WSJ--The Myth of Systemic Police Racism

[Phishfan]

I think that Rick Scott sucks in general, but that dude can manage a hurricane.

Jeb was pretty OK, in general.

I agree with you. What do you think of the current governor? He didn't start off nearly as bad I thought and actually did a couple things (maybe it was a thing) i liked but he is showing to be a Trump suck ass for sure.

[Phishfan]

When something so important as the corona virus becomes a political tool you know we have lost it as a country. Regardless of who wins the next election I have completely lost any hope that the US will succeed for very much longer. We are pretty much under a Civil War as it is with absolutely no sense of moral standards. It used to boggle the mind how great civilizations were destroyed but it makes perfect sense to me now.

Thankfully I saw it all coming and never had kids. Hopefully I die before it all goes up in smoke.

[Phishfan]

Huh?  That makes no sense.  

And btw Wisconsin’s history of defying the federal requirement to turn over people goes back to the 1850s.  But you probably feel Booth was the problem.  

Your last sentence? If you're implying racism why would Booth be a problem,  he was caught?

[Dave Gray]

I think that DeSantis is a race-baiter that used immigration fear and I’ve hated him for that since before the election.  He got elected in our State without having a platform and basically ran on “build the wall” and other Trumpisms that don’t relate to the issues we face as a State.

Since then, he’s been relatively non-harmful but we haven’t tested him either.  We haven’t had that big moment yet.  COVID is it, I guess.

The COVID situation is not being handled correctly, in my opinion, but that’s still unfolding.  Desantis looks like a meat-head a lot, coming out with one glove or whatever.  But this situation sucks.  That’s kinda lose-lose for him so I am sympathetic and judging on a curve.  I feel that his aggressive reopening can be justified but the mask requirement needed to be stricter to match it.  And his decision to call churches and WWE as essential services Is pandering at best but likely corruption.


So, not a fan, but we’ll see...

[Phishfan]

I think that is spot on. I had such great fear originally that maybe his ability to not completely fuck it all up has me a bit disillusioned. Gillum went completely off the deep end and that doesn't just happen as a one time thing from my experience so I still don't think we had great choices. How sad is it I consider Bush the best governor or even candidate since I moved here in '98.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Your last sentence? If you're implying racism why would Booth be a problem,  he was caught?

Different Booth.  Not the one who shot Lincoln, the one that defied the Fugitive Slave Act and Wisc backed him up.  Very close analogy to sanctuary cities today.

[Phishfan]

Different Booth.  Not the one who shot Lincoln, the one that defied the Fugitive Slave Act and Wisc backed him up.  Very close analogy to sanctuary cities today.

Thanks. Not really educated on Wisconsin state history

[Spider-Dan]

Nice to see you give props to Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

CF, it's kind of silly for you to bemoan partisanship when you are trolling like this.

This is exactly the same as if you were praising the state of New Jersey for their response to Hurricane Sandy and I dropped in with, "Nice to see you give props to Democratic President Barack Obama."  No one was talking about Chris Christie, no one was giving him props.  You were just attempting to score points when someone brought up the reforms of a city in NJ.

And that's fine; I have no problem with scorekeeping.  But I DO have a problem with hypocrites that continually seek to score points and then complain that the other guys always make everything about keeping score!

P.S. No prior president has used threatening to withhold disaster relief as a political tool against adversaries, and it IS only Trump.  If you dispute the truth of this, feel free to respond with a counterexample instead of sarcastically pretending it's ridiculous.

[BuccaneerBrad]

When something so important as the corona virus becomes a political tool you know we have lost it as a country. Regardless of who wins the next election I have completely lost any hope that the US will succeed for very much longer. We are pretty much under a Civil War as it is with absolutely no sense of moral standards. It used to boggle the mind how great civilizations were destroyed but it makes perfect sense to me now.

