Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Everybody saw this coming.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Four legs? good! two legs? we’re not so sure…

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.

It might be fine, or it might be a clusterfuck.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

They are all Michael Cohen now.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

We still have time to mess this up!

I did not have this on my fuck 2020 bingo card.

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Shitty Cops

Well That’s Very Interesting

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Interesting:

Federal investigators descended Tuesday on the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, the union headed by fiery and controversial president Ed Mullins, the Daily News has learned.

While the details of the probe remained under wraps, an FBI spokeswoman confirmed to The News that the agency was “carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation” into the SBA.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment as to the purpose of the raid or its target.

I have no idea what this is about, but I hope the penalty is hard time.

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Friday Night Cop Dump Open Thread: Derek Chauvin Has Been Sentenced

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ETA from the AP, at the time of Chauvin’s conviction:(h/t Steeplejack):

… Why won’t we see multiple sentences?

Because all the charges stem from one act, carried out against one person. Multiple sentences are typically handed down in cases when there are convictions for multiple victims, or multiple crimes against one victim.

For example, if a defendant is convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman — two crimes against one victim — a judge would issue a sentence on each count, and could rule that they be served at the same time or consecutively, said former Hennepin County chief public defender Mary Moriarty.

That’s not the case here, Moriarty said. “This case involved three different theories of the same behavior toward the same person.”…

No matter what sentence Chauvin gets, in Minnesota it’s presumed that a defendant with good behavior will serve two-thirds of the penalty in prison and the rest on supervised release or parole…

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Concerning the Chauvin Verdict

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(Weighty material to start the day, so I’ll put up a respite thread as soon as I can.)

show full post on front page

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All Day, Every Day

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Ugly Truths, Good People and Hope for a Better Future

This post isn’t so much about George Floyd in particular, but the next George Floyd, and the one after that.  And the person before George Floyd, and the person before that.

Here are a couple of good reads related to police actions and hopes for police accountability.  Once encouraging, one descriptive of the world that black people live in – all day, every day.

Maryland enacts landmark police overhaul, first state to repeal police bill of rights.

Maryland enacted historic police accountability measures Saturday, becoming the first state to repeal its powerful Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights and setting new rules for when police may use force and how they are investigated and disciplined.

The Democratic-majority legislature dealt Republican Gov. Larry Hogan a sharp rebuke, overriding his vetoes of measures that raise the bar for officers to use force; give civilians a role in police discipline for the first time; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate body cameras; and open some allegations of police wrongdoing for public review.

Each bill had been hailed by criminal justice advocates as having the potential to make policing in the state fairer and more transparent. Democrats, who hold large majorities in the legislature, made enacting them a top priority after months of protests over the police-involved deaths of unarmed Black men and women.

Opinion: Being Black in America is exhausting, by Jonathan Capehart

“Tired” doesn’t just refer to the trauma of the Derek Chauvin trial or seeing replays of the video of the former Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd. Nor does “tired” just refer to seeing Daunte Wright being shot by a Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer after being pulled over because of an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror, as his mother has said. Or because of expired tags, as the police said. No, “tired” is all of that, plus whatever personal trauma we carry with us.

There is no one way to be Black in America, but there is one way we live while Black in America. No matter our gender, age or socioeconomic status, we are viewed as threats. As a result, we live under siege.

SiubhanDuinne posted this in a comment last week, in a thread I finally read a few days later.

As seen on David Gray’s Facebook:

“I need to drive my two-year-old to daycare tomorrow morning. To ensure we arrive alive, we won’t take public transit (Oscar Grant). I removed all air fresheners from the vehicle and double-checked my registration status (Daunte Wright), and ensured my license plates were visible (Lt. Caron Nazario). I will be careful to follow all traffic rules (Philando Castille), signal every turn (Sandra Bland), keep the radio volume low (Jordan Davis), and won’t stop at a fast food chain for a meal (Rayshard Brooks). I’m too afraid to pray (Rev. Clementa C. Pickney) so I just hope the car won’t break down (Corey Jones).

When my wife picks him up at the end of the day, I’ll remind her not to dance (Elijah McClain), stop to play in a park (Tamir Rice), patronize the local convenience store for snacks (Trayvon Martin), or walk around the neighborhood (Mike Brown). Once they are home, we won’t stand in our backyard (Stephon Clark), eat ice cream on the couch (Botham Jean), or play any video games (Atatiana Jefferson).

