago alone in 2020 there have been 1,260 shootings and 256 homicides with blacks being the primary victims. That comes to one shooting victim every three hours and one homicide victim every 15 hours. Three people in Chicago have been killed by police. If one is truly concerned about black deaths, shootings by police should figure way down on one's list -- which is not to excuse bad behavior by some police officers.
Exactly...
But I would point out that, by and large, there is hardly any "bad behavior" by Police... In the 16 +/- years I have been in Weigantia, there have only been TWO instances of actual police misconduct..
TWO... That amounts to 1 incident every 8 years...
As reported, for the first half of 2020, 260 people have been killed by cops.. 172 of those were white people..
Why no outrage??? Why no marching in the streets??? Why no massive protests???
I'll tell you why..
Because "racism" is weaponized and all of the racists are on the Left... Present company excepted, of course...
If Black Lives TRULY matter, why doesn't BLM address the black on black violence that kills 96% of all black deaths in any given year?? THAT is something that is within the people of BLM's control.. THAT is something they can actually do something about...
Why concentrate on the .08% of blacks killed by cops???
Why???
Because Black Lives Matter is a bullshit terrorist/racist organization that doesn't give a rats ass about black lives..
All they care about is power...
Apropos of absolutely nothing.. :D
http://sjfm.us/videos/Raven-1.mp4
Like I said yesterday.. An alternate reality.. :D
https://media.townhall.com/Townhall/Car/b/stg061020dAPC20200608044507.jpg
The results of defunding/disbanding the police... :eyeroll:
Here ya go, Liz....
https://media.townhall.com/Townhall/Car/b/stg060820dAPC20200607044508.jpg
"It's team work.. You defund the Police.. I defund you.."
-Crook
https://media.townhall.com/Townhall/Car/b/sk060720dAPC20200606024508.jpg
OK Break time.. :D Give ya'all a chance to catch yer breath.. :D
Michale,
Just for the record, I have no freakin' ideal what Drew Brees's wife said, about anything … okay, pal!?
I'm not on the left, I'm not on the right. I'm in the middle with Joe Biden on defunding the police. Come join us!
Which is to say that the idea of defunding or disbanding the police is most decidedly NOT the way to move this, ah, movement forward from the daily protests in the streets.
Americans didn't kneel to British tyranny, Nazi fascism, or Soviet communism.
You are missing the point, Michale, completely.
Liz
Just for the record, I have no freakin' ideal what Drew Brees's wife said, about anything … okay, pal!?
Allow me.. :D
"I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country. Let me just tell you what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played, and when I look at the flag of the United States."
-Drew Brees
"WE ARE THE PROBLEM . I write this with tears in my eyes and I hope you all hear our hearts. I have read these quotes and scripture 1000 times and every time I read it and the words sink into my heart. I think yes this is what it’s all about...Only until the last few days ,until we experienced the death threats we experienced the hate… Did I realize that these words were speaking directly to us.. how could anyone who knows us or has had interactions with us think that Drew or I have a racist bone in our body? But that’s the whole point . Somehow we as white America, we can feel good about not being racist, feel good about loving one an another as God loves us. We can feel good about educating our children about the horrors of slavery and history. We can read books to our children about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X., Hank Aaron, Barack Obama, Rosa parks, Harriet Tubman.. and feel like we are doing our part to raise our children to love , be unbiased and with no prejudice. To teach them about all of the African Americans that have fought for and risked their lives against racial injustice. Somehow as white Americans we feel like that checks the box of doing the right thing. Not until this week did Drew and I realize THAT THIS IS THE PROBLEM. To say “I don’t agree with disrespecting the flag “.. I now understand was also saying I don’t understand what the problem really is, I don’t understand what you’re fighting for, and I’m not willing to hear you because of our preconceived notion‘s of what that flag means to us. That’s the problem we are not listening, white America is not hearing. We’re not actively LOOKING for racial prejudice. We have heard stories from men and women we have known and loved for years about the racism that occurred in their lives .. stories that were never shared or talked about because somehow they were considered normal. To all of our friends and anyone we hurt ...we will do better.. We want to do better , we want to HEAR you, and we will fight for you because thinking we are not part of the problem...is checking the box it means we are are not doing enough. It’s our job to educate ourselves. We are sorry"
Mrs Drew Brees
Drew's comments were heartfelt and sincere..
Mrs Drew's comments were political and the result from mob pressure...
Liz,
Which is to say that the idea of defunding or disbanding the police is most decidedly NOT the way to move this, ah, movement forward from the daily protests in the streets.
Agreed...
So we have 2 Shermans...
For the record, I guessed your response. :D
You are missing the point, Michale, completely.
I don't think I am...
Trump/America haters want a show of fealty just as the Nazis did, just as the Russians did, just as the British did hundreds of years ago...
"Bend the knee!!!"
-Left Wingery
NO
But I will be happy to listen to what you think the point is... :D
WHO'S RUNNING SEATTLE!??
Seattle protesters storm City Hall, demand mayor resign after driving police out of area, declaring autonomous zone
Hundreds of protesters, aided by a sympathetic City Council member, stormed Seattle's City Hall Tuesday night to demand the mayor's resignation, just days after seizing a six-block downtown zone that includes a shuttered police precinct.
Demonstrators remained peaceful, without reports of violence or injuries, but are pushing Mayor Jenny Durkan to step down if she refuses to defund the city's police department.
The protesters continued to camp out in a self-declared “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ)-- a region spanning six blocks and encompassing the precinct-- which has effectively been abandoned by law enforcement after the Seattle Police Department closed the East Precinct on Monday.
Antifa terrorists are getting froggy again.. Time to send in the Marines..
Remind me again how Democrats are not "serious" about defunding/disbanding Police???
