But Then Again

Sometimes it's pretty hard for me to see how we're headed in the right direction, "more-perfect-union-wise".

Today's Keystone Kops

...except it's not fuckin' funny - not when people can and do get killed over some "issue" that's almost never anything more than a fews dollars worth of goods or the result of some ignorantly incompetent cops.

What happened in Phoenix is another example - in a long list of examples - of how shitty things have gotten, and how much shittier they're likely to get.

Justin King:

And here's the video he refers to:

The Commish

WaPo:

There is, of course, no official manual on how to use an official government position to get officers to tear up a ticket, but for any enterprising self-help author looking to write one, a dash-cam video featuring a purple-vest-wearing, recently resigned Caren Z. Turner might prove insightful.

During an Easter weekend traffic stop that involved her daughter, Turner flashed her gold “Port Authority of New York and New Jersey” badge and demanded that the law officers call her by her title: “Don’t call me ‘Miss.’ It’s ‘Commissioner.’ ”

She said, early and often, that she is a friend of the Tenafly, N.J., mayor and also happens to be a personal acquaintance of the police chief. She may have even been invited to attend the officers’ police academy graduation, she told them.

She made sure the officers knew they were dealing with the cream of Tenafly society, not riffraff. She is an attorney, she told them. Her daughter, she said, is a student at Yale, and the younger woman’s friends attend MIT — and the officers were ruining what had been a nice Easter weekend hike.

And when all that failed, she cursed at the officers and told them to shut up.
(actually, she told 'em to "shut the fuck up", but WaPo is still trying to get us to think the world of politics is somehow marked by decorum, and inhabited by well-mannered people)

But anyway:

We can't know exactly what was going on inside her head of course, but this looks an awful lot like Privilege Working Overtime.

And the kicker? In the public statement she released to The Englewood Daily Voice, she shifts the blame, suggesting it's the cops who need to "...review best practices with respect to tone and de-escalation, so that incidents like this do not recur."

Fake lord, have mercy.
hat tip = FB pal Vicki W-E

Not That It'll Matter

I seem to recall the Wingnut Dis-Infotainment Industry screaming about "the war on cops unleashed by crazed hordes of Black Lives Matter and blah blah blah".

Brett Samuels, The Hill:

The number of police officers who died in the line of duty decreased in 2017 and nearly hit its lowest number in 58 years, USA Today reported Thursday.

As of Thursday, 128 officers died in the line of duty this year, down from 135 in 2016. Since 1959, only 2013 saw fewer officers die while on duty, when 116 were killed, according to data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
So if you're scoring at home - or even if you're alone (thanks Keith), that's:

• Cops killed with guns - 47
• Civilians killed by cops - 971 (so far in 2017)

That's a kill ratio of 20:1, fellas - I don't think you're losing this one.

More Of This, Please

One of the real problems with 45* as POTUS is the phenomenon of the Drama du Jour. ie: every day, a new, and at least semi-outrageous bit of Sturm-und-Drang comes up that pushes yesterday's High School Fuckaround Bullshit off to the side, forcing us to address this new crap, leaving no time to deal with much of anything, including the issues that really do require some thought and oughta get noticed.

And I'm really hoping nothing in that first paragraph comes as any kind of surprise to anybody.

The good news is that there's some good news once in a while.
WaPo:

The former chief of a small township in New Jersey has been arrested on federal hate crime and civil rights charges for what federal authorities described as a pattern of racist comments and behavior — including slamming an African American teen’s head into a metal door jamb and saying that black people are “like ISIS.”

Frank Nucera Jr., 60, who had been chief of the Bordentown Township Police Department, was arrested, and the charges against him were unsealed Wednesday. The allegations are notable for the blatant racism they describe in a law enforcement leader.

According to a criminal complaint in the case, filed in federal district court in New Jersey, Nucera frequently referred to African Americans by racial slurs and espoused violence toward them.

Call It Progress - I Guess(?)

Miami Herald

The good news is: the kid wasn't shot.

The bad news is: that's what passes for good news now - that some asshole white cop didn't murder some knucklehead brown kid.

It's unbelievable, but that qualifies as a positive outcome.

How They Die

According to Pentagon data, more than 6,800 troops have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11 and more than 3,000 additional service members have taken their lives in that same time

Closing in on 10,000 dead uniforms.

And in 2012 and 2013, for the first time ever, suicide caused more military deaths than anything else.

Can we stop handing these kids every shitty problem that we don't feel like dealing with?  And cops too btw, now that I'm thinking about it.

We have to get back to some reasonable facsimile of sanity, and start figuring out how to deal with our shit without always bashing each other over the head with sticks and rocks.

We can't kill our way out of every fucking problem that comes along.

Good Cop, Bad Cop (updated 9-27)

There's a good reason Invisibility is considered the ultimate super power.  It removes all possibility of being held to account.  If there's no evidence, ie: if nobody can see what you're doing, there's no way to hold you responsible for what you've done.

So WTF, Danville cops?