After my wife and I tuck him into bed around 7:30pm, neither of us will leave the house to go to Walmart (John Crawford) or to the gym (Tshyrand Oates) or on a jog (Ahmaud Arbery). We won’t even walk to see the birds (Christian Cooper). We’ll just sit and try not to breathe (George Floyd) and not to sleep (Breonna Taylor).”

These are things white people simply do not have to think about.”

-David Gray

The only thing that’s missing is the guy who apparently looked at a cop wrong as he was riding by on his bicycle.  I guess that’s fair since he was harassed, but not killed.   Nope.  That’s not true.  After I typed that, I thought I should look up the incident so I could describe it accurately, and immediately found this from September of 2020.  Los Angeles Police Shoot Black Man on Bicycle.

We have to change this.  How do we do it?

The answer to the question “How do you eat an elephant?” is “one bite at a time.”  So what’s the first bite?  What can regular people like you and I do?

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That Thin Blue Line Flag

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The Police Department in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where Daunte Wright was killed by an officer, has been flying a “Thin Blue Line” flag just below the American flag. The mayor of Brooklyn Center requested that the flag be taken down because it is inflammatory, and the police complied. Its use has been banned by the University of Wisconsin and Pelham, NY, police departments.

The TBL flag has a lot wrong with it. It is related to the “Blue lives matter” slogan, which developed in response to “Black lives matter” to minimize that claim. It is used by white supremacist factions. The flag was displayed in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, with attackers somewhat contradictorily attacking Capitol police with poles with the flag attached.

It’s not just the flag. Search for thin blue line images and you will find skulls, crosses, angels, crusaders, helmets, Superman symbols, mourning bands, and flags of Australia and the UK. Many of the flags are depicted as weathered, and you can buy a weathered flag from Etsy. Not immediately clear why weathered flags are valued.

It is an American flag, flattened to black and white, with a blue stripe substituting for the white stripe just below the field of stars. Interpretations of the red, white, and blue of the American flag vary, and there seems to be no official interpretation, but the black and white of the TBL flag eliminate them. Changing the American flag is an act of arrogance and claimed power to override its values.

Many interpretations are possible of that black and white scheme. Black and white suggest a radical division of right and wrong, or skin color. Removing the colors and substituting one symbolizing a single group suggests that that group is the most important in the nation.

Black and white color schemes often indicate mourning.

Wikipedia and the Marshall Project give some history of the phrase and flag.

Cross-posted at Nuclear Diner

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Potter Charged

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Swift action in the shooting of Daunte Wright:

The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, after appearing to mistake her handgun for her Taser was arrested on Wednesday and charged with second-degree manslaughter following three nights of protests over the killing.

The arrest of the officer, Kimberly A. Potter, who is white, came a day after she resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department, as did the Minneapolis suburb’s police chief. Hundreds of people have faced off with the police in Brooklyn Center each night since Mr. Wright’s death on Sunday, demanding that the former officer be charged, even as the region is on edge amid the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged with murdering George Floyd last May.

Again, IANAL, but this seems to me to be the correct charge. I don’t think she intended to shoot him with a gun, and I think you would be guaranteeing she walked if you charged her with murder. I know this will anger many, but I find much more guilt in the system in this shooting than I do in Officer Potter.

Why is Daunte Wright dead and why is an officer going to trial and why is there unrest in the streets of Brooklyn Center? That’s the question everyone responsible for policing in this country should be asking themselves. And to answer that, you have to go through how we got where we are.

Why are police still stopping people for non-moving violations?
Why are police still racial profiling?
Why are police pulling people over for bullshit like expired tags?
Why were there so many police there- they feed off each other and act more aggressively in groups.

And on and on and on. I’ll even take it a step farther- why did they have to arrest him for the warrant right then and there. Why even elevate it to the point that a taser was “needed.” Even though he was showing mild resistance and got back in his car, why was it so important that he be arrested that very second? You have fucking radios. You know where he lives. It wasn’t a big enough deal to have him in jail to send anyone to his house to arrest him, why all of a sudden just because you’ve nailed him for the crime of having air freshener from his mirror or whatever bullshit pretext you used to initiate the stop did he have to be arrested right then and there.

