• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m only here for the duck photos.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

‘Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

I don’t care how fun he is after a few whiskies. fuck that guy.

We need fewer warriors in public service and more gardeners.

Deploy the moving finger of emphasisity!

Everybody saw this coming.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

We have all the best words.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

We still have time to mess this up!

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

False Scribes! False Scribes!

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

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Reality always wins in the end.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

There will be lawyers.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Let there be snark.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

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

Mobile Menu

  • Look Forward & Back
  • Balloon Juice 2021 Pet Calendar
  • Site Feedback
  • All 2020 Fundraising
  • I Voted!
  • Take Action: Things We Can Do
  • Team Claire, and Family
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • BJ PayPal Donations
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Nature & Respite
  • Information As Power
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • On The Road
  • Garden Chats
  • Nature & Respite
  • Look Forward & Back
You are here: Home / Archives for Civil Rights / Criminal Justice / Shitty Cops

Shitty Cops

‘Things We Cannot Have’ Open Thread: Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr Hears A Bus Rumbling Up

by Anne Laurie|  June 9, 202010:41 am| 175 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Venality, Repubs in Disarray!, Shitty Cops, Trump Crime Cartel

Baier: If you had to do Monday over again, would you do something different?
Barr: Based on what I know now, no… Things were so bad, the secret service recommended the President go down to the bunker. We can’t have that in our country. pic.twitter.com/2p64yP9G0s

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 8, 2020

White House: No regrets over photo op. Also Bill Barr gave the orders. President only "sorry antifa wreaked havoc." pic.twitter.com/XCwqnT0RQr

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 8, 2020

“History is written by the winners.” There’s something of a GOP tradition in sacrificing an Attorney General when the rabble is dangerously dissatisfied with an overconfident regime. Barr assumed there was no bus with a clearance high enough to throw him under, but now he seems to be reconsidering.

As far as I’m concerned, the defenestration cannot happen too soon, or to a more deserving defender of the Kakistocracy.

akshully the protesters loved being gassed with liberty perfume https://t.co/neQ8BjDIld

— kilgore trout, potato thief (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 7, 2020

This thread, this story. @washingtonpost

Barr comes off as some kind of villain. https://t.co/KbSbo52kxu

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) June 9, 2020

‘Barr says reducing police immunity would result in law enforcement 'pulling back'’

Yes. 🙄https://t.co/YT8XdK8ABf

— RynheartTheReluctant (@TheRynheart) June 7, 2020

Barr to @margbrennan:

“The president never asked or suggested that we needed to deploy regular troops at that point…Our position was common…we didn't think we would need them. I think everyone was on the same page.”

A lie — per reporting by CBS, Washington Post, ABC, CNN. pic.twitter.com/K4K6bEGYN4

— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) June 7, 2020

These are not the responses of a lawyer secure in his arguments:

Here's the transcript of our @FaceTheNation interview with Attorney General Bill Barr. https://t.co/IY9mv3zQnD

— margaret brennan (@margbrennan) June 7, 2020

Former prosecutor steps up…

It's been 402 days since Attorney General Bill Barr last testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has a lot to answer for.

Barr needs to explain under oath whether he ordered peaceful protesters to be forcibly cleared out near the White House this week.

— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) June 6, 2020

show full post on front page

Bill Barr: "My attitude was get it done, but I didn't say 'Go do it.'"

I'm not sure it's possible to sound any more like a mob boss. https://t.co/U9Yx6ZJqaP

— Christopher Orr (@OrrChris) June 6, 2020

When no one knows a law enforcement officers name or even which agency they work for, there is no accountability for excessive force. Barr’s response to George Floyd’s murder is police violence without accountability for it. https://t.co/ty8Ao2MhkT

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) June 4, 2020

Bill Barr and a team of senior Justice Department officials have quietly taken the lead on disrupting the protests. It’s a controversial move. A senior law enforcement official called it “a political ploy to make being anti-Trump look like terrorism.” https://t.co/QAxtjVnZif

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) June 7, 2020

U.S. Attorney General William Barr personally ordered federal law enforcement to clear a park near the White House of peaceful protesters on Monday in time for President Trump to walk to a church for a photo op, a Justice Department official said https://t.co/eAstFexfC8 pic.twitter.com/X4nwA167dR

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 2, 2020

Attorney General Barr is not advancing the cause of justice in America. He must be impeached and removed.https://t.co/uMU29c50io

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) June 7, 2020

Rep. Adam Schiff rubs in some non-chemical irritant:

Bill Barr says he did not order police to forcefully remove peaceful protestors; he merely said "get it done," not "go for it."

Interesting distinction.

How do you remove craven presidents and the attorney generals who do their dirty work?

Simple. The voters will get it done.

— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) June 7, 2020

‘Things We Cannot Have’ Open Thread: Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr Hears A Bus Rumbling UpPost + Comments (175)

What Does ‘Defund’ or ‘Disband’ Mean?

by Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix|  June 8, 20208:42 am| 153 Comments

This post is in: Shitty Cops

This broke yesterday:

The Minneapolis city council has pledged to disband the city’s police department and replace it with a new system of public safety, a historic move that comes as calls to defund law enforcement are sweeping the US. 

Speaking at a community rally on Sunday, a veto-proof majority of councilmembers declared their intent to “dismantle” and “abolish” the embattled police agency responsible for George Floyd’s death – and build an alternative model of community-led safety. The decision is a direct response to the massive protests that have taken over American cities in the last two weeks, and is a major victory for abolitionist activists who have long fought to disband police and prisons. 

I’m sure the FoxNews fear chorus has already started chanting about how Democrats are going to leave our cities without police. Scary! Well, Camden, NJ did it a few years ago, and they now have the lowest homicide rate since the 80’s. And, no riots:

That Camden was able to demonstrate peacefully without escalation looked like a sign of progress in a city that’s one of the country’s poorest and was once considered its most dangerous. “What we’re experiencing today in Camden is the result of many years of deposits in the relationship bank account,” says Scott Thomson, Camden’s chief of police until 2019. He led the city’s high-profile pivot to community policing from 2013 until last year and oversaw what turned out to be a steep decline in crime. Homicides in Camden reached 67 in 2012; the figure for 2019 was 25. Over the past seven years, the department has undertaken some of the most far-reaching police reforms in the country, and its approach has been praised by former President Barack Obama.

By “disbanding” their police force and creating a new county-wide police force, Camden was able to increase the size of its force, and adopt a new use-of-force policy which has led to a 95% drop in excessive force complaints. They did it to bust the union, though the county officers are now represented by a new union.

The Democratic mayor of Minneapolis opposes the reforms that his council will pass, and I’m guessing a lot of other mayors and Democratic elected officials and candidates don’t like the notion of defunding the police. I’m sure there are policy arguments, but much of that opposition at this moment comes from fear of political backlash. Here’s the thing: no matter which reforms Democrats advocate, Trump and Fox will attack us as “soft on crime”. Why not choose a reform that rids us of entrenched police unions run by MAGA hats?

What Does ‘Defund’ or ‘Disband’ Mean?Post + Comments (153)

Damn

by John Cole|  June 6, 20202:35 pm| 224 Comments

This post is in: Post-racial America, Shitty Cops

Damn

Damn 1

DamnPost + Comments (224)

Insurers as a pressure point of change

by David Anderson|  June 6, 202011:29 am| 26 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, Civil Rights, Criminal Justice, Shitty Cops

The 57 Buffalo cops that resigned from the emergency response unit did it for at least partially economic reasons.  Their legal bills won’t be back-stopped by someone else.  If  they get caught on camera rioting and beating the shit out of innocent civilians, they are taking on the financial  risk of at least defending themselves.  That is expensive.

WKBW has more:

“We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore. So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen? Has nothing to do with us supporting,” said another….

we did obtain an email sent to PBA members by Evans.

“In light of this, in order to maintain the sound financial structure of the PBA it will be my opinion the PBA NOT to pay for any ERT or SWAT members legal defense related to these protests going forward. This Admin in conjunction with DA John Flynn and or JP Kennedy could put a serious dent in the PBA’s funds.”

I am thinking as an insurance guy at the moment as that is my training. Pressure on the risk bearing entities is a key leverage point. Liability insurers could be looking at very large pay-outs over the next year or two from the caught on camera police actions of the past week. Liability insurers really don’t like to write policies where the premiums are systemically underpriced for correlated, predictable and solvable pay-out events.

What does this mean?

If counties, cities and towns’ don’t reform their police practices and union contracts, liability insurers will rate future contracts as high risk. High risk insurance contracts mean high rate increases. Insurers will insure almost anything as long as the premium is sufficient to cover both expected risk and random tail risk over a big pool. Counties, cities, and towns that have policies, procedures and accountability systems in place that minimize the probability of frequent and correlated liability events will see lower insurance rates.

Figuring out where the insurance contracts are is not a today problem. It is not a this week problem. It is a now and the next three to five year process. However, active pressure on liability insurers to correctly rate their premiums for correlated police brutality risk and pushing for reforms that will lead to lower local liability premiums is an avenue of progress that can be done in conjunction with other reforms.

Be brave, be safe, be kind.