I seem to have forgotten what with all the FACTS that prove otherwise...
Calls for Biden to name a black running mate grow louder
With the national spotlight focused on police brutality toward minorities and the larger issue of racism in the two weeks since the death of George Floyd, the volume has been turned up on calls for Joe Biden to name a black woman as his running mate.
It’s undeniable that as the former vice president considers one of the most consequential decisions of his White House bid – whom he’ll choose as running mate – the wave of unrest sweeping across America’s cities sparked by Floyd’s death is impacting his decision-making as it elevates the combustible issue of racial injustice.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/calls-for-biden-to-name-a-black-running-mate-grow-louder
Hear that??? Scumbag Trump/America hating Democrats who have been decrying racism for weeks now..
NOW they want Biden to pick a running mate SOLELY based on race.....
Ya'all can see why it's IMPOSSIBLE to take these bigoted morons seriously...
They talk out both sides of their asses and spew nothing but racist hate...
Michale,
You wrote: "Americans didn't kneel to British tyranny, Nazi fascism, or Soviet communism."
No they didn't - they fought to be their own country and against the other countries because the idea of America was worth fighting for.
The idea and promise of America, which is what the flag stands for, is still worth fighting for and that sentiment is what is behind taking a knee in the context of America finally breaking free from the scourge of racism and living up to its best ideals.
Another Lib Turd who promises to self-deport when President Trump wins re-election...
Patti LuPone says 'this country is doomed' amid coronavirus crisis, reveals plans if Trump wins second term
Broadway veteran Patti LuPone is speaking her truth about the current state of America and she says that if it continues under President Trump's reign come November, she's packing her bags.
Like many other performers around the globe, LuPone's career has been placed on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. The current state of the economy and the country was solely orchestrated by Trump, she says.
"This country is doomed," LuPone told Variety, of which she is one of its Power of Women honorees. "I think it is a failed experiment. I don't see us pulling ourselves out of this."
LuPone said the country has two routes in which it's going: "either fascism or dictatorship."
"I think Trump will win a second term, and I think I'll move to Ireland," she added.
The stage actress, who starred in "War Paint" in 2017, has been self-isolating in Connecticut amid the Broadway shutdown, according to the outlet.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/patti-lupone-country-doomed-coronavirus-crisis-reveals-plans-if-trump-wins-second-te
Dozens, if not hundreds of moronic Trump/America hating "stars" had promised to self-deport if President Trump won in 2016...
Number of so-called "role models" that actually did??
ZERO.. ZILCH.. NADA... NONE..
Liberals: Don’t Be Afraid of Calls to Defund the Police
The increasingly popular slogan is expanding the nation’s long-overdue debate about what public safety really means.
As The Nation’s designated liberal hand-wringer, I admit I’ve been concerned about the rapid spread of the demand to “defund the police,” which sociologist Alex S. Vitale argued for persuasively in our digital pages last week. I have worried that its radicalism jeopardizes the growing mainstream support for police reform in the wake of George Floyd’s apparent murder by Minneapolis police two weeks ago, and the subsequent police violence against those protesting that crime. It has, of course, become a simplistic “gotcha” question for some reporters and news anchors to shoot at Democratic politicians, especially since a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to disband its police department Sunday.
But I’ve decided to calm down and trust the wisdom of the activists, as well as some of the leading politicians, who’ve been working on this issue far more closely, and with far more on the line, than I have. There is right now a productive tension between liberalism and radicalism, as well as establishment insiders and activist outsiders, the kind we talk about in history: labor unrest in the 1930s (and earlier) helping to lead to New Deal reforms; civil rights unrest in the ’60s culminating in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/defund-police-reform-liberals/
Again... Remind me again how Liberals are not "serious" about defunding/disbanding police??
It should also be noted that the legislation mentioned at the end there ^^^^..
The Democrat Party opposed that legislation..
Ironic, iddn't it?? :eyeroll:
FACTS are strange things, ain't they.. They know NO political master...
Of course, the white backlash to ’60s civil rights progress, as well as sometimes-destructive protest and rising crime, led to the election of Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan—and now Donald Trump. And some of us older folks are still living in the shadow of those traumas.
This author is a liar..
It was "white backlash" that led to Nixon's and Saint Ronald Reagan's election....
It was the FACT that the Democrat Party wholly OPPOSED the legislative victories....
What *IS* it about the Democrat Party that they must LIE and try to rewrite history??
Does the SHAME run THAT deep???
"Anyone?? Anyone?? Buehler??"
It was "white backlash" that led to Nixon's and Saint Ronald Reagan's election....
Grrrrrrr...
It WASN'T "white backlash" that led to Nixon's and Saint Ronald Reagan's election....
Michale,
Let's remember a few things about the kind of person Biden has already told us he will pick. Well, I guess we all know it's gonna be a women and I was trying to understand why he did that.
My first thought about it was why on earth narrow the choices. But, then I thought - Biden knows what he's doing infinitely better than I do. And, I've come to think he was right about it.
Though, I would have loved a Biden/Kerry ticket, I guess that's called living in the past. (Maybe secretary of DOD with Bill Burns at State?) And, the more I think about it, the more I think Biden knows what he's doing infinitely better than me.
We also know that he wants someone who he trusts, implicitly. And, he wants someone to whom he can delegate ANYTHING. So, they will have to be sympatico -on the same wavelength, in other words. Biden is nothing if not an internationalist, in the best sense of the word. Whomever he picks will have a very, very similar worldview with a deep understanding of geopolitics.
