WTF is wrong with these people:
A St. Louis County police officer who pushed CNN’s Don Lemon, a black television host, during live coverage of protests this week in Ferguson, Mo., has been suspended from duty after video of an hour-long racial rant against minority groups, women, liberals and politicians emerged online.
Officer Dan Page spewed the vile rhetoric during an Oath Keepers of St. Louis/St. Charles meeting in April, just months before he was tasked with keeping order among a crowd of majority black protesters in Ferguson.
Page’s first spin on live TV went horribly wrong: “Move out of the way, sir. Move!” he can be heard screaming as Lemon tries to do a live stand-up amid the crowd in broad daylight on Monday afternoon, footage from Mediaite shows.
“We’re on national television, so imagine what they’re doing to people when you don’t see it on national television, people who don’t have a voice like we do,” Lemon says as he’s pushed around.
The bizarre rant went viral after Page was on the frontlines of the Ferguson, Mo., protests in his duties as a St. Louis County police officer. thenewsurvivalist via Youtube The bizarre rant went viral after Page was on the frontlines of the Ferguson, Mo., protests in his duties as a St. Louis County police officer.And on Friday, Page was relieved of his duties in response to his vile comments raging against hate-crime legislation, the “four sodomites on the Supreme Court,” women and Muslims.
And then there is this guy:
An officer with the Glendale Police Department was suspended following a series of inappropriate Facebook posts, police said in a news release Friday.
The officer, Matthew Pappert, allegedly made several posts criticizing Ferguson protesters and rioters.
In one post, Pappert allegedly writes, “These protesters should be put down like a rabid dog the first night.” There are reportedly five inappropriate posts.
Police said “the matter is being taken very seriously and a thorough internal investigation will be conducted to determine why the posts were made.”
Then there is this guy who was also suspended:
If you’ve followed Ferguson coverage at all this week, you’re likely aware of video showing an officer pointing his rifle directly at unarmed protestors while threatening “I will fucking kill you!” When reporters and protestors demanded he give his name and badge number, he responded with an ever-so-subtle “Go fuck yourself!”
The Missouri branch of the American Civil Liberties Union was rightfully incensed by such pitifully poor cop work that they submitted a letter to Missouri Highway Patrol demanding that Officer Go Fuck Yourself be removed from duty in Ferguson…
And that doesn’t even cover all the other police misdeeds caught on tape- the arrest of Reilly and Lowery, the cop calling protesters animals, the shitheads who gassed the Al Jazeera crew and then screwed with their cameras. The whole damned department seems rotten to the core.
It’s almost like the blah people are telling the truth about the abuse they receive every day. Clearly these are people who should be handling military weapons.
Alison
And these are the assholes who get cover from people who are like OMG NOT ALL COPS. No, not all of them, but a fucking lot of them, and plenty who stand up for shitlords like these ones, which IMO makes them no better.
There are too many (white) people who think these guys are the teeny tiny exception, the bad apple in an orchard. Nope, sorry, but I’m pretty fucking sure it’s the other way around.
Mandalay
A microcosm of the police all over America I suspect. It’s just that the magnifying glass is on these fuckers at the moment.
Mandalay
.
mike in dc
Three barriers for white folks to overcome on the way to a clearer perspective:
1. A predisposition to believe the police and think them to be people of inherently good moral character and honesty
2. A predisposition, conscious or otherwise, to be suspicious of [people not exactly like themselves] and to withhold the benefit of the doubt–the cop gets the benefit, the Other gets the doubt
3. A fear of what other white folks might think of them if they openly voice doubts about the police or support for [people not exactly like themselves]
Clearly, not all white folks have to go through this process, and a lot of white folks already have. But I think this is essentially what it takes. Good thing to keep in mind when thinking about the grand jury, the eventual criminal juries, and the white voters in St. Louis and Ferguson.
Comrade Dread
Some people, presumably with small packages, are attracted to a profession that gives them power to bully others, force them to “respect mah authoritah!” and threaten them with their semi-automatic substitutes.
