Maybe no one? But it sure seems like to me disarming the police is about as much of a fantasy as abolishing them. So when I see a bunch of people scolding other posters about their lack of pragmatism, to me that seems like some just want to make reforms within our current police construct. Which has been tried already and been a giant failure.
Get the cops out of schools and stop making every damn park ranger and the like a sworn officer. It didn’t use to be like that.
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I think you’ve egregiously misinterpreted my post.
His post was like a left-wing version of “It’s not my fault you’re ignorant because you won’t watch the YouTubz.”
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Of course that’s your contention. You’re a first year grad student. You just got finished reading some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison probably, you’re gonna be convinced of that until next month when you get to James Lemon, then you’re gonna be talking about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That’s gonna last until next year, you’re gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin’ about, you know, the Pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization. Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth. You got that from Vickers, Work in Essex County, Page 98, right? Yeah I read that too.
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Some updates in Philly:
Every night up until last night I had been hearing explosions from like 6pm to 6am every day, at least every 10-15 minutes, usually a few at a time. They all sounded like they were coming from the same areas. Police say there have been a bunch of ATM bombings, but there is very little evidence of more than a handful of them. Lots of chatter about LRADs being deployed to scare people into staying inside and/or drum up support for military-style crackdowns on protesters. Apparently we also use this tactic in military combat to sleep deprive the enemy. If that’s their goal, they’re doing a bang up job of it as far as my sleep is concerned.
My opinion at this point is that it’s a combination. I’ve easily heard 50-100 blasts in my surrounding area the last several days, and not seen any social media chatter about damage nearby. No visible smoke or fire. Hard to buy there are that many real explosions.
Another day of big protests in Philly, but there appears to be less coverage of them as they stay peaceful, and the news is starting to give other stories (like re-opening into the yellow phase from COVID-19) more time.
Philly police are photographing protesters and asking the media to turn over photos of protesters.
There have been a couple Cessnas flying circles around the city this week, so I assume they are DEA or US Marshalls with DRT boxes.
More big protests planned the next few days.
I keep teetering back and forth. I was going to go to one yesterday afternoon nearby, it was going to be smaller than the big ones, thus making me feel a little safer with my COVID-19 risks. The weather made me back off (we had a derecho early afternoon and a tornado warning early evening). I was in on the big one Saturday, now I’m starting to wuss out because of COVID-19, as I read that thread a bit last night and the stuff about it being a vascular disease adds more risk for me.
I’m very concerned this is going to peter out with less news coverage. The combination of not knocking heads and not covering it as much in the news is probably going to make it slowly drift away. That makes me want to go and do my part, but we’ll see. I’ve done my part in a few other ways, too, it’s just really torturing me mentally to not be out there showing solidarity and support.
I don’t think I’ve ever waffled over a decision like this before. This is like at the core of my values and very important to me, but you all know how careful I’ve been with the pandemic. I haven’t been able to resolve that conflict. I’ll have to make a decision by tomorrow night, so I think how things are handled all over but especially in DC and here in Philly will weigh heavily.
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I’d say this is a “you” problem.
SOMEONE SHOULD CALL THE…umm…nevermind.
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I’m not the smartest person in the world, I studied math, not sociology. I am ignorant of many things. I’m attempting to be less ignorant of a topic, in which I earnestly read the material presented to me, and get called an ignorant moron.
I think a few people here need to read “how to win friends and influence people.” I can’t imagine the arrogance involved in some of the responses here. It’s quite staggering.
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Wait, what does repeal the 2nd amendment mean?
“We need ideas, we need an explanation of what you mean.”
-OK here’s literally an entire book.
“Can’t you encapsulate it, like can’t you boil it down to some slogans or something?”
-OK here’s some brief outlines of alternative scenarios.
So idk, I mean I’m not sure anything’s ever going to be good enough.
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I’m not inherently opposed to abolishing police as it currently exists in our country, but damn, have some self awareness, that’s horrible branding that’s going to unnecessarily freak out a lot of people who you need. Even though there are tons of people even very conservative people who think the murder of George Floyd was terrible, most people aren’t at a place where they see the police as a fundamentally rotten/evil institution, and they are not ready for “let’s abolish it!” Say you want to transform or modernize criminal justice of something that sounds like progress and optimistic.
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I think you missed the punchline
Cuse, I share your concerns about the protest losing steam as MSM is starting to report other stories. I have to say, I’ve admired and appreciated what you have accomplished already, given your heightened COVID risk. I understand that you are experiencing a weighty decision, but I hope you don’t beat yourself up about it. The intel and reports you’ve provided along the way all counts. We do what we are able and at the end of the day, I think we have to be ok with that.
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Again:
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Also, there’s supposedly an armed group of white supremacists at a mall a few miles away in Northeast Philadelphia. Disgusting.
Brilliant 
Absolutely anything
I would never say “abolish the police” 2 my lame stream Democrat mother. I think you guys should be able to handle it though, and some of you have while others have never gotten past " how you going to pay for it?"
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