I called the Danville (Virginia) Police Dept to ask for comment, and left a message. I'll try to update as soon as possible.

hat tip = FB friends MM-M & VW-E


Update:

Says purpose of lifting hood is to cool engine. Some cars have good vents, some don't. @ABC13News pic.twitter.com/pccPPVoWtz

— Valerie Bragg (@ValB_WSET) September 26, 2016

Seems more or less reasonable to me - the local citizens' bunch will continue to keep on eye on this stuff.  Way to go, guys.

Today's WTF

Charles Kinsey is a Behavioral Therapist.  He was trying to help a 20-something Autistic patient.  Somebody called the North Miami PD because they tho't the patient had a gun (it was a toy truck).  The patient "failed" to respond to officers' commands; Mr Kinsey knew enough not to abandon his patient; the cops apparently don't know one fuckin' thing except the use of force - so they shot Kinsey as he lay on the ground with his hands in the air.

Charles Kinsey must be wondering what else he needs to do in order to be included in the "all" part of All Lives Matter.

That's pretty fucked up right there.

Another Day, Another What The Fuck

Three dead cops in Baton Rouge - 3 others wounded, one in critical condition. Plus one dead perp and as many as 2 others on the loose. (as of 3pm Sunday)


(update as of 5:30pm Sunday: Cops think it was a single perp - Gavin Eugene Long. No others are known to be involved, and the cops say they're not looking for anybody else.)

Three police officers have been fatally shot in Baton Rouge, La., and three others were wounded, according to East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Department.

East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux III said one gunman was shot dead, but two other suspects may be at large.

"At this point in time the scene is still active," he said. "We are advising the public to please take an alternate route and steer clear of the area."

Corporal L'Jean Mckneely Jr., spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department, said officers secured the area around the suspect and sent a robot device in after the shooting, “making sure there aren’t any explosives in the area."

To be sure, this is a truly shitty thing.  As Fugelsang tweeted earlier:

I'm on the side of everyone who's against both police brutality & brutality against police. It's not a complicated position. #BatonRouge

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) July 17, 2016

I do have to wonder though - where are all the Ammosexuals in this?  They should be standing and wildly cheering as these heroic defenders of liberty have exercised their god-given 2nd Amendment rights to fight back against the oppressive tyrannical Police Forces (aka Da Gubmint).  And yet there's this deafening silence.

That level of cognitive dissonance seems to get a bit paralyzing, don't it?  

Embarrassed To Tell You

hat tip = Blue Gal via Crooks & Liars

Everybody's Doin' It

...so why should I be any different?  

This pic is "important", partly because certain Photo Editors have told us it's important, but I think there may be quite a bit more to it than that.

28-year-old Ieshia Evans, Baton Rouge, July 2016

First, if you show up dressed like you're looking for trouble, I have to think maybe you're looking for trouble.

Along those lines, the feeling of invulnerability the cops have to get from wearing their Play Date Suits* can cause them to be a lot less likely to avoid trouble - and actually, most people become far more likely to start trouble because of that feeling of invulnerability.

(*available at fine Cop Shop outlets everywhere for as little as $400 each - up to $1000 depending on options. And be sure to identify yourself as Military or Police or Security, because they don't sell this shit to just anybody, y'know)

So, do we need to look any further than what seems obvious here?  Do we really have to ask why people get fucked up and fucked over by a police force comprised of officers equipped for urban warfare and trained to deal with American citizens as if they're the enemy?

The shitty little irony is that those cops are convinced they're protecting Ms Evans - nobody seems able to clearly identify exactly what they're protecting her from (which means there's a high probability they're just rationalizing their behavior), but if she's not ridiculously careful, they're gonna protect her to death.  In the end, who protects any of us from our protectors?

And ain't that all kinds of pretty fucked up right there?

Resistance Is Life

The whole thing from Juan Cole:

Kurdish Women Fighting ISIL Send Solidarity to BlackLivesMatter

“You are among the most radical voices in today’s racist, sexist, capitalist world,” the YPJ wrote to Black Lives Matter.

Fighters from the Kurdish Women’s Defense Units or YPJ, have sent a message of solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.

“To our black sisters and brothers! The people of Kurdistan stand with you!” read the short statement posted Saturday by the group, who has been fighting the incursions of ISIS [Daesh] in northern Syria for close to two years. “Here are the women who fight ISIS in Rojava (northern Syria) – saluting your honorable struggle for freedom, dignity, and resistance!”

The call for Black Lives Matter has become a focal point for discussions around systemic racism and police brutality following the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in 2014, as well as numerous other incidents since. This past week, police killed Philando Castille and Alton Sterling – both incidents filmed and subsequently shared ober social media – touching off more protests across the United States.

For the women of the YPJ, solidarity and building “world revolution” against racism, sexism and capitalism, go hand in hand.

“As the women in Kurdistan know very well, we need to build our self-defense in all spheres of life. You are among the most radical voices in today’s racist, sexist, capitalist world and the freedom-loving peoples of the world deeply respect and salute your fight! Solidarity is the first step to world revolution!,” the statement continued.