Having said all that, I think Susan Rice would be a good pick but ... :)
I’ve come to realize part of the problem is that much of the liberal Democratic establishment came of age politically, as I did, in the shadow of the Reagan revolution, when Republicans came to dominate not only policy but language itself, especially around crime, welfare, and the role of government. After Republicans won the White House in five out of six elections, with a brief pause for Jimmy Carter, some Democrats worried that they’d never get it back. President Bill Clinton led us out of that wilderness, partly by making the many compromises with the dominant GOP worldview that progressives now loathe, or at least lament. But even Barack Obama, like me, graduated from college into cramped, fearful Reagan-era political activism. That partly accounted for his (justified) fear of a GOP backlash and (futile) determination to work with Republicans. Now, some of us cringe at every slogan that might potentially frighten off the elusive swing voter, from “Medicare for All” to “Abolish ICE” to, now, “Defund the police.”
But remember when “Abolish ICE” was going to doom Democrats in 2018? And they took the House?
Like the "white backlash" the author is, once again, lying.. Or, to be perfectly fair (as I am wont to do) she is drawing the wrong conclusion from the data-set in order to myopically serve her twisted view of reality..
It was the platform that allowed the Democrats to win the House..
It was the GOP-esque Democrats running to the right of Political center that allowed Democrats to squeak by and take the House..
That aberration will be corrected this November...
Liz,
Let's remember a few things about the kind of person Biden has already told us he will pick. Well, I guess we all know it's gonna be a women and I was trying to understand why he did that.
The problem for Biden is now he is going to have to defend his pick more so...
I think it was yesterday's commentary thread where I ask CW to do a commentary about the DEFUND/DISBAND THE POLICE ISSUE..
I commented that I likely made it LESS likely that he will do that because, if he does, he might feel obligated to have to defend his choice more because there will be those who might think that CW did the commentary at my behest..
Of course, you, me, CW (and likely JL) know better.. CW is his own person and whatever I say has absolutely no bearing on CW's actions..
But there will always be whispers...
So it is with this situation.. Biden might feel inclined or pressured to defend his pick more staunchly..
In other words, if Biden DOES pick a black American, there will be those who will say he is being ruled by the Left Wing mob and Biden will feel pressure to more vigorously defend his pick..
Same is true if Biden DOESN'T pick a black American...
Short version is that the Democrat mob just made things harder for Biden, no matter which way he jumps..
My first thought about it was why on earth narrow the choices.
Exactly...
Having said all that, I think Susan Rice would be a good pick but ... :)
Won't happen.. Rice is neck deep in the Obama Administrations actions on spying on the Trump campaign...
She is toxic... Politically speaking, Rice will never rise any higher than she has...
OMG 20 comments in a row. Is that a record? Is anyone keeping track?
Democratic nominee Joe Biden, elected to the Senate in 1972, grew up in the shadow of Nixon, which was in some ways more withering to the political soul than Reagan, especially on racial issues. Biden says forthrightly that he doesn’t support defunding the police. Of course he doesn’t. But the former vice president is coming along on these and other issues. Can we move him to “systemic questioning” of the roles police perform? Or even “reimagining the police”? We’ll see where Biden lands.
The only remaining worry I have is if it becomes a litmus test for activists, and they spurn a presidential candidate like Biden who won’t go that far—yet. But I’ll worry about that later. I’ve finally realized: It’s time for those of us who grew up in the shadow of the Reagan revolution either to shut up and listen, or exit stage left.
Ya see?? Another OUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY Democrat...
The Democrat Party is going to be so fractured and decimated this Nov that President Trump's re-election will be a cake walk...
And I am so confident of my facts, I will make any reasonable (and a LOT of not-so-reasonable :D) wager one wants.. :D
OMG 20 comments in a row. Is that a record? Is anyone keeping track?
Yea, I know..
Sorry about that.. I am a little slow-posting today... I'll try and do better.. :D
Michale,
Biden is his own man, always was, always will be. He will NOT be swayed by anybody. And, that goes double for the media/blogosphere/punditocracy.
I have absolutely no worries about what Biden will do. And, I have to say, it feels wonderful!
Michale,
What do you think about my picks for DOD and State?
Liz,
Biden is his own man, always was, always will be. He will NOT be swayed by anybody. And, that goes double for the media/blogosphere/punditocracy.
I have absolutely no worries about what Biden will do. And, I have to say, it feels wonderful!
All I am saying is that the Trump/America hating mob made Biden's life a lot harder with their demands...
What do you think about my picks for DOD and State?
Must have missed that.. :D
Figures. It's right up there in this comments section. :(
And ya'all wanna know what's so tragically funny about this whole Defund/Disband the police BS???
It's the BLACK AMERICANS who are going to suffer the most...
Andrew McCarthy: Defund the police? Here's what Dems, BLM ignoring about crime
It is a measure of how frightfully irrational our times are that the “defund the police” campaign led by Democrats and Black Lives Matter activists is thriving. It has moved to the mainstream of progressive politics even as the need for effective policing becomes ever more palpable.
We are not talking just about the rampage that followed the horrific killing of George Floyd, which sent Minneapolis and many other big city hot spots spiraling into rioting and looting. The warning signs have been there for a few years, obscure at first but increasingly easy to see.
A new breed of progressive prosecutors, many of them backed by the George Soros network and other deep-pocketed leftwing organizations, has taken control in San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and other urban centers.
Philosophically, they see policing, prosecution and imprisonment as triggers of crime, rather than deterrents against it. They’ve targeted law-enforcement techniques rather than lawbreakers. They adamantly reject the intelligence-based policing and broken windows policies that have given us a generation of record low crime. They’ve eliminated cash bail, which means mandatory release for nonviolent crimes – with a very elastic definition of “nonviolent.”
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/defund-police-what-dems-blm-ignoring-crime-andrew-mccarthy
Get that???
The VERY people that the terrorist group BLM claim to represent are going to be the VERY people who are hurt most when cops simply pack up and go home..
"Frak, you people.. Yer on yer own.. Call in BLM if you need a police response.."
-Cops
Ironically enough, it's going to be BLM that black Americans need protecting from!!!
How utterly MORONIC are Democrats!!?? They couldn't be more stoopid if they tried...
Once again, we are seeing “That ’70s Show,” not the TV program but the phenomenon no one sensible ever wanted to see again: the one where the criminals are back out on the street making mayhem before the police can even finish the paperwork processing the last arrest. Pretty soon, the arrests slow to a trickle, even as the crime increases. Making arrests can be dangerous, and no one wants to take the risk over a pointless gesture.
Such has been domestic tranquility in America since the early 1990s that the decades-long crime wave our nation experienced beginning in 1960s is not in the living memory – or perhaps even in the historical acquaintance – of today’s progressive firebrands. They seem to believe that law-and-order is our natural condition rather than our hard-won achievement. They don’t seem familiar with the bad old days, and thus don’t recognize how easily those days could return.
And they are returning.
Violent crime is on the rise, and was edging steadily up even before the mayhem of these last two weeks. Obviously, that trend is becoming a spike. On Sunday, May 31, there were 18 murders just in Chicago – according to the Sun-Times, the bloodiest day since the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab began keeping data over 60 years ago.
Democrats are pushing to disband PDs and SOs all across the country...
Right at the point where black Americans need the police the most..
Who do you think is going to pay for all the lawlessness and the mayhem and the terrorism???
Middle and Upper class Americans?? Of course not.. They can afford to hire security or get some weapons and training and provide their OWN security..
It's going to be the lower class and the ghettos who are going to suffer.. Do you think gangs (which is already a huge problem in the inner cities) are going to disband along with the police forces???
Of course not.. They are going to run rampant uninhibited by the fact that there are NO COPS...
And it's going to be the elderly and the very young black Americans who are going to be killed in the cross fire..
The Democrat Party has a history replete with bonehead moves and utterly moronic plays..
But this idea of defunding/disbanding police???
The is the most monumentally STOOPID idea from a Party that is TEEMING with stoopid ideas...
*I* don't have to worry.. I live in the country and I am well-armed and well trained..
Inner city dwellers??? It's going to be a massacre...
And it all is going to be laid at the feet of ya'all's Democrat Party...
Over time, police departments more and more reflect the racial and ethnic composition of their communities. In many big cities, top political and law enforcement officials are themselves African-American. And as for the justice system writ large, it is overseen by professionals who graduated from elite American law schools. With the possible exception of college professors, there is no more politically progressive stratum in our society – and no one prouder to say so than lawyers themselves. The notion that they would abide racism, much less thoroughgoing anti-black racism, in an institution they run would be laughable if the matter were less fraught.
We know what offense levels are, not because police are too myopically focused on minority communities, but because crimes have victims. Those victims report crime, or are found injured or killed at crime scenes. This is not a statistical game fit for deducing racism on a dubious “disparate impact” theory. This is real life … and death.
While we obsess over the treatment of crime’s perpetrators, it is crime’s victims that merit our most urgent concern. Minority communities are the ones most targeted and most wronged by criminals.
Replacing police forces would not be easy, but wealthier communities have the wherewithal to make alternative security arrangements. They can also avoid working or visiting in high-crime areas.
Exactly. Upper and Middle class white and black Americans won't be harmed by the actions of the defund/disband-the-police Democrats..
They can make minor adjustments to their lifestyles and they will be perfectly fine..
Those lower class mostly black Americans, trapped in the inner cities are going to be sheep lead to slaughter...
The very people that defund/disband-the-police Democrats claim they want to help are going to be the very people that defund/disband-the-police Democrats lead to slaughter...
I don't envy any of those Democrats once the body count starts going up and up and up and up... They are likely to find themselves on the receiving end of such slaughter..
You heard it here first..
The people whose families, property and lives would be most under siege if police departments were defunded are minority communities. The places that would collapse are the cities run by the progressives who promote this lunatic fantasy.
It would be much better if we came to that realization through common sense than if we allowed history to repeat itself. Societal peace and prosperity are dependent on the rule of law, on the order that police uphold. When that is lost, it takes many years to get it back. The damage wrought in the meantime would be incalculable.
Allow me to repeat that for the cheap seats..
SOCIETAL PEACE AND PROSPERITY ARE
Woops.. Hit SUBMIT accidentially..
SOCIETAL PEACE AND PROSPERITY ARE DEPENDENT ON THE RULE OF LAW, ON THE ORDER THAT THE POLICE UPHOLD
If defund/disband-the-police Democrats are successful in their efforts??
The body count is going to be in the thousands.. The tens of thousands... It will make the covid pandemic look like rays of sunshine by comparison...
On a side note.. It's interesting to note how the Democrat Party has changed it's tune.. Don't hear much whining about covid from them these days..
Just read a study that shows that my blood type offers certain immunities to coronavirus.. :D
Which helps explain how I have been in and out of the hospital and seen doctors galore without catching it.. :D
I know, I know..
I am especially verbose today.. :D
Beyond the fact that I literally have nothing better to do (my wife yells at me when I lift the toilet seat) sometimes the Democrat Party does or promotes something so utterly moronic and stoopid so completely and unequivocally brain dead, I literally can talk about it for hours because there is so much bad that will happen if they succeed......
Unluckily for ya'all, this is one of those times..
LizM [48],
Having said all that, I think Susan Rice would be a good pick but ... :)
Where's he gonna put Willard Rmoney? He's auditioning for something.
WOOT!!!!
GOP expects to move its convention to Jacksonville after dispute with North Carolina over pandemic safeguards
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-expects-to-move-its-convention-to-jacksonville-after-dispute-with-north-carolina-over-pandemic-safeguards/2020/06/09/8c96e088-aaaa-11ea-a9d9-a81c1a491c52_story.html
IN YER FACE DUMBOCRATS!!!!!!
:D
Could today get ANY better!!??? :D
Funny.. Democrats encourage tens of thousands of looters and scumbags protesting against law enforcement.
But a GOP convention!?? Naaww.. Can't have that..
Morons...
And ONLY because I am in such a good mood.. :D
http://sjfm.us/pics/PicardRiker.jpg
:D hehehehehehehe
Mike
4
If there WAS a case of someone being able to police this blog, Liz has MUCH MORE authority to so than most anyone else here, sans 2 others...
Well, good for you, dipshit. You've quoted yourself yet again in agreement and informed everyone regarding your belief that Liz and other posters are the entitled ones on another man's blog.
Bless your misguided and ignorant heart. *laughs*
EDIT [69]
Mike
4
If there WAS a case of someone being able to police this blog, Liz has MUCH MORE authority to so than most anyone else here, sans 2 others...
Well, good for you, dipshit. You've quoted yourself yet again in agreement and informed everyone regarding your belief that Liz and other posters are the entitled ones on another man's blog.
Bless your misguided and ignorant heart. *laughs*
EDIT [69]
Huh??
[69] Michale wrote:
And ONLY because I am in such a good mood.. :D
http://sjfm.us/pics/PicardRiker.jpg
:D hehehehehehehe
You want to try that again?? :D
Well, good for you, dipshit. You've quoted yourself yet again in agreement and informed everyone regarding your belief that Liz and other posters are the entitled ones on another man's blog
If you say so.. :D
Democrats exploit well-meaning passions in cities seeking relief
There are many tragic ironies unfolding since even before the death of George Floyd. As we see sincere people demonstrating for change in this country regarding how people of color are treated within policing and the justice system, Democrats and left-wing leadership see this righteous activism as an opportunity to reinforce the status quo.
I say this as a former community organizer for the left a great deal of my adult life. Whenever there was an issue on which people could be “organized” the goal was always to increase that rage and concern in order to access as many people as possible. For the Democrats, marches based on outrage and people gathering to protest are the most effective means with which to gather names and to expand political influence. The horrible irony is the passion of these well-meaning citizens is being exploited by the Democrats and their “social justice” handmaidens to actually maintain the political status quo.
In the aftermath of Mr. Floyd’s death, millions and millions of corporate dollars are pouring into the Democratic and left-wing establishment “social justice” organizations. Once again, the good intention is to help spur “change” in the inner-city and for people of color in this country after watching, for decades, nothing improves for people in cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Baltimore and Detroit.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jun/10/democrats-exploit-well-meaning-passions-in-cities-/
The Democrat Party is one big con....
As I have said AND provided facts to support...
The Democrat Party is still the racist Party..
Still the Party of slave owners..
Only the plantation has changed...
Voter registration efforts are a focus of the Black Lives Matter organization, the NAACP and other Democratic-allied organizations. The message seems to be that the more you vote if you are a person of color in an urban area, the more your voice will be heard and the better your life will become.
But how has that been working out? Is the suffering endured by people living in cities run by Democrats somehow going to change by voting in more of the same?
How IS that working out for black Americans?? Democrats had a virtual lock on government and even had a black POTUS..
What did they do for black Americans in that time??
ZIP.... ZERO.... ZILCH.... NADA... NOTHING....
Now look what President Trump did in less then TWO YEARS....
Black unemployment was down to it's LOWEST levels...
EVER!!!!!!
Let me repeat that for the cheap seats...
Thanx to President Trump in just TWO YEARS.... Black American Unemployment was at it's LOWEST LEVELS.... EVER...
Prison reform GREATLY benefited black Americans.. Another point in President Trump's favor..
The facts clearly show that President Trump has done more for Black Americans in two short years than Democrats have done... EVER
EEEEEEVVVVV EEEEEERRRRRRRR.......
So, why should black Americans vote Democrat????
Hell, Democrats were even against the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act...
It's clear that while Democrats drag their feet and do NOTHING for black Americans...
President Trump stepped up and REALLY helped black Americans..
These are the FACTS whether ya'all believe them or not...
JFC,
I'd be pretty surprised to see Romney in a Biden administration.
But, I trust Biden, implicitly to form a very competent cabinet. He knows better than any of us what needs to be done.
I will say, though, that I'll be very surprised if there are no Republicans - let me rephrase that - if there are no former or non-Trump Republicans in his administration.
Another fact...
The arterial message with Democratic crisis voter registration is that it is Republicans who are evil and at fault. All of this is President Donald Trump’s fault, and voting in more Democrats such as former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is going to, somehow, improve everyone’s lot in life.
But that, of course, is a lie. The cities suffering from the most economic and social injustice are cities that have been controlled by the Democratic establishment for years, and in most cases, for decades.
Get that???
The cities where black Americans suffer the most are the cities where the Democrat Party is in charge for years.. Many for decades!!!
Black Americans are now standing up to the Democrat Party (#WalkAway):
"What have you done for me lately??"
-Janet Jackson
"Er.. uh... hmmm.. uhh eh.....We voted against the Civil Rights Act!!! Oh, no wait.. We shouldn't say that!!!"
-The Democrat Party
The Democrat Party is toast in Nov.... :D
Liz,
I'd be pretty surprised to see Romney in a Biden administration.
I bet Mitt is angling for that by kissing up to Democrats.. :D
I will say, though, that I'll be very surprised if there are no Republicans - let me rephrase that - if there are no former or non-Trump Republicans in his administration.