In saner days, the sheriff wouldn’t hire them or would give them a six-shooter with one bullet that they had to keep in their front pocket.
different-church-lady
There’s no such thing as a silver lining to a kid dying the way Michael Brown did.
But if there were, this would be it: the cockroaches are coming out of hiding.
Kind of an echo of how the far right decided to stop hiding their racist freak flags when Obama rocked their world.
With any grace, the sounds were hearing are the death shrieks of a certain kind of ignorance.
Violet
Wasn’t there something this week about requiring Ferguson police officers to wear cameras? I’d much rather see that kind of equipment used in police departments than the military hardware they’ve got.
raven
@Violet: How’s the bite?
maryQ
Back in the spring of 2008, I was out taking a walk and stopped to chat with my neighbors. They were recent empty-nesters, about 15 years older than me (late 50’s) but also pretty liberal, over educated, worldly, affluent, etc. the Dem primary was still in full swing, and about to hit our state (I lived in Houston at the time) and it wasn’t clear yet whether it would be Hilary or Obama. I told them I was voting for Obama. The woman agreed with me, but the guy said he was going to vote for Hilary. He liked Obama, and was more inclined to agree with his positions, but, he explained, he did not think the country was ready for a black president. I said “you’ll see, we are, it will be fine”, or something, thinking what he meant was that the country was not ready to _elect_ a black president. I was confident that Obama would be a two term President.
It turns out, we were both right. As I predicted, the country was ready to elect a black president for two terms. As he predicted, the country was not ready to be governed by a black president for one minute.
From birthers to death panels to the libertarian moment to Stand Your Ground to this sh!t, a violent and dangerous segment has been in a collective freak out since November 2008. And it could end us all very soon.
different-church-lady
I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to get their heads wrapped around the following non-mutually-exclusive items:
a) Some cops are racist
b) Some cops are not
c) In general, police forces have a larger problem with tolerance of racism than other segments of society.
d) Not all police forces have this problem to the same degree.
If one is interested understanding or solving the problem, one will not munge all these things up into one categorical worldview.
If one is interested in other things — things like, say, making displays of cynicism on the internet — one will simply disregard the bits of above that might interfere with that display.
debbie
@Violet:
They’ve just started a similar program in Cincinnati, where there have been similar kinds of confrontations.
Elmo
Isolated incidents!
Taken out of context!
Edited video!
One or two bad apples!
And my personal favorite,
“Dangerous job! You don’t understand!”
There. Have I about covered the copologist list of excuses?
Once upon a time I wanted to be a District Attorney. I considered the FBI Academy after law school. I have dear friends who were cops. And at this point, the reservoir of goodwill is full of dust and bleached bones.
different-church-lady
@maryQ:
It’s almost as if “the country” were made up of individuals who cannot agree with each other.
raven
@maryQ:
Now you can say that I’ve grown bitter, but of this you may be sure:
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And there’s a mighty judgment coming
But I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the Tower of Song
L Cohen
SatanicPanic
@maryQ: I agree, but Obama’s still at 44% approval rating, which isn’t all that crazy for a second term prez so it’s just the assholes that are freaking out.
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
I don’t think so. A number of the under 30 crowd at work do think like this. And they are not changing their minds. They may not be close to rabid on the racist scale but they sure are on the wrong side of the curve. And they get their up to the minute “news” off their smartphones to keep them from thinking there might just be another angle to all the “discussion” about race and cops. This is going to take a long time. Even with whites in the minority their minds won’t change, they may in fact move even farther to the right on the racist score card. This is going to take a long time to even get close to better. I don’t expect it in my lifetime. Love to be surprised.
Mr Stagger Lee
Oathkeepers advocate killing citizens who use their democratically right to vote positions the Oathkeepers advocate,and you saw the actions of some of these officers to buttress their point. Hell why should I fear ISIS doing nasty sh*t when these clowns are clowns are right here and wearing badges?