The people in power have abandoned facts in favor of spin.
We have a country have abandoned the separation of church and state and 30% of america now worships a con man.
We've abandoned morality in favor of greed.
We've abandoned ethics altogether.
We've abandoned logical arguments in favor of whataboutism.

I agree that this country is on the verge of another Civil War and this time it will be Left vs Right.  And the Right will win because they believe in gun rights.

[Spider-Dan]

They believed in gun rights last time.
They lost because they had insufficient belief in manufacturing and railroads.

[CF DolFan]

CF, it's kind of silly for you to bemoan partisanship when you are trolling like this.

This is exactly the same as if you were praising the state of New Jersey for their response to Hurricane Sandy and I dropped in with, "Nice to see you give props to Democratic President Barack Obama."  No one was talking about Chris Christie, no one was giving him props.  You were just attempting to score points when someone brought up the reforms of a city in NJ.

And that's fine; I have no problem with scorekeeping.  But I DO have a problem with hypocrites that continually seek to score points and then complain that the other guys always make everything about keeping score!

P.S. No prior president has used threatening to withhold disaster relief as a political tool against adversaries, and it IS only Trump.  If you dispute the truth of this, feel free to respond with a counterexample instead of sarcastically pretending it's ridiculous.

Not surprising but I think you are way off base or maybe just misinformed. Chris Christie had a lot to do with restructuring their Police Dept. As well ... it doesn't seem like anything that is ever done from a Republican has ever been louded around here. I gave props to Biden a few days ago for saying he wouldn't defund the police. I think that's pretty brave of him in a time when he has so many on the extreme left saying otherwise.

[BuccaneerBrad]

They believed in gun rights last time.
They lost because they had insufficient belief in manufacturing and railroads.

Once again, you've lost me here.

[Spider-Dan]

So obviously, there's been another high profile police homicide.

Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back by Atlanta police during an arrest.  In my opinion, this is the type of shooting that would have flown neatly under the radar a year ago:

- Brooks fell asleep in a Wendy's drive-thru
- the employees called the police when they couldn't get him to wake up and move
- the police woke up him, spoke with him, and determined he may be under the influence
- after receiving his consent to a breathalyzer, they attempted to arrest him for DUI
- Brooks resisted arrest and the officers then attempted to taze him
- Brooks was able to escape the two officers while wresting the taser away, and while fleeing, pointed the taser at one of them in an unsuccessful attempt to fire it
- the officer shot Brooks twice in the back, killing him

Hoodlum attacks police officers, steals their taser and tries to use it on them, they are forced to respond with lethal measures.  Open and shut.

However, it bears mentioning that tasers are frequently defended as "non-lethal force" in situations where charges of excessive force via taser are leveled at police.  What's more, the officer who shot Brooks kicked him as he lay on the ground and the other officer stood on his shoulders.

The officer who shot Brooks has been fired and is facing 11 charges, including felony murder.  The other officer is facing 3 charges, including aggravated assault.

Personally, I am extremely skeptical that any of these charges will stick.  But this interaction is exactly the problem with the police: over the course of 40 minutes, the man and the two officers had a perfectly polite and cordial encounter, where the officers worked diligently to escalate this situation of a drunk man sleeping in his improperly parked car to an arrest for driving under the influence.  He offered to walk home and leave the car at Wendy's, but that wasn't what the officers were looking for; their priority was always to arrest him, and the polite interaction they had was solely towards the ends of coaxing enough information from Brooks to justify that arrest.

This is why our authoritarian police departments need to be replaced with people who are trying to protect and serve. This man was not a threat until the police escalated a calm scenario into an arrest and eventually a homicide.   They have his car, they have his address, they have his ID.  And yet they would rather kill him then let him temporarily get away.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Once again, you've lost me here.

Why am I not surprised that you lack even a rudimentary understanding of the Civil War?

[Phishfan]

Are you serious Spider. The guy was drunk enough to pass out in a drive through and you call it sleeping and not a threat? He wasn't going to wake up sober.  It is a tragedy he died but we are lucky he didn't kill someone.