Is America burning? (Black Lives Matter protests, civil unrest and riots 2020)

[littlebabyjesus]

((((NYPD coppers))))

Who are the real victims here???

 

[butchersapron]

Just to be clear, Serpico (can't quite believe i'm saying that) is being pretty angrily pro-reform. That's him not him saying the NYPD and wider police have been abandoned. That's him mocking them really.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Yes, he's illustrating what an NYPD cop being abandoned actually looks like - a man ostracised, harassed and targeted for violence by his own colleagues for years for not taking pay-offs, lying in a pool of his own blood after been shot in the face, left to die by fellow cops who didn't even call it in.

Whereas being held to account for brutality, murder, fit-ups, graft or racism is not ‘abandonment’.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Ah ok. Sorry missed that nuance.

So I apologise to Serpico.

 

[DaveCinzano]

He's written some thoughtful pieces about the nature of policing over the years - here's one:

The Police Are Still Out of Control

The man who exposed New York City's crooked cops speaks out again.

www.politico.com

A younger, thoughtful American cop is Patrick Skinner:

The Spy Who Came Home

Why an expert in counterterrorism became a beat cop.

www.newyorker.com

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Not to minimise the obviously egregious systemic racism at all, but one part (note, only one part) of the problem seems to me that there's just way too many guns floating about in the US. I wonder if cops over there are often frightened underneath all the macho bollocks, though they won't admit it - there's a chance that eg every driver they pull over for speeding could be heavily armed, which must be a psychological stressor on some level.
Cops do get shot and killed on duty and it helps cement a deeply toxic locker room us and them mentality and it's become deeply entrenched and inured to criticism. No easy answers here though, since there doesn't seem to be much appetite for gun control.
Again, i'm not suggesting that police racism isn't endemic, just making the point that availability of guns exacerbate s the problem massively.

Probably a part of it, but many of the protesters they've been so heavy-handed with obviously aren't armed. Now there's an argument for citizens, mainly black citizens, to own a gun to protect them from the police. I could go with that and I am very anti-gun. Also, the police are stupidly militarised by the looks of it.

 

[BristolEcho]

Everyone dancing around on King Leopolds fucking statue brings a tear to my eye.

 

[Marty1]

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned on here but Trump has just had a roundtable meeting with heads of law enforcement.

Didn’t watch it all as they were just introducing themselves to the discussion for the media but there was mention of ‘reforms’ - so something positive may come out of this meeting.

 

[two sheds]

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned on here but Trump has just had a roundtable meeting with heads of law enforcement.

Didn’t watch it all as they were just introducing themselves to the discussion for the media but there was mention of ‘reforms’ - so something positive may come out of this meeting.

link?

 

[The39thStep]

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned on here but Trump has just had a roundtable meeting with heads of law enforcement.

Didn’t watch it all as they were just introducing themselves to the discussion for the media but there was mention of ‘reforms’ - so something positive may come out of this meeting.

He's got to have one eye on the election, theres a small black vote for him and if he can increase this by 5 per cent in some key states ,despite his rhetoric ,then it eats into Bidens support .

 

[Tankus]

Beyond parody

hey ho

Trump tweets conspiracy theory that injured elderly Buffalo protester was "antifa provocateur"

It highlights just how far the president's media consumption can veer from the mainstream.

www.axios.com

The OANN reporter behind the false report that led to Trump's tweet is a Russian national who also writes for Kremlin-owned Sputnik, according to The Daily Beast.

Trump’s New Favorite Channel Employs Kremlin-Paid Journalist

Kristian Rouz appears on segments for One America News Network—ironic given he is working for a Russian outlet fingered in the 2016 election attack.

www.thedailybeast.com

just when you think that trump has bottomed out .... ,

 

[Pickman's model]

hey ho

The OANN reporter behind the false report that led to Trump's tweet is a Russian national who also writes for Kremlin-owned Sputnik, according to The Daily Beast.

Trump’s New Favorite Channel Employs Kremlin-Paid Journalist

Kristian Rouz appears on segments for One America News Network—ironic given he is working for a Russian outlet fingered in the 2016 election attack.

www.thedailybeast.com

just when you think that trump has bottomed out .... ,

He will only bottom out when what happened to Edward ii happens to djt

 

[phillm]

Christopher Columbus statue down and into the lake now,

Virginia protesters pull down Christopher Columbus statue and throw it in lake – video

A Christopher Columbus statue has been torn down, set on fire and thrown in a lake by protesters gathered in Richmond's Byrd Park

www.theguardian.com

 

[Sprocket.]