Violet
@raven: Sore. Just finished icing it. Went down earlier this evening to talk to the neighbor. He wasn’t there so we left a note. Figure they’re out for the evening. I want to get the vet’s contact info so I can confirm the dog has his shots.
I talked to my friend who was with me again to get her impression of the guy again, showed the bite to friends and family and based on all their opinions–one person who was there with me and got a read on the guy plus people who actually can see the bite–we decided to hold off on going to the doctor. I’m scratched but it never bled and there’s no puncture wound. The skin is hardly broken. I’ve looked up rabies in dogs in my area and there have been no cases in the last four or five months (it’s reported by month and I quit looking further back than that).
So it’s sore and swollen. I’ve taken ibuprofen again and iced it. I’ll ice it again before bed.
How’s the Moh’s surgery site? Pain tolerable?
Carolinus
You know who else is a fan of the Oath Keepers?
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/statuses/377787818619064320
raven
@Violet: Sounds good.
I’m cool, I took a pain pill at 7, figured if they gave them to me why not. I’m gonna hang on the couch tonight so’s not to disturb the princess. The big dog like that!
TaMara (BHF)
@different-church-lady: I think what bothers me most (you know, besides unarmed children being murdered by people who should not be cops/have guns) is that the good cops out there are not stepping up and saying we don’t condone this. Just the opposite.
I was following a police department on FB – the chief was clearly Republican, but he was funny and not insane. He made it clear his officers were not allowed to shoot dogs and community outreach was important. Then when all this happened, he wrote this long piece on how the officer was probably justified and ‘we’ just didn’t know what it’s like out on the streets. I quit reading his stuff after that, it was all just too depressing. Trying to justify shooting an unarmed young man for walking down the street.
Culture of Truth
I don’t know if the ACLU was “incensed,” so much as “observant,” but in an any case it’s all the fault of those troublemaking YouTubers.
Belafon
I had a big discussion with my parents at dinner over the events in Ferguson and their interpretation of it. Their world view is definitely poor southern white: “Why do they have to do all that protesting a looting?” I tried to discuss with them the difference between the protesters and looters – the RCP guys, the looters who were mainly from out of town – and how not to lose focus on the real issue.
They are the “my black friends are good people” racists. My mom has worked at a jail, and so her response has been that the “witnesses” could have gotten together to make their stories the same.
They kept bringing up 1968 as well. They do have the aura of “why won’t they just go back and not stir things up?” about them, and while I kept telling them that all the citizens of Ferguson would have gotten if they didn’t keep the protests up would have been nothing would have happened to the cop, there was just too much for me to overcome in one night, and probably at all. All the evidence I tried to bring up about how blacks are overly targeted didn’t really dent much.
I think the media’s mediocre reporting on Ferguson has contributed to this. They have not seen the videos we have, nor have heard about the other witnesses.
The one thing we could agree on is why do all of the police forces have so much armor.
Violet
@raven: If my dad’s experience with Mohs is any kind of guide, then do what the doctor tells you to do. If it’s icing, then ice. If it’s avoiding water, do that. Take the pain pills. You don’t want to get in a pain cycle–harder to get out of than keeping the pain managed to begin with. Rest. If the sofa is comfortable then that’s a good idea. If you’d be more comfortable in bed, then see if your wife could help you out by sleeping in a guest room or on the sofa. You need to do whatever is going to allow you to rest the best. Sleep is essential to recovery. This was a big issue for my dad and we went through various medications to get him what he needed so he could sleep.
Heliopause
As I mentioned in another comment, what Officer Gofuckyourself did was Aggravated Assault in many jurisdictions. Suspending him was doing him a big favor.
Belafon
@maryQ:
After all I just wrote, I still believe the answer to your statement is only if we let them win.
raven
@Violet: I’m pretty much following orders. One or the other of us ends up on the couch a couple of time a week so it’s no biggie. The only thing I probably won’t do it try to sleep on my back with 2 pillows. They recommended that but if sleep is important then on my side will be my best bet. The surgery was on the correct side for me to be able to do that so that’s good.
