As a conservative Republican who believes that unfettered free trade and the WTO are Good Things, I have to say:
I’d lose a lot of respect for you if you did.
Maybe the halfwit pig who finds himself unable to bear the stress of his job should get the fuck out of the business. The motherfucker who turns on the public he is hired to protect and begins treating them like the enemy doesn’t deserve to be defended by the people he’s betrayed.
There are plenty of respectable cops who have never lost their shit and turned on their people. There are plenty of soldiers who have kept their cool in situations infinitely more violent and terrifying than has been faced by any cop in this country. The sadistic cop who would attack his own people does not do so because he is facing intolerable stress. Rather, he does so because he is a bulging shit filled flesh-bag not worthy of being fed to Cincinnati sewer rats.
Then again, I do tend to get a little more emotional about this sort of thing than most.
Sweet holy horseshit, man!! I had not idea that the police in Cincinnati were saddled with the awesome responsibility of silencing and intimidating the public. In fact, I had no idea that cops anywhere in this country would ever be encouraged to do so. This changes everything. :rolleyes:
I’m a big fan of police also, but I suspect that you and I have disturbingly different reasons for liking them.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by c_goat *
**
No crowd was visible in the shot. Just the woman and the first cop.
Ok then… nevermind.
And yet many of the people who decry police brutality and are concerned they often overstep their authority are the same folks that wish to disarm the general populace. Does it not occur to you folks that you may someday wish the public still retained their firearm ownership rights to defend themselves against, or even overthrow, an oppressive government regime? This is the argument us pro-gun folks keep making in support of (y)our rights. It would seem we are correct after all. We’re gonna need those guns someday, just like the U.S.A’s founding fathers said.
Overreacting some, Unc? My point is that we had finally gotten some standards of behavior for both crowds and cops that were an improvement over what used to go on then, in this isolated case, some cop goes overboard. And you see this as a call to armed revolution? You are sounding more like me in my hippie days than I think you’d care to admit. 
Over-reacting? No. Not me. Maybe you’re over-reacting to my post, dropzone. If you carefully read my words, you’ll see I’m not actually advocating any action at all. I’m merely trying to keep my options open. You guys that wanna relinquish our gun ownership rights may regret it someday. That’s all I’m sayin’.
Zing! Thank you, Tymp!
I’ve often been accused of hating the police. Actually, I love police. (To say nothing of my reaction to a hot man in a police uniform. Dah-rool.)
Lots and lots of police are brave, decent people. They keep us safe, defend our lives and property from crime, help little children and elderly people, solve murders, and help cats down from trees. And then there are the herds of fucking idiots who think that the best response to having some people throw rocks at them is to drown an entire city under tear gas.
(I just found out that they nearly ran out of tear gas at the summit. They had to order more from chuckle the United States.)
Dropzone, I think what Unc is saying is that the same people (generally) who strongly advocate gun control use the argument “The police will protect you”, but then turn around and scream “The police can’t be trusted!” It’s the implication of a hypocritical double-standard, I suppose.
If you want my opinion, Matt, it’s not the “grunt” foot soldiers that make those decisions, but the “guys in charge”, sitting behind the police blockade, hoping to see some action so as to get a positive remark on his record.
“Look, he stopped that riot! Let’s give him a promotion!”
Of course, I have nothing factual to back that up with, it’s just a fanciful notion I have.
Oh, I’m quite sure of that, SPOOFE. My definition of “fucking idiots” includes the brass as well.
I know perfectly well what he was saying. For a moment, though, he was sounding more like a bomb-throwing, commie revolutionary than his usual, mainstream-Republican self. I couldn’t resist twisting the knife.
And I’m in complete agreement. I’m in as much favor of countering a right-wing revolution with force as the militia guys are in favor of counter the same from the left. An armed citizenry is important for us. I just want us to be better-armed than them.
Even those dorky Quebec cop uniforms? There’s no accounting for taste. Oh yeah. You LIKE dorks. <rimshot>
The RCMP, on the other hand…
Well, not the SQ… but there was that gorgeous stud in the OPP uniform at the other play party.
mmmm… nightsticks…
Given that riotous conditions where present the officer may have felt that the woman’s comments may have been more likely to lead to the escalation of violence than macing her. This would then fall under the heading of ‘public safety’ and would not be covered by her right to ‘freedom of expression’.
It may also have been the case that only certain designated officers could ‘engage’ the crowd in this manner hence officer A, being yelled at informs command of inciter, command dispatches officer B with mace to qualm the relevant section of the crowd.
Not saying this was the situation or that correct judgement was used mealy outlining a 'reasonable’ hypothesis
Okay. The gloves come off completely. I have not seen the images described in the initial macing of older woman story told here. Fuck you, you ignorant unstable cop. Yes, that woman is allowed to stand on the correct side of the barrier, without physically threatening the officers, and scream until her larynx bleeds. THAT IS WHY PEOPLE FOUGHT AND DIED FOR OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, HELLO?
