sirdroseph wrote: 

growing up in a really rural area i've seen shotguns and rifles on gun racks in pick up trucks

that's about it

would it be any better if they organized and wore costumes?

 Red_Dragon wrote: 

You see I agree completely with you adding that I have lived deep in the Bible belt my entire life and have NEVER seen anyone like this in public, they seem as much a silly aberration as those that sign up for the Jerry Springer show, Myrtle Beach Manor or Honey Boo Boo.  If there are those who wish to see this as normalcy in the white south go right ahead, but for me racial stereotyping is unbecoming at best.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
To be fair, if there were a zombie apocalypse, home depot is a logical 1st base. Of course for flexing my constitutional rights I've done pretty good so far just keeping the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights and the Constitution itself in my Kindle. No one is bothered when I take my Kindle to Chipotle. 

 Steely_D wrote: 
I do get your point, but I think it's incumbent on the guy with the gun to step back first.  Thug culture really isn't that much of a thing in my area and our cops have an MRAP (with a freaking turret).  I don't think the local old folks and stray canadians were pushing them that hard.

 Steely_D wrote: 
They both seem like head-wear affectionados. As long as you keep your fez on you'll be fine. 

 islander wrote: 
Speaking as a guy who owned guns for his entire adult life until just a couple of years ago; these guys are complete idiots. I have yet to see this, but if I do I am likely to point that out to the idiot carrying a goddam rifle in Home Depot. WTF is WRONG with you!?

 Steely_D wrote: 
Agreed. I was hassled a lot in my youth, but looking back I can understand why (mostly). I've also had times recently when they tried hard to intimidate me without cause. I think there has been a definite shift in the last few decades. I hope we are seeing the end of the pendulum swing and people will start reigning in the power we dished out a bit to easily.

 Steely_D wrote: 
I'll give you that it's not just about race. But I think it's pretty hard to make the argument that race is not a substantial component.

 

swaggering  - check.

sagging pants - check.

brandishing a potential weapon - check

using threatening speech - unknown, but I'll say confrontational is likely and it could easily be misinterpreted.

Yet this kind of thing was happening regularly over the last couple years in many places  and it was given a pass. I'm going to go ahead and say it's because they are white and in largely white areas. It's pretty hard to tell education level or socioeconomic upbringing in most of these situations, but I'm still willing to bet that a well educated black buy flaunting his rights would get a different response. 

 Steely_D wrote: 
We used to have the draft and the possibility of being drafted kept most people well informed of the events in the world and doings of our government and other governments.  Everyone had skin in the game.

I do believe that there is a direct correlation to citizen apathy since the draft has been ended. 

 

 Steely_D wrote: 

I agree.  And you are right, stereotyping works both ways and in order for us to truly make progress as a society we have to get beyond that and have truthful, critical dialogue without being brandished a racist based on the color of the skin of the person with the opinion.   I also like to point out that the police at times behave just as badly towards white citizens as well, race is an issue, but so is income and systemic policing issues as well.

 Steely_D wrote: 
Oh I have tried, but got shouted down as a racist, see the breaking news thread.

Busted!  Click on pic for story:

Ten Facts You Should Know About The Police State

What I've Learned from Two Years Collecting Data on Police Killings

Of course memes are designed to be generic and funny to make a general point and I know that all protesters are not supporters of big government and the state, but this is funny.  After all, please to remember that the police, national guard and sometimes the military are the enforcement bureau of the government's laws, regulations and policies:

 sirdroseph wrote: 
This is a local thing for me.  I'm glad the article did mention the shooting of two people at the conclusion of a long distance high speed chase in a hale of 137 bullets.  There is much left out in the story, but to my point.  This was discussed this AM on our local news radio station and the point made was that the issue of training starts at the top.  The Mayor and the Police Chief.  They are the one's responsible for making sure all the proper systems are in place as well as equipment.  With the car chase mentioned above, the city did not have any working tire puncture strips (and still does not to the best of my knowledge) and no helicopter to coordinate the chase.  The chase lasted long enough for the CPD to request tire strips from adjoining cities, but none were available.  That is how long the chase lasted.  The town was upside down for months over this.

The Police Chief then is still the Chief now.  There is BS going on, where those ultimately responsible at the top are CYAing themselves and shifting the blame lower, although the system failed at all levels.  The mayor dramatically reduced the size of the police force during the past 5 or so years and let the equipment go to hell.  The case of the 12 yo this past month is totally regrettable but not unexpected knowing the state of things here.

The gist of the Holder approach is to retrain, retrain, retrain.  As long as the same people in charge of the present system are still around to supervise this retraining it will fail, as it already has.  In essence, this retraining exclamation is window dressing (like the TSA) and throws the good cops under the bus along with the few bad ones.  Holder's revelation tells us what we already know and does nothing to address the real problem. 

The "man" is starting to feel the heat.  If it takes the sexiness of race to shine the light on the issue, so be it. A fair minded unoppressive police force designed to serve and protect is all that we want in the end:

Cleveland Police Cited for Abuse by Justice Department