Violet
@Belafon:
I’ve heard the same thing from lots of people. It’s a start. We may not be winning on all fronts but winning on some fronts is better than none. De-militarizing the police is important. It’s not the whole story or even the main or biggest story. But it’s part of the story. Take the win where you get it.
fleeting expletive
OT, but it is pretty amazing that cable station FFX is running a 12 day marathon of all of the Simpsons episodes, all 552 of them. Also BBC a full marathon of Doctor Who. I may have to pull an all nighter here. They are up to 1993. They hold up well, I think.
ruemara
Why? They’re bigots with a badge. Be suspicious of those who seek power, they tend to abuse it. THat’s the problem with many cops.
Violet
@raven: That’s good. My dad had trouble getting comfortable so just do whatever you need so you are comfortable and can sleep. The two pillows is probably to keep your head elevated to keep the swelling down. Whatever you need to do so long as you do that is okay. When my dad was able to keep his feet elevated, his foot didn’t swell as much and healed faster.
muddy
@raven: The 2 pillows is probably about elevation as much as position. You might get a lot of swelling if your head is down. I had to sleep partially sitting up after an ear procedure and I’m usually a side sleeper. I got set up with pillows behind me, and then used a pillow under each arm on the sides. I was surprised I could sleep like that so readily, I guess it felt like a hammock or something.
Bob In Portland
So let’s go to Hayden Lake, Utah and get Mark Fuhrman’s take on all this.
goblue72
@Alison: Preach it. And yes.
Belafon
@fleeting expletive: Fox did spend $250M to get the rights for this. Groening really never has to work again.
raven
@muddy: Right, the pillows are for elevation. I said RICE to the nurse after she gave me the instructions and she had a puzzled look.
“Swelling and slight bruising are common following Mohs surgery. A “black eye” is common with surgery around the eye and on the forehead. These symptoms usually subside within 5 to 7 days after surgery and may be reduced by sleeping with your head slightly elevated and using an ice pack for short periods of time during the first 24 hours.”
goblue72
@TaMara (BHF): The Thin Blue Line mentality has just got to go. Far far far far far too many cops knee-jerk response is to protect, defend and cover up for far, far, far, far, far too many corrupt, racist, or incompetent cops.
Ruckus
@Violet:
The weapons are an important point but the military thinking, everyone is an enemy until they conform or die, that has to go. But this is not a new idea for cops, this has been the attitude for my entire life. I didn’t used to think it was but a very liberal friend was a CHP for 30 yrs and tells me this attitude is normal, that most cops he knows think like this, it is the rare one who doesn’t and it’s been like this since at least when he signed on over 40 yrs ago. And if the “good” cops say anything, they are the ones who lose, their jobs, good shifts, good patrol areas, backup when they most need it, their pensions.
Mr Stagger Lee
From NewsSuxx,
I would love to get some “Arabic” newspaper maybe their sports section, or other newspapers written in another alphabet like Georgian, Urdu or Thai, leave them at bus statins rest stops or the local church and mindf*ck the local yokels.
Ruckus
@goblue72:
That thin blue line is pretty damn fat if you ask me.
Violet
@Ruckus: The thinking is the problem. But the thinking combined with the military hardware is truly dangerous. Gun nuts will still be crazy but if we take away their guns at least they won’t be able to gun down innocent people. Same with cops.
But yeah, the mindset needs to change too. I wonder if the wearable cameras that are being proposed, and implemented in that one area in California, might help solve that problem.
srv
IT’S ALL A LIBERAL PLOT! DAN PAGE IS A LIBERAL PSYOP!
YOU DAMN LIBS!