So, being a person who supports the President Of The United States is disqualifying for Biden??
Hmmmmm... Not sure how I feel about that..
No, that's not accurate.. I know EXACTLY how I feel about that..
But it matters not... Given all that is happening and all the bone head moves and mistakes the Democrat Party has made in the last few months...
President Trump will be there for at least 4 more years... :D
SF Bear [51]
As of post #69, is it a new record for 51 of the first 69 replies here to be from one poster?
Or is the record the 9800 words generated by the one poster compared to the 800 from all the others?
It takes more time to scroll past it all than it does to find and read the one or two posts that actually refer to or comment on Chris' essay. Meaning another abandoned visit to the comments column...
There may be some in need of a lesson, or two, in time-management and comments section reading. I'm just sayin' ...
Chicago has been controlled by Democratic mayors for 89 years. Detroit for 58 years. Baltimore for 53 years. Washington, D.C., for 53 years. Minneapolis, with Mr. Floyd’s killing by police being the spark of the latest demand for change, has been controlled by Democrats for 42 years. Los Angeles for 19 years. And New York, in the latest round of disastrous governance, has suffered under Mayor Bill de Blasio for six years.
The messaging from both the Democrats and the media is that Mr. Trump, the guy who’s been in office for three years, is the source of all the injustice — or so say the people in charge for half a century or longer.
It’s not surprising that those responsible for the continuing decline of America’s great urban areas would like their constituents to look elsewhere to blame. The attempt to deflect and accuse others for the continuing decline of urban America has been generally successful. After all, why else would cities like Chicago and Minneapolis and Baltimore keep voting in their tormentors?
Get that?? Democrat Party has been in charge in those cities for DECADES...
And yet, after 3+ years, the Democrat Party's story is that it's ALL President Trump's fault!!!???
Are ya kidding me!!???
The Democrat Party must really have a low opinion of the intelligence of black Americans... :eyeroll:
So, being a person who supports the President Of The United States is disqualifying for Biden??
Let me rephrase your question:
So, being a person who supports President Trump for re-election is disqualifying for Biden??
Abso-frakkin-lutely!
JMC,
As of post #69, is it a new record for 51 of the first 69 replies here to be from one poster?
A new record!!??? WOOT!!!!! :D
You can thank the Democrat Party and their moronic defund/disband the police idea for it..
They provide such a target rich environment... :D
Liz,
There may be some in need of a lesson, or two, in time-management and comments section reading. I'm just sayin' ...
That's what's unfortunate.. Since I am on a 0lb lift restriction, I have nothing but time.. :D
Abso-frakkin-lutely!
So, it's a purity test for the Democrat Party.. No biggie.. It's not going to come to that.. :D
OK Dominoes just dropped off dinner..
See ya'all in the morning, bright and early..
Maybe the Democrat Party will want to defund/disband the US military next...
I would NOT be surprised if they actually did that...
See ya'all...
That's what's unfortunate.. Since I am on a 0lb lift restriction, I have nothing but time.. :D
Oh, yeah ... well, I wasn't referring to you! :)
Mike
10
The military GOT huge pay raises under President Trump.. Much more so than under Obama...
Bullshit! You're correcting Russ again when he is 100% correct. Donald Trump told the troops he got them a 10% pay raise... even told them he had fought hard for it and insisted on it. Trump lied lied lied lied lied -- as per his usual modus operandi -- right to their faces.
They just were not keeping up with the times.. But the pay raises were put in place..
Military pay increases are determined by a statutory formula, and Trump in fact requested an amount below the automatic adjustment for 2018. It was Congress that overrode Trump's proposal, and Trump ultimately agreed to fully fund the increase that he had tried to lowball.
FACT: Military pay increases are determined by a statutory formula under federal law.
Trump also lied when he claimed on May 9, 2018:
Lie, lie, lie! And then gullible dipshits like Mike believe the utter asinine bullshit when the fact is that military pay increases are determined by a statutory formula and Trump had tried to undercut that formula and was overruled by Congress.
I cannot fathom why dipshits like Mike fall for Trump's repetitive lies, but here we are. Trump lies, and the useful idiots repeat the bullshit over and over and over like idiots on cue. The fact is, the Defense Department actually maintains on its website a list of the annual increases in basic military pay, and any moron with a keyboard can easily check the amounts:
That 3.4% raise on January 1, 2010, under Barack Obama beats any raise Trump -- meaning Congress and the statutory formula, of course -- has ever given the troops. The pay raises were definitely smaller after that 3.4% under Obama because the United States was in a long recession, which is something that generally happens under Republicans (in my lifetime). Have you heard we're in another recession now that started in February 2020?
You will note that as the recession eased under Obama, there was a 2.1 increase on January 1, 2017, and then under Trump on January 1, 2018, there was a 2.4 increase. Does anyone see the whopping increases that Trump and Mike are claiming? No, you don't because they're bullshit and lies.
Trump followed up 2018 with modest increases of 2.6 in 2019 and 3.1 in 2020, but the fact is none of Trump's increases measure up to the amounts given by Congress under Bush and Obama:
1 January 2008: 3.5%
1 January 2009: 3.9%
1 January 2010: 3.4%
Trump hasn't yet given a single military increase that is higher than those given by Congress under the administrations of either Bush or Obama.
You can stop lying about the huge military pay increases being so much better under Trump because it's bullshit.
Russ is correct about this. Trump flat out lied to a group of soldiers he was addressing that he had insisted on giving them a 10% raise when Congress wanted less. The fact is, at the time Trump was lying about the nonexistent 10% raise, Trump had actually proposed a smaller increase than the one mandated and determined yearly by federal statute, and Congress stepped up and fixed Trump's bullshit.
