I hear the family business is aluminum siting. These aren't upper crust folk, just rednecks that didn't fail at jobs.
When it comes to cops, yes. Ever hear of a "Law Enforcement Bill of Rights"?: https://reason.com/archives/2012/10/19/how-special-rights-for-law-enforcement-m (old but still valid).
I am wondering what it is going to take for citizens in the US to realize that we have a massive policing problem in this country. We (as a nation) have looked the other way while PD's hire military personnel, arm them like the military, and don't punish them when they act like Visigoths at the gates of Rome. I guess too many white folks think it's just a racial issue. Like somehow we'll be immune. Unfortunately, by the time they figure out that we will be treated the same - if not now, down the road - and that the overarching mentality of the police isn't 'protect and serve' the citizens, but rather 'protect and serve' themselves and their own interests. Our jails are overcrowded, our criminal court dockets are stretched beyond reason, we incarcerate more of our population than any other nation on Earth. Land of the Free, indeed. We justify this by saying 'they have a dangerous job' - which in fact, they don't. One in three citizens in our country will be arrested during their lifetime. That's frightening. And yes, we always fall back on the 'well, they're criminals, they get what they deserve (no matter what - always unspoken, but seemingly implied). I posit the following: Judge a society not by how it treats its best, but how it treats its worst. By that measure, we, the United States of America, are failing miserably. The path back to reason is demanding that those entrusted to watch over and protect us do so, and do so within the confines of the laws we have created. We need police that are a part of our society, because for too long they appear to taken the attitude that they're still in Iraq and every citizen is an enemy. Police are not the military. We need to stop letting them be, or we will pay the consequences.
The kid already got his Due Process and is now in violation of his sentence. So yep, it's going to be Pound Me in the Ass prison if the Marshall's get their hands on him until they re-sentence him.
Went to a gun show last weekend, ended up getting two pistols (a .22 and a .380 I'll use when I get my CHL license). I'm a pretty strong supporter of the right to bear arms (within reason) and concealed weapons (the privilege; it's not a right as a lot of people unfortunately think). But I gotta say, the whole thing about not requiring background checks at gun shows is absolute bullshit. I purchased my handguns, along with someone else I was with, in cash. Four handguns total. Entire process from looking at them, to filling out paperwork, to walking out the door took us no longer than 20 min tops. We could have left with a lot of ammunition had we so chosen. Absolutely, downright scary. Now both of us have squeaky clean backgrounds, but there's no way for the seller to know that. In fact whenever I have purchased firearms from places that do background checks, I'm always asked by an employee if I need rounds as well I guess as part of their sales pitch. Gun shows and the rules surrounding them are the reason I always have to clarify that I support owning firearms for selfDEFENSE, not selfOFFENSE.
The actual statement is: "Judge a society not by how it treats its best, but how it treats its weakest." The worst are the one's that prey on the weakest. They rob, rape, and do anything they can get away with on the weakest of our society. The aged, the mentally feeble, the disabled, the physically weaker . They are open targets to the worst of our society and the worst can and do take advantage of the fact that they are stronger and able to terrorize that portion of society at will. As a society, I think we do our best to protect the weakest. If it's at the expense of the worst, who openly prey on the weakest, so be it. Fuck 'em if they think beating an 88 year old for his Bingo money is a good idea. A decent society doesn't want folks like that in their society. A horrible society will keep setting that person loose in the populace again and again to keep repeating the same pattern to prey on their weakest.
No, the statement is what I said it is, because I am not paraphrasing, nor quoting, otherwise I would have indicated such. The problem with the 'actual statement' is that no one, anywhere, ever, in a civilized society would not want to protect the folks you listed. While societies may differ on actual methods of helping, no one disputes that the people listed need to be protected. My statement is geared towards how we treat our worst. Our murderers, rapists, pedophiles, etc. Why care about those folks at all? And hence, we get to my point: by being inhumane to the worst among us, even if you (the collective 'you,' not you specifically toytoy) believe they deserve it, you become just as inhumane. Of course these people need to be removed from our society so they can't hurt others, on that we can all agree. But the idea that cops should be able to act with impunity (which again is my main point) because the person they harmed was 'probably a criminal anyway' is NOT how things ought to be done. The point of a society, or one of anyway, is the idea that we can better our individual and collective natures through banding together and helping each other out. Let me be clear, I'm no liberal 'oh, they just had a bad childhood, they'll do better' nonsense. This isn't about the criminals, this is about us. What we believe, and whether or not we actually will follow through on those beliefs even when our darker natures want blood. It's the same argument with torture. I abhor torture not only because of what it does to the tortured, but because of what it says about and does to the torturer. We need to be better than that as a society. We need to lead by example, we are a nation of laws, and everyone, including cops and politicians, need to be held to the same standards under the law. That is the primary function of America, that no one person is better than the law. Good, bad, ugly, whatever, we all get treated equally, even when doing so annoys or offends. Especially when doing so annoys or offends.
Is prison rape part of due process? 'Cause if so, it should be handed down by a rape-qualified jury, just like a death-qualified jury, and there should be official state rapists on the payroll, as we have official state executioners. (Doubtless they'll want to unionize like every other correctional officer). Can't wait to see the HR protocols for hiring those guys. If rape is part of due process, then let's treat it like one. If it's not, then let's punish/prevent this sort of freelancing.
New Kentucky governor Matt Bevin just revoked voting rights to 140,000 non-violent, non-sex-offending felons. Also knocked the minimum wage back down. http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2...nor-strips-voting-rights-lowers-minimum-wage/
Dude, I have a lot of gripes with our police force and criminal justice system too, but you and other people I've seen take it way too far with this shit. Most of the people in jail are in jail because they're dumb shit criminals. It's not the end of freedom and the rise the American Reich. It's a problem that needs to be addressed, not a fucking apocalypse. Also, I'm sick of the way cops are so casually blanketed as out to screw everyone. Not that I'm going to convince you, but it's bullshit. When you have a murder rate of 10,000+ and unnecessarily harsh drug penalties you will always have stories of police reacting poorly- those are the exception, not the norm. They're not a bunch of pricks out to steal everyone's rights.
Also, regarding police shootings resulting in a fatality: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...un/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database Best numbers I can find and while police are not reporting all shootings to the government when someone gets shot to death there's a news story somewhere, local or otherwise. Anyway, a few things: - Twice as many white people were shot to death by police in 2015. About 25% of those killed overall were black. Blacks were killed by cops proportionately twice as often as would happen randomly. - 272 black people shot to death by cops this year. As I said earlier in the thread I'll be generous and say 10% of those were totally unjustified. So about 30 shot this year like I projected(and really I would say it's less than 10%, hell call it 20% if you want). Compare that to the fucking tens of thousands dying from black on black criminal murder, drunk driving, drug overdoses, suicide, etc etc. Yeah, it's totally the police murders that make it so dangerous for black children to grow up in this country. Congratulations, you're fucking retarded. - By the murders and violent crimes committed the data actually suggests police are disproportionately targeting whites relative to blacks. I wouldn't say that's true, but it does suggest the narrative of black people being shot down left and right by racist police just isn't true. Sorry, blah blah blah 300 years of slavery isn't an argument. Unless you can actually coherently tie it to something in the present it's just you babbling about shit that happened hundreds of years ago. No, 'white fragility isn't a coherent argument either. No, racism without racism isn't a coherent argument. Mindless drivel written by some idiot who's wasted their life being an ethnic studies expert isn't helping your case either. Is unjustified police shootings a problem? Absolutely. Is it the biggest problem facing black Americans or one of the biggest problems for the nation as a whole? Not by a fucking long shot.
Ok, what's your background to make such claims? What is your knowledge regarding such things? Mine is I worked for a presiding judge in a criminal division and represented many criminal defendants. Do you have any basis of knowledge - personally - for any of the claims you are making?
How to not garner sympathy for your cause: Black Lives Matter protest snarls Minneapolis-St. Paul airport http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/12/23/mall-america-protest-shifts-airport/77839766/
I honestly see this as a decent way for people to protest. Better than rioting and burning down their own neighborhoods. Draws attention to it directly from people who would otherwise be oblivious.
Making a stressful, harried time more stressful is not going to win support for your cause. If I was traveling for the holidays and the airport was all fucked up by protesters, I wouldn't give two shits about their cause. I would just be pissed and more inclined to say fuck them and their cause.
Agreed. Honestly, I think this is just stupid and annoys everybody. It reminds me of when I was still living in Jacksonville and some BLM protesters started blocking freeways. I was listening to the radio at work and it was flooded with calls of pissed off people telling the protesters they had shit to do and they needed to get the fuck out of the road. Helped their cause to the sum of zero. It also doesn't help that their message has become so mired in bullshit, but that's just one opinion.
I'm friends with a couple cops. My ex-roommate is a cop. I don't work in criminal justice, nor do I care to, but honestly most of my points were backed by data, not personal experience. As far as my limited personal experiences goes, they don't seem like a bunch of assholes out to get everybody. You've been around cops more. Ok, why should I take your word over cops I know? Any reason? Why should I discount my own experiences with cops? Why should I discount data? Also, if we're going to isolate every discussion to the merits and limits of personal experience the mods might as well delete 98% of the thread. Not to dismiss anyone, but that is the reality of discussing politics to a point.
Welp: http://news.yahoo.com/soon--license...-carry-their-guns-in-the-open--203159145.html Can anyone explain what purpose this serves? Because open-carry just seems really fucking stupid. If you're carrying a gun for self-defense, why would you advertise to potential shooters that you're at the top of the target list if they're thinking of starting some shit? I mean I suppose it's a deterrent to people who are looking to get into fistfights, except the #1 place were stupid brawls occur, bars, are places you can't carry in any fashion, open or concealed. On the other hand, if you're just some testosterone-fueled wannabe tough guy who wants to intimidate people and thinks carrying a gun makes him a badass, open carry is a logical choice. What's the point of carrying a gun if you can't display to the world how tough that makes you, right?