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/08/the-smoking-gun-proving-ferguson-was-staged-share-3015746.html
Belafon
@Mr Stagger Lee: Write out a paper in shorthand.
goblue72
@different-church-lady: Fixed –
goblue72
@Ruckus: Its almost like Serpico was based on a true story.
Stella B.
@Violet: unless you live on the Mexican border, you don’t have to worry about rabies. The very rare cases in the US are mostly from bat bites. The other dog vaccines are for dog-to-dog diseases. Wounds that are properly cared for by scrubbing with soap and water rarely even become infected, unlike cat bites. That being said, your neighbor needs to get the dog under control, because biting is unacceptable.
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/vet/rabiesmanual/introduction.htm
different-church-lady
@goblue72: Glad to see you backing down from your initial claims over the past few days.
TaMara (BHF)
@raven: I hope you are doing ok and back to fishing real soon.
srv
And now they’re blowing up SpaceX rockets in Texas!
Liberty60
And I was wondering where the Oath Keepers were going to land in all this.
God I hate being right all the time. Just as I suspected, the people who froth most rabidly about carrying guns to thrwart a police state are the very first ones rushing to defend it.
fleeting expletive
@Belafon: They bought a very large boost in their exposure, and possibly ratings, for their money. I doubt Groening was hurting for money before, either.
Violet
@Stella B.: The dog was behind a wrought iron fence. As I was walking along outside the fence he lunged, was able to get his muzzle through the fence and bit me on my leg. I talked to my across the street neighbor this evening and she knows that dog well. When she’s walking her dog they cross to the other side of the street because that dog lunges so hard at the fence the entire thing shudders. Her dog jumps every time.
The dog is a blue heeler. I know they’re sheep dogs but I thought they were herders not attack dogs. This dog is kind of insane–it’s stealthy and you don’t hear it coming at all until loud barking and growling is right next to you as you walk by on the sidewalk. I’ve jumped more than once. It’s really scary. I’d hate to think what would happen if a kid in a stroller stuck his hand out at the wrong time. You should see the bruising on my calf.
hildebrand
@Mr Stagger Lee: I call bullshit – I can’t get the NY Times or even the Houston Chronicle down here on the border.
hildebrand
Hell, even USAToday is a dodgy proposition.
pseudonymous in nc
These are your Oathkeepers, your Constitutional Sheriff Movement people, your True Patriots.
So, basically, fascists.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Cops, without exception, should be required to actively participate in twelve step programs.
/RecoveringDrunk
Elmo
@Violet:
Damn. That is one frustrated and unhappy dog.
Sorry for the misplaced sympathy – I’ve been bitten many times, and I know it’s scary and hurts like hell – but that poor damn dog didn’t ask to be left alone to defend its territory with no guidance, and nothing else to do but watch un-herded people go by that it can’t control.
An ACD (Australian Cattle Dog) is not an attack dog. But it is a tough, determined, intelligent animal, easily bored, easily frustrated, and left to its own devices can be destructive and aggressive. It’s a 25-30 pound dog that is used to herd *cattle*. They tend to express frustration with their teeth.
Really sorry you have to deal with that.
Ruckus
@Violet:
There is a house I walk by on my way to the store that has a vicious dog who does the same thing, also with a wrought iron fence. I know he’s there, I know he’s going to do this and sometimes I still jump. I have no idea why people think it’s OK to have a vicious dog who’d just love to take a huge chomp on anyone/anything passing by.
Suzanne
@raven: How you feelin’?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
These dog owners are putting their dogs in a bad position. Clearly they are both understimulated and unhappy. By “understimulated” I mean the dogs should have something to engage with (toys, a chew stick/rope, etc), or be kept inside with toys.
It’s unkind and unfair o the dogs to just pitch them into a fenced yard watching passersby. Especially the cattle dog – working dogs need a job and the herding dogs tend to be really smart and stealthy.
Sorry you got bit Violet, and sorry you get charged Elmo. these dogs are not inherently vicious or bad; they are mistreated. Which helps you not at all, I recognize.
