I hate pop country and I like this song. Good for them on the name change.
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What if I’m poor?
A Black friend of mine posted this on FB with the caveat that it’s not perfect, but is also not what she expected. It’s a post from her town’s PD in far suburban IL. She posted it bc she was surprised and I’m posting it here because I’m surprised too. I’m a super negative guy and I know actions speak louder than words, but hopefully this means some people in power are starting to understand.
"The notion that “all lives matter” in our country should be obvious to all. But those who would use this phrase as a rebuke or in opposition to the basic tenets of the Black Lives Matter movement in our country miss the point entirely; whether through a misunderstanding or as a conscious refusal to receive the message at all. The message is not that Black Lives Matter more than other lives. The message that has been reiterated day after day in our nation over the past several weeks (and years) is that Black Lives Matter, too. That Black Lives Matter, also. That Black Lives Matter, as much as. That Black Lives Matter, equally. For too many people of color in our country, that has simply not been their experience. This fact should be jarring to us all. It is something that must be acknowledged. It is something that we should all be working to eradicate, no matter how difficult the task. And this work should continue no matter how long the task takes.
DEFUNDING or DISBANDING THE POLICE INITIATIVES: This topic is of growing interest in the country right now. Each community that funds police resources will ultimately have to address this issue individually. While we believe that law enforcement plays a vital role of protection and safety of our society, we do believe that the roles our officers play in society have in many ways, grown far beyond the parameters that anyone had ever expected of us. Decades of defunding social service agencies and a significant lack of access to medical and mental health care systems for all have forced the uniformed peace officer into difficult roles that social workers, medical and mental health professionals are much better suited and trained to deal with.
In our society, the police still get called when people don’t know who else to ask for help. Absent a robust social services network (which has not existed adequately in at least the past 20 years), law enforcement officials have been forced to try filling these gaps as best we can, (usually without any additional funding sources). So, the modern police officer now carries tools and is trained in skill sets to prepare them for responsibilities that an officer of the 1980’s or 1990’s even would never have dreamed of fulfilling. In addition to our traditional law enforcement roles, our officers must now be trained to accurately diagnose the symptoms of mental and stress-related crisis; to know the signs of a potential overdose and administer lifesaving medication to the victim when seconds mean the difference between life or death; to deliver electric shock to a heart attack victim because there is not enough time to wait for an ambulance to arrive; to make sure a homeless person doesn’t freeze to death in the middle of a winter night because a) there is nowhere else for them to go or b) their mental health and/or substance abuse issues inhibit them from accepting the help we can provide for them.
We in the law enforcement community do fully support a nationwide effort to provide adequate funding to these important societal support networks so we can more acutely focus on our traditional role of providing high quality law enforcement services to our communities."
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Listening to Trumpkins about what is happening in Seattle is entertaining as hell. Apparently there is an armed mob patrolling the perimeter of CHAZ, and they aren’t letting white people in. Also murders and rapes happening in the middle of the street and nobody gives a fuck. I saw a bunch of people lounging about on the ball field and some hippy looking folks dancing in the street. Apparently the timelines are melding in Seattle and we’ve got some “Fringe” shit going on.
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I agree about the one cop making a deal, I disagree with the rest. I think Chauvin will be convicted of something, but possibly a lesser charge. The other two will face minimal repercussions imo.
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Then you’re not going to Starbucks.
He already responded, and I think it’s pretty pointless to continue the discussion. Serves me right for trying to look back fondly at my youth:
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Quick France update. After protests and generally increased visibility of France’s own racist police problems, the interior minster gave a speech where he rejected (as all French politicians always must) that any kind of systematic racism exists. However he did announce that actual racist police will be prosecuted. These certainly exist as just the previous day had seen two exposés of really racist banter between cops on whatsapp or social media. Along with that he also said that France would outlaw the chokehold (amusingly called “l’étranglement” here, or, to you or me, “strangulation”.)
Result? Well, you wouldn’t expect the police to take that sort of awful, unwarranted abuse lying down, would you?
(The Police union called for a demonstration on the Champs-Elysées after Castaner’s speech about racism in the police and methods of arrest.)
https://twitter.com/CharlesBaudry/status/1271355639013486592
But do I have to take responsibility for my actions?
They always take it personally. I don’t know what the psychology that underlies this is, but I had an unfortunate discussion with my boss where I said absolutely nothing about what was going on but he really wanted to talk about it. He is personally offended by the idea of privilege because according to him he’s self-made. The dude is an extremely hard worker and he actually thinks that’s what is under attack. It’s just bizarre.
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A friend from high school was making some bootstrap argument the other day I saw on Facebook. This guy is 40 years old and still has his mom paying for home and car stereo equipment. The last time I hung out with him a few years ago he was jobless and his mom was paying his rent. Just oblivious.
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Dude is also active military
I actually almost entirely agree with this.
SEE THE HARLM RENAISSANCE WAS A THING, get owned. just amazing
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But you understand if he didn’t have his mom he would surely pull himself up by his bootstraps.
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It’s unfortunate he thinks you need to know more than he was a white male.
That has been a huge privilege at every point in time in the history of this country. No amount of personal struggle makes up for that.
They should have gave civilians tear gas and rubber bullets to put down the police rioting.
Protect and Serve! Chicago’s “finest” break into a Congressman’s office, nap, and eat his food while looters steal from nearby stores. Meanwhile, I’m sure these assholes were logging lots of overtime that week.
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Police are currently the closest thing we have left to the Italian Mafia in the country.
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