However, in today’s America, the Bill of Rights just took a shot in the balls. Our dear Supreme Court decided that you are allowed to handcuff anyone. The most minor infraction is now fodder for incarceration. Fuck common sense. Fuck the civillians. Fuck the civillians KIDS who have to witness this. Fuck em all, throw em in jail. What a neat Supreme Court we have, just imagine how neato it will be when GW is done with it :rolleyes:.
It’s okay for a New Jersey State Trooper or two to pull over four black men. To shoot at them, wounding them. Oooooh, they were bad bad bad minority men, weren’t they? Oops, wait, they were four young men off to college down south? Did the Troopers give a shit? Nope, they fit the Racial Profile. And, what a detailed and carefully wrought profile it is, too. It must read like this
. My guess is that’s pretty much the whole text. Racial Profiling In America.
Now, let’s look at the astonishing professionalism and restraint used in the massacre,er, incident involving Ahmed Diallo in New York City a few years ago. That man- that black man, of course- had the unspeakable gall to pull a Smith and Wesson .357 WALLET on FOUR of NYC’s finest. They sure as shit aren’t NYC’s finest SHOTS, because they fired 41 bullets, and didn’t even hit him with them all. So, they’re racist, dangerous and unstable, AND shitty shots. Oooh, la la, nice work boys. It’s okay though. Pulling a wallet is almost as bad as driving with your seat belt off, and we now know you can be jailed for that. Diallo Case Reports.
Abner Louima’s “crime” SURELY MUST have warranted the fair and just punishment meted out by his arresting officers, right? Oh, wait, you mean taking him into the men’s room in the precinct house, stripping his pants off and sodomizing him with a wooden broom handle is…NOT justified? Surely, you must be mistaken. Abner Louima Case File.
And then, there’s
Max Antoine.
Tomorrow morning, a member of the New Jersey legislature will actually announce if a NJ Supreme Court Justice will be impeached for lying under oath about what he knew about the systematic Racial Profiling by that states Troopers. I hope that guy is impeached, stripped of office and sent to Rahway. A decade in The Rah will set his ass straight.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s only getting worse, IMHO. I fear for my daughter, I truly do. I fear for her Citizenship ( she’s not a Native Born American ), I fear for her reproductive rights, I fear for her ability to wear clothing to school that is approved of. I fear for her right to stand in the street and voice disapproval. NOT HURL ROCKS, NOT threaten anyone, NOT attack police, NOT break a law. Just peacably protest. I fear most of the same things for my son. (If I feared for my son’s uterus, I’d be in deep shit here).
My children have learned good lessons watching the local TV. You do NOT approach a police officer if you are lost or hurt. You give them a VERY VERY wide berth, making sure NEVER to stare, or make ANY eye contact. Eye contact is a threat as we all know <sigh>, and can be easily justified to a judge later as, " that fucking 11 year old asshole motherfucker kid was using eye contact that is consistent with gang facial expressions, therefore threatening my life and safety". Yes, they’ve learned to be respectful, silent and avert their eyes. They’ve learned to approach a total stranger who is NOT wearing a gun, if they need help. They’ve learned wondeful lessons about violence, power, abuse and protectionism. They’ve learned a lot of what they need to know, to live in this country today, and for the balance of their lives.
I just am so griefstricken, that my kids have to learn any of this at all. I feel awful that they have to learn that I grew up in Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia, and all that THAT entailed. I hate that the Sheriff in a nearby county is on the cusp of being indicted for fraud and abuse that is SO pandemic amongst his personnel that it’s hard to know where it stops. I feel bad that when I put on my uniform as an EMS worker, they make comments about a person in uniform.
They’ve learned so well. Smart kids. Careful, and thoughtful, and respectful. And, clearly terrified of EVER trying to excercise ANY of their rights of Free Speech, or Free Assembly ( riot free, or course ). To them, these rights will always be an abstract.
They’ve learned way too much. And I’d just like to take this chance to thank every single law enforcement officer who has denigraded the position of authority with which he or she has been charged, and in doing so, taught my kids yet another lesson.
I’m not advocating a damned thing here in the way of action, or rioting, or violence, or anything of the sort, so those readers who are in that career, stop frothing and reaching for your hotline number. I’m simply making clear and honest use of MY 1st Ammendment rights, and giving some 100% true examples here.
I resent that my children who are ONLY 10, and 9, have had to learn any of this. Shame on every single person shown as an example in this posting. Shame on them. My kids, and I deserve better.
Cartooniverse, who will wear a different kind of badge in a few months- one that represents healing, not injuring.
I’ll add two things to that rant.
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I gave very specific examples, instead of naming an entire police department, and backed them up with cites. I’m not interested in painting with a broad brush, because it’s as racist and blindly damning as the people I cited up there, AND because…
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I have an extremely close friend who was an officer till badly injured in a car accident ( not job-related ). We would go round and round on this topic. He needed to defend his fellow officers, and I needed to defend the other 98.3% of America ( number purely pulled from the air). Bottom line was that I respected his dedication, caring, gentle soul and merciless response to violent threats against innocents. I’m not some naiive fool here, I understand WHY all of those examples happened. I just feel so awful that my children have to learn all of the lessons imparted therein.
Cartooniverse