Mike in NC
Asshole cops. But are there any other kind?
Violet
@Elmo:
The dog wasn’t alone. There are two dogs. And the owner was still home. The dogs were in the yard and the owner was in the house getting ready to go to work. I don’t know if the dog stays inside or outside when the owner isn’t home. I’ve only walked by the morning when the owner could still be there before work.
@Ruckus:
That sounds exactly like this dog. I never remember it’s there because it’s so stealthy. It’s not near the fence and barking. It’s somewhere being quiet until it lunges at the fence, the entire fence shudders and the dog is barking its head off, growling and snapping. I jump every single time.
It’s dangerous to have a dog that can bite people through the fence. The owners need to fix the fence so the dog can’t reach people through it. There are a lot of kids in the neighborhood and this dog could really hurt one of them. They also need to train the dog properly or give the dog a job so it can exercise and feel useful, which is what this breed needs.
Waspuppet
That’s biased editorializing, not reporting! You don’t know what they’re doing when nobody’s looking! Hell, you didn’t even get a quote from a cop or someone who supports them! You call this journalism?!?
– Chuck Todd
– David Gregory
– et al
Suffern ACE
Imagine what we would find if we started to scratch below the surface. This is just the scum.
geg6
And once again, I have to learn the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. I fucking give up.
Thanks for the forum to vent and back to regular programming.
Ruckus
@Violet:
I’ve learned the clues. If there is no pickup truck in the driveway then the dog is inside. That helps. But otherwise yes, he is laying down until he can see you through the fence, then he lunges at you in a very aggressive manner, barking for all he’s worth. I give him room but there is about 4-5 feet between the curb and the fence so you don’t have to walk too close. The neighbors don’t seem to appreciate either the dog or it’s owner. The yard looks like a junk yard. I know this is a relatively poor neighborhood but most of the people at least try to maintain some sense of pride/ownership. Would it be bad of me to mention the race of the owner? Going to anyway, he’s one of the few whites in the area. Make of that what you want.
Suffern ACE
We have to worry about PC thought police more than oath keepers on police forces and in the military.
Ruckus
@Suffern ACE:
Can’t we do both?
Suffern ACE
I’ve been so busy the past few days I haven’t been keeping up around here. Are we freaking out about our growing entanglement with ISIS?
am
Does anyone have a transcript of this trainwreck? I could watch it for more than a couple of minutes.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): By Elmo, I mean Ruckus. If I had a brain I’d be dangerous.
Ruckus
@Violet:
Thing is cops have always been armed. Yes they are much more so now but the problem is not the weapon, it is the will/desire/need to use them. The problem is not the automatic weapons, it is the idea that it’s OK to point them at anyone, and to shoot if not obeyed. That’s not really new but the quickness with which thing escalate to that point is.
Now having said all that I’d still like to see much fewer weapons/tanks/riot dispersal gear. That means what used to be known as community policing, not COPS against every one else in the universe. The LAPD has removed “To Protect and Serve” from it’s new cars. So at least they aren’t lying directly to us anymore.
am
@am:
*could not* watch it for more than a couple of minutes. hopefully that was obvious.
Ruckus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
No worries.
I keep wondering if the dog gets loose and of course if it does I will get bitten (OK chewed the fuck up!) If I live through it would I want to sue them for the house? From the looks of it the only recourse would be to bulldoze it to bare ground and start over and the property just isn’t worth it.
A thought for Violet. I believe that here if a dog bites someone, the dog gets impounded for some period of time and possibly gets put down if it is aggressive. And the owner can be held responsible for any damage for not controlling the animal, including the impounding and all police activity. It is the only way to combat vicious biting dogs.