Since the most recent string of high-profile U.S.police shootings of Blackpeople, expressions of solidarity from other communities in the United States as well as groups from around the world have been pouring in – with the radical, communist Kurdish groups being the latest.

“Black Lives Matter! As we say in Kurdish: “Berxwedan jiyan e!” – Resistance is life!,” the YPJgroup concluded.

Via TeleSur

I guess I'd worry a little about backlash because of a ringing endorsement from a group that espouses "communism" - if I thought anybody was gonna pay any real attention to it anyway.

We seem to think we can rule the world without actually having to live in it.

Today's Tweet

Sign of the times.

Since when did foreign countries issue "warnings" when traveling to the United States? How embarrassing! Yet, true. pic.twitter.com/LqdCm3IJuS

— Mary (@lovealaska1105) July 9, 2016

Today's Tweet

#PhilandoCastile #AltonSterling #Me pic.twitter.com/ynpiYuPjSS

— rootwoman123 (@rootwoman123) July 7, 2016

It's like we never have a chance to get past one shitty thing before the next shitty thing happens.

Alton Sterling

Philando Castile



What happens if somebody starts an effort to build a memorial wall in DC to list the names of all the black folk who've been killed by the cops?

Actually, here's a design suggestion: Let's build a memorial that has all the dead white people listed on one wall, and all the dead black people listed on a wall facing that one.

I wonder which one gets all the names, and I wonder which one gets all the attention.

And So It Goes

Remember all that bullshit last year about "The War On Cops"?  

It's open season on police - Blue Lives Matter - all those rotten brown people fomenting  violence against our noble officers blahblahblah.

Well, it was exactly the bullshit many of us said it was, and the FBI confirms it.

Via HuffPo:

The data contrasts with the claims from some conservative media outlets and police union bosses who have continued to peddle the narrative that officers are under siege. The past two years have seen a surge in police reform activism in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, and other high-profile instances of police killing civilians. But critics of this movement allege that groups like Black Lives Matter promote violence against officers, and have helped wage a “war on cops.”

And:

“The FBI statistics on police officer felonious deaths show that belief that the job is growing more dangerous, because of protests against police or because of the demand for reform to police practices, is simply wrong,” Harris wrote in an email. “Belief to the contrary may be sincere, but it has no basis in fact.”

Battling the endless parade of "conservative" crapola

Today's Wingnut

Meet Joe Stetsen

Joe seems like a fun date.  I'm sure he'll be the belle o' the ball in the county lockup.

Now, here's Harney County Judge Steve Grasty.

My guess is that Steve is wondering (like a lot of us are wondering) how the fuck we got from the pretty good kinda moderate conservatism of John Lindsay and Nellie Rockefeller in the 60s and 70s to this rabid, slaverin'-dog, kill-'em-all-let-god-sort-'em-out, radical bullshit.

Didn't just happen last night; not gonna un-happen by tomorrow.

For me, the lights came on in 1992, listening to Pat Buchanan at the GOP convention in Houston.  I'd been feeling a little antsy about my preferences for Repubs for a few years, but that speech made a very loud, very uncomfortable noise in my head, and I just kinda knew I'd been wrong for too long, and it was time for a rethink.

Minds can be changed.  Sometimes for the better.

Dots

Once is an anomaly:

I think every LEO needs a complete BG check by FBI, just as a person working in top secrete field, eliminate threats https://t.co/EY9h6HCex7

— Mickey Cox (@TheRightImageLV) January 2, 2016

Twice is a coincidence:

Entiire Florida police department busted for laundering millions for international drug cartels https://t.co/I1zGsr1r9d

— margaret stuart md (@marstu67) January 2, 2016

Just waiting for that third occurrence to confirm the trend.

We became allergic to the basics of paying for the things a healthy civilization needs - Education, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Science, Justice.  We decided making rich people richer was more important than looking out for everybody as best we can.  So it forced public servants to look for ways of stretching their budgets.  Some of that is a good thing, but most of it turns out to be a very bad thing when the people looking for creative ways to augment their budgets are the ones who carry badges and guns and who have our tacit blessing to treat people extremely badly as long as it's "those other people" catching the shit and not us.

So - when somebody says "Police Department", think "Sheriff".  And when they say [insert your town's name here], think "Nottingham".

And BTW - not to blow up the analogy or anything, but fuck Robin Hood; where's Frank Serpico when ya need him?

About That Christmas Story

So everybody's holiday favorite is the story of how a kid is growing up in Ohio, and he has a toy gun, and how everybody warns him about not getting hurt because of it and his dad buys a weird lamp and some kid gets his tongue froze to the flag pole and it all turns out OK because Ralphie's a white kid and the local cops don't murder him for no fucking reason.

Today's Tweet

Ohio is an open carry state, and the cops say they thought Rice was an adult, so what law, exactly, was he breaking?

— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 28, 2015

Chris Hayes has fallen way off - along with practically all of MSNBC - but hey, even a blind hog roots up an acorn once in a while.