He will only bottom out when what happened to Edward ii happens to djt

Yes, but inserted cold end first so Trump burns his dinky hands trying to pull it out.

 

[pesh]

Christopher Columbus statue down and into the lake now,

Virginia protesters pull down Christopher Columbus statue and throw it in lake – video

A Christopher Columbus statue has been torn down, set on fire and thrown in a lake by protesters gathered in Richmond's Byrd Park

www.theguardian.com

Meanwhile on CSI Boston...

 

[DaveCinzano]

So I apologise to Serpico.

Which is more than the NYPD managed

 

[phillm]

At this rate the America's themselves are going to have to be renamed.

Vespucci wrote his will in April 1511. He left most of his modest estate, including five household slaves, to his wife. His clothes, books, and navigational equipment were left to his nephew Giovanni Vespucci. He requested to be buried in a Franciscan habit in his wife's family tomb. Vespucci died on 22 February 1512.

Amerigo Vespucci - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[NoXion]

Words vs reality.

 

[existentialist]

Words vs reality.

I don't see a single black face in that crowd.

 

[8ball]

I don't see a single black face in that crowd.

Well, close.

 

[existentialist]

Well, close.

I suppose I could have paused it and squinted closely...but then perhaps it's not that relevant. What IS relevant is the clear sense of (perceived) outrage that spokesman was demonstrating - there's a fucking HUGE gulf of understanding right there, and he did a fine job of modelling the attitudes underpinning the obscene and gratuitous violence his stormtroopers were meting out.

 

[8ball]

I suppose I could have paused it and squinted closely...but then perhaps it's not that relevant.

True, I was nitpicking, but I would probably have spent a few seconds or more checking.
Your main point stands, of course.

 

[pesh]

they literally shuffle the guy forwards at the end.

 

[Treacle Toes]

New York lawmakers pass anti-chokehold bill named for Eric Garner

"The NYPD ban on chokeholds was not enough to protect Eric Garner, and it is not enough today. This legislation will put an end to the practice across the state," Speaker Carl Heastie said.

www.cbsnews.com

This needs to happen in every state in the US and every country in the world. As well as removal of impunity policies that police officers use to avoid prosecution for murdering citizens.

 

[Treacle Toes]

This appeared in The Missourian, the semiweekly paper for Franklin County, Missouri.

 

[bimble]

This is quite a thing. Graph that shows how support for BLM amongst American voters has massively increased since these protests began (you can fiddle with it to see just Republican voters and you see the same uptick in support even there).

https://civiqs.com/results/black_lives_matter?annotations=true&uncertainty=true&zoomIn=true&net=true

 

[Gimigimi]

The Dawn of "Free Capitol Hill"

The difference between the Capitol Hill scene on Sunday and the scene on Monday? No cops.

www.thestranger.com

Cops had been defending the street in front of the east precinct for weeks, but they finally gave up, covered it in plywood and left. I guess the protesters have now blocked off a few blocks around it. I'll have to hop on the bus and look. Occupy seemed like a failure to me, but forcing cops to abandon a precinct and setting up around that is a lot more interesting. It's hard for me to be optimistic about anything politically but I hope this movement can continue and help roll back the militarization and violence of the police.

 

[petee]

Beyond parody

nice to see James Martin cited.

more importantly, is that trump is banking on the "antifa" line (notice the legally careful "could be") and of course his lobotomies on OANN and elsewhere will repeat is. a test over the next weeks/months is how much traction it will gain. the "structure" of the antifascists is pretty well known, it seems to me, and if ultimately trump can't make use of that gambit, he's in a bad way.

 

[phillm]

Who said the revolution will not be televised. (A. Gill Scott Heron)

 

[petee]

New York lawmakers pass anti-chokehold bill named for Eric Garner

"The NYPD ban on chokeholds was not enough to protect Eric Garner, and it is not enough today. This legislation will put an end to the practice across the state," Speaker Carl Heastie said.

www.cbsnews.com

This needs to happen in every state in the US and every country in the world. As well as removal of impunity policies that police officers use to avoid prosecution for murdering citizens.

that would be ...

50a law repeal: New York lawmakers pass police reforms after George Floyd's death

The Senate and Assembly have reached agreement on 10 bills related to police accountability after the death of George Floyd.

www.democratandchronicle.com

this is a really significant move.
cuomo was all for keeping it until he felt the way the wind was blowing.