But Seriously...

I fear for Australia after the election last weekend. The closest thing to Australian version of Trump was elected to the Senate here. If you're interested Google Pauline Hanson. Xenophobic, Anti-Vax among many other stupid things and she got plenty of votes because over here it's fast becoming if you're Muslim you're ISIS. We're all fucked.

 

Apparently former elected officials in America can't stop thinking out loud:


What fresh fuckery is this?

 

Fresh fuckery? This isn't new. He took of his mask for a second is all; this is the type of stuff I've been seeing for 8 years now.

 

In countries that are in chaos and disorder often there is a police force that is weak or often being attacked. I don't think thats happening here. What I do think is happening is that all communities in this country feel threatened by the police force. I think that ranges from BLM like groups to White Supremacists to average upper-middle class suburbanites. I think thats dangerous. I think people are losing faith in the police to act as a peacekeeper. LEO's are often now seen as aggressors, as agitators, as their own marauding group that can impose their will on whoever they chose.

We need a strong police force, we also need a police force who has a different agenda. Instead of affirming their power every time, they need to become more involved in the community and be seen as peacekeepers rather than shock troops. I think they need some of their power reeled back. LEO's should be seen as members in the community who promote the community good through positive interactions and keeping the peace.

What happened last night in Dallas was disgusting and its hard to say what kind of group would do that. I can think of a variety of reasons why someone would open fire on these officers at a BLM rally, and that comes from both sides of the racial divide.

When was the last time someone was approached by an officer and they didn't feel threatened? I can't think of a single time since I've been an adult where I've been approached by a cop and I wasn't about to be investigated for something or they didn't have some suspicion I did something wrong.

What I think is going to happen now is officers are going to be afraid out there, and because of that be more aggressive. Not a good situation.

 

I can as well, however since only cops were targeted, it was probably a BLM sympathizer. That's what the police chief said was discussed during negotiations before they sent in a robot with explosives and blew him up.

 

Nobody wanted to listen to BLM before a bunch of loudmouth college kids appropriated it, and now BLM related sympathizers committed terrorist acts. Race relations is done in the public discourse. We are going to hear some nuanced shit today.

For many people this is just one more reason not to listen to what black Americans have to say. I've already heard it today out of my roommate. "BLM didn't protest properly. Nobody wants to listen to their bullshit." In other words, protest like white people, while also ignoring how perfectly nasty political rally protests have gone. Know why he didn't bring that up? Because he had no fucking idea it happened. He even pulled the "I work with black people, they're hard workers" line. Well, so fucking what. I like how news outlets are pointing out that it was a peaceful protest that got shot up. Otherwise it'd be ok?

"What set of circumstances arise that people feel compelled only a gun can solve something?" I appreciate that sentiment, but that is so naive. Nobody wants to listen to people talking about the racism they experience. Nobody wants to admit a poisonous undercurrent in police tactics. Nobody wants to acknowledge our innate gun culture. Then they have the balls to question how something like this could happen.

Now I ask myself. Why am I fucking bothering? I'm a middle class white guy who has experienced zero turmoil. Why do I feel compelled to stress myself out when I don't even socialize with black people? I cannot stand the idea that people can't be left the fuck alone. That is the most American principle. Not acceptance, tolerance, some vague idea of freedom from the lip of a Bud can. People allowed to go about their business without some rabid asshole giving them shit. I cannot abide that.

 

Being so close to Baltimore I am having to explain to people here that the Dallas Police Department is different from Baltimore police.
Explaining that DPD is engaged in the community and participates in outreach and engagement through various youth, adult, and elderly programs is drawing disbelieving stares and incredulous question.
Y'all. I knew Baltimore was awful. I had no idea Baltimore is so bad that the people here cannot grasp a different type of police force.

 

I have little to no problem with DPD. They actually seem to be out there trying to keep peace and catch bad guys who are doing bad shit. I know several guys who work in narcotics...and they don't care about kids doing weed or coke. They mostly care about the cartels and traffickers coming back and forth between Dallas and Mexico. They work undercover at these rallies to keep an eye on the crowd. 99.9% of the time you don't even know their presence.

