Police Shootings / Possible Abuse Threads [merged] (6 Viewers)

Newt Gingrich
Yep. That's it.

Politics was always a sharp-elbowed business but Newt Gingrich and the so-called Contract With America was the start to the modern day, scorched earth, "I win if you lose" style of politics, good of the country be damned.
 
Maybe, I would say more specifically "Contract with America". But, I tend to think this was more a product of a long, slow, but sure shift to tribal politics and everyone being somewhat straitjacketed into a fairly predictable set of beliefs.
Beat me to it, although I do believe Newt Gingrich is more to blame for the sorry state of American politics than any other individual person.
 
Beat me to it, although I do believe Newt Gingrich is more to blame for the sorry state of American politics than any other individual person.
I added to my post, but I think Rush is the guy who used his media presence to keep all of that front and center. Tough call, lol.
 
I can remember prior to BLM etc, a lot of my white conservative friends thought the police were a waste of time and money. I used to hear "there's never a cop around when you need one", "cops don't prevent crime, they just show up to report it", "cops are not first responders, I am because I have my gun" etc. Now when black people started talking bad about the cops, Conservatives all of a sudden immortalize cops and hold us in the highest of regards.
Yet....there's never a good guy with a gun around when you need them.

I also just noticed your location. LOL
 
I can't put into words...fork every last one of those idiots. Heartless butt crevasses.
That was disgusting. This is exactly the kind of power trip many of these a holes are on. You can tell that the female officer is somewhat conflicted yet still goes along with the bullshirt. Shame on her.
 
That was disgusting. This is exactly the kind of power trip many of these a holes are on. You can tell that the female officer is somewhat conflicted yet still goes along with the bullshirt. Shame on her.

Indeed, the rationalizing and trying to justify what they did was just sickening. And they knew she was injured and worried about how it would make them look. Well no sheet. It's a bad look. All over less than $20 worth of stuff. Those lame brained dummies at Walmart started that whole mess though. If I own a store, I'm not calling the cops over $20. Especially if someone says they forgot to pay and willing to pay. Where is people's forking humanity? I just don't get it. Call a social worker, a friend, or relative. This type of call shouldn't be on the cop's job description.

And to be sure, I'm guilty of forgetting to pay on occasion. I've never had anyone follow me out the store. I usually remember by the time I get to the car, go back inside and pay for it.
 
Last summer was the most I had ever seen of White America caring - people who hadn't realized or recognized how deep the issue really was

This is always the case. but it's even more than that

It has to come from white people that they didn't expect, it has to come from people that they didn't think cared at all. From within their own circle

A lot of people we are talking about couldn't care less what what Rachel Maddow or Chris Cuomo or John Oliver has to say about anything

If their bleeding heart co-worker is for it then they are against it

It has to come from the "new" percentage

On any hot button social issue they'll say last year 40% supported X this year it's 43% support

I think it's that 3% that makes drives the change

"Last year I was against this, now I'm for it, here's why and I think you should be for it too"

When that comes from your best friend since college it carries so much more weight than anything anyone from "the other side" who you already hate can say to you

And when more and more people around you (people who you know, love, trust and respect) change their positions that makes it easier to take a look at your own views
More important than the volume, which is critical, is the climate. The country finally had the stomach to make such change possible.

Mamie Till is an American patriot. It is laughable that we have all these debates over monuments and statues, based on the ambiguous people of our past, when we have dozens, thousands, of unblemished persons in our history that we could honor.

Mamie changed the climate in this country. Because she had the courage to leave a casket open. A very hard but simple act. But that act, that choice, very well spearheaded the Civil Rights movement in this country.

So, one, don't ever say "what can I do?" when Mamie did what she did. But, more importantly, two, that act forced the country, the world, to visibly see how Black Americans were being treated in this country, and in that climate, White Americans were compelled, to not only care, but to ACT.

To get involved. To give their life fighting for a cause
I love you right back. Sincerely. Profoundly.

I'm not looking for an out to re-imaging policing. I am not in denial about the racist history of law enforcement in this country that continues to permeate throughout the justice system. This country was forged in racism and genocide. I think the generational tragedy of racist policing must be confronted and overcome. I hate the phrase, "Defund the Police." I hate it precisely because it is misleading to what is being sought and was an unnecessary roadblock the instant it passed from somebody's brain to public consciousness.

Your analogy is actually a good example of why phrasing matters. We are living in a time when misinformation is an ever greater obstacle. Words matter. Words can't betray worthy ideas.

Look at the barriers that exist to getting people vaccinated amid a global pandemic. Tweak your analogy and call the vaccine the Satan Shot. A lot of people are already being manipulated by misinformation, so it's not at all difficult to imagine the fervor had the vaccine rollout been hampered, from the start, by careless messaging.

I agree with you that policing has no chance of being reimagined without winning over a large segment of white Americans, which is why I cringe at "Defund the Police." Because I know it sets up as a nonstarter for the very people who need to be convinced. Middle class suburban moms are imagining a world where police are even less responsive, or perhaps, unavailable, in a crisis situation, to a point where it overrides the more immediate and rampant concerns that advocates for police reform need them dialed into. Messaging is a failure when it doesn't welcome the very people it needs to sway.

"Defund the police" might have sounded bold to the people who are fed up and already committed to the fight, but the messaging isn't meant to be for them. Not effective messaging, anyway. It's for the people you and I agree need to be reached. "Defund" isn't an easy out, it's a hurdle that didn't have to exist.

Re-imagine policing.

Reallocate emergency funding.

Community policing.
Fair policing.

Fund inclusive safety.

I'm spitballing but there are any number of ways something more affirmative could have been the leading cry.

Defund the Police. ACAB. Those are ways of shutting down discussion and turning off much needed potential
Anyone who would allow themselves to be shut down at phrasing doesn't care enough to fix the issue. That's blunt. But on my side of the issue, that's reality. You cringed at "Defund the Police." You know before I go there, let me ask a basic question, to everyone. Who coined the phrase? Do you know? Whom is that phrase credited to? We speak on it as if that phrase was an agreed upon thing at the police reform conference.

Much like Black Lives Matter, it was phrase born organically, used to describe a movement, a movement that has transcended the coined phrase. Who stands to benefit the most from police reform? Minorities. Find me a plurality of minorities who care what the movement is called. We just want reform to happen, we don't care what it's called. Because the name of something, that can save lives, is less important to those who have skin in the game. It is audacious of the majority, who wield power to do something that can save lives for the minority, to belay action on it until they find phrasing they are comfortable with.

White America needs to learn that you can walk and chew gum at the same time but there is a hierarchy to those actions. If you can do both, by all means, do it. But, other than a bubble gum chewing contest, I can't think of one case where chewing gum is more important than walking. Yall over here arguing over the name of the flavor of the gum, standing still mind you, and then have the nerve to wonder why NOTHING EVER HAPPENS!

All because we are used to chewing Juicy Fruit and someone suggested (we don't know who) we start chewing Super Juicy Fruit Minty with Blood Crystals. "Blood Crystals?!" "I can't chew something with blood Crystals in it!" And, yet, if you dig deeper, you would see Super Juicy Fruit Minty with Blood Crystals is regular old Juicy Fruit, slightly more minty, and the "Blood Crystals?!" are specks of Big Red. You know, not actually blood. Or a crystal for that matter.

You know, I get it. If we could find a gum that everyone is agreeable on, it could enhance the walk. We would walk faster. More efficiently. We would even walk further. More people may start walking with us. But yall have been fighting on what police reform looks and sounds like for decades. And you never start walking because of it. How long do I have wait for reform while yall find something you are comfortable calling it?

Baldwin was right. "How much time do you want for your progress?"



This is urgent. But, see, that's the rub. It isn't urgent for all of us, is it? My entire life I've wanted kids. Recently, I've told the love of my life I don't want kids anymore. I'd be liar if I said it hasn't affected us. BUT I DON'T. I am frightened to raise black kids in this country. I watched my parents bury a child. I'm not strong enough to do that. And I don't trust policing enough in this country to do it. Here and now, I just don't. When is the last time you had to make an important life decision, like having kids, and how you are policed is a factor? Then come and talk to me about Defund the Police.

You cringed when you heard it. But, I guarantee you didn't stop at the phrase. You dug deeper. Because you care. I know you care. I've read your words with bated breath in the past. But, that's the point. You didn't stop at Blood Crystals. I just wish more persons either couldn't afford to stop at Blood Crystals, like me, or had the empathy to not to, like you.

Defund the Police? I mean I know there is more there, there, but who came up with it? I don't know and quite frankly, I don't care. Keep it, get rid of it, whatever White America needs to fix this sheet , I'm riding with yall, but start walking for once, for God forking sakes. I really don't want yall eulogizing me on these boards because I decided to get ice cream one night.

And, yes, I still love you my friend.
 
So, you know I love yall, right? But, this is one of these times that I have to spit it raw.

"Defund the Police" was the out White America was looking for. Yikes. Keep reading. Remember, I love you. One of the reasons that I am so adamant that police reform can't happen without tackling the issue of racial animus is that it is my sincere belief that police reform can only happen when the American populace decides that we do not want to be policed in this way anymore. Which means, that a majority of Americans, who are White Americans, will have to decide to reform and change something that DOES NOT disproportionately affect themselves, their families or their world.

To be frank, it will take a majority of White Americans to care enough. And it is my solemn, sincere belief that not enough White Americans have been educated about this country's historical legacy of policing, its direct ties to racial animus and generally about race itself. Too many are "trapped in a history they don't understand" and without understanding there can be no empathy and this won't change without an overwhelming sense of empathy.

I used the analogy last summer but what if there was a pill on the market that cured cancer and it was branded and sold as "The Devil's Penis." What a ridiculous thing to name such a life saving measure. And for some, their fight would immediately become, "hey we gotta rebrand this thing and change the name, change the marketing." And that is legitimate. But, it can't become THE fight. And if you had cancer, or your mother/father, wife/husband or daughter/son had cancer, I guarantee you that rebranding wouldn't be your primary fight. You would be researching this pill to see if it does what it says and, if so, finding out how fast to get it into you or your loved one's blood stream.

Because no one would look their daughter in the eye and say, "there is a pill, it can begin to cure your cancer, I've researched it, the science is sound, it's worked for others, but...that whacky name."

The cold, raw truth is that not enough White Americans cared enough and "Defund the Police" provided cover to dodge an ugly American truth: we aren't policed the same, we don't all experience it the same, to the same degree and that makes it easier to maintain the status quo. Because not everyone's kids have to live with cancer...
Can't see it from my house is the mantra of many whites. Indeed, as we discussed before, many whites simply do not care to do the heavy lifting of examining the history of racism in the US both individually or anecdotally, and institutionally. This sort of introspection always turns up a measure of guilt if done honestly and so most whites won't do it.

Examining history means we examine the foolish notions, too closely held by many, of the "rugged individual" and "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" These only work if the individual is a straight white male with intact mind and body, and thus has boots to even have straps by which one can even have the opportunity to pull oneself up.

If one does choose to engage in the necessary level of historical and personal introspection, then pretending the playing field is level via policing, employment, or any other arena one cares to name is an exercise in futility.

I've had a leg up for my entire life because I'm a straight white male with an intact mind and body. Pretending that doesn't confer upon me huge advantages is a disrespect to every other demographic in this country.

Kudos to @HoustonSaint68 for his honesty regarding his own notions. I grew up in a redneck section of Maryland where the N-word was commonplace. I've had to do some heavy lifting of my own to root out that racism, most of which occurred at University of Maryland while rooming with a black guy. Becoming much more racially sensitive over the years has been one of the more liberating growth experiences of my life.
 
More important than the volume, which is critical, is the climate. The country finally had the stomach to make such change possible.

Mamie Till is an American patriot. It is laughable that we have all these debates over monuments and statues, based on the ambiguous people of our past, when we have dozens, thousands, of unblemished persons in our history that we could honor.

Mamie changed the climate in this country. Because she had the courage to leave a casket open. A very hard but simple act. But that act, that choice, very well spearheaded the Civil Rights movement in this country.

So, one, don't ever say "what can I do?" when Mamie did what she did. But, more importantly, two, that act forced the country, the world, to visibly see how Black Americans were being treated in this country, and in that climate, White Americans were compelled, to not only care, but to ACT.

To get involved. To give their life fighting for a cause


Anyone who would allow themselves to be shut down at phrasing doesn't care enough to fix the issue. That's blunt. But on my side of the issue, that's reality. You cringed at "Defund the Police." You know before I go there, let me ask a basic question, to everyone. Who coined the phrase? Do you know? Whom is that phrase credited to? We speak on it as if that phrase was an agreed upon thing at the police reform conference.

Much like Black Lives Matter, it was phrase born organically, used to describe a movement, a movement that has transcended the coined phrase. Who stands to benefit the most from police reform? Minorities. Find me a plurality of minorities who care what the movement is called. We just want reform to happen, we don't care what it's called. Because the name of something, that can save lives, is less important to those who have skin in the game. It is audacious of the majority, who wield power to do something that can save lives for the minority, to belay action on it until they find phrasing they are comfortable with.

White America needs to learn that you can walk and chew gum at the same time but there is a hierarchy to those actions. If you can do both, by all means, do it. But, other than a bubble gum chewing contest, I can't think of one case where chewing gum is more important than walking. Yall over here arguing over the name of the flavor of the gum, standing still mind you, and then have the nerve to wonder why NOTHING EVER HAPPENS!

All because we are used to chewing Juicy Fruit and someone suggested (we don't know who) we start chewing Super Juicy Fruit Minty with Blood Crystals. "Blood Crystals?!" "I can't chew something with blood Crystals in it!" And, yet, if you dig deeper, you would see Super Juicy Fruit Minty with Blood Crystals is regular old Juicy Fruit, slightly more minty, and the "Blood Crystals?!" are specks of Big Red. You know, not actually blood. Or a crystal for that matter.