So to recap: Federal law mandates that military pay raises be equal to the change in the Labor Department’s annual Employment Cost Index, or ECI, for private sector wages.
Anyone telling you about these great big pay increases for the military because of Trump is lying to you. Since 2017, military pay raises have been equal to ECI, and Trump proposed a raise equal to ECI again in 2019 at 2.6 percent, which the president's own fiscal 2019 budget described as "modest."
EM
35
I'm not on the left, I'm not on the right.
Hey, me too!
I'm in the middle with Joe Biden on defunding the police. Come join us!
Joe Biden isn't actually for "defunding the police," at least according to Joe Biden. This is just one of those pesky semantics issues for dang sure.
Hey, EM, I believe Donald Trump has received the message loud and clear that he's going to have to fight for Texas in 2020. It'll cost the GOP a lot of money that they're definitely not used to spending here... starting tomorrow. Heh.
I do not oppose defunding the police in many areas as long as we make sure to provide adequate funding for other agencies to pick up the responsibilities that the police would be relinquishing. Police have had so many social responsibilities dumped in their laps because there was no one else to do it.
Police should not be called to involuntarily commit people suffering from mental problems...they are not trained to deal with people who may be mentally unable to properly follow lawful commands. We have defunded state mental facilities all over this country, and left it to the police to deal with them. Now, our prisons are filled with mentally ill individuals who should be “patients” and not “prisoners”.
Let’s stop funding the war on drugs! Again, this is a social and medical issue and should not be a criminal one. We blame the police for doing their jobs, as if they get to pick and choose how the laws are to be enforced.
No one wants to defund the police from protecting their communities and properly enforcing the laws of our states. That is just ridiculous.
Joe Biden isn't actually for "defunding the police," at least according to Joe Biden. This is just one of those pesky semantics issues for dang sure.
Of course he isn't and, neither am I!
Hey, EM, I believe Donald Trump has received the message loud and clear that he's going to have to fight for Texas in 2020. It'll cost the GOP a lot of money that they're definitely not used to spending here... starting tomorrow. Heh.
Music to my ears! :)
I do not oppose defunding the police in many areas as long as we make sure to provide adequate funding for other agencies to pick up the responsibilities that the police would be relinquishing. Police have had so many social responsibilities dumped in their laps because there was no one else to do it.
That's a very good point.
Let’s stop funding the war on drugs! Again, this is a social and medical issue and should not be a criminal one. We blame the police for doing their jobs, as if they get to pick and choose how the laws are to be enforced.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
But, I don't think Biden is with me on this. :(
He is capable of evolving, though. :)
No one wants to defund the police from protecting their communities and properly enforcing the laws of our states. That is just ridiculous.
Indeed.
Mike
If you say so.. :D
You quoted yourself, moron, and you're hands down the least informed person on the board who has definitely drank the right-wing Bullshit flavored Kool-Aid.
Then you quote yourself and regurgitate the Bullshit flavored Kool-Aid here on another man's forum. #SSDD
Michale,
Like the "white backlash" the author is, once again, lying.. Or, to be perfectly fair (as I am wont to do) she is drawing the wrong conclusion from the data-set in order to myopically serve her twisted view of reality..
Well, if anyone would know what that would look like, it would definitely be you!
But I would point out that, by and large, there is hardly any "bad behavior" by Police... In the 16 +/- years I have been in Weigantia, there have only been TWO instances of actual police misconduct..
I have seen more than two just in videos of the police reacting to protesters today. There are plenty of video showing officers allowing the protesters’ words to get the best of them and they snap. It is disappointing to see officers not able to control their anger over words.
Let’s try this again...
Michale,
Like the "white backlash" the author is, once again, lying.. Or, to be perfectly fair (as I am wont to do) she is drawing the wrong conclusion from the data-set in order to myopically serve her twisted view of reality..
Well, if anyone would know what that would look like, it would definitely be you!
But I would point out that, by and large, there is hardly any "bad behavior" by Police... In the 16 +/- years I have been in Weigantia, there have only been TWO instances of actual police misconduct..
I have seen more than two just in videos of the police reacting to protesters today. There are plenty of video showing officers allowing the protesters’ words to get the best of them and they snap. It is disappointing to see officers not able to control their anger over words.
Russ
87
Exactly every word that Russ said!
Great post.
I was just relistening to Rev. Al Sharpton’s speech at Floyd’s memorial service. His impassioned speech was moving...as he pointed out that Officer Chauvin would have taken his knee off of Floyd’s neck if he’d realized just how the world was going to react to George Floyd’s death.
And he was right... but I have to believe that Rev. Al did not take it far enough. I would guess that Officer Chauvin would have removed his knee from Floyd’s neck if he ever believed Floyd would die under his knee. If any of the officers thought Floyd could die from them using non-lethal holds on him, they would have gotten off him.
How would we think about this incident —Floyd’s screaming and crying that he was dying — if he had been fine when the medics arrived and the officer’s allowed him up? Would we think the officers were depraved and inhuman for ignoring his calls if those holds were shown to not have been choking him that entire time? I’m guessing that Floyd would be mocked and the police officers patted on the back for seeing through the whining.
I cannot help but think about the definition of Insanity - doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. We obviously believe officers should be insane if we think that they should have known that they were killing Floyd with the actions they have done over and over and always with the same non-lethal result!
EM
88
Of course he isn't and, neither am I!
I knew that. Me too... neither! :)
EM
89
Music to my ears! :)
Me too, EM. There are a lot of people who worked hard to make it happen, and now it's here.
And while Texas may not flip in 2020, the GOP is going to have to defend it, and that fact right there tells you everything you need to know.
