The News Thread

[Scar]

That video makes me feel a touch better. But for fuck’s same.

[MadMan]

I have spent all weekend watching footage via different news accounts on Twitter. What is happening is shocking and anger inducing, and a clear sign that it will just all happen again down the road unless things change.

[[ETM]]

James Mangold posted a fascinating thread on Twitter about making Copland: https://twitter.com/mang0ld/status/1...370504710?s=19

Basically, he wanted the story to be about active cops who don't live in the communities they police, and he had enormous pushback on the idea.

Chauvin lives 22 miles from his beat. Only 8% of Minnesota cops live in the communities they police.

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[Morris Schæffer]

I have spent all weekend watching footage via different news accounts on Twitter. What is happening is shocking and anger inducing, and a clear sign that it will just all happen again down the road unless things change.

'Unless things change'.

Been thinking about that. Things need to change, but what does that really mean? For things to change. To banish racism altogether? That ain't gonna happen. So does it mean to stop/prevent the rioting, pillaging and the wanton destruction of property? I think that's going to remain too, that's the ugly underbelly of humanity also. It feeds off of tragedies like what happened to Floyd.

Can things change? Is that realistic? What happened with George Floyd is deplorable, but these instances are not commonplace, like they can be rooted out because of their frequency. Chances are in 2024 some other racist cop, who up until that point had been a really good boy and wasn't on anyone's radar, is going to think his time has come to act all manly and without pondering the consequences, and shit's gonna start all over again. And the evil 'protesters', the ones that don't care about their civil duty to defend human rights, are going to have a field day all over again. Just stir some shit up. Cuz why the fuck not?

You can never really take the necessary actions to totally prevent these calamities. All it takes is one asshole cop.

[Peng]

'Unless things change'.

Been thinking about that. Things need to change, but what does that really mean? For things to change. To banish racism altogether? That ain't gonna happen. So does it mean to stop/prevent the rioting, pillaging and the wanton destruction of property? I think that's going to remain too, that's the ugly underbelly of humanity also. It feeds off of tragedies like what happened to Floyd.

Can things change? Is that realistic? What happened with George Floyd is deplorable, but these instances are not commonplace, like they can be rooted out because of their frequency. Chances are in 2024 some other racist cop, who up until that point had been a really good boy and wasn't on anyone's radar, is going to think his time has come to act all manly and without pondering the consequences, and shit's gonna start all over again. And the evil 'protesters', the ones that don't care about their civil duty to defend human rights, are going to have a field day all over again. Just stir some shit up. Cuz why the fuck not?

You can never really take the necessary actions to totally prevent these calamities. All it takes is one asshole cop.

This whole post is a lot of oh boy, covering some sinisterly familiar concepts ("a few bad apples", institutional racism not seeming to exist,) but "these instances are not commonplace"? I... just....

[Morris Schæffer]

This whole post is a lot of oh boy, covering some sinisterly familiar concepts ("a few bad apples", institutional racism not seeming to exist,) but "these instances are not commonplace"? I... just....

Where a man is subdued with excessive force by law enforcement, the man dies and the whole thing is captured on camera? That's rare. Perhaps it's a moot point to make. Forgive my not so rosy outlook on this. Not saying we should call it quits, but what specifically happened here, that can happen again and again. The only question is how many years apart. And for the record I do not only mean the treatment of blacks, but the response of the general population too. Which is just as awful.

[[ETM]]

Nobody knows exactly how things need to change. And it happens again and again because the result of not knowing how to change things is usually doing nothing.

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[Skitch]

Step 1: Other cops stopping "bad apples" in the act.
Step 2: Immediately arresting them and prosecuting.
Step 3: [Supposed "good"] cops not enforcing laws that go against the Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Step 4: A "Good Samaritan" law, where in specific cases of undeniable danger, a normal citizen could kick that cop in the face and not face penalty.

Just off top of my head I think it would be a step in the right direction. Fuck the blue line.

[Pop Trash]

This whole post is a lot of oh boy, covering some sinisterly familiar concepts ("a few bad apples", institutional racism not seeming to exist,) but "these instances are not commonplace"? I... just....

