“Protect and Serve” isn’t supposed to be about other cops.
Whomever it is that is flying the Dread Pirate Roberts flag of “Anonymous” these days claimed responsibility, and said their attack was aimed at the Minneapolis police department.
Timex
2780
Much like the crossbow comment, this isn’t a machete, it’s a hunting knife.
Nesrie
2781
It’s like none of these people have ever played Left 4 Dead or… watched any sort of movie in a jungle.
If you’re someone (e.g. a non-USAian) wondering how this happens in an ostensibly progressive city like Minneapolis, this good thread from Friday night explains the background as to why:
A similar story could be told for NYC, or any number of US cities: the police are a state within the state who use the threat of riots to extort the city’s populace, for whom the police have only contempt because they don’t consider themselves to be part of the community they police.
I am really enjoying this interview with Keith Ellison.
(This is all one contiguous quote, but Markdown isn’t perfect.)
Now, there are some who will say, “Well, until we change society we can’t change policing.” Absolutely untrue. We’ve got to start with police.
Right now we can say that, when it comes to discipline, a collective bargaining agreement from some right-wing police federation can’t [be allowed to] protect an officer who abuses citizens. We can say that, you know, when it comes to wages and working conditions, that can be a collective bargaining issue. But when you’re in a position to deliver death or life to people and you abuse people, we need a clear line of authority, and that needs to be something that we lay at the feet of the chief and the mayor.
In Minneapolis, one of our primary problems is that we have a police federation where the president operates as sort of an alternative chief. He’s unelected. He’s only accountable to the members of the federation, [a great many of whom do not] live in Minneapolis, yet he kind of directs police behavior in Minneapolis to the detriment of the people of Minneapolis.
The [police] chief, working on reforms, saying the right things, showing up at the right meetings, is frustrated because of this guy. That cannot continue to exist.
I mean, this guy [the police federation head] went and spoke at the Trump rally, and wanted to wear his uniform. The chief said: You cannot do that. And he says, “Fine, I’m going to wear a T-shirt that says, ‘Cops for Trump.’”[/quote]
Nesrie
2784
It’s pretty messed up that most of the force for the city is made-up of people who don’t actually live in it. I understand urban cities with suburbs kind of feeding them are prone to that, but as a majority…
She also makes it sounds like that Trump supporting union leader has more power than the elected officials. That’s absolutely not okay.
ShivaX
2786
I know I posted it before, but the list has gone from 27 last night to 53 (and counting).
Nesrie
2787
Wow. I didn’t realize there were international protests for this. I really didn’t think they cared. The USA is supposed to be some golden beacon, the one everyone is afraid to talk about when bad stuff happens in our borders, and there it is, internationally people caring.
I told myself I wouldn’t cry today. Too late now.
Indeed, both of these things are deeply fucked and contribute to the bone-deep cultural rot in the Minneapolis police department.
The union president is a literal fucking white supremacist.
But hey, our state Republicans are ahead of the game! They had a “Safety In Our Cities” program in February of this very year!
https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/profile/news/15345/41582
tl;dr – More cops, with more powers, less oversight, and heavier armaments.
Well fuck me, if only we’d passed that three months ago, we wouldn’t be here today!
ShivaX
2789
Good to see the NYPD is still terrible.
Razgon
2790
We care…! This is Denmark last evening
One of two at least I know of.
I have a lot of European friends and associates from my work days, and I stay in touch with them. It’s hard to describe their reaction to what’s going on, coming on top of the last 3 years of Trump insanity and the anti-Obama insanity from before that. Even with all that experience, they’re stunned. For the first time, I think they begin to grasp the extent of the rot beneath the shining city on the hill.
Kareem is pretty damn good writer. I didn’t know he’d written 16 books.