From my experience, the cops who are looking for action are in the suburbs or Park Cities. They'll pull anyone over for absolutely no reason. Because they have nothing to do all day. I have a lot of respect for the DPD...like shimmered said they're involved with quite a bit of fundraising and outreach programs in the area.

 

Not trying to pick on you, but that quote exemplifies exactly what I mean by the American mentality regarding guns. It would take any other western country a decade or more to reach 2,000 victims, but you brush it off because other large cities "don't quite behave that way." It's like you're saying this one city is horrific, but others are less horrific, so it's all good. The crazy thing is, given the culture and mentality, that's a completely reasonable thing for any American to do.

So in the interest of finding info that counters what I believe, I did some googling. Of course, that lead to some sites with more than a whiff of racism, but they based most of their argument on this Department of Justice report, which seems plain and trustworthy enough (and I'm sure many of you know about already). Page 11 and 15 jump out to me.

Now I'll never be so stupid as to say racism isn't a thing -- for cops or anyone -- in part because of evolutionary reasons but mainly because video doesn't lie, and a few (but not enough) ex-cops have explained it outright. But I can't help but think there's more to it, and that Black Lives Matter is wasting an opportunity to make a difference. I'm wide open to any stats or critiques that counter what I'm interpreting from that report, but it does seem that over the last 30-40 years, black American males are more likely to commit crimes. At the very least, they kill magnitudes more of each other than cops. I've never heard BLM address this. A big reason, no doubt, is poverty, since it's well documented that poor populations, regardless of race, commit more crime. But we also know that the best cure for poverty is the education of and birth control by women. The single motherhood rate for black women has more than doubled since the civil rights movement. That can't be racism, and I've never heard BLM address it.

Beyond that, I don't fucking know. And my interpretation could be wrong. It does remind me more and more of what's going on globally with Islam, in the sense that some introspection is needed by those who seem to claim that 100% of their plight is due to outside groups.

 

That bothers me a lot. It's easy to dismiss it because they're trying to ferret out a sniper. But this isn't a war zone, and the entire reason this killing spree happened is because of cops "executing" people. DPD did not do themselves any favors here. No witnesses, no intel from the shooter, and a new precedent for dealing with a barricaded subject.

 

I don't blame them. How can you expect these guys to confront a cop killer with overwhelming force knowing most likely a few will get hit? Easier to send a robot up with C4.

 

I'm okay with it. He had zero intentions of surrender, and further hand to hand (so to speak) engagement would've ran serious potential for good guy loss of life.

 

The point I was trying to make is that when I say over-policing is a problem and we need to adjust how we treat certain communities, others immediately use Chicago as the example for why that doesn't work because Chicago has off the charts gun violence. Let's also look at other cities and examine their problems too.

I also am not brushing off the level of violence as if it's acceptable. But there's something going on there that's different than other places. Why is their number so much higher than other places? I'm honestly asking. Why?

I think it's worth looking for a solution to an obvious problem without using a statistical outlier as a reason why it won't work.

I think it's wrong for people to brush off black on black violence as par for course while only focusing on cop on black violence. I think the underlying reasons for it all are the same. Systemic poverty, lack of cohesive family leading to gangs, selling drugs to make money/other petty or violent crime. Cops chasing drug crimes. People killing over drugs and related matters.

 

They just BLEW UP a suspect. This is a new line crossed. This is exactly what people have been protesting: escalation and militarization . They did not administer tear gas, or flash bangs, or anything else at their disposal. They blew a guy up. He deserved it, sure, but come the fuck on. Some guy on the news said this has never been done before, but he was so excited to see police use this tactic because it was used in Iraq.

This is fucked.

 

In this scenario it makes sense I support it. I don't see this tactic being some sort of snowball. You're asking some honest SWAT guys to potentially walk into a hail of bullets so they might be able to arrest this guy, and in Texas he would get the death sentence. I'd rather those SWAT members see their families than allow that POS to take out a few more.