Oh please. Stop your sanctimony. He's being realistic. The problem is at least in this instance, is training. If you allow choke holds and have choke holds to get people to pass out (which is literally written up in the MPD police manual) cops will abuse them. You can't say "hey, you can do this knee-to-neck maneuver for two minutes but not for five" or whatever. You have to outlaw this stupid shit completely and make it abundantly clear to not use it. Retrain your cops if necessary and make it clear that they will be at least fired and possibly charged if they use it. I do need think all police forces across the country need a serious enema i/r/t how their internal affairs departments work, some serious re negs with the police unions, the so-called "blue code of silence" ,and the police connections to DAs and judges. Maybe all major cities need a "watching the watchmen" department that is seperate from the police force, the DAs office, any judges, and any politicians. A completely independent oversight. Of course, that is easier said than done, and we are experiencing the biggest economic crisis since the depression. California alone is facing the biggest state budget slashing in their history. On the bright side, all the cop haters will be happy when they dial 911 and no one picks up and no police come out to help you. You're on your own. Maybe time to buy a gun.

[bac0n]

Another night, another watch. Quiet on our block, thank goodness, but sightings of groups of people dressed in black coming from the wooded area a few blocks south persist. I took the day off from work today because I just can't deal with it right now.

The good - Minneapolitans continue to help their own. A crew of us from the neighborhood went to the epicenter of the troubles - Lake & Hiawatha - to help, but everything was already as clean as civilians could get it. You could eat off the streets. Still, the scars of what went down nights before remain, and a lot of work remains to rebuild what was destroyed.




(this is what remains of the 3rd Precinct Police Station)

After waiting a half hour, no-one showed up to organize any cleaning efforts, so we went down to Phelps neighborhood to see if we could help there. Phelps is where George Floyd was killed. No organized cleaning there either, so we walked up to 38th and Chicago, the scene of the crime. Flowers were laid out, the place had been turned into a sacred space. I couldn't bear to get close to where the actual murder happened, I felt that, as a white person, that space wasn't for me to intrude upon at this time.





Back on the block, and still looking to do at least something, we decided to do a sweep of the woods just south of the neighborhood, thinking whoever is coming in from there has shit stashed for their schemes. Sure enough, stashed under a pedestrian bridge that runs over the creek we came across a small suitcase, brand new, placed there only recently, very deliberately so as to be out of immediate sight, but still easy enough to access in a hurry. Knowing what we know about the suspicious folks coming out of that very area, we called the cops. They arrived, took down info, and added it to their collection of about nine similar suitcases found about town. We found out later that it contained clothes. Means to quick change outfits so as to blend into crowds, perhaps?

Anywho, word is coming that around our neighborhood is being used to stage racist attacks on the Powderhorn neighborhood about 10 blocks north. A Somali family living there got threatened by some guy on their damn porch, telling them the usual go back to where you came from shit. Many sightings of cars without license plates driving up and down Bloomington Ave, the major north/south artery through that neighborhood.

Way I see it, if we're near the staging area, and we can keep an eye out for these people, it makes it all the harder for them to get into the areas where they can do harm.

Curfew tonight is from 10pm to 4am. Set up another neighborhood watch. It's going to be another long night.

[Dukefrukem]

When you found the suitcase I thought there was going to be much more sinister findings inside.

Do you get the sense things are calming down?

[Wryan]

Concerning people who were shot at on their own porch, even after curfew, weren't there local ordinances from the gov't specifically allowing people to be on their own property "outside," which would seem to suggest porches, after curfew?

[Scar]

Shot with ‘marker’ rounds, aka paint ball. Regrettable, but concerning how fucked up things were the previous two nights I find it regrettably understandable.

[Scar]

You have people displaying fake press credentials, squatting on porches, etc. It has been bad. I sincerely hope the rioters don’t head to the suburbs, or this is going to go very, very bad.

[Wryan]

I find it hard to believe the average person can and would wizard up a convincing enough press credential for the purpose of maybe not getting truncheoned with a broom handle--or that this is happening with any real frequency. And if it were, I'd suggest erring on the side of "it's probably fake, rough him up anyway" might be part of how we got here in the first place, so I hope they won't go there. There are state reps and senators also getting sprayed and roughed up after they identify themselves. There are cops covering up their badge numbers. There is a video of a cop that looks an awful lot like he picks up the hand of the black man he's on top of and places it on top of his own nightstick, which he had just placed on the ground in front of the dude. Then he fires a quick glance around to see if anyone else noticed it. That's mighty suspicious, at best.

[Scar]

I will only comment on Minneapolis.

EDIT: The majority out there are average people. However, do average people stash changes of clothes throughout the city? Or stash flammables throughout the city?