When Texas flips, it's over for the GOP (as we know it). Watch Georgia too. It'll be a "marker" when it flips too.
We obviously believe officers should be insane if we think that they should have known that they were killing Floyd with the actions they have done over and over and always with the same non-lethal result!
I just hope police all over have learned the lesson that great care needs to be taken when restraining people and it would be nice if they could acknowledge that learning.
I can imagine, Kick, the hard work involved over many years for Texas to get to this point. Thank-you for your part in it!
Russ
97
And he was right... but I have to believe that Rev. Al did not take it far enough. I would guess that Officer Chauvin would have removed his knee from Floyd’s neck if he ever believed Floyd would die under his knee. If any of the officers thought Floyd could die from them using non-lethal holds on him, they would have gotten off him.
The rookies were following the orders of the training officer. Rookie Lane tried to get Chauvin to ease up, but he refused to do so and refused on multiple occasions. Lane is out on bail now.
How would we think about this incident —Floyd’s screaming and crying that he was dying — if he had been fine when the medics arrived and the officer’s allowed him up? Would we think the officers were depraved and inhuman for ignoring his calls if those holds were shown to not have been choking him that entire time?
Russ, please remember that one of the officers informed the training officer with his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck that Mr. Floyd had no pulse. Whereupon Chauvin did what, Russ? He did nothing and continued to hold the man down after being informed he had no pulse and was not moving.
Back to your question. No, I don't think the officers were depraved and inhuman. I actually think this was an issue of the training officer being more concerned about showing the rookies who was boss and less concerned about Mr. Floyd.
Might I be incorrect? Yep, and I definitely need more evidence by way of testimony.
More evidence... bring it. :)
EM
101
I can imagine, Kick, the hard work involved over many years for Texas to get to this point. Thank-you for your part in it!
Oh, my pleasure... and we're not finished by a long shot. I expect we'll flip TX-23 in 2020, Will Hurd's district. Y'all know Will Hurd?
Mike is correct that black Americans are leaving in droves, he's just totally wrong about which Party they're leaving. Will Hurd, the only remaining African American member of the House on the GOP side is retiring so TX-23 is up for grabs and will likely be a huge chunk of Texas turning Blue.
We have a very large spatula, and we aim to turn it.
Liz,
I just hope police all over have learned the lesson that great care needs to be taken when restraining people and it would be nice if they could acknowledge that learning.
Do you know what would save even more lives? If we discussed why people who resist arrest should be held accountable for what their decision to resist results in. The officers do take great care in restraining people by using non-lethal techniques. Over 12 officers were brought in to compel Eric Gardner to comply — Going to great lengths to be able to force compliance with each officer having to use the least amount of force necessary to accomplish that goal. Despite their best effort, Gardner died. Forcing the police to use physical force to get you to comply can result in unintended deadly repercussions and people do not want to acknowledge this.
Hearing the black community claiming that Michael Brown was murdered by police and making a martyr out of him only serves to condemn more young black men to death! If they are being made to believe that Brown attempting to disarm a police officer was an acceptable action for Brown to take and that the police were wrong to respond with deadly force; then we can count on more officer involved shootings of young black men occurring.
Don Harris
104
Why are so many here still "bending the knee" as an act fealty to the big money interests?
It's time instead to take a knee.
Does it surprise anyone that the board beggar thinks everyone should "take a knee"? I would wager it doesn't, and I have a better idea:
It's past time for Don Harris to get up off both of his knees and stop pumping another man to shill for his failed and pathetic attempt at political activism because he quite literally is sucking mightily at it. *laughs*
Russ, please remember that one of the officers informed the training officer with his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck that Mr. Floyd had no pulse. Whereupon Chauvin did what, Russ? He did nothing and continued to hold the man down after being informed he had no pulse and was not moving.
I was unaware of that. I would hope that their agency requires that officers begin CPR as soon as possible (except in cases where there are gunshot wounds to the victim), but many departments do not require officers to act as medical first responders. They just wait for the medics to arrive. If their SOP required Chauvin to act, them this is where negligence would be argued against Chauvin, and rightly so.
Russ
108
I was unaware of that.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html
Video evidence. Minnesota allows that maneuver -- banned across America -- only in certain circumstances, and this didn't fit the description. Also, the bystanders had to convince the officers to check Mr. Floyd's pulse. At one point, Chauvin threatened the bystanders with mace.
Russ,
Nicholas Kristof has an new column up - or it will be soon - talking about when it's right to "defund the police". He doesn't like that term.
I thought you might want to check it out and perhaps make a comment or two on it. Kristof has been known to often engage with his readers …
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/opinion/defund-police-floyd-protests.html?campaign_id=45&emc=edit_nk_20200611&instance_id=19292&nl=nicholas-kristof®i_id=22515649&segment_id=30624&te=1&user_id=571c3be725d6b0ef871fd6e259864d6a
EM
I would wager Russ will just love us both for all the homework we just gave him.
Well, it is for his own good, is it not? ;)
Sorry, cannot do the homework as I do not have a Times subscription.
If their department doesn’t allow knee to neck, then Chauvin is done for. My argument has always been based on the belief that they were using state approved restraint maneuvers... so I just wasted three days sounding like an asshat. Beautiful! Gonna go drink until I remember some repressed memories...ya’ll have a good one!
No worries, Russ ... I may just join you. Heh.
But, I think if his department does allow knee to neck, Chauvin is STILL done for … if you know what I mean and, I'm not sure that you do. :)
Once again I like the words that flow from Chris Weigant's pen but scroll past the nearly endless bombast from Michale- in bold face, no less - that really diminish this website.
Either cut this fellow off or say goodby to the likes of me who am just insulted and therefore moving on to less shrill narratives.