billsfan1959

Well, we’ve had a black president, we’ve had a Congressional Black Caucus, we’ve had black mayors, we’ve had black governors, and we’ve had black city councilmembers, we’ve had black police chiefs, yet citizens in black communities are still, overwhelmingly, getting victimized, brutalized, and killed by young black men...

Well, she also married her own brother, so, there's that...

Clearly developed by people who have never responded to a crime scene....

Honestly, people that elect anyone this clueless deserve the consequences....

My guess, under those circumstances, your home would be on the market for awhile....

Thank you for the quote. I believe the overwhelming majority of people, law enforcement and non-law enforcement feel similarly.

Hell, at this point, I would even sign a petition to end Qbaby’s suspension....

We were all wondering the same thing....

Just when you didn’t think it was possible for him to sound any more unhinged....? ?

Since you tried to pass yourself off as a black victim of police brutality in the "killed by police thread," I have two questions regarding the zoom call: 1) Are your going to finally tell us about those traumatic times when you were out there "begging" for your life with the police? 2) Will you be wearing black face when you do it?

I wonder which outfit Northam will wear at the removal ceremony?

There is behavior that occurs in some places in this country that most people just cannot, or do not want to, comprehend. Non-stop, cold, senseless, violence...

Saw this in another thread. Thought it was interesting as he is someone that has legitimately experienced both sides of the issue:

Ordinarily, I would agree with you. Context is everything in these situations. I actually wrote about this in another thread, not this one. But I wanted to share it with you just to share my perspective. It doesn't mean I am right or wrong, it is just to show you how I thought through what happened: I watched the video several times. I don't believe the man presented any type of real threat and I don't know what his purpose was or what he was saying. To me, he was clearly confronting them about something. In any other situation, he wouldn't really represent a legitimate threat. I don't think the officer responded in a terribly disproportionate way. He clearly pushed him out of the way with several orders of "get back" being heard. It didn't appear to be a hard push and certainly did not appear to be done with an intent to harm. Crowd control is always a difficult thing. They really can't pause to interact with everyone who approaches them in an effort to reason with them or provide explanations. That would destroy the cohesiveness of the unit, distract them as a unit, and, if they did that for everyone who approached, peaceful or not, it would turn into chaos. To many people, some actions seem more aggressive than they should be, like this one. However, "normal" ways of dealing with people really don't exist in these kinds of circumstances. As soon as the man went down, you could see a number of the officers pause and one actually attempt to check on the man. He was stopped by another officer. This is not uncommon. They are in formation, engaging in a specific mission, and they don't break out of that if they can help it. Operation Plans always have contingencies for medical response. You can see the officer, who started to kneel down, immediately get on his radio. My educated guess is he was requesting medical assistance. Later in the video you can hear a response, "We have EMTs on scene." I believe other officers would have remained with the man; however, there was another protester coming at them much more aggressively that they then responded to. I hate that the man was injured, I really do. I hope he is wasn't seriously injured and I wish him a speedy recovery. I do not see anything in the video that would indicate any behavior outside of protocol, that would indicate intent to injure the man, or that a reasonable person could foresee would result in serious injury. He was pushed after approaching officers and fell awkwardly. Given the events of the last 6 days, even "peaceful" protests have the potential to have isolated violent behavior or to turn violent on a larger scale. Officers simply cannot assume everyone who approaches them has peacful intent - they don't have that luxury. It really is a no win situation.

I think this is exactly what is happening: people are looking at this without evaluating all of the variables. I think reasonable people can evaluate ALL of the factors and arrive at different conclusions on this specific incident. There have been a number of very reasonable takes on what occurred if anyone cares to go back and read through. I am not going to rewrite what I have already written. It was unfortunate. I hate to see anyone injured and I do hope he is doing well. However, there are many variables that went into what transpired. There are plenty of instances, such as what happened with George Floyd, where there is no justification for law enforcement actions, and then there are instances like this, where you might not like the ultimate outcome, but it wasn't the result of intentional, brutal acts - or even actions that crossed the line. I can respect that you see it differently.

Rage always trumps reason....

Oh, look who's back, Penfield45/GregPersons showing us all how "enlightened" he is....

I am being completely honest when I say I haven't seen any posters "refuse to ever reasonably admit anything wrong with the police." I have seen posters defend some actions and denounce other actions. However, I haven't seen anyone that has refused to admit any wrongdoing on the part of police, or that there aren't areas for improvement. Maybe I missed some posts ; however, I just haven't seen that

Hyperbole much?

We do thank you! I don't know who ratted him out; however, I applaud him/her. Publishing private info of any kind regarding a poster or that poster's family members is way out of bounds.

Agree. I understood the reasoning behind it. Crack cocaine may be the single greatest factor in the rise of crime rates in black communities across the country, not just in urban areas. People were looking for solutions in any way they could find them. Unfortunately, the result at the federal level was a complete disaster for young black men and relations between law enforcement and black communities. Here is something you won't hear: There was such a disparity in the sentencing that law enforcement officers were routinely witholding information from the courts (in regard to relevant conduct) just to keep the sentences of some offenders as low as they could within the guidelines.

I won't disagree that there is a place for the intervention / assistance at the federal level. We have seen it from civil rights to organized crime. I do not have a problem with it. Like I said, as long as it is doesn't lend itself to further injustice in its application. Just as an example, there came a time in this country when black communities across the country were being devastated by crack cocaine and associated crime. The federal government stepped in with the ability to deal with it in a way the local communities could not. One of the byproducts of that effort was the institution of sentencing guidelines to draw a distinction between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The intent was to increase minimum mandatory sentencing for crack cocaine as a deterrent. It truly was done with good intentions because black communities were literally being destroyed by the sale and use of crack cocaine, as well as the violent crime associated with it. What happened is that an entire generation of young black men were locked up for disproportionate lengths of time for crack cocaine than for similar offenses involving powder cocaine. Young black men were routinely being sentenced to 5 - 20 years for non-violent offenses involving relatively small amounts of crack cocaine (in relation to the sentencing). All I am saying is that I do not oppose any bill that seeks to help/assist local communities or address injustices in the system. We should just try our best to shape it as specifically as possible to avoid further injustice.

Unfortunately, stats will always be twisted to fit agendas....

There are always going to be injustices in the prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of people in this country. It is a system run entirely by human beings. I am all in favor doing what we can in continually shaping laws and criminal procedures to eliminate those injustices. I would prefer that, whatever we do, it not be so vague and broad that it invites more injustice in its application.