Insurers as a pressure point of changePost + Comments (26)

Buffalo 2020

by Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix|  June 6, 20209:23 am| 89 Comments

This post is in: Shitty Cops

I’m sure you’ve all seen the video of a 75 year-old man being pushed down by Buffalo Police in riot gear Thursday night. By the way, that man, Martin Gugino, is a peace activist undergoing chemotherapy. He’s awake, alert and oriented as of the last report I saw. The officers who did it were suspended after the video surfaced, but not before the Buffalo Police issued a statement that he had tripped and fallen. This video is a two-fer, because it not only shows that cops will push down old people, but that they’ll walk right by them even when they’re bleeding, instead of rendering aid. I think it was that latter action that really made this a damning video. If they had immediately stopped and tried to help the guy, maybe the rest of this story would have turned out somewhat differently.

Yesterday, reacting to the head of the police union’s goading, 57 Buffalo cops resigned from the special unit. That union head is a real piece of work:

“Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square,” said Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans. “It doesn’t specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don’t know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards.”

That made it a three-fer, because those cops demonstrated that they will stick to a lie no matter what, that they will try to hold a city hostage by quitting their special assignments when they might be needed the most instead of letting the process play out, and that giving cops an order to do something justifies, in the mind of their union leaders, any tactics whatsoever.

Here’s the thing: New York State has plenty of resources to fill in for those 57. Those cops can now hand out parking tickets and ride the desk filing paperwork until hell won’t have it anymore, and we’ll be fine. The union heads, locked in a MAGA bubble that doesn’t understand that people are sick of being scared for their lives every time they encounter a cop, and the cops who follow them, are playing this entirely wrong.

Buffalo 2020Post + Comments (89)

What a Difference Three Days Make

by Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix|  June 3, 20204:48 pm| 41 Comments

This post is in: Shitty Cops

He took over the investigation on Sunday, and today:

Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office on Wednesday upgraded charges against the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck and charged the other three officers at the scene with aiding and abetting murder.

Also, this city councilman’s long thread (this is the start) is getting a lot of attention. The gist is that council members suggesting even the mildest of reforms could expect Minneapolis cops to drag their feet responding to calls in their district. He’s talking about disbanding the police and starting over. (Click on the date of the tweet and then click on “Show This Thread” to read the whole thing — it’s long.)

Bob Kroll’s letter yesterday to the Minneapolis Police Federation membership showed us what rank-and-file officers voted for in their leadership, and it is yet another sign that the department is irredeemably beyond reform.

— Steve Fletcher – Minneapolis Ward 3 (@MplsWard3) June 2, 2020

What a Difference Three Days MakePost + Comments (41)

There’s An Easy Solution

by John Cole|  June 3, 202012:01 pm| 69 Comments

This post is in: Shitty Cops

I don’t like the rioting and looting happening with the protests, either. But I’m gonna drop some galaxy brain shit here for the slow among us- HAVE THE POLICE STOP MURDERING PEOPLE SO THERE IS NO PRETEXT FOR LOOTING.

I mean seriously- reform the police. It will stop the protesting, it will stop the billions spent each year by cities and locales for payments in court cases, and… it WILL MAKE POLICE SAFER.

Now I know that means it is going to require some of the brutish cops giving up their ultraviolence and will mean that the so-called “good cops” will have to hold the “bad cops” accountable, and may require the public flogging of every PBA head, but I think we can do it.

There’s An Easy SolutionPost + Comments (69)

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 47
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Do Something!

Call Your Senators & Representatives
Directory of US Senators
Directory of US Representatives

Vaccine Venting Here!
I Got the Shot!  (Month 2)
I Got the Shot!

 

🎈Ways to Support Our Site

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal
Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice ⬇  

Recent Comments

  • Sebastian on Open Thread: *All* Repub Officials Are Corrupt, No Exceptions: Elaine Chao Edition (Mar 4, 2021 @ 10:48pm)
  • NotMax on I Think You Need Some Respite (Mar 4, 2021 @ 10:38pm)
  • Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) on I Think You Need Some Respite (Mar 4, 2021 @ 10:36pm)
  • Steeplejack on Open Thread: *All* Repub Officials Are Corrupt, No Exceptions: Elaine Chao Edition (Mar 4, 2021 @ 10:36pm)
  • Amir Khalid on I Think You Need Some Respite (Mar 4, 2021 @ 10:36pm)

Team Claire, and Family

Claire Updates
Claire is Home!

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year

Featuring

John Cole
Silverman on Security
COVID-19 Coronavirus
Medium Cool with BGinCHI
Furry Friends

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Submit Photos to On the Road
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Meetups: Proof of Life
2021 Pets of Balloon Juice Calendar

Culture: Books, Film, TV, Music, Games, Podcasts

Noir: Favorites in Film, Books, TV
Book Recommendations & Indy Recs
Mystery Recommendations
Netflix Favorites
Amazon Prime Favorites
Netflix Suggestions in July
Longmire & Netflix Suggestions

Twitter

John Cole’s Twitter

[custom-twitter-feeds]

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc