Tag: Violence

Nazification Of American Society

I know few want to hear this but if those that are in denial would look at history they would see that Nazification is exactly what is happening to our society…..

Violence in the United States surpasses the unthinkable and increasingly resides in the space of apocalyptic rage, manufactured ignorance, and the normalization of a pervasive culture of ritualized barbarism. As civic culture collapses and truth succumbs to conspiracy theories, censorship, and the white washing of history, politics is emptied of democratic values, shared responsibilities, and a viable moral compass. Lawlessness is fueled by a diminishing lack of accountability in the political realm leading to an upsurge in racism, domestic terrorism, mass shootings and increasing threats of violence. Acts of violence erupt in even the most protected and secure spaces extending from schools to supermarkets, engulfing every facet of American life. We now live in a time marked by a politics of displacement, disappearance, erasure, patriotic frenzy, and political repression. Human suffering has been turned into a spectacle of racist aggression.

Violence, once hidden or proclaimed to be on the fringe of American society, is now at the center of power and everyday life and has become normalized. Violent threats are now repeatedly lodged against election officials, public health workers, teachers, librarians, as well as almost any politician who refuses to accept the lie that the presidential election was stolen. The threats of violence by a political movement of white supremist and election denying extremists   has reached an all time high as has its insane accusations, threats, and hate mongering. For example, influential pedlars of hate, particularly QAnon members, now claim that the Democratic Party is filled with blood sucking satanists who abduct and sexualize young children. The fallout from these kind of threats is too extensive to document here one example, as reported by The Daily Beast, captures the vicious lies mainstreamed by such groups and how they incentivize violence among their followers:

The threat of violence not only functions as political performance in the interests of political opportunism and the stoking mass violence, it also is used by MAGA Republicans to conquer major critical institutions of society that extend from public schools and libraries to the courts. Dark money now drives such extremism and the repressive laws aimed at women’s reproductive rights, the banning of books, the weakening of voting rights, and assaults on the rights of trans-gender people, among other attacks. Many of these attacks are driven by the modern Republican Party’s central fear of living with difference.

The Nazification of American Society and the Scourge of Violence

I just cannot imagine how the American people can ignore the track that our country is traveling….you do not need to be a rocket scientist to see what is happening…..and yet they allow it to continue.

There is only so much time allowed before these changes become permanent….

You can do something…..then DO IT!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Violence Against The Russian People

I post this because we Americans will gladly hate a people….which is so sad.

The people of Russia are in the dark about this war in Ukraine….thanks to the tight control Putin and his government has over the content they are allowed to see and hear.

But even the hypocrisy and cynicism we have seen to this point by Big Social Media does not prepare one for a shocking development today, as first reported by Reuters and then picked up by the Washington Post: Facebook (and Facebook-owned Instagram) have “updated” their “Community Standards” guidelines and will now allow calls for violence against Russians.

Yes that’s right. Russians – not the Russian government or the Russian economy, or even top Russian political figures but just plain old Russians – are now subject to new guidelines that ALLOW rather than forbid “Hate Speech” and even actual calls for violence!

…

It is very clear that we are not progressing as a society toward ever-more liberal values. We are regressing to a violent, feral state. Endlessly looking inward for enemies to destroy. “Anti-vaxxers,” Trump voters, and now just plain old everyday Russians. Kill them. They are evil. Is this OK?

Facebook, a de facto arm of government, is now encouraging calls for violence against innocent people who happen to be of a particular race or ethnic background or linguistic group.

Race-hate of an unpopular ethnic and religions group? Haven’t we seen this horrific movie before?

(antiwar.com)

Seriously?

So it is perfectly OK to use violence against a people that have no idea what is happening in Ukraine……how sad.

Actress Mila Kunis, who is Ukrainian, has made a statement about this……

Mila Kunis says she has always felt far more like an American than an Eastern European—but when Russia invaded Ukraine, it felt like “part of my heart just got ripped out.” Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, southern Ukraine, and moved to the US with her family in 1991, when she was 7. In an interview with Maria Shriver, she said the world should blame the people in power in Russia for the conflict, but ordinary Russians shouldn’t be seen as the enemy, the Hill reports. “I do really want to emphasize that. I don’t think that that’s being said enough in the press,” Kunis said.

“I don’t think it’s the people of Russia, so I don’t want there to be a thing of all Russians are horrible human beings,” Kunis told Shriver, per People. “I don’t want that to be the rhetoric.” Kunis and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, started a GoFundMe fundraiser last week to support refugees and humanitarian aid efforts. It has now raised more than $20 million, with Kunis and Kutcher contributing $3 million. The full interview will be released Sunday via Shriver’s Sunday Paper newsletter.

I agree….do not hate a people for the stupidity of their leaders.

But sadly I feel this will all fall on deaf ears….for Americans seem to have to have someone to hate.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–12Oct21

There seems to be a wealth of damning stories about the police acting in a pathetic display of disregard for the public.

As common as these incidents of police violence there is always one that is more disturbing than others…..this is one of those….

Police pulled over a man in Dayton, Ohio, telling him the stop was over tinted windows. In fact, police say they stopped Clifford Owensby because they were watching the house he had just left because they suspected drug activity, and they wanted a dog to sniff his car. They asked him to get out of the car, but Owensby, 39, who is paraplegic, said he could not. So they pulled him out of the car by his hair. Owensby told them that he didn’t have the use of his legs, and said he would file a lawsuit if they touched him without a good reason. He asked to make contact with a supervisor, which apparently upset the police officer he was talking to. “You can cooperate and get out of the car, or I can drag you out of the car,” he said heatedly. Owensby still resisted getting out without trusted assistance. “You can hurt me,” he can be heard saying in bodycam video released by the City of Dayton.

In the video, one officer grabs Owensby’s arm while another grabs his hair and uses it to pull him out of the car. Owensby cries out in pain, then yells: “Somebody help! I’m a paraplegic.” Once Owensby is sprawled on the ground, one officer holds him down with his knee, then police cuff his hands behind his back and drag him to their cruiser. Owensby’s shoes fall off, which another officer throws at Owensby’s car, missing once. “Can y’all call the real police, please?” Owensby can be heard pleading. Authorities say they later found a bag with $22,450 in it and claimed a dog indicated the cash could have been near drugs at some point, CNN reports. The money, Owensby said, was his savings, and officers did not make any drugs or weapons charges.

The video “is very concerning to me,” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said, per the Dayton Daily News. “No matter where you live or what you look like, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect when dealing with Dayton police,” Whaley said. The Dayton police department’s interim chief, Matt Carper, said, “We need to do better,” in response to video of Owensby’s arrest. That arrest, according to the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 44 is, in fact, what Dayton police are trained to do. “The officers followed the law, their training, and departmental policies and procedures,” Jerome Dix, chapter president, said in a statement. “Sometimes the arrest of noncompliant individuals is not pretty,” he said. Owensby ultimately was cited for having a child unrestrained in the back seat, and for the tinted windows.

Procedures?

Treat a person that has NO use of his legs with disrespect and violence should not be acceptable in any form.

When will the American stop being so compliant to the violence and brutality?

Most officers may be the most trustworthy and  compassionate of people but all it takes is one a/hole to label them all as abusive.

Time for a change….immediately.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

The Violence Has Arrived

I have been reading several articles that predicts that Trump and his mouth and sycophants will make violence possible…..

Historians and other experts on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump’s attempt to remain in power despite his loss in the 2020 election is growing increasingly dangerous as Republican leaders willingly participate in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters and back the president’s refusal to accept the election results. 

In an op-ed at The Hill, journalist Albert Hunt wrote that Trump’s “deceitful charge” that the Democratic Party stole the election and allowed “illegal votes” to be cast—claims that have yet to be backed up by evidence—”undermines confidence in our Democratic system, but it could also threaten to unleash a dangerous wave of violence.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/12/coup-underway-experts-warn-election-lies-trump-and-gop-leaders-could-unleash-violent

…….and so it has over the weekend….

Pro and Anti-Trump protesters met at the SCOTUS building in DC….

Several thousand supporters of President Trump in Washington protested election results and hailed Trump’s passing motorcade before nighttime clashes with counterdemonstrators sparked fistfights, at least one stabbing and at least 20 arrests. Several other cities on Saturday also saw gatherings of Trump supporters unwilling to accept Joe Biden’s Electoral College and popular vote victory. Cries of “Stop the Steal” and “Count Every Vote” continued in spite of a lack of evidence of voter fraud or other problems that could reverse the result. After night fell, the relatively peaceful demonstrations in Washington turned violent, reports the AP. Videos on social media showed fistfights, projectiles, and clubs as Trump supporters clashed with those demanding they take their MAGA hats and banners and leave. The tensions extended to Sunday morning. A variety of charges, including assault and weapons possession, were filed against those arrested, officials said. Two police officers were injured and several firearms were recovered by police.

Trump himself gave an approving nod Saturday morning by dispatching his motorcade through streets lined with supporters before rolling on to his Virginia golf club. People chanted “USA, USA” and “four more years,” and many carried American flags and signs to show their displeasure with the vote tally and insistence that, as Trump has baselessly asserted, fraud was the reason. “I just want to keep up his spirits and let him know we support him,” said one loyalist, Anthony Whittaker of Winchester, Va. The marchers included the Proud Boys. Trump supporters who approached the area were harassed, doused with water and saw their MAGA hats and pro-Trump flags snatched and burned, amid cheers. As night fell, multiple police lines kept the two sides apart. Videos showed some demonstrators and counterdemonstrators trading shoves, punches, and slaps. The “Million MAGA March” was heavily promoted on social media, raising concerns that it could spark conflict with anti-Trump demonstrators, who have gathered near the White House for weeks.

This was not as violent as it could have been …..especially with those hairy gun toters……will this be the extent of the violence or will it escalate?

Trump’s mouth could be the catalyst for either calm or violence.

Things could get worse before it gets better….

Whites make up around over 65 percent of the electorate of the US. Surveys show that 57 percent of white voters (56 percent women, 58 percent men) went for Trump, despite everything—his awful mismanagement of the pandemic, his lies, his anti-science attitude, his divisiveness, and his blatant pandering to white nationalist groups like the Nazis, Klan, and Proud Boys.

…

That is where the danger lies now: the fascist mobilization of a white population that is in relative decline numbers-wise.

History has shown that when large social groups no longer feel they can win by democratic elections, the temptation towards extra-parliamentary solutions becomes very tempting. As the aggregate minority population in the U.S. moves toward parity in numbers with the white population over the next few decades, white nationalism is likely to become more rather than less popular among whites of all ages and across gender lines.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/11/11/things-may-get-worse-they-get-better-us

I believe I know what he will choose…..do you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It All Began In Minneapolis

This round of protesting over the death of a black person at the hands of the police….these protests turned violence laced with destruction and arson…..and once again the talk is about reform of the police departments and their attitudes toward the minority communities….

All the focus on the PDs and politicians to step up and do the right thing…..and Minnesota took a step backwards…..

Legislators in Minnesota—the state where George Floyd was killed—huddled all night over police reform and walked away empty-handed, the New York Times reports. Democrats called for major changes to police oversight and Republicans more “common-sense reforms,” leading the two chambers to adjourn at around 6am Saturday without a deal. “I am deeply disappointed Senate Republicans chose to leave before finishing our work,” said Susan Kent, Senate minority leader for the Democrats, per the Star-Tribune. Paul Gazelka, the state Senate’s Republican leader, said “if they’re not interested in” his latest offer, “I don’t think personally that they’ll ever be interested in something that we can agree to.”

Democrats wanted Minnesota to beef up deadly-force laws, allow convicted felons to vote, and let the state’s attorney general (a Democrat) oversee the prosecution of police killings. Republicans called for milder measures, like prohibiting chokeholds in most police encounters and requiring police to stop officers from using excessive force. Democrats called those half-measures that haven’t helped elsewhere, then made a counter-offer at midnight that didn’t include voting felons and AG investigations. But the Democrat-led House and Republican Senate still couldn’t reconcile. “Minnesotans expect us, like they do in their jobs, to finish when the work is done,” said Gov. Tim Walz, who added that this “is at the center of what we should be doing.”

My question is…if reforms cannot get a foothold in the place this round began is there any hope for real reform….anywhere?

With all the chaos and protests and NYPD Commission finds they acted properly…

The New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner on Monday defended the officers who drove into protesters against police brutality late last month, saying they did not violate the department’s use-of-force policy.

Commissioner Dermot Shea testified in an online public hearing on the police response to the George Floyd protests, saying the officers shown in videos to be lurching into a crowd were complying with department standards.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating the police response, asked the commissioner about May 30 videos that showed two police cruisers driving into a crowd in Brooklyn. 

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/503967-nypd-commissioner-officers-who-drove-into-protesters-did-not-violate-use

So it is perfectly alright to run down peaceful protesters with a vehicle in NYC, right?

Do you see the problem now?

Politicians are doing what they always do….Lots of talking loud and proud and saying nothing…..and inaction prevails.

Black Lives Matter, corporations

What started in Minneapolis should never be allowed to cease…..if government will not listen then take it to the streets…..and stay there until these “fat cats” grow ears.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Just A Few “Bad Apples”

I know you have heard the term “bad apples” referring to those cops that are caught beating and abusing the public and why should all cops be punished for the acts of a few “bad apples”?

There seems to have been 85,000 investigations of police wrong doing…in the past decade…..

At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found.

Officers have beaten members of the public, planted evidence and used their badges to harass women. They have lied, stolen, dealt drugs, driven drunk and abused their spouses.

Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds.

The records of their misconduct are filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments. Police unions and their political allies have worked to put special protections in place ensuring some records are shielded from public view, or even destroyed.

Reporters from USA TODAY, its affiliated newsrooms across the country and the nonprofit Invisible Institute in Chicago spent more than a year creating the biggest collection of police misconduct records.

Obtained from thousands of state agencies, prosecutors, police departments and sheriffs, the records detail at least 200,000 incidents of alleged misconduct, much of it previously unreported. The records obtained include more than 110,000 internal affairs investigations by hundreds of individual departments and more than 30,000 officers who were decertified by 44 state oversight agencies.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/usa-today-revealing-misconduct-records-police-cops/3223984002/

Sorry but those numbers stated in the article are a bit more than a “few bad apples”…..

But not to worry…all politicians are jumping on the bandwagon of reform…..not of which will actually change anything.

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

What About White People?

How many have heard the tale that the media is ignoring the violence committed by police towards white people?

I have heard….and of course the old reliable “All Lives Matter”….I would have been disappointed if that had not shown up…..sorry but to me that is the same as saying “I have black friends”…..a racist response.

But let’s look at the accusation that the media is ignoring voilence against white people……

The ongoing national protests against police brutality have focused for the most part on black victims, for the obvious reason that black Americans are disproportionately abused by police. The horrifying video of George Floyd being slowly strangled to death hit a raw nerve in the black community, which has endured decades of these kinds of atrocities, as well as an exponentially greater amount of less-lethal abuses.

This has led some conservatives to claim that the protesters are deliberately ignoring white victims. Commentator Matt Walsh pointed to videos of two white men, Tony Timpa and Daniel Shaver, being brutally killed by police as evidence that only black killings get attention and that police brutality is not a reflection of systemic racism. At Townhall, Mike Adams wrote an article entitled “White Man Can’t Breathe,” noting that there had not been “George Soros-funded protests” or “Antifa riots” in response to the Timpa killing, and implied a lack of them would show “political opportunism.”

These are disingenuous arguments.

https://theweek.com/articles/918849/what-about-police-violence-against-white-people

There is NO substance to the claims.

But that will not let disinformation go to waste….social media is full of bullshit waiting to be spread.

Let’s now look at those racists we all know……the ones I know think they are not hardly racist at all…they just think they are spouting truth……

New research indicates that the Dunning-Kruger effect — meaning the tendency for less competent individuals to overestimate their competence — can be applied to prejudicial attitudes. The study, which appears in Personality and Individual Differences, found that the least egalitarian individuals tended to be those who overestimated their levels of egalitarianism the most.

“I’m generally interested in how prejudice works and in why it’s sometimes difficult to get people to become less prejudiced. This study opened a window into understanding why some people don’t know that they’re prejudiced, and why those people might be particularly difficult to reach,” said study author Keon West, an associate professor of social psychology and the director of Equalab at Goldsmiths, University of London.

The researchers examined who was the most likely to overestimate their level of egalitarianism in two studies with 307 participants.

https://www.psypost.org/2020/06/study-finds-the-most-racially-prejudiced-people-tend-to-think-that-they-are-less-racist-than-the-average-person-56991

Racism will always exist….the thing to do is make it as unattractive as possible…..no one should have to face discrimination because of the skin color or for their birth place…..

Sorry renaming military bases is not going to help stem the rise of racism at all…..pulling down statues does little to change prejudices….https://www.upworthy.com/to-all-my-fellow-white-folks-trying-to-get-a-quick-anti-racism-education

Lots a work ahead….stay in the streets and make a difference…..just a thought……

Be Well…Be Safe….Be Heard……

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I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Did The Police Do That?

I could not let the day go without a post on the protests and the following violence.

Well this post is not about the violence of some police towards protesters but rather the police that are sneaking into the protests and inciting them to do vandalism.

The United States is on fire. Since the police killing of George Floyd on May 26, millions have taken to the streets in protest, clashing with police. At least 11 people have died, and thousands have been arrested. 15 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have called in the National Guard to quash protests raging in over 100 cities. Violence has been widespread, particularly in the epicenter Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, with buildings engulfed in flames, stores looted and vehicles destroyed.

While protestors are undoubtedly responsible for some share of the destruction, the country’s law enforcement officials have also been caught multiple times sabotaging and destroying property as well, presumably in an attempt to escalate the situation or to defame the protests.

In Seattle, police were caught on camera smashing through the door of a local Target, seemingly far away from any conflict or commotion.

Agent Provocateurs: Police at Protests All Over the Country Caught Destroying Property

This is nothing new…..back in my younger days protests were infiltrated by FBI and the police and they would try to get the crowd fired up to commit other acts other than the protests….so there is a history there…..

It is a historical fact, as this episode illustrates, that law enforcement frequently infiltrates progressive political movements using agent provocateurs who urge others to engage in violence. It is also a historical fact that, more rarely, such provocateurs commit acts of violence themselves.

The media pays little attention to such infiltrators, for a variety of reasons. On the one hand, corporate media has never taken much enthusiasm in questioning government action in the midst of riots or major demonstrations, unless that action goes wildly over the line or targets members of the media. The subject of provocateurs is also fraught  from the perspective of protesters and movement organizers, as it can lead to paranoia that undermines solidarity and movement building. It is often conflated with the trope of “outside agitators” and used by authorities or other opponents of the protesters to delegitimize the anger on display, giving some protesters or their supporters an incentive to downplay the reality of the provocations.

https://theintercept.com/2020/06/02/history-united-states-government-infiltration-protests/

Tactics by the police have gotten more deadly but some of them are still stuck in the 1960s.

But not to worry…there is NOTHING the president will do to change things….he wants protest leaders tagged as “terrorists”…..

Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray held a press conference Thursday afternoon to voice lying claims that left-wing groups bent on violence had “hijacked” the protests, in an effort to manufacture a pretext for repression.

Barr advocated the use of anti-terrorism units to apprehend the “agitators.” The branding of domestic political opposition as terrorism is aimed at delegitimizing and criminalizing all opposition to police violence and the policies of the oligarchy.

The level of lying in the Barr press conference would be admired by Nazi spokesman Josef Goebbels, the head of Hitler’s “Big Lie” propaganda machine. Barr conjured up an invented world in which demonstrations involving millions of people in hundreds of cities, large, medium and small, are being manipulated by Antifa, an “organization” that has not a single identified member. He also claimed that “foreign actors” were intervening in the protests, adding the specter of a Russian, Chinese, Iranian or Al Qaeda role.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/05/pers-j05.html

Let’s not forget that the police/FBI/others all work for the American public and yet they are being used to inflict pain and violence against them…..even to having “secret” officers used…..

June 3, protesters gathered near the White House in Washington, D.C., were confronted by mysterious personnel equipped in tactical riot gear, including shields and “non-lethal” weaponry. These paramilitary units, which appeared alongside National Guard troops, were virtually absent of any identifying badge or insignia.

In a fascistic rant on Monday, June 1, delivered only minutes after a violent attack by police against protesters exercising their democratic right to peaceful assembly, Trump made clear that his administration is preparing to trample on the Constitution and establish a presidential dictatorship. The appearance of these unmarked paramilitary units must be seen as a significant step in that direction.

When asked by protesters and reporters to identify themselves, the personnel either remained silent, or simply stated, “Department of Justice [DOJ].”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/05/gfdc-j05.html

To be fair…there have been some great moments that the news did not cover as much….like in Louisville….

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200608/amazing-true-story-behind-viral-photo-of-protesters-protecting-louisville-officer/1

Learn Stuff!  Be Informed!

Be Well….Be Safe….Be Cautious…..Be Heard

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Decent Cops Are Penalized

We all have heard about the killings by these brutal cops…but we hear very little about decent cops doing the right thing.

Let’s look a Buffalo.

We know that the cops there injured an old man and when they two we charged the rest of the unit was so upset they resigned (I say good riddance to garbage and now Buffalo can look for good cops)….but did you hear about the Buffalo cop that lost her job for doing the right thing?

No?

Let me help out.

In Buffalo, New York a former police officer is fighting for her pension after being fired from the city’s police department for interfering with another officer she claims was abusing an arrested suspect. Cariol Horne was fired from the force in 2006 and charged with obstructing another cop during an arrest over a domestic dispute, ABC 7 reported last week. 

Horne claims that fellow Buffalo officer Gregory Kwiatkowski was abusing a suspect who had already been placed under arrest in handcuffs. “He was handcuffed in the front and he was sideways and being punched in the face by Gregory Kwiatkowski,” explained Horne. Horne said she intervened when she saw Kwiatowski begin to choke the man. “I’m like, ‘Greg! You’re choking him,’ because I thought whatever happened in the house he was still upset about so when he didn’t stop choking him I just grabbed his arm from around Neal Mack’s neck,” said Horne.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvaqa3/buffalo-cop-loses-job-and-pension-after-she-intervenes-with-fellow-officer-choking-a-suspect

That may have been in 2006 but that does not matter….apparently she was doing the right thing and was penalized by Buffalo for her actions….that begs the question does Buffalo truly want to do the right thing or are they reacting to the moment these days and will revert back to the bad behavior that they have done in the past?

I feel like it is the latter.

Then there is the chief of police in Portland Oregon….who stepped aside to let another officer work on major reforms…..

With the police department in Portland receiving heavy criticism from the ACLU of Oregon and others for its response to the protests, Chief Jami Resch considered what the city needs. The answer, she decided, was someone else as police chief. She turned to Lt. Chuck Lovell, who hadn’t sought the job, the Oregonian reports. “You never wanted it,” Resch told him Monday. “You were meant for it.” The job offer stunned Lovell, 46, who will become Portland’s fourth black police chief. But he said that “when your boss comes to you and says the community needs you,” you have to take it. Resch called him “the exact right person at the exact right moment.” Mayor Ted Wheeler, who ordered police to limit the use of tear gas on Saturday, said more changes are coming, per Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Resch said she asked the mayor to support the change on Sunday, and he welcomed the new chief. “Together we will work on meaningful and bold reforms,” Wheeler said Monday. Resch had only been chief since January, and activists pointed out that appointing a new chief in the past hasn’t brought meaningful change to the department. Resch agreed that it’s only a start. At the announcement, Lovell said what struck him most when he watched the video of George Floyd dying in police custody in Minneapolis was the lack of compassion among the officers, a problem that he said the community could come together to battle. “The fight is not with each other,” Lovell said. “The fight is against that idea – that people, institutions, the agencies that can harbor that feeling in their heart.”

She moved at the right time and did the decent thing for the city and the times…..

I realize these are not the only time that the police have acted in a meaningful way….but it is some that will illustrate the point.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Let’s End The Hardcore Policies

I read that some cities are starting to roll back there hard fisted policies toward protesters…..

New York will end its curfew…..

New York City is lifting its curfew spurred by protests against police brutality ahead of schedule, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday morning. The 8pm citywide curfew, which the AP reports is New York’s first in decades, had been set to remain in effect through at least Sunday, with the city planning to lift it at the same time it enters the first phase of reopening after more than two months of shutdowns because of the coronavirus. “Yesterday and last night we saw the very best of our city,” de Blasio tweeted in his announcement of the curfew’s end “effective immediately.” “Tomorrow we take the first big step to restart.” The move followed New York City police pulling back on enforcing the curfew Saturday as thousands took to the streets and parks to protest police brutality, sparked by the death of George Floyd.

More than two hours after curfew passed Saturday night, groups of several hundred demonstrators continued to march in Manhattan and Brooklyn, while police monitored them but took a hands-off approach. Local politicians and civil liberties advocates had called for an end to the 8pm curfew, complaining that it causes needless friction when officers try to enforce it. But de Blasio had initially insisted the curfew would remain in place through the weekend. There were about 40 arrests citywide Friday—far fewer than previous nights—and no obvious signs of the smash-and-grab stealing that marred protests earlier in the week. On Saturday, Antoinette Henry wasn’t surprised people were still marching after more than a week, even though she said she had seen violence from police earlier. “Our first couple of protests ended a bit violently but we’re back out here. We’re not going to stop fighting.”

Other cities and states are starting to roll back police responses to protesters……

Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler on Saturday ordered the city’s police to stop using tear gas except as a last resort in life-threatening situations, making it one of several cities that have started restricting law enforcement tactics in response to protests over the killing of George Floyd. Wheeler says he shares community concerns about the use of CS gas, especially during a respiratory-illness pandemic. Critics have called on the Portland Police Bureau to permanently ban the use of CS gas on protesters, reports the AP. “I strongly believe that gas should not be used to disperse crowds of non-violent protestors or for general crowd management purposes,” Wheeler tweeted. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Friday announced a 30-day moratorium on its use—though pepper spray and other less-than-lethal measures remain available to officers. Officials in Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Washington, DC, have proposed bans or limits on the use of tear gas, and Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, halted the use of choke holds and neck restraints like the one that killed him.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered police to stop training officers in choke holds, and Bellevue, Wash., Police Chief Steve Mylett on Friday banned his officers from using neck restraints except when deadly force is needed. In Denver, US District Judge Brooke Jackson on Friday imposed restrictions on the use of chemical and less-lethal weapons by police, saying officers had failed to police themselves when it came to using them. Videos of police firing pepper spray at protesters who were yelling but not acting violently “showed that the officers had ample time for reflection and were not dealing with dangerous conditions,” he said. Police in Seattle were similarly criticized for overreacting to protests last week. Video showed police attacking mostly peaceful protesters with pepper spray after an officer tried to grab a pink umbrella from a demonstrator. The city has promised a thorough review. More than 12,000 complaints poured into Seattle’s police accountability office.

I would say these are good things…but KI have a feeling it is a political move and not a morally right move….after all they will be facing the voters next time around and this will look good on their resume.

In case anyone is interesting how we got to this place in society….they need to look back about 50 years.

The Kerner Commission identified factors contributing to police ineffectiveness during the 1960s civil disorders. Since release of the Kerner report, the frequency and intensity of civil disorders has declined and the policing of disorders has changed. Using the report recommendations as a framework, we analyze changes in police disorder management during the 2014 events in Ferguson as these involve operational planning and equipment. Data for the Ferguson case are constructed from media reports, police and activist accounts, after action reports, and field observations. We link changes seen in Ferguson to larger institutional changes in law enforcement over the last fifty years. We conclude with discussions on what did and did not work in the policing of Ferguson and highlight implications for policing of protest and disorder in the twenty-first century.

https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/6/122

We will see just how serious these cities are about a change in attitude…or it it is all talk.

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