OGLiberal
I grew up in a town that was 90 percent white and 90 percent blue collar. Smaller than Ferguson by about half but probably more dense. My experience there as a middle class kid taught me to, as a rule, not trust cops. I never really got in trouble myself but saw abuse of power. The long-time chief ran the town. His candidates often won the seats on borough council. He, himself, served several terms on the board of ed, while chief, a crazy conflict of interest but apparently legal. The one time the town fought back and elected a con-chief council majority, the force essentially went on an unofficial strike, anti-chief council members were targeted for minor traffic violations, and the small anti-chief faction on the force was ostracized and some were fired for BS reasons. During his tenure the force bought all kinds of crap they didn’t need. He retired a few years back and months later was appointed borough manager…the most powerful – and unelected – position in my hometown’s system of government.
If shit like this can happen in my almost totally white hometown, I can only imagine what it’s like in places like Ferguson..in small towns, cops have way too much power and influence. And when those cops in power are in power over a minority majority, well…
OGLiberal
@OGLiberal: And, note, this was/is in the liberal Northeast, in a super Democratic majority town…that suddenly voted for the GOP candidate in 2008 and 2012…I wonder why?
Fred
Early on in the aftermath of the murder of Mike Brown a story was published (I think I saw it here) of the white police sergeant in Ferguson who wrote letters reporting a lieutenant who was telling his squad to engage in racial profiling with statements like, ‘Let’s have a black day today’. When the charges were investigated the lieutenant was fired but the sergeant was harassed out of his job. And the harassment came from up the chain of command.
I just flashed on the movie “Fritz the Cat”. The pig cops in the film look so much like many of the cops we’ve seen in footage of Ferguson. Portly, bald and waving their guns around like frightened fools. “At night all you can see is their eyes and their teeth.” In that animated film from the early seventies, when the ghetto rose up against the injustice (I think a pig shot somebody) the police ended up calling in air strikes. Not so far from the reality in Ferguson. Four decades and nothing’s changed.
Villago Delenda Est
So says a rabid dog who probably should be put down.
Seanly
One of my paternal uncles interviewed for a job with the DC police & after being offered the job, said he wouldn’t want to work in a town that full of n*ggers. This was probably in the late 60’s, maybe early 70’s. The family at the time was blue collar Irish/Italians from Providence…
My Dad had told me this story as a warning that my uncle’s idiot views might catch up to me (Dad’s not racist just paranoid). However, now that I think on it more, I wonder if this isn’t a case of sour grapes: Uncle Racist comes back from job interview in DC & is asked how it went. Makes a big display of having defiantly turned it down when in reality he wasn’t offered the position.
It's Not The Fall, It's The Landing
I think St. Louis County PD should put this guy in charge of media relations.
Q: “How does the department respond to the allegations that many of your officers are violent, racist authoritarians?”
A: “Shut up, nigger, or I’ll kill you.”
Seanly
Oh & regarding the idiot in the video in the post – that guy is Grade A stupid. If that shit was weaponized we could use it to stop Godzilla.
Just a couple of small points – A) while nice & all, the Declaration of Independence was just a letter to King George telling him to go fuck himself, B) all men being created equal doesn’t mean any equality stops right there, and C) I don’t have the stomach like the Wonkette staff to watch beyond the first couple of minutes.
karen
@Carolinus:
Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. I always new that GG was a racist, libertarian monster who cares more about the bombing in the Middle East than he cares about hungry and sick children here.
Goblue72
@different-church-lady: Cops are mostly pigs and some should be put down in the interest of justice.
I’ll take one pig for every 10 unarmed citizens shot by a pig.
Petorado
You could tell police in the broader St. Louis area didn’t get it when they responded to a citizenry enraged by police shooting an unarmed person with extreme prejudice (using that term in all senses of the word) by showing up with more guns, more cops, more bullets, tanks, and body armor and said after shooting the one unarmed black person that they would be very willing to shoot many more unarmed black people with impunity and in front of TV cameras.
This whole Ferguson exercise has been like a nationwide Milgram experiment, where white folks have been very willing to oblige authority figures to torture a suggested opponent because obviously the authorities wouldn’t be doing this if the opponent didn’t deserve it.