Again, what is the worst that could have happened if he just got in his car and drove home, and you followed him home and arrested him there with his mom? Or a week later?

Why do we have a system of policing built around violence, dominance, and requiring instant submission and deference? It’s the same with all these fucking no-knock warrants and other bullshit. The Breonna Taylor murder is another instance of this. They had surveilled her apartment. They fucking knew she and her boyfriend were in there. Why the fuck could they not just sit outside by his car and wait for him to head to Sheetz or Getgo for a pack of smokes or a soda? Why did they have to go HAM and raid the place with pistols blazing.

Our system of policing makes no sense to me.

Update at 6:35 PM EDT by Adam L Silverman

Cole asked me to do a quick update for him because he’s away from his keyboard.

What’s even worse in the Breonna Taylor case is that the warrant was NOT for her fiancé, which was the man she was in her apartment asleep with, but, rather, for an ex boyfriend who did not live at her residence and who had been arrested ten blocks away, and, according to the attorney’s for Taylor’s family, 40 minutes before the time that the warrant for Taylor’s apartment was executed. Additionally, Taylor’s family’s attorney has alleged as part of their lawsuit against the city that the warrant issued for Taylor’s residence really had less to do with her ex’s allegedly criminal behavior and more with a local development scheme to drive residents out of the neighborhood so that it could be gentrified. We’re still waiting for further details on if this alleged scheme is at the heart of why the warrant was issued for Taylor’s residence, but if it does turn out to be one of the motivating causes, then someone in municipal leadership, including someone in the local prosecutor’s office and, perhaps the judge who signed off on the warrant, are dirty. Additionally, local reporting by the Louisville Courier Journal indicates that the Louisville Police made numerous false representations of facts – colloquially lied – on the warrant application for Taylor’s residence. This includes falsely claiming that the US Postal Inspectors in Louisville had provided them accurate information that Taylor’s ex – Jamarcus Glover – had been receiving packages at her apartment for him. The Postal Inspector indicated that Louisville Police hadn’t asked, that there was no evidence this was the case, and that when a different agency had asked several months before the Postal Inspectors had investigated and found the allegations unwarranted.

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It’s the Policies, Stupid

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This morning I went off on an angry rant on the twitter machine when reading about the killing of Daunte Wright, and discovered that the cops pulled him over for fucking expired tags. Basically, it is my belief that cops who pull people over for shit like expired tags, not being able to see a second license plate, air freshener hanging from the mirror, or other bullshit like that, are in essence online trolls in real life. And the cities and communities that have their cops out doing this are doing so for several reasons:

1.) To raise money to fund the government so taxcut Jesus won’t get a sad.
2.) To harass and keep minority communities in “their place”
3.) To maintain a militaristic carceral state

Who, exactly, is safer in that Minnesota community because a couple of bored cops decided to fuck with a black kid with expired tags? Who is safer in Virginia because a bunch of bored cops decided to fuck with an Army LT because they couldn’t see his second license plate? No one.

It’s the same god damned thing that went on in Baltimore and NYC with the street level harassment of fucking with people sitting on their stoop listening to music and having a beer. It’s the same bullshit as roughing people up and breaking down doors because you smelled weed smoke. It’s the same fucking thing that was discussed in the detailed Ferguson report in 2015 when we last had a functioning DOJ.

And, it doesn’t just happen to minorities. It happens at a far greater rate of occurrence for minority communities and is far deadlier for them, but the same shit happens to poor white people here in West Virginia and elsewhere. There aren’t enough black people to fund the government here, so you gotta fuck with other “undesirables.”

And it makes life a living hell for everyone. People lose their ability to drive over bullshit because they can not pay the cascading fines or take off to make all the court dates, and shit spirals out of control and before they know it they owe thousands of dollars for a fucking nine dollar license plate tag, have lost their car, lost their job because they can’t get there, and are further mired in poverty and hopelessness. It’s the same fucking thing credit card companies do to trap people in indebtedness. Why do many poor people drink to excess and do drugs? Because we have made their lives fucking unbearable without them.

And this is not new. We all know this. It has been happening long enough that we all are aware this goes on. I’d also posit that it has been going on so long that people who like to abuse people are drawn to policing, because it gives them a license to bully and hurt people. So, at this point, if you are not actively working to try to fundamentally reform policing and government, you are part of the problem.

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