You know, I get it. If we could find a gum that everyone is agreeable on, it could enhance the walk. We would walk faster. More efficiently. We would even walk further. More people may start walking with us. But yall have been fighting on what police reform looks and sounds like for decades. And you never start walking because of it. How long do I have wait for reform while yall find something you are comfortable calling it?

Baldwin was right. "How much time do you want for your progress?"



This is urgent. But, see, that's the rub. It isn't urgent for all of us, is it? My entire life I've wanted kids. Recently, I've told the love of my life I don't want kids anymore. I'd be liar if I said it hasn't affected us. BUT I DON'T. I am frightened to raise black kids in this country. I watched my parents bury a child. I'm not strong enough to do that. And I don't trust policing enough in this country to do it. Here and now, I just don't. When is the last time you had to make an important life decision, like having kids, and how you are policed is a factor? Then come and talk to me about Defund the Police.

You cringed when you heard it. But, I guarantee you didn't stop at the phrase. You dug deeper. Because you care. I know you care. I've read your words with bated breath in the past. But, that's the point. You didn't stop at Blood Crystals. I just wish more persons either couldn't afford to stop at Blood Crystals, like me, or had the empathy to not to, like you.

Defund the Police? I mean I know there is more there, there, but who came up with it? I don't know and quite frankly, I don't care. Keep it, get rid of it, whatever White America needs to fix this sheet , I'm riding with yall, but start walking for once, for God forking sakes. I really don't want yall eulogizing me on these boards because I decided to get ice cream one night.

And, yes, I still love you my friend.

So obviously there's nothing for me to try to add regarding your powerful post.

I just want to be clear that any angst being shown by some of us here about the Defund the Police label is not about the label itself. Of course it's ridiculous to worry about the semantics of it. But it is still one person, one vote, and a lot of those voters are white people who don't see themselves as being personally impacted by a lack of true police reform and thus are forming their opinions based on headlines and political manipulation. As awful as it may be, lasting, nationwide police reform won't happen without winning the hearts and minds of those lazy and largely uneducated voters.
 
So obviously there's nothing for me to try to add regarding your powerful post.

I just want to be clear that any angst being shown by some of us here about the Defund the Police label is not about the label itself. Of course it's ridiculous to worry about the semantics of it. But it is still one person, one vote, and a lot of those voters are white people who don't see themselves as being personally impacted by a lack of true police reform and thus are forming their opinions based on headlines and political manipulation. As awful as it may be, lasting, nationwide police reform won't happen without winning the hearts and minds of those lazy and largely uneducated voters.

It sucks that we have to somewhat rely on them, but ultimately, at least some of these people need to be, and I would argue, can be convinced. These people are going to need an assist. I have no issue with the defund the police mantra because it's neither practical or useful, and doesn't address the issues.

But for people, and ultimately voters, who may be well-meaning, but are easily swayed by headlines, we have to find a way to get them to look past the headlines and look deeper into the issues. I think I'm seeing where maybe I can help the cause. Sitting down with some of them and sharing how I got from where they are to where I am now. I was once a skeptic and now I'm convinced. Now it's up to me to try and reach people. A lot will reject it, but even a small number can have an impact. We'll be better for it.

And I think a good approach is by focusing on why police reform is good for all of us. We need to find a bridge that can open people's minds to the idea that police being held accountable will have wide-ranging impacts on everyone's community.
 
Fort Lauderdale police officers violated civil rights law when they entered the home garage of two city residents and detained them with excessive force, brothers Raymond and Randall Purcell allege in a lawsuit filed Monday against the officers and the city.

In depositions, the officers said they felt threatened because of weaponry displayed on the walls — items that the plaintiffs say were harmless Star Trek memorabilia.......

The Purcells are seeking a minimum $75,000 in damages in connection with an earlier, April 2017 incident wherein officer Alexander Paul hit then-62-year-old Raymond with the butt of his gun, slammed him to the ground and pulled his arms so forcefully that “Raymond heard a snap in his arms and went limp,” the suit says. Paul then allegedly punched him in the face “with so much force that it knocked Raymond’s acrylic partial dentures out of his mouth.”

All the while, Raymond pleaded with Paul, telling him he was disabled. And when his brother Randall attempted to intervene, the other officer, Pohorence, kicked him, placed his foot on his face and left him with a half-inch cut near his eye.........


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That was disgusting. This is exactly the kind of power trip many of these a holes are on. You can tell that the female officer is somewhat conflicted yet still goes along with the bullshirt. Shame on her.
These officers are horrible humans beings and should be treated as such. From the initial confrontation to all this, they are trash. All over a bottle of detergent of a woman with dementia.

The Lowes by my house, people are always stealing stuff from there. Lowes makes no attempt to stop them once they reach the door. They will call the police, report it and give them the video.
Now i know why. Yes, trash stealing stuff is terrible, but Lowes probably is saving lives by doing that. Stealing shouldn't be a death sentence...
 

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