Calouste
@Fred:
One of the problems is that a lot of cops are so fat and unfit that the only way they can control a situation is through the use of a gun. Nothing like the European city where I grew up where the police had weekly judo classes so that had the skills and fitness to deal with situations without using a gun.
TriassicSands
“…a long train of abuses and ‘upsurtions’ …”
WTF? Upsurtions? Anyone who can’t read and pronounce the word “usurpations” probably shouldn’t be running around telling other people what the document means.
He says “Creator” means Jesus Christ, but as a well-known deist, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence clearly didn’t mean Jesus Christ when he wrote “Creator.”
This is one stupid person.
TriassicSands
@Stella B.:
“…unless you live on the Mexican border, you don’t have to worry about rabies.”
This looks like profoundly bad advice to me. After reading your comment, I did a little reading and it did not support your assertion.
First of all, a major reservoir of rabies is in bats and rabid bats have been found in all 48 contiguous states. (Bats can fly, after all.) Looking at recent cases of human rabies, only one appeared to be from Texas and the only other southern state reported was Louisiana. The majority of cases were from states that are a long way from the Mexican border, for example, Wisconsin, NY, Michigan, Indiana, and Virginia, among others.
Admittedly, human rabies cases are uncommon and that is probably a better reason to “not worry” about rabies than is whether one lives (or visits) the US-Mexican border. But to tell someone “You don’t have to worry about rabies if you don’t live near the Mexican border” is probably very poor advice.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
It’s okay, millions of Matrix pill popping white people steadfastly refuse to believe that racism has anything to do with what happened in Ferguson and across the country.
It must be … something … else.
Ronzoni Rigatoni
@Calouste: “Nothing like the European city where I grew up where the police had weekly judo classes so that had the skills and fitness to deal with situations without using a gun.”
I had access to the London Times years back when the police department ran recruitment ads describing situations with the question, “Could you handle this without a weapon?” Not sure this is the case nowadays, but back then, bobbies were unarmed.
rikyrah
Violet,
Get better.
BruceFromOhio
No shit, Sherlocke.
…. and how many Ferguson’s d’ya think there are in the US, Land of the Fee, Home of the Brave?
Woodrowfan
@BruceFromOhio:
gotta be at least a half dozen or more. (and yes, that was bitter sarcasm)
lou
This is really sticking in my craw. It looks as though the Ferguson cops totally smeared Michael Brown. Not that it should matter in the shooting. But every television commentator who called him a thug ought to be sued for libel by his family.
kindness
re: saying inappropriate things in areas one should know better.
I know I’m an old now. When I was a kid, I was surrounded by middle/right NE Republicans and they knew to hush anyone spouting bigotry or crank John Birch Society bile in polite company. Mind you they (and I now even) don’t begrudge people to hold offensive & vile views. I was just raised not to repeat those things in public.
Who’se more honest? When I was a kid the hypocrisy of the adults bothered me. Now I see them (compared to today’s Serious Elders) as benevolent & kind about it. I must be getting old.
Brutusettu
The USA Today article mentioned in the video (about 16:25 in), John Paul Stevens wants remove “reasonable limits” on campaign spending and this crank in the video claims Stevens wants to get rid of the 1st to persecute Christians.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/04/21/justice-stevens-supreme-court-constitution-book/7872695/
I’m not sure if the guy cannot read but instead was given 2nd hand info about the article by someone that only skimmed through or if the guy is so crazy that he just asserts his reality onto whatever article he skimmed through.
Brutusettu
The USA Today article mentioned in the video (about 16:25 in), John Paul Stevens wants remove “reasonable limits” on campaign spending and this crank in the video claims Stevens wants to get rid of the 1st to persecute Christians.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/04/21/justice-stevens-supreme-court-constitution-book/7872695/
I’m not sure if the guy cannot read but instead was given 2nd hand info about the article by someone that only skimmed through or if the guy is so crazy that he just asserts his reality onto whatever article he skimmed through.