Another police shooting - this time in Wisconsin... (2 Viewers)

[RazorOye]

And this is why the movement to defund the police exists. Take some of the money they are allotted and give it to mental health professionals who should be the ones called for this sort of situation.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll tell it again because it speaks to this very point.

Police officers are NOT equipped to handle mental health cases. That was from the police officers themselves. It was not good for them and not good for the civilians.

So, the city of Hamilton, Ontario DE-FUNDED the police and took some of those funds and RE-ALLOCATED them to nurses with a specialty in mental health.

Now, there are two units (and the police officers would like more) with embedded nurses with police. Whenever there is a mental health call, one of two mental health units is notified.

If the incident is perceived to be non-violent or non-urgent, then one unit has one nurse and one officer with no 'armor' on. If the incident or call is more extreme in nature, one nurse - in bulletproof gear - with at least two armed, bulletproof'd officers is sent out.

The officers are broadly in approval of this and they are asking for MORE de-funding of their unit to help fund more nurses for these mental health calls.

I think this is important when you consider what "de-funding" the police even means.

In my realm of education, putting more money into schools for social workers and trained teachers rather than police officers is another effective way that de-funding has happened.

 

[Optimus Prime]

In the week since Kyle Rittenhouse was charged in connection to the shooting deaths of two people and the injury of a third during a Black Lives Matter protest, conservatives have avoided condemning him, and his supporters have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support his legal defense fund.

Rittenhouse faces multiple charges, including first-degree intentional homicide. The 17-year-old drove from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to the protests that broke out after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Police say he fired at people at close range on the street with his semiautomatic rifle.

He has become a potent symbol on the right. Supporters see him as an avatar for gun rights, and the embodiment of the problem with civil rights protests.

This type of defense from the right isn't new, according to experts in domestic terrorism and white supremacy who spoke to Insider. Chuck Tanner, research director at the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, which combats bigotry and intolerance, told Insider it's led to a "feedback" loop between challenges to racism and backlash from some white Americans.

"Racism in our broader politics is created by racism in our society," he told Insider. "So it's maybe a feedback loop or something where racism brings people into [political] office around racial issues, and then they feed back into it and give license to the kind of action that took place in Kenosha.".................

Kenosha shooting suspect Kyle Rittenhouse has become a potent symbol for the right, and experts say Trump's refusal to disavow him makes things worse

 

[Saint by the Bay]

We’ve been on a steady path of escalation and it’s going to accelerate now. These “parades” that have started springing up all over the country are going to be the next hot bed.

I don’t think we’ve ever been here as a country. Not that we haven’t had riots and civil unrest, but I don’t think we’ve ever had so much encouragement for citizens to confront and antagonize other citizens at a national scale. Of course we have also never had social media during moments of civil unrest to make folk heroes and martyrs out of so many which emboldens and inflames turning every ember into an inferno. Those things combined have created a powder keg that’s about to blow up in all of our faces.

Be prepared to protect your family, because this is going to get really ugly.

 

[mb504]

I don’t think we’ve ever been here as a country. Not that we haven’t had riots and civil unrest, but I don’t think we’ve ever had so much encouragement for citizens to confront and antagonize other citizens at a national scale. Of course we have also never had social media during moments of civil unrest to make folk heroes and martyrs out of so many which emboldens and inflames turning every ember into an inferno. Those things combined have created a powder keg that’s about to blow up in all of our faces.

I imagine the 1865 version of Tucker Carlson telling his viewers that it's no surprise that John Wilkes Booth went into the theater that night because no one else was doing the job for them.

 

[James Spader]

Saw this on Reddit. There are sources for the former officers in the comments.

 

[James Spader]

We’ve been on a steady path of escalation and it’s going to accelerate now. These “parades” that have started springing up all over the country are going to be the next hot bed.

I don’t think we’ve ever been here as a country. Not that we haven’t had riots and civil unrest, but I don’t think we’ve ever had so much encouragement for citizens to confront and antagonize other citizens at a national scale. Of course we have also never had social media during moments of civil unrest to make folk heroes and martyrs out of so many which emboldens and inflames turning every ember into an inferno. Those things combined have created a powder keg that’s about to blow up in all of our faces.

Be prepared to protect your family, because this is going to get really ugly.

I am afraid you are right. At this time, I am very appreciative of Louisiana’s treatment of the 2nd Amendment.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

I am afraid you are right. At this time, I am very appreciate of Louisiana’s treatment of the 2nd Amendment.

As am I for gun rights in Texas. We are spending a lot of time at the range right now (in masks and socially distanced, of course).

 

[DaveXA]

As am I for gun rights in Texas. We are spending a lot of time at the range right now (in masks and socially distanced, of course).

Indeed. I know a few people personally who have purchased guns, both handguns and ARs. I haven't gotten to that point yet, but if I had a bit more disposable income, I'd probably purchase my own as well.

Hope we never need to use them, but these days, who knows what's next?

 

[brandon8283]

We’ve been on a steady path of escalation and it’s going to accelerate now. These “parades” that have started springing up all over the country are going to be the next hot bed.

I don’t think we’ve ever been here as a country. Not that we haven’t had riots and civil unrest, but I don’t think we’ve ever had so much encouragement for citizens to confront and antagonize other citizens at a national scale. Of course we have also never had social media during moments of civil unrest to make folk heroes and martyrs out of so many which emboldens and inflames turning every ember into an inferno. Those things combined have created a powder keg that’s about to blow up in all of our faces.

Be prepared to protect your family, because this is going to get really ugly.

Someone linked an article last week that hit me HARD.

The closest analogue for what we're experiencing is sectarian violence. We making our way towards a Sunni/Shia dynamic at a rapid pace. We're not all Americans any more. We're not facing an outward enemy any more. We're facing each other.

 

[WhoDatPhan78]

Stocking up on guns to protect us individually only harms us collectively.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Someone linked an article last week that hit me HARD.

The closest analogue for what we're experiencing is sectarian violence. We making our way towards a Sunni/Shia dynamic at a rapid pace. We're not all Americans any more. We're not facing an outward enemy any more. We're facing each other.

I thought COVID would be that outward enemy. Historically Americans have come together when we face threats be they natural or man-made, as long as we were not seen as the aggressor (Vietnam, Iraq). We saw that unity with 9/11 and we used to see it with natural disasters.

The first time I saw the chink in that was Katrina where so much of the discussion turned into political/cultural talk about who should have left and who was worthy of help. I've noticed with every incident since then firm political/cultural lines. With COVID it has become perfectly clear there isn't any unity anymore. It's two warring tribes in information silos and the battle is going to be fought, physically and rhetorically, to its bitter end. We'll see what emerges from the ashes, but it won't be what any of us are used to.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Stocking up on guns to protect us individually only harms us collectively.

Not being in a position to protect your family will harm them individually. We're at that point.

 

[SaintJ]

The first time I saw the chink in that was Katrina where so much of the discussion turned into political/cultural talk about who should have left and who was worthy of help.

That was almost saying the quiet part out loud. It was just another version of the discussion that started when they were drafting the Constitution -- who's a man, and who's not.

I've noticed with every incident since then firm political/cultural lines.

Now everyone's saying the quiet part out loud, so we can all tell.

Evocative of something I saw on the twitters -- Being for Trump doesn't mean you're a racist, but it does mean that for you racism certainly isn't a deal breaker.

 

[Taurus]

Saw this on Reddit. There are sources for the former officers in the comments.

"A few bad apples" they keep saying. You know how that saying ends, right?

They're actively ruining the whole bushel. Driving the good cops out.

 

[rajncajn]

I've seen a lot of video and reports in the past couple of days, including some new stuff and now I think I have a clearer picture of how the incident with Rittenhouse all went down.

A car dealer who'd supposedly had already suffered a lot of loss at his dealership from the rioting asked for help defending his business. This militia group decided to go down there and protect the business. At some point rioters set a dumpster on fire and was pushing it towards a gas station adjacent to the car dealership and Rittenhouse, seen on video running that direction with a fire extinguisher in hand, assisted the group in putting out the fire or fires. This is where the shouting match between the rioters and the militia group began where Rosenbaum (the first shot) can be seen shouting "shoot me, n*****!" among many other things at the militia group. At some point soon thereafter, Rittenhouse is separated from the rest of the militia group. His lawyer contends that it was because he was trying to help someone that had been injured, but there is no video or witness to corroborate this, that I've seen. In the next video you see Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse in a parking lot., someone behind them is seen shooting a gun into the air and then Rosenbaum catches up to Rittenhouse behind a car where, according to Rittenhouse's lawyer, Rosenbaum begins to beat Rittenhouse from behind and trying to take the gun from him.(edit:apparently a witness corroborated the account of Rosenbaum attacking Rittenhouse and attempting to take the gun). Rittenhouse then turns on Rosenbaum and begins firing. Rittenhouse then starts to run away, but then returns to Rosenbaum where someone else is trying to help him. At that point Rittenhouse calls someone and as he's running away again tells the person on the phone that he'd just shot someone. From there it's pretty clear. Rittenhouse is trying to run towards the police barricade when people catch up to him, he trips and falls and is attacked. The first guy tries to kick Ritenhouse who fires at him missing him and he runs off, the next guy hits him with a skateboard and is then shot by Rittenhouse, the lasr pulls out a pistol and is shot in the arm. Rittenhouse then gets up and again runs towards the police who are now advancing towards where the initial incident occured. Rittenhouse then goes up to one of the police cars and the officers in the car are heard screaming at him to get out of the street and step back away from the car.