[Wryan]

Oh there are absolutely some dangerous actors out there. Just like there are protestors following the rules. And protestors who are testing the limits of the rules. And protestors who are rioting. And protestors who are burning and/or looting. And cops who are offering support and comfort and peace. And cops who are offering nothing but brutality and aggression. And cops who are stopping other cops from acting aggressive. And cops who are helping other cops act aggressive. We're seeing the whole Bob Ross canvas here, and boy it's not happy.

[Scar]

I’ve been completely focused on local activities. I caught a glance of someone in Atlanta getting batoned and decided I would only deal with my own backyard. I’m extremely compartmentalized right now. Very ‘dead pan’ if you know what I mean.

I was actually starting to relax until the semi showed up.

And I’ll say this: If his intent was to kill, there would’ve been a ridiculous amount of fatalities, he would not have blown his horn, and he would not have slammed on the brakes when they lady fell off her bike.

Try explaining that to people who were right there.

[Peng]

Where a man is subdued with excessive force by law enforcement, the man dies and the whole thing is captured on camera? That's rare. Perhaps it's a moot point to make. Forgive my not so rosy outlook on this. Not saying we should call it quits, but what specifically happened here, that can happen again and again. The only question is how many years apart. And for the record I do not only mean the treatment of blacks, but the response of the general population too. Which is just as awful.

Oh please. Stop your sanctimony. He's being realistic. The problem is at least in this instance, is training. If you allow choke holds and have choke holds to get people to pass out (which is literally written up in the MPD police manual) cops will abuse them. You can't say "hey, you can do this knee-to-neck maneuver for two minutes but not for five" or whatever. You have to outlaw this stupid shit completely and make it abundantly clear to not use it. Retrain your cops if necessary and make it clear that they will be at least fired and possibly charged if they use it. I do need think all police forces across the country need a serious enema i/r/t how their internal affairs departments work, some serious re negs with the police unions, the so-called "blue code of silence" ,and the police connections to DAs and judges. Maybe all major cities need a "watching the watchmen" department that is seperate from the police force, the DAs office, any judges, and any politicians. A completely independent oversight. Of course, that is easier said than done, and we are experiencing the biggest economic crisis since the depression. California alone is facing the biggest state budget slashing in their history. On the bright side, all the cop haters will be happy when they dial 911 and no one picks up and no police come out to help you. You're on your own. Maybe time to buy a gun.

I'm surprised by the pushback on my shock of "these instances are not commonplace", because I think that part would be the least controversial of my post. Hasn't this blown up the way it has because police brutality or authority figure brutality on black people has happened again and again, on a depressing repeat? (Or does it have to be this *exact* circumstance of police brutality?) Just some weeks ago a black jogger was shot by an ex-cop and his son. In fact, when I didn't learn of George Floyd yet and I saw police brutality trending, I was wrong about why two times going through my timeline, one by a clip of many cops insistently yelling for several minutes at a black kid who's already on the ground and put his hand high (then seeming to roughhandling his grandma after), another by a news of cop throwing a black woman out of an apartment's balcony to her death in Toronto.

And I'm irritated that it needs a "perfect" victim and circumstances for all sides to agree that this instance is totally wrong, because past ones have things like "toy gun" "not totally complying", etc. to justify as "too bad, but the [victims] should have..." (even the jogger one has some going all "why didn't he just run away?" when the truck chased him down the clip clearly showed him trying to go around it), when the cumulative effects of all of them, and how the cops handle white people in similar situations, should indicate a clear-cut deep-rooted institutional problem, and very "commonplace". Even during protest, just two instances already posted in this thread, in singling out black reporter to arrest and singling out the car with black people -- you can even see the girl in next car waving enthusiastically and unknowingly to camera when all that was happening behind her -- to use excessive force.

[Peng]

Also, one of the top apples is this way:

[bac0n]

Yeah, that man right there is going to be the chief obstacle standing in the way of any meaningful reform in the MPD.

[Dukefrukem]

You can tell this cop has a complex. What is he 5' 5''?

[Peng]

Yeah, that man right there is going to be the chief obstacle standing in the way of any meaningful reform in the MPD.

I just saw his letter to MPD union members from the tweet of the former Minneapolis PD chief. Based on his Trump rally speech I'm not too surprised about what he thinks the current police force on/and the protest, but his words on George Floyd and still protecting those four police officers, including the murderer, are just something else ("I've worked with the four defense attorneys that are representing each of our four terminated individuals under criminal investigation, in addition with our labor attorneys to fight for their jobs. They were terminated without due process.").

[Dukefrukem]

"Terrorist movement"??? Wow.

[Wryan]

lol somebody said shouldn't the U.S. gov't be arming Antifa now